NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Setting a course when sailing into the wind.
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2016 Jul 28, 10:56 -0400
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2016 Jul 28, 10:56 -0400
Historically, tacking was far from a sure thing for square riggers in the age of sail. The maneuver required backing the foresails to complete the turn. Very often a vessel would lose all of its momentum while trying to cross the eye of the wind and 'miss stays', falling back on the original tack. Square riggers also suffered the disadvantage of not being able to point up as close to the wind as fore and aft sailboats.
Don SeltzerOn Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Graham England <NoReply_England@fer3.com> wrote:
Thanks Bob
I think you were the only one who addressed my question about using the boats momentum gaining some distance into the wind on each tack.
All the other posts were still interesting to read, so also thank you.I asked this question because my experence is that I lose distance into the wind on each tack.
My guess is it would require sailboat with some mass and good boat speed so you have some momentum to work with.
Graham.
