How do sailboats sail faster than the wind?? 

For someone who is learning how to sail, that is a really good explaination of apparent wind, well done.

The surfing analogy is fantastic. Well done.

From my recollection, sail lift is only part of the story. The main force is two-fold: Wind against the sail and water pushing back at roughly the same force but less than 180 degrees against the centerboard and keel. If you draw a vector diagram of just those two forces, the resultant is a huge force at some angle between the two. It's the old E=MV**2, so the energy applied is at the SQUARE of the wind velocity, and it two directions. It's like holding a wet watermelon seed between your thumb and forefinger and squeezing at less than 90 degrees to get the seed to shoot out of your hand. With an ice-boat the skates provide the counter-force as a centerboard would do in water.

This guy is really good at teaching. After a dozen explanations this is the one that really clicked. Thanks!

Great explanation. I was watching some of the America's Cup (well Louis Vuitton really) races and wondering why the boats looked like they were trimmed close hauled, but were actually going (almost) down wind. Now I understand. Thanks.

I've been watching allot on finding how to understand this wind lifting so far your video is the best way to under stand it thank you finally got it out of my head.

I watched several other videos about this and your simple models provided the best and easiest way to explain what's going on. Great Job!

Your basic videos are pure gold for new and old sailors...Everyone will learn something.

Brilliant. I found you while looking for dagger board vs keel. You made it sound easy to understand. Thank you!!! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your videos.

This is one of the best sailing vids on the net!!

Best explanation of apparent wind, and I’ve watched quite a few. The lead up about the surfer helped me understand the ice boat much better. Thank you. ‘Lightbulb moment’ Gets mentioned so many times in the Americas Cup commentary that it’s making me crazy not fully getting it.

This was the best explanation of applied wikd i can find after many hours searching..so good. Thankyou.

The surface area of the sail is what gives you propulsion energy, the surface area of the hull on the water is what resists movement. The new super fast sailboats use hydrofoils, that lift the hull out of the water, reducing friction on the water, while the enormous sails still provide enormous energy. They are turning the entire boat into a kite. These factors combined with the wind vectors that you mentioned are creating exciting new possibilities for record sailing speeds.

Seriously geeked out watching this video. Great job explaining the wizardry!! I had no idea before watching this video. Now I have a base from which to build better understanding! Thank you!

I've been so perplexed by this and this is the best explanation I've ever seen regarding this. I was watching some Americas cup boats, and they're going 3-4x's the wind and I just couldn't wrap my brain around that. this was just a perfect explanation and your dog is super cute too!

This is one of the best explanations for this subject that I have ever seen. I subconsciously noticed the better cuts too. Great job I know editing video can take a long time.

Thanks for explaining it, with the Air plane Wing example. Also, I liked the illustrations as I'm more visual. Look forward to your next sail. Happy New Year!

That was brillant! The surfer example was an eureka moment for me. I had suspected that this effect had something to do with going sideways with respect to wind, not downwards, but I hadn't figured out how going faster and faster sideways just adds a new component to the apparent wind, while keeping the original component constant.

Thank you for putting such effort and thought into your vid! As an instructor I am always on the lookout for fresh and different ways ways of getting across a concept so as to cater for as many different learning styles as possible, and there is a lot I enjoyed. I am going to give the highest accolade an instructor can give, which is to steal some-one else's ideas and techniques! (Don't worry - I always give full credit to the source).

I've been sailing for years and never understood the power involved in apparent wind, only the angles. Thank you.

I would watch you explain anything. Great analogies and fantastic job digging down to intuitive levels.

i´ve planned to get a boat myself. and i really need to understand everything beforehand so thank you for this visual explonation. it helps alot. i would even be able to explain it to someone else now, thats the only way to know that i got everything

Wonderful explanation! Thank you soooo much. I never could get my head around that.

wow ... don't think I've ever seen a better or more clear explanation.... awesome guys... keep it up

OMG! Now everything makes sense to me!!! Thank you for insisting in many different examples, in the end I understood hahaha

This guy is using great teaching methods. I learned something!

One of the best explanations of the basic works of sailing and wind! Are you a teacher? Congrats

Great explanation. For a reasoning on how you can move faster than your source, think of carving behind a speedboat with skis or a wake board. You can go the speed of the boat if you are going the same direction as the boat. When you carve back and forth, you are covering more ground hence your speed is faster over ground. Imagine an infinite length rope that would let you go at higher and higher angles to the boat pulling you. Physics is fun stuff!

This is actually a very good video. Big Props. Luv and Peace.

Great explanation and very nice illustration.

Zero surprise that you can get a boat to go faster than the wind. Simple polar vectors to rectangular x and y components we learned in high school shows this. So boat moving faster than wind? Sure! But boat moving faster downwind in the direction of the wind? That's a huge mind job and this is stunning that this can occur!

Awesome Video! The surfing on a wave was a perfect analogy! Looking forward to seeing what boat you guys end up getting. I'm considering the Lucia 40, but hoping to get more details on the performance from your upcoming videos before making any decisions. Thanks again for the great informative videos! Nice work!!!

This is the smartest explanation I saw in the last years

Best explanation ive ever heard!

Great job Ryan!

Nice work Ryan. You're getting better all the time...keep it going. :)

Very high production quality, good job!

Fantastic explanation!

Thank you for the very good explanation I'm new to boating

Very good tutorial. Thank you.

Great description using alternative references

Thanks for the explanation. Very helpful.

This is an incredible video!

Excellent teaching! Thanks

Very good explanation! Even better than Veritasium in his 2021 rehashing of this principal, plus we did not have to see Bill Nye or Nille Degauze Tycosun. I love the surfing metaphor . Thank You.

bravo!!! i wish math teachers can explain this clearly. cheers man. keep it up.

This was exceptionally well done, especially with the 36th America’s Cup sailing foiling monohulls. 🇺🇸👍💨

I took a stab at trying to explain how sailboats can go faster than the wind. Hopefully this helps some folks who were wondering how it worked like me!

Another explanation that may be helpful is to split up the apparent wind into headwind and crosswind components (relative to the boat's heading). The apparent headwind is a drag factor, while a portion of the force related to diversion of the apparent cross wind propels the boat forwards. The apparent crosswind = true wind x sin(heading relative to true wind), regardless of the boats speed. For example, with a 10 mph true wind, and a boat heading 30 degrees away from directly downwind, the apparent crosswind is always 5 mph, again regardless of the boats speed. The maximum speed is how fast the boat can travel with a 5 mph apparent cross wind. Say you have a very efficient boat, achieving 17.32 mph with an apparent crosswind of 5 mph. It's velocity made good downwind is 17.32 mph x cos(30 degrees) = 15 mph, 1.5 times the true wind speed. The other factor here is that part of the diversion of the apparent headwind is directly upwind against the true wind, slowing down the true wind (from the water's frame of reference), and slowing down the true wind is the source of the energy that propels the boat.

I got it! You're a good teacher.

Great explanation ! Thank You !

Brilliant you explain it so well, I was trying to get this concept across to my sister a while back... But failed;) I will chuck her a link to this thanks!

Wind makes sailing more fun! 🎉 ⛵

Very good explanations

Well done. Apparent wind can also be explained using the analogy of a water-skier. Anyone who has tried or seen water-skiing will easily understand that the skier can can go much faster than the pulling boat. Almost what you did with the dog and skateboard :) Except you didn't turn, which wouldn't have been nice to the dog.

That vid was great, clear and concise 👍

[Coming here after Veritasiums video "Risking My Life To Settle A Physics Debate"] At 9:09 it finally clicked. You not only use the wind that keeps pushing you but you also catch the apparent wind to push you even more. This still seems slightly counterintuitive but it makes much more sense now.

Well done

Great video! I really noticed the reduced number and increased quality of cuts when compared to your earlier videos. Keep it up!

It absolutely IS wizardry. We are just in on the trick now.

Downwind but close-hauled. Mind-blown!

My thought is that the sails generate aerodynamic "lift". This is creating a partial vacuum. The rate that the sails are pulled into this vacuum is not limited by the wind speed, hence the boat can sail faster than the wind. The "lift" is only generated when air is flowing across the sail, not when catching it. This is why it only works on a reach. Any comments?

😳 That will take at least 2 views to sink in. Thanks! Stated well but glad there is not a test to follow😜😎

Beautiful

There is now a land sailing craft that can travel directly in the direction with the wind, but at more than 2 times the speed of the wind pushing them, and only using the power from the wind alone. If you have not read about it, I recommend to look it up and examine this latest working design.

So, do windsurfers, hydrofoils, ice boats etc need lift to obtain the greater -than-wind speed, or do they simply need very little friction with a good beam reach?

Thanks so much 🔥

Great graphics !!!!!

I thought the flying dutchman in the Pirates of the Caribbean being able to sail faster than the wind is magic.

thanks! that was really good! I always felt it but didn't understand why I did what I did... :)

like shifting up to the next bicycle gear; is like sheeting in, or coming off, as the boat accelerates.

Pretend you want to go north. You can think of a North Eastern Wind as the sum of a Northern Wind and an Eastern wind interacting. This concept is known as vectoring. If you have a Northern Wind you can go as fast as the wind. If you have a North Eastern wind you can keep going faster because the Wind from the East is keeping your sails full even though the wind from the northern part isn't doing anything. That's because you aren't traveling North East, but just North. You relative Eastern speed is Zero. The boat takes the extra wind from the east side and converts it into forward momentum. A side effect of the conversion process is that the boat tilts, but the flotation devices on the boat counter act this force. There are blades under neath the boat that force the boat to go only forward. As you pick up speed you keep turning the sail to minimize the effect of the apparent wind generated by going forward. You can think about it as 3 different vectors. The Northern wind vector (effective only until you reach it's speed). The eastern Wind vector(effective always). And the apparent wind vector(A wind that you created by going fast and Works against you when you are traveling faster than the northern wind, this force gets stronger the faster you move and limits your speed; otherwise you could go nearly infinitely fast). You'll find in physics in general that the more extreme something is the more other outside forces will start to intervene and ruin your fun.

Thanks for that. I also thought it was witch craft, especially the downwind part, but you've explained it well.

is there a world record for watercrafts? (not talking about ice / land boats). how much faster than the wind can a boat run? how would you measure such a performance - TWS / BS or SOG?

Does this mean that you can sail opposite of the river flow when there is no wind? if you look from the reference frame of the river water you will have the wind in the opposite direction so if you can sail faster than that wind then you will move opposite of the river flow, right?

I clicked on dislike to look at why anyone would not appreciate this by reading the comments of those who didn’t like it. Now I know why. Me and other dummies clicking for the wrong reason. Great explanation thank you. Ah yes, I corrected to like.

Thank you for this video. What do you think of the recent claims that you can go faster than the wind, dead downwind? I still have a fundamental problem with it. I understand gibing downwind is faster and many boats do this when we race. But dead downwind, I still have a problem with people saying that they can go faster than the wind. Your thoughts?

Well done..Natural teacher.. than you

LIAR! Liar liar liar! Is too rich sailing wizards! Another good and informative video, thank you. You're explanation was actually pretty close to what I was thinking but definitely has it better set and more understandable in my head now. I can't wait to get back out on the water again. Last time I sailed I was a teenager and was going just on what felt right. I think knowing the mechanics will help!

I still dont get it...I get it all but how is making a wing give you times more speed..i could so 30 or 40% but 400% is nuts

Interesting explanation but you miss the obvious one. All this fluid aerodynamics stuff seems to have come from an Italian by the name of Benoulli and everyone knows that Italians just make everything up... More seriously though, the key point you put forward is that some of the wind is used to shape the sail and it's the shape that generates lift from the rest of the wind. Remember how that ice-yacht sail can only be flattened so far before it collapses and can't generate more lift any more? You shape and position the sail to suit the apparent wind and then just hang on. Your point how it is often slower to sail dead downwind as opposed to reaching across it is important to illustrate too. Dead downwind there is no wind passing across both sides of the sail so it cannot generate lift.

Waterskiiers can go faster than the tow boat. It's weird and I am by know means a math wizard but it's cool and it works :) Love the video

Good video, good demonstrations and models, good examples. But when talking about "apparent wind" I think talking about relativity and reference points might be a more logical and universal way to explain the wind speed

Nice video - just a comment about trying to use "physics sounding" nouns that misinform the uninformed. laws of conservation aren't being implicated by sailboats going faster than true wind. Conservation of energy focuses on a closed system. Sailboats don't add any energy to forces exerted by high pressure equalizing to low pressure (wind), it is just harnessing what's there.

Sail acts like the wing on an airplane up wind and of course down wind they go the same speed as the wind.

If wind is blowing in a direction from A to B, will you sail from A to B faster than the wind?

I don't think the wing shape of the sail really matters here. Even just angle of attack would explain this.

You revealed our secret?! How could u :(

Excellent explanation and I love the analogies(It's how I learn/remember myself). As a private pilot interested learning to sail, this is very interesting to compare to an airplane wing. It brings me to a question of laminar flow and wing planform of the sails. My questions are simple and purely for my understanding. Do Sails have tells on both sides( Presume so but want to confirm). If so, do they(the tells on opposite sides of the sail) mirror each other or do they point in different directions. Finally, I presume you trim sails based on the tells on the inside of the sail. As a side note, aviation designers use tells on aircraft during flight testing to "see" a stall of the wing. They cover the airplane with tells and you can watch this here. [ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LmK7EcC1WNM.htmlm12s] . This is similar to what happens when a sail luffs.

I think a better word for drag should be displacement. Most sailboats that need to displace the volume of water they are sailing thru will never sail faster than true wind. The best example of sailing faster than the wind I like to use is a windsurf board. A windsurf board can get up on a plane, meaning only the aft part of the board is in the water reducing the drag, or displacement of water. With15 knots of wind, I can windsurf about 25 knots. On my displacement sailboat, a Sabre 34 I need at least 10 knots to get moving along at 5 knots. And of course the new toy on the water are hydrofoils, that get the entire craft out of the water. Excellent points otherwise.

So what you're saying is the surfer can get to where the wave is going significantly before the wave gets there. That doesn't really make any sense without over unity. Not saying it's not true, just that it doesn't make any sense with the currently understood laws of thermodynamics.

Also airbender

Good explanation but...... the easiest way to explain this I feel is just by using vectors. Still if you don't have a mathematical /mechanical mind it is not simple to get your head around.

If you two can't save enough for your cat in time would the two of consider crewing next fall to get to your goals? Sort of half speed but at half way there. Just like true vs apparent wind speed. Lol. Remember - I'm 50 so i couldn't steal Jessica from you. Maybe the safest place in the Caribbean for you to hide your treasure. Harr lol. You two seem like you'd make it fun. You follow delos, LA Vagabonds, uma, follow the wind, etc... They all seem to be having a great time.

Thx for letting me sleep again! I watched this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jyQwgBAaBag.html and just couldn't get behind the concept at all. Your explanation finally made me understand. Thank you so much.

I get the surfer goes faster due to wave speed + gravity bit I don't get how the ice boat goes faster than the wind at 90deg just by low pressure zone. I like to understand a lot of science and physics but boy this one is not intuitive to me.

Hint. Some old blokes, like me don't (or now, didn't) know what a "like" button is so we just go 'huh?' but if like La Vagabond you say "Thumbs Up" silly old blokes go "oh, yeah, I'll help you" ... click. Also do it last as silly old blokes forget. beers, build

I prefer sailing ninja.. But sailing wizard sounds sweet...

This is way too complicated. You just need to think about it in aeronautical terms. The boat gets thrust from the sail/windfoil system through the mast. Your boat speed is a product of the thrust of the sail/windfoil, limited by the drag/friction of the hull, in regular boats, or ice blades in ice sailers, or hydrofoils in Cup boats. So, as long as the friction is low enough, and the thrust is still being applied to the craft through the sail/windfoil/mast, you will have a terminal velocity related to that thrust/drag ratio. You can generate pretty much any amount of thrust you want, at very nearly any reasonable wind speed, by design of your sail/windfoil to that spec. What is hard, is then structurally supporting that sail/windfoil, and putting it on a craft with low enough drag and mass, that it reaches the designed terminal velocity goal. So it's thrust to drag ratio which is important. Not really wind speed.

Actually you can go faster than the dog. If you tack left and right behind the dog you must be going faster than her. If the dog can adjust for the pull of the leash going left and right behind her while still keeping her line ahead you can theoretically get any desired speed faster than her. Good explanation, anyway.