Sail Boats
When sailing into the wind, the dynamics that propel a sailboat forward are the same that create lift for an airplane. The term leading edge refers to the part of the sail that first contacts the wind. A fine tapered leading edge that doesn't disturb the flow is desirable since 90% of the drag on a sailboat owing to sails is a result of vortex shedding from the edges of the sail. Sailboats utilize a mast to support the sail. To help reduce the drag and poor net sail performance, designers have experimented with masts that are more aerodynamically shaped, rotating masts, wing masts, or placed the mast behind the sails as in the mast aft rig.
Read more about this topic: Leading Edge
Famous quotes containing the words sail and/or boats:
“We sail across dominions barely seen, washed by the swells of time. We plow through fields of magnetism. Past and future come together on thunderheads and our dead hearts live with lightning in the wounds of the Gods.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The frowsy sponge boats keep coming in
with the obliging air of retrievers,”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)