On the other hand ...it does add some positive buoyancy should you find yourself broached!How do you reef that?
Gullibility?What am I missing?
Aw man... you missed a perfect opportunity to use this emoji...
Symmetric foils can still generate lift. It is a relative pressure thing. And on this sail, I doubt it is truly symmetric. The windward side probably gets deflected some.Now, I think I have a pretty good handle on the aerodynamics involved in sailing and flying but I cannot for the life of me see how this sail achieves lift even after looking at the "concept" section on their site. What am I missing?
Thanks, I understand that concept, just didn't think about it enough. However, would the keel and rudder give you enough lift to generate the kind of apparent speed shown in the picture and the clips on their site?
I don't think of the keel as giving you any speed because generally I sail in a lake that has relatively no current. The "current" from air is what is driving the boat and once the boat starts moving you get counter lift from the keel if it is foil shaped. I've never really thought about how water currents might affect the lift vectors on a submerged keel while underway but on first pass, they would either add to or subtract from the lift vector. But if they are subtracting from the lift vector that means the current is helping to push you to windward so all-in-all that is a good thing and probably is not worth pondering over (go sailing). I guess the rudder is acting in a similar way but sine I use it to steer I mostly think of it that way and not as a major component in leeway reduction. You change the angle of attack on your rudder foil so the change in lift vectors can contribute to the steering power of your rudder.
If some boats had sails in the shape of ceiling fan blades they wouldnt sail any worse.
When I was in school, "fluid mechanics lab" was what the engineering students called going out to the bar after class. Or were you using it in that sense too?
