Notes on sailing.
"The fastest way from point A to B is a straight line. Adjust your sails and sail a straight line."
Types of Wind
Three types of wind are to be considered on a sailing boat.
- True Wind: wind created by the atmosphere
- Headwind: wind created by a moving body
- Apparent Wind: combination of both
The true wind can be seen even when moving by watching out for the smalles patters on a wave; the capillary waves are always perpendicular to the true wind.
Everything on board, such as the tell tales show the apparent wind.
Sailpower
Sailpower comes from four elements:
- Sail Area
- Sail Shape
- Sail Inclination
- Apparent Wind Power Squared
Sail Twist
Strong winds, especially when sailing close-hauled upwind, can heel the boat to an extent that is detrimental to the speed of the boat, as the top of the main sail works too hard. Loosening the boom wang will lift the boom, effectively shifting the wind force from the top of the sail towards the bottom. The shape of the sail will twist slightly and the heel will decrease.
Types of Motions of a Boat
- Pitch: Rotate around the x axis
- Yaw: Rotate around the y axis
- Roll: Rotate around the z axis
- Sway: Move sideways
- Heave: Move vertically
- Surge: Move forward
Heave-To
A manouver to halt a boat.
TODO: add illustration.
Dictionary
A short selection of basic sailing vocabulary in German and English.
sailboat parts
- Rumpf: Hull
- Kiel: Keel
- Mast: Mast
- Baum: Boom
- Baumniederholer: Boom Vang, Kicker
- Großsegel: Main Sail
- Vorsegel: Headsail, Foresail
- Verklicker: Tell Tales
- Wanten: Shrouds
- Laufendes Gut: Running Rigging
- Stehendes Gut: Standing Rigging
- Dirk: Topping Lift
- Fall: Hallyard
- Gr0ßfall: Main Halyard
- Schot: Sheet
- Fockschot: Jib Sheets
- Großschot: Mainsheet
- Pinne: Tiller
- Winsch: Winch
- Schäkel: Shackle
- Klampe: Cleat (Horn)
- Bug: Bow
- Bugkorb: Pulpit
- Heck: Stern
- Achtern: Aft
- Beiboot: Dinghy
- Toilette: Head
- Kombüse: Galley
- Koje: Berth
- Tiefgang: Draft
piloting a sailboat
- Steuerbord: Starboard
- Backbord: Port
- Wende: Tack
- Halse: Gybe
- Anluven: come up, head up, luff up, go windward
- Abfallen: to bear away, to fall off
- Fieren: to slack, to sheet out
- Anholen: to sheet in
- Luv: Windward
- Lee: Leeward
- Lee vor Luv: Windward gives Way to Leeward
- Im Wind: head to wind, no go zone
- Am Wind Kurs: Cose Reach, Upwind
- Halbwindkurs: Beam Reach
- Vorwindkurs: Backing Wind
- Krängung: Heel
- Beidrehen: to heave to
- Geografische Breite: Latitude
- Geografische Länge: Longitude
- Steg: Jetty, Pontoon
- Sturm: Gale
- Flaute: Doldrums
navigation
The north star Polaris is directly above the North Pole.
As viewed from the Polaris, Earth turns counterclockwise.
Distances are measured in degrees, minutes and seconds.
1 Nautical Mile = 1.8 Kilometers 1 Minute = 1 Nautical Mile 1° of Latitude = 60 Minutes
From the equator are 90° North and 90° to the poles.
From the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England it's 180° to the East and 180° to the West. The date line at 180° goes through Fiji.
Using a Sextant
A sextant measures the degrees of a celestial object like the sun to the horizon.
meteorology
"Wind is air molecules seeking equilibrium."
Air travels from high pressure zones to low pressure zones, which is caused by uneven warming of the Earth's surface by the sun.
During the day the sun warms up the land. There, the warm air rises, creating a low pressure on the surface and clouds in higher altitudes. The colder air from the sea is pulled towards the land to balance the low pressure zone, creating a sea breeze.
Coriolis Effect
A deflection pattern caused by the difference in Earth's rotation speed: it rotates faster around the equator than around the poles. Fluids, air currents and other objects that aren't firmly attached to the ground have the tendency to turn right on the northern hemisphere and left on the southern hemisphere. This causes many of the large scale weather patterns, such as the rotation direction of storms.
Creating an Affected Forecast
- Begin from an understanding of the Earth atmosphere system
- Interpret the data
- Analyze the way it affects us
- Derive a plan with contingencies
- Pilot
knots
"Ropes and knots are among the most ancient and useful technologies ever developed by man, predating the wheel, the axe and probably also the use of fire."
- Kris De Decker
knots
- Rundtörn: Round Turn
- Halber Schlag: Half Hitch
- Kopfschlag: Locking Turn
- Belegen: to cleat
incoming(1) | review 2023