A sailboat has a rudder that deflects the flow of water. When the person steering the boat turns the rudder, the force of the water is increased on one side and decreased on the other, causing the yacht to turn in that direction.
As a sailboat moves through the water, it creates a bow wave with a wavelength equal to its speed. This causes a series of wave crests and troughs to move down the side of the boat. As the boat speeds up, the bow wave’s wavelength increases until the first crest moves back behind the boat and the trough descends. At this point, the boat is “sailing uphill” and experiences much higher resistance.
It was recognized centuries ago that a sailboat needed something to help it stay pointed in the direction in which it was pointed rather than simply drifting downwind, so people added the keel. Until the development of modern wing theory, it was thought that a boat needed a long, deep keel to prevent side-slipping. However, the keel also provides sideways lift as the water flows around it. This lift is countered by the component of the driving force from the sails in the direction of motion and the total resistive force.
To reduce this drag, the latest sailboats are designed with advanced materials and production techniques that optimise mass, rigidity and strength. This enables them to fly through the water at speeds that would have been impossible only a few years ago.
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