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It is requested that a physics diagram or diagrams be
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improve its quality. Specific illustrations, plots or diagrams can be requested at the
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This page needs a vector diagram of the forces due to wind and the water. In particular, show that sailing upwind works by maintaining a positive component of the force vector into the wind. Cburnett 20:02, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
The seriousness of this article needs to be cranked up a few notches. I'be begun by removing the outright rant wrt monohulls vz multis:
-- Egil 07:02 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC)
This page has some good stuff in it, but IMO it is NOT very encyclopedic in style. The Sailing Techniques section reads too much like a How-To manual, I think we would be much better off with a more detatched analysis of sailing theory; basic aero and hydro dynamic forces acting on a boat, the relation between sail trim and relative wind, ect.
Also, this article also focuses pretty much exclusively on recreational bermundian sloops, which is understandable, but it would be nice to try to include (at least implicitly) other types of boats and rigging in the scope of the article.
I would like to hear peoples opinions on this before I start editting. -- BadSeed 11:39, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
I just completed a fairly massive overhaul of the types of sails and layouts, though it's not quite finished. - Dastal 18:10, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
Waay to much How-To. It is like a mini-textbook for a sailing course. Even to the How-To needs to be worked over because a lot of it is so general as to be useless. Hull Trim, for instance, is generally sorta correct, except many boats aren't trimmed like that. You don't move aft in a Laser or a Thistle when going downwind unless it is really blowing. Often, it is faster to move weight way forward on the downwind. Not that I think we should go explaining that. My point is that the how-to format is unencyclopedic and also unworkable, because you have to have how-to (dinghies), how-to (keelboats), how-to (skiffs), how-to (cruisers), etc., etc., and you never reach the end. I feel bad ranting about this, because I don't have time to do the rewrite myself right now unless I quit my job. Tempting. Hmmm. Mrees1997 17:53, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
First, I think the article is great. What about putting together some practical skills; docking, MOB (man over board), uncapsizing a dinghy, some images for points of sail, etc..
I especially would like to add docking because if there is anyway we could make an impact to "the world of docking", I watch people bounce around their slips all day, I believe everyone would be happier.:-) Colin Carr 15:49, 1 May 2004 (UTC)
Good ideas. Please go for it Julianp 06:51, 14 May 2004 (UTC)
I added a section on the layout and advantages of multihulls Gary Mulder 18:00, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Also added a short para. with some references to other WP articles on the most major races Gary Mulder 18:00, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
There's a lot here about modern sailing, but barely a word on the history of sailing. Same goes for sail. Are there really no takers on this aspect of it...? Peter Isotalo 7 July 2005 03:09 (UTC)
* There is nothing on this page about the history on sailing!! My project is due Friday, Nov.03,2006 DUH!!!!!!!!!
The explanation using wings of airplane can more precisely described with the aerodynamic equation called Bernoulli Equation. It states that when fluid (in this case air) flow faster, the pressure will drop. Due to the difference in air flow on both sides of the sail, the pressure difference causes a resultant force pushing the sail forward.
When sailing directly with the wind, the boat approaches the speed of the wind so that the relative speed of the wind to the sail is decreased. Sailing at an angle to the wind, the boat must move faster to effect the same decrease of relative speed because it is only the component of the boat's velocity vector that is parallel to the wind that decreases the relative speed.
I was in an E-Mail discussion with somebody who claimed that a boat can go faster downwind than the wind. It is well known that a boat on a reach can go faster than the wind, but I didn't realize that it was also the case downwind. I didn't believe the person, but then I did some research and found the references explaining why this doesn't violate basic physical principles and why it works. I've added that to the article.-- Gautier lebon ( talk) 13:50, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Hi all, Just thought I'd stick my whisker pole in here... I think that we have the basis of a great article here — or more correctly a series of articles. I think that a fairly major re-org is needed, and I'd start by splitting off at least one "child" article:
And yes, we need a History bit, which could conceivably become a separate article.
Also, we need to mention single-handed versus double-handed and crewed sailing somewhere.
What do folks think of this? Just FYI, I'm working on getting all the single-handed sailing articles up to scratch — see my user page for a list. — Johantheghost 15:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
I agree its a bit bitty, and needs some tidying up. But it doesn't seem unwieldy, the bits seem to belong together. Should we try to rearrange the sections, renaming where need be? I don't really see the need for child articles, someone needing to find out about sailing could reallywant ot know about principles, skills, history, etc,. and therefore have his/her need met by looking up one article. Is there a coherent case for splitting up what we've got? Perhaps the history of sailing would be good, as its a bit of a specialist topic.
TonyClarke 19:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
Hi all, I just removed this from the article:
I believe this is incorrect, or at least misleading; in this definition, a gentle capsize in a dinghy on a duck pond would be called a knockdown. I don't believe that a knockdown is simply when the mast tip touches the water. In all the sailing literature I've read, a knockdown happens when sailing in the ocean, when the boat is hit by a steep following wave and violently thrown on to her side. The key is the violent part; a dinghy will capsize very gently if you simply sheet in and sit on the wrong side, but a knockdown is something that can cause a dismasting.
Now, this is my understanding, but before editing the article, I'd like to have other views, since I've never seen an actual definition of a knockdown, and how it relates to a broach. — Johan the Ghost seance 10:48, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Capsize just means that the boat is over and staying over. A turtled boat is still capsized. With a dinghy you just lever it over and you are back in sailing trim. A keel boat will NEVER capsize unless there are dire circumstances (Such as dropping the keel). keel boats are what is called "Self righting". That means that at any angle they heel too, including right down to 90 degrees, they will right themselves once preasure is taken off the sails. When this happens it is called a knockdown. The keel boat heals over to the point that the sails stop functioning and the boat then rights itself. What causes a kockdown is ussually a "Broach". This is when, on a reach, the boat heals to leaward and the tip of the boom hits the water. This will often cause the main to tighten up to the wind, with crew being unable to sheet out due to water preasure on the boom. The boat heads up into the wind as it heals over and it's profile in the water changes (same theroy as roll tacking) and is ussually "knocked down" before it can recover. Please note that broaching is EXTREAMLY dangerious and a condition to be avoided at ALL costs. This is also how you commonly break masts at sea.
Jmvolc 01:31, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
Added a bit about apparent wind when going downwind as it's a significant factor there. (not sure about my wording of it - maybe someone literate could improve?) Singlefin 16:30, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
when i used to sail Optimists i remember we used to reef them by ommiting the sprit, folding the sail over and attatching the folded peice with a special elastic cord. Is this a common enough method of reefing to go in the reefing section of this article? Plugwash 19:01, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
The method of attaching the sail while reefing may vary widely dependant on the rigs. It is important to make sure that the reefed portion is well attached to the boom but that the reefing lines are in no way in danger of getting caught in the pulleys or at a risk of tearing the mainsail when running on a beam reach or reach.
This needs to be rewritten. I have added some lines to "The Physics of Sailing" to correct terms. Who else here is a sailing instructor? I belive we should be taking material from the CYA White Sail handbook and US Sailing's program and rewriting them to fit this article. Any thoughts on contacting these organization and requesting permission to reprint the information here? That would be by far the easiest method of a rewrite. If that is not a good idea, I think that we have to determine a level that we are going to write too. If we are only going to to write to a White Sail III level then mentions of the Spin and the physics of sailing may be too much. But if we are going to write up at the bronze level this is all in, only leaving out the technicalities of racing (Silver Sail).
I also note a great lack in informative diagrams. In the physics of sailing section there should be at LEAST a diagram of the Bernonli and Venturi effects as well as how to determine the Centre of Lateral Resistance and the centre of effort and how they cancil each other out to create forward momentium. This would be a far clearer explination then trying to say "the force exerted on the sail is represented by a vector comming off at 90 degrees from the boom. As the sail is sheeted in and the boat heads up into the wind, the effort exerted on the boat from the sail becomes more lateral and creates leaway. The centreboard, or keel acts exerting force at 90 degrees from the centre of lateral resistance canciling out lateral movment and converting the force acting on the sails into forward momentium."
I want to do a full rewrite but could use the help of any other instructors that might be out there.
Peace!
I came across this when looking for ideas about another analogous article. It seems that there are several articles here. It should not be a textbook on sailing, so the first job would be to move out the section on knots. After that:
There is much good material here already, so it probably would not take too long. JMcC 17:39, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
I write a blog called livesaildie, and recently we've began teaming up with other sailing bloggers from right across the world. We seeking to create an entire wiki devoted purelly to sailing. The knowledge that is here is great, but sailing is a huge sport and I hope we can expand it into areas beyond what is suitable on wikipedia. We can't simply copy content off Wikipedia due to incompatibility between Creative Commons and LGPL licencing, but if any of you would like to help out, it'd be much appreciated.
The project is entirelly just for fun, with no ads on the site and everyone just helping out for fun. Its called wetwiki and can be found here :) I apologise in advance if this breaks any wikipedia rules.
NEW REQUEST their is a problem on a link titled.....Sailing traditions and etiquette..... it states a ship should pull up its [fenders] on leaving the harbor, however the link goes to FENDER GUITARS, so what is a ships fender ??? i don't know... thanx...j
Some of the links seem to point at websites that are not maintained anymore (Mark Rosenstein's sailing directory contains a high percentage of dead links); I would suggest to link to Sailingahead.com which contains an up-to-date directory and lots of articles of the "How to" and "General Information" kind. Any pros or cons? Thanks, - Wolfadeus 22:05, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
I have de-how-to-ified the "hull trim" section. This is just a start. This is the kind of treatment that should be applied to each section. (Some of the sections will go away because they are pure how-to.)
The sailing primer should be written in Wikibooks. The encyclopedia entry here in Wikipedia should explain just enough about each aspect of sailing so as to clear the fog from the mind of the uninitiated, not give a bunch of detail and instructions. One of the problems with the how-to stuff is that it is applicable to one type of boat, but not all. We have a mix here of dinghy, keelboat, racing and cruising stuff, not all of it marked as such. If you are really going to help someone learn to sail, you have to explain all the rules, the exceptions, and the caveats, and end up with a book length article that is not at all what we need here.
Okay, sailing experts, let's pitch in and make this article right! While you are at it let's use some actual paper sources. I don't know, Chapman, Royce's, Greg Fisher, whatever. I am tired of looking at Wikipedia articles that cite nothing but web pages. Mrees1997 23:42, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
If it's divided up, it will free up the sub-pages from having to stay too general to be useful
I suggestion the following hierarchy:
Sailing - general description of what it is (this is an encyclopedia, people, there needs to be something for the 8 year-old from Tibet who's never seen a body of that he can't see across), history, and general description of the sub articles.
-- Maczenwes 16:52, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Excellent suggestion, except I don't understand what is meant by navigation: is this specific to sailboat sailing, or general marine sailing?
How about these as article names?
— EncMstr 02:33, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Be alert to the fact that we have many of these articles in Wikipedia already, some under different names. We also have various sailing-related articles that don't quite match anything on this list. There are considerable redundancies. Search for "sail" and see what you get. For example, there already exists
So, my point is that we should break up the Sailing article into several smaller articles as you two suggest, making use of the existing articles as we can. EncMstr's list of categories looks about right. Delete, merge, and redirect, until the whole sailing thing on Wikipedia makes sense. Sounds like fun. Not quite as much fun as actually sailing, but fun. Mrees1997 23:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Spot on both of you. I see the page entitled "Sailing" as a directory and an organization of all of the resouces underneath and don't re-write anything if you don't have to. That would include moving some of this content to other existing pages were appropriate.
Two quick thoughts: I do mean general marine navigation (from the non-commercial perspective). Applies equally well to power boating (with the exeption of VMG not being as important to power boating). Its still a critical part of sailing and I think links should be included.
On "Sailing Lifestyle": in the US, I would lump daysailing, cruising, bare-boating and live-abords all into "Cruising". "Sailing - Cruising and Life" might not be terrible either. I would stick to general knowledge, however.
Anyone objecting, please speak up!!!
What now? Start collecting and contacting the discussion boards for the underlying pages?
Maczenwes 17:55, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
um... In Points of Sail on the wiki, way wrong... a beam reach is NOT and NEVER the fastest tack... The fastest point of sail must be either the close haul or the broad reach... lots of disagreement about this, but my money's on the close haul being a bit faster than the broad reach
Its wrong to say one particular direction is fastest, reach, broad reach, close hauled etc., as there are both vessel and enviromental factors to take into account - the most obvious being sea state, Close hauled might be fastest for a particular yacht (definitly not a Cat!)in smooth conditions, but under rough conditions watch the yacht slow down as it slams against the oncomng waves.
Be nice to have good definitions technical terms such as VMG and how they are calculated (formula)
Cheers
---
Hello there, 65.11.222.234, you are right that it is "way wrong," but I disagree as to the root of the wrongness. What kind of boat do you sail? Is it a slippery hull with a high aspect ratio modern rig or a heavy old gaffer with a sail like a barn door? Spinnaker up or down? Displacement or planing mode?
A quick search on Google finds this example of a [ http://www.hallberg-rassy.com/hr39/speed_diagram_HR39.gif polar diagram for a Hallberg-Rassy cruiser. Notice that in 20 knots, the fastest point of sail without the spinnaker is a beam reach. But, I say, so what?
Give me a beer and I could talk about this all night. We could talk about polars, foils, apparent wind, VMG, race tactics, multihulls, ooching, rocking, and what it's like to sail a Flying Scot in 30 knots at Hood River. And this points out exactly what is way wrong with Sailing.
You are right that the points of sail section is "way WRONG". It is way wrong to make conclusary statements about intermediate or advanced concepts in sailing. We need to purge the article of all the How-to and physics of anything and make it a very basic introduction to sailing for the complete non-sailor. Take a look at the comments above. I hope you get a Wikipedia account and start hacking away at this article. Mrees1997 17:44, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
To alert other wikipedians to our efforts. People keep catching things that are wrong or incomplete, assuming that we really want a complete sailing how-to. Myself and the commentators above are trying to head the article in a different direction. Please read the last few discussion sections and give us your thoughts! I want to prune this article, but not in a way that will befuddle those who wonder why stuff is disappearing. Mrees1997 17:35, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Much of the information was inaccurate in the points of sail section, and the grammer was bad, so I have re-arranged/re-written it. I am an avid sailor and sail several times a week, and much of this page seems to be inaccurate (though large parts of it are very good). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.9.85.234 ( talk) 01:15, 28 December 2006 (UTC).
Welcome, 84.9.85.234. Consider getting an actual account. Then, use the four tildas to sign your name with a time stamp. Take a minute to read the comments at Talk:Sailing#Re-write effort -- non how-to et seq. See if you can help us strip out the how-to material, link to more detailed articles, and make Sailing a more encyclopedic article. I agree that much of the page is innaccurate, but I think the cure is the trim out the too-detailed sections that lend them selves to wanton innaccuracy. Mrees1997 07:18, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
Sailing has two independent sections on rules of the road, Sailing#Rules_of_the_road and Sailing#Sailing_regulations. It also has two independent discussions of "points of sail," being the long explanations of Sailing#Running, Sailing#Reaching, and Sailing#Sailing_upwind, plus a shorter discussion at Sailing#Points_of_Sail, both of which can be replaced with a short paragraph and a link to Points_of_sail. We need to (again) trim out the stuff at Sailing#Man_overboard that is redundant with Man overboard. Sailing#Sailing_terminology is redundant with Glossary of nautical terms. Let's hope people read this discussion page before complaining about stuff being deleted. Mrees1997 19:19, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
Here's a user box that you can use. Just copy this piece of code on your user page:
{{ User Sailing}}
This will produce this:
This user enjoys sailing. |
Cheers! Bu b0y2007 09:47, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello all:
Just wanted to throw my hat in if you need any help. I am the Executive Editor for Inside Yachting a yachting publication as well as handling publicity for a number of yachting events.
Also, I am a photographer with many photos of yacht racing. If you would like to illustrate anything in the sailing topic arena, please let me know and I would be happy to provide photographs. You can see some examples of my work at my websites:
http://www.blastreach.com http://www.insideyachting.com (in the gallery section)
Sean Downey
Blastreach 00:10, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
-- Theosch ( talk) 09:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
I must say the sailing page is getting more verbose and less organized every time I look at it. I don't want to whine too much, because I'll admit I have not done my part to fix it. The sad fact is that I have been sailing 2-3 times a week and that just saps all my time and energy for writing about sailing. We keep getting well-intentioned little edits here and there, but without a complete rewrite and reorganization this article will get keep getting sloppier. Mrees1997 23:44, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
Don't see anything in here yet about various sailing qualifications/ validations from different National bodies, ie inshore, offshore, cruising, crew, skipper, yachtmasters, is it relevant here? Also don't see anything on helming skills, using waves upwind, surfing downwind and so on, maybe this is more relevant to Racing? Jagra 06:20, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that there are a large group of nautical/boating articles and needed articles out there that don't fall neatly into Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships or Wikipedia:WikiProject Maritime Trades, like for example - this one. Others would include anything dealing with recreational small craft of all kinds, authors such as Patrick O'Brian and C._S._Forester, famous yacht designers like Nathanael_Herreshoff and designer/historian Howard Chapelle. The only project that clearly covers these is far to large, WikiProject Transport. I suggest there is need for a project between Transport and Ships, more of a companion project to the Nautical Portal. If there is any interest or comments from here, please post at Portal_talk:Nautical#General_Nautical_Parent_Project.3F.-- Doug.( talk • contribs) 21:19, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Okay. Here's the story... Someone put up a post at blogspot about how the Club Med 2 is an offense to sailing. Someone else took it upon themselves to edit the caption and add a link to the blog post. I removed the picture and the caption thinking that was the easiest thing to do. Not good enough, evidently. The image and link are reposted with slightly different caption. I just removed the link. I think the blog post easily falls under WP:EL's description of "links to be avoided" for a variety of reasons. To cite one in particular: "Links to blogs and personal web pages, except those written by a recognized authority." -- Ben 14:23, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
Every time I look at this article, it gets longer. Eventually it will be like "Royces Sailing Illustrated", that wacky old jumble of yachting lore. If I break my leg and have to spend a few weeks sitting indoors, I will re-write this thing.
My diagnosis is that there is so much arcane sailing lore that whenever somebody reads the article, they think, "Oh, yeah, let's put in an explanation of a taffrail here," and they type 500 words, disregarding the fact that there is a big Glossary of nautical terms elsewhere.
Sailing lore is insufficiently self-limiting or self-organizing. When a bunch of people start writing about sailing, you get a huge disorganized jumble of stuff, some of it fun, but you don't get an encyclopedia article.
This phenomenon has to do with the nature of sailing. It is very complex and it attracts smart, creative people. Take a look at Personal water craft. There's a short, simple article. Look at Motorboat. Hmmm.
We still need to 1. cut out the how-to, 2. pare down the detail in all sections, 3. link to various subtopics that already exist in separate articles (instead of redundantly including the whole subject in this mega-article), and 4. clean up the prose.
The result should be an article about one-quarter as long. (good luck!)
Mrees1997 ( talk) 19:54, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
A number of Userboxes have been created for those interested in sailing. Simply copy the code from the Edit page and post to your Edit page. These link to this Article, and clicking on the logo will enlarge the Image. Jagra ( talk) 06:39, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
The statement "The combined efficiency of this sail plan is greater than the sum of each sail used in isolation." is either inaccurate or true only in a qualified sense not indicated. If it were true in a general sense, iceboats (which have very high lift to drag ratios) wouldn't have cat rigs.
It is true in the sense that a sloop rig is a way to get adequate sail area without overly increasing weight aloft excessively, but that isn't clear from the context. To make it clear to the non-expert reader would expand the scope of an already longish article, so I'd be inclined to delete it, rather than befuddle by overexplaining. 216.31.225.194 ( talk) 21:50, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
While disambiguating Heeling, I expanded Heeling (sailing). It might be good to move part or all of Sailing#Heeling to that article. -- Una Smith ( talk) 19:59, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
What is the relationship between listing and heeling? They seem to describe similar effects. Should these articles/sections mention, or link to, one another? -- Subversive Sound ( talk) 22:14, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
The Yamaha 36 was an offshore racing yacht designed to compete in the Melbourne - Osaka sailing race in the early 80's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sloop Rigged ( talk • contribs) 20:49, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
This link has been added and deleted repeatedly:
It appears to be an informative, non-commercial site that could benefit readers. On the other hand, this site:
Appears to be a commercial site covering the same topic as the link above. I think we should keep the first one and delete the second. Any other thoughts? Will Beback talk 19:37, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
I have read the UCLA link and it seems to be just a large advertisement for UCLA. The other site you mention is commercialised, but does contain useful info with no bias to any company or institution. By going for the UCLA link we are aligning ourselves with an institution rather than maintaining an objective view. So even though the second sites has got advertisements (as most good sites do have to stay alive), I prefer it. Anyother comments? TheSailMaster ( talk) 17:10, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
There are ships without sails that tilt so can heeling be made an article in its own right (or moved under general boating) so it can be wikified all over the place? Hcobb ( talk) 21:06, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
==Licensing== Depending on the country or [[continental union]], boating on coastal waters and inland waters may require a license. Usually, boating on coastal waters almost always requires a license, while boating on coastal waters only requires a license when a certain boat size is exceeded (eg a length of 20 meters), or when passenger ships, ferries or tugboats are steered. <ref>Info from Dutch wikipedia article; Vaarbewijs</ref> Boating on international waters does not require any license, due to the absence of any laws or restrictions in this area. Europe's continental union, the [[EU]], issues the [[International Certificate of Competence]].
Add references, ... Also, can the definition be changed to mention that sailing is a type of boating where sails are the main source of thrust used to propel the boat ?
Would place the article allot better in perspective —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.66.60.118 ( talk) 08:44, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
I just found the following whole section in the article, commented out with the remark that it was a 'how-to'. Obviously safety under sail is an important aspect of sailing and this is the 'sailing' article...
I wonder if, with a bit of work, we could change the tone of voice of this material, find some refs and reinstate it? Maybe it would make the article too long and would be better moved to a child-article after that work? Maybe such an article already exists and I just don't know about it. (please put me right if so). -- Nigelj ( talk) 15:52, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
Here it is:
<Start of commented-out material>
First and foremost:
Sailing requires respect for the risks of being on the water. All sailors therefore should be sensibly prepared. Most jurisdictions have certain minimum regulations that must be met as to equipment. When engaged in publicly organized activities they may be required to take additional precautions, as detailed by the authority which regulates the training or racing.
Safety measures may include:
Aside from what may be required by law or a sailing organization, real safety on the water comes from an informed awareness of risks involved and the exercise of reasonable steps to avoid dangers. A Man overboard situation is likely to be life threatening for any of several related reasons since the most likely cause is rough waters and weather conditions. These degrade the ability to maneuver easily, result in vastly different rates of drift caused by both wind and current to the boat and the unwilling swimmer, and in rough weather the reduced visibility makes fast and sure immediate action to be paramount as it is easy to lose sight of the swimming person. In some waters, including inland Lakes, hypothermia can be a major threat to life, so quick recovery of unwilling swimmers can be life-saving. This requires practice and situational awareness.
The guiding principle is to stop the boat (or slow it, if stopping is impossible) and immediately marking the location by tossing a PFD (personal floatation device) or Man Overboard Pole into the water. To achieve this, the helmsman releases the tiller and dumps (releases) the mainsheet.
A better approach is to heaving to. To do this, the helmsman pushes the tiller to leeward (away from the wind) and loosens the mainsheet, ignoring the jib sheets. (Spinnaker guy also dumped if applicable). The sailing boat will tend to come up to weather and the jib will back. When this backing happens, the tiller must be reversed to point towards the boom. - At this stage, the mainsail is loose and flapping and the jib is backed (or spinnaker floging). The yacht is now nearly stopped close to the location of the man overboard. Correctly executed, this maneuver can be completed in a few seconds. (A wheel steered boat would move the wheel to bring the yacht towards the wind and when the jib backs he reverses the wheel rotation promptly, while also dumping the mainsheet).
This should be an instinctive reaction of all helmsmen. It works on all points of sailing. At that stage the helmsman can accomplish the launching of a LifeSling, unless another crew member has previously done so. With a bit of luck, the yacht will be within the range of the cordage on the recovery apparatus.
<End of commented-out material>
At the sailing techniques, perhaps jibing and tacking can be mentioned. This are very important topics as most of the times, a boat needs to jibe or tack to get to a destination. Perhaps the images:
can be added in this article, or another article can be made at wikipedia explaining this tacking/jibing. Also, images need to be CGI'd I thought about adding them to the gibing / tacking (sailing) article, but actually the images are best used in an article describing the whole of the sailing technique.
At the tpes of sails and configurations; aren't rotor ships also a type of sailboat; they use rotors instead of sails, but are actually also a "sailing boat" as they need to plot their coarse based on the wind angle, like sailboats. If so, could be useful to mention them here.
This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 |
It is requested that a physics diagram or diagrams be
included in this article to
improve its quality. Specific illustrations, plots or diagrams can be requested at the
Graphic Lab. For more information, refer to discussion on this page and/or the listing at Wikipedia:Requested images. |
This page needs a vector diagram of the forces due to wind and the water. In particular, show that sailing upwind works by maintaining a positive component of the force vector into the wind. Cburnett 20:02, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
The seriousness of this article needs to be cranked up a few notches. I'be begun by removing the outright rant wrt monohulls vz multis:
-- Egil 07:02 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC)
This page has some good stuff in it, but IMO it is NOT very encyclopedic in style. The Sailing Techniques section reads too much like a How-To manual, I think we would be much better off with a more detatched analysis of sailing theory; basic aero and hydro dynamic forces acting on a boat, the relation between sail trim and relative wind, ect.
Also, this article also focuses pretty much exclusively on recreational bermundian sloops, which is understandable, but it would be nice to try to include (at least implicitly) other types of boats and rigging in the scope of the article.
I would like to hear peoples opinions on this before I start editting. -- BadSeed 11:39, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
I just completed a fairly massive overhaul of the types of sails and layouts, though it's not quite finished. - Dastal 18:10, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
Waay to much How-To. It is like a mini-textbook for a sailing course. Even to the How-To needs to be worked over because a lot of it is so general as to be useless. Hull Trim, for instance, is generally sorta correct, except many boats aren't trimmed like that. You don't move aft in a Laser or a Thistle when going downwind unless it is really blowing. Often, it is faster to move weight way forward on the downwind. Not that I think we should go explaining that. My point is that the how-to format is unencyclopedic and also unworkable, because you have to have how-to (dinghies), how-to (keelboats), how-to (skiffs), how-to (cruisers), etc., etc., and you never reach the end. I feel bad ranting about this, because I don't have time to do the rewrite myself right now unless I quit my job. Tempting. Hmmm. Mrees1997 17:53, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
First, I think the article is great. What about putting together some practical skills; docking, MOB (man over board), uncapsizing a dinghy, some images for points of sail, etc..
I especially would like to add docking because if there is anyway we could make an impact to "the world of docking", I watch people bounce around their slips all day, I believe everyone would be happier.:-) Colin Carr 15:49, 1 May 2004 (UTC)
Good ideas. Please go for it Julianp 06:51, 14 May 2004 (UTC)
I added a section on the layout and advantages of multihulls Gary Mulder 18:00, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Also added a short para. with some references to other WP articles on the most major races Gary Mulder 18:00, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
There's a lot here about modern sailing, but barely a word on the history of sailing. Same goes for sail. Are there really no takers on this aspect of it...? Peter Isotalo 7 July 2005 03:09 (UTC)
* There is nothing on this page about the history on sailing!! My project is due Friday, Nov.03,2006 DUH!!!!!!!!!
The explanation using wings of airplane can more precisely described with the aerodynamic equation called Bernoulli Equation. It states that when fluid (in this case air) flow faster, the pressure will drop. Due to the difference in air flow on both sides of the sail, the pressure difference causes a resultant force pushing the sail forward.
When sailing directly with the wind, the boat approaches the speed of the wind so that the relative speed of the wind to the sail is decreased. Sailing at an angle to the wind, the boat must move faster to effect the same decrease of relative speed because it is only the component of the boat's velocity vector that is parallel to the wind that decreases the relative speed.
I was in an E-Mail discussion with somebody who claimed that a boat can go faster downwind than the wind. It is well known that a boat on a reach can go faster than the wind, but I didn't realize that it was also the case downwind. I didn't believe the person, but then I did some research and found the references explaining why this doesn't violate basic physical principles and why it works. I've added that to the article.-- Gautier lebon ( talk) 13:50, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Hi all, Just thought I'd stick my whisker pole in here... I think that we have the basis of a great article here — or more correctly a series of articles. I think that a fairly major re-org is needed, and I'd start by splitting off at least one "child" article:
And yes, we need a History bit, which could conceivably become a separate article.
Also, we need to mention single-handed versus double-handed and crewed sailing somewhere.
What do folks think of this? Just FYI, I'm working on getting all the single-handed sailing articles up to scratch — see my user page for a list. — Johantheghost 15:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
I agree its a bit bitty, and needs some tidying up. But it doesn't seem unwieldy, the bits seem to belong together. Should we try to rearrange the sections, renaming where need be? I don't really see the need for child articles, someone needing to find out about sailing could reallywant ot know about principles, skills, history, etc,. and therefore have his/her need met by looking up one article. Is there a coherent case for splitting up what we've got? Perhaps the history of sailing would be good, as its a bit of a specialist topic.
TonyClarke 19:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
Hi all, I just removed this from the article:
I believe this is incorrect, or at least misleading; in this definition, a gentle capsize in a dinghy on a duck pond would be called a knockdown. I don't believe that a knockdown is simply when the mast tip touches the water. In all the sailing literature I've read, a knockdown happens when sailing in the ocean, when the boat is hit by a steep following wave and violently thrown on to her side. The key is the violent part; a dinghy will capsize very gently if you simply sheet in and sit on the wrong side, but a knockdown is something that can cause a dismasting.
Now, this is my understanding, but before editing the article, I'd like to have other views, since I've never seen an actual definition of a knockdown, and how it relates to a broach. — Johan the Ghost seance 10:48, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
Capsize just means that the boat is over and staying over. A turtled boat is still capsized. With a dinghy you just lever it over and you are back in sailing trim. A keel boat will NEVER capsize unless there are dire circumstances (Such as dropping the keel). keel boats are what is called "Self righting". That means that at any angle they heel too, including right down to 90 degrees, they will right themselves once preasure is taken off the sails. When this happens it is called a knockdown. The keel boat heals over to the point that the sails stop functioning and the boat then rights itself. What causes a kockdown is ussually a "Broach". This is when, on a reach, the boat heals to leaward and the tip of the boom hits the water. This will often cause the main to tighten up to the wind, with crew being unable to sheet out due to water preasure on the boom. The boat heads up into the wind as it heals over and it's profile in the water changes (same theroy as roll tacking) and is ussually "knocked down" before it can recover. Please note that broaching is EXTREAMLY dangerious and a condition to be avoided at ALL costs. This is also how you commonly break masts at sea.
Jmvolc 01:31, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
Added a bit about apparent wind when going downwind as it's a significant factor there. (not sure about my wording of it - maybe someone literate could improve?) Singlefin 16:30, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
when i used to sail Optimists i remember we used to reef them by ommiting the sprit, folding the sail over and attatching the folded peice with a special elastic cord. Is this a common enough method of reefing to go in the reefing section of this article? Plugwash 19:01, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
The method of attaching the sail while reefing may vary widely dependant on the rigs. It is important to make sure that the reefed portion is well attached to the boom but that the reefing lines are in no way in danger of getting caught in the pulleys or at a risk of tearing the mainsail when running on a beam reach or reach.
This needs to be rewritten. I have added some lines to "The Physics of Sailing" to correct terms. Who else here is a sailing instructor? I belive we should be taking material from the CYA White Sail handbook and US Sailing's program and rewriting them to fit this article. Any thoughts on contacting these organization and requesting permission to reprint the information here? That would be by far the easiest method of a rewrite. If that is not a good idea, I think that we have to determine a level that we are going to write too. If we are only going to to write to a White Sail III level then mentions of the Spin and the physics of sailing may be too much. But if we are going to write up at the bronze level this is all in, only leaving out the technicalities of racing (Silver Sail).
I also note a great lack in informative diagrams. In the physics of sailing section there should be at LEAST a diagram of the Bernonli and Venturi effects as well as how to determine the Centre of Lateral Resistance and the centre of effort and how they cancil each other out to create forward momentium. This would be a far clearer explination then trying to say "the force exerted on the sail is represented by a vector comming off at 90 degrees from the boom. As the sail is sheeted in and the boat heads up into the wind, the effort exerted on the boat from the sail becomes more lateral and creates leaway. The centreboard, or keel acts exerting force at 90 degrees from the centre of lateral resistance canciling out lateral movment and converting the force acting on the sails into forward momentium."
I want to do a full rewrite but could use the help of any other instructors that might be out there.
Peace!
I came across this when looking for ideas about another analogous article. It seems that there are several articles here. It should not be a textbook on sailing, so the first job would be to move out the section on knots. After that:
There is much good material here already, so it probably would not take too long. JMcC 17:39, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
I write a blog called livesaildie, and recently we've began teaming up with other sailing bloggers from right across the world. We seeking to create an entire wiki devoted purelly to sailing. The knowledge that is here is great, but sailing is a huge sport and I hope we can expand it into areas beyond what is suitable on wikipedia. We can't simply copy content off Wikipedia due to incompatibility between Creative Commons and LGPL licencing, but if any of you would like to help out, it'd be much appreciated.
The project is entirelly just for fun, with no ads on the site and everyone just helping out for fun. Its called wetwiki and can be found here :) I apologise in advance if this breaks any wikipedia rules.
NEW REQUEST their is a problem on a link titled.....Sailing traditions and etiquette..... it states a ship should pull up its [fenders] on leaving the harbor, however the link goes to FENDER GUITARS, so what is a ships fender ??? i don't know... thanx...j
Some of the links seem to point at websites that are not maintained anymore (Mark Rosenstein's sailing directory contains a high percentage of dead links); I would suggest to link to Sailingahead.com which contains an up-to-date directory and lots of articles of the "How to" and "General Information" kind. Any pros or cons? Thanks, - Wolfadeus 22:05, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
I have de-how-to-ified the "hull trim" section. This is just a start. This is the kind of treatment that should be applied to each section. (Some of the sections will go away because they are pure how-to.)
The sailing primer should be written in Wikibooks. The encyclopedia entry here in Wikipedia should explain just enough about each aspect of sailing so as to clear the fog from the mind of the uninitiated, not give a bunch of detail and instructions. One of the problems with the how-to stuff is that it is applicable to one type of boat, but not all. We have a mix here of dinghy, keelboat, racing and cruising stuff, not all of it marked as such. If you are really going to help someone learn to sail, you have to explain all the rules, the exceptions, and the caveats, and end up with a book length article that is not at all what we need here.
Okay, sailing experts, let's pitch in and make this article right! While you are at it let's use some actual paper sources. I don't know, Chapman, Royce's, Greg Fisher, whatever. I am tired of looking at Wikipedia articles that cite nothing but web pages. Mrees1997 23:42, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
If it's divided up, it will free up the sub-pages from having to stay too general to be useful
I suggestion the following hierarchy:
Sailing - general description of what it is (this is an encyclopedia, people, there needs to be something for the 8 year-old from Tibet who's never seen a body of that he can't see across), history, and general description of the sub articles.
-- Maczenwes 16:52, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Excellent suggestion, except I don't understand what is meant by navigation: is this specific to sailboat sailing, or general marine sailing?
How about these as article names?
— EncMstr 02:33, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Be alert to the fact that we have many of these articles in Wikipedia already, some under different names. We also have various sailing-related articles that don't quite match anything on this list. There are considerable redundancies. Search for "sail" and see what you get. For example, there already exists
So, my point is that we should break up the Sailing article into several smaller articles as you two suggest, making use of the existing articles as we can. EncMstr's list of categories looks about right. Delete, merge, and redirect, until the whole sailing thing on Wikipedia makes sense. Sounds like fun. Not quite as much fun as actually sailing, but fun. Mrees1997 23:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Spot on both of you. I see the page entitled "Sailing" as a directory and an organization of all of the resouces underneath and don't re-write anything if you don't have to. That would include moving some of this content to other existing pages were appropriate.
Two quick thoughts: I do mean general marine navigation (from the non-commercial perspective). Applies equally well to power boating (with the exeption of VMG not being as important to power boating). Its still a critical part of sailing and I think links should be included.
On "Sailing Lifestyle": in the US, I would lump daysailing, cruising, bare-boating and live-abords all into "Cruising". "Sailing - Cruising and Life" might not be terrible either. I would stick to general knowledge, however.
Anyone objecting, please speak up!!!
What now? Start collecting and contacting the discussion boards for the underlying pages?
Maczenwes 17:55, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
um... In Points of Sail on the wiki, way wrong... a beam reach is NOT and NEVER the fastest tack... The fastest point of sail must be either the close haul or the broad reach... lots of disagreement about this, but my money's on the close haul being a bit faster than the broad reach
Its wrong to say one particular direction is fastest, reach, broad reach, close hauled etc., as there are both vessel and enviromental factors to take into account - the most obvious being sea state, Close hauled might be fastest for a particular yacht (definitly not a Cat!)in smooth conditions, but under rough conditions watch the yacht slow down as it slams against the oncomng waves.
Be nice to have good definitions technical terms such as VMG and how they are calculated (formula)
Cheers
---
Hello there, 65.11.222.234, you are right that it is "way wrong," but I disagree as to the root of the wrongness. What kind of boat do you sail? Is it a slippery hull with a high aspect ratio modern rig or a heavy old gaffer with a sail like a barn door? Spinnaker up or down? Displacement or planing mode?
A quick search on Google finds this example of a [ http://www.hallberg-rassy.com/hr39/speed_diagram_HR39.gif polar diagram for a Hallberg-Rassy cruiser. Notice that in 20 knots, the fastest point of sail without the spinnaker is a beam reach. But, I say, so what?
Give me a beer and I could talk about this all night. We could talk about polars, foils, apparent wind, VMG, race tactics, multihulls, ooching, rocking, and what it's like to sail a Flying Scot in 30 knots at Hood River. And this points out exactly what is way wrong with Sailing.
You are right that the points of sail section is "way WRONG". It is way wrong to make conclusary statements about intermediate or advanced concepts in sailing. We need to purge the article of all the How-to and physics of anything and make it a very basic introduction to sailing for the complete non-sailor. Take a look at the comments above. I hope you get a Wikipedia account and start hacking away at this article. Mrees1997 17:44, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
To alert other wikipedians to our efforts. People keep catching things that are wrong or incomplete, assuming that we really want a complete sailing how-to. Myself and the commentators above are trying to head the article in a different direction. Please read the last few discussion sections and give us your thoughts! I want to prune this article, but not in a way that will befuddle those who wonder why stuff is disappearing. Mrees1997 17:35, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Much of the information was inaccurate in the points of sail section, and the grammer was bad, so I have re-arranged/re-written it. I am an avid sailor and sail several times a week, and much of this page seems to be inaccurate (though large parts of it are very good). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.9.85.234 ( talk) 01:15, 28 December 2006 (UTC).
Welcome, 84.9.85.234. Consider getting an actual account. Then, use the four tildas to sign your name with a time stamp. Take a minute to read the comments at Talk:Sailing#Re-write effort -- non how-to et seq. See if you can help us strip out the how-to material, link to more detailed articles, and make Sailing a more encyclopedic article. I agree that much of the page is innaccurate, but I think the cure is the trim out the too-detailed sections that lend them selves to wanton innaccuracy. Mrees1997 07:18, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
Sailing has two independent sections on rules of the road, Sailing#Rules_of_the_road and Sailing#Sailing_regulations. It also has two independent discussions of "points of sail," being the long explanations of Sailing#Running, Sailing#Reaching, and Sailing#Sailing_upwind, plus a shorter discussion at Sailing#Points_of_Sail, both of which can be replaced with a short paragraph and a link to Points_of_sail. We need to (again) trim out the stuff at Sailing#Man_overboard that is redundant with Man overboard. Sailing#Sailing_terminology is redundant with Glossary of nautical terms. Let's hope people read this discussion page before complaining about stuff being deleted. Mrees1997 19:19, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
Here's a user box that you can use. Just copy this piece of code on your user page:
{{ User Sailing}}
This will produce this:
This user enjoys sailing. |
Cheers! Bu b0y2007 09:47, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello all:
Just wanted to throw my hat in if you need any help. I am the Executive Editor for Inside Yachting a yachting publication as well as handling publicity for a number of yachting events.
Also, I am a photographer with many photos of yacht racing. If you would like to illustrate anything in the sailing topic arena, please let me know and I would be happy to provide photographs. You can see some examples of my work at my websites:
http://www.blastreach.com http://www.insideyachting.com (in the gallery section)
Sean Downey
Blastreach 00:10, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
-- Theosch ( talk) 09:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
I must say the sailing page is getting more verbose and less organized every time I look at it. I don't want to whine too much, because I'll admit I have not done my part to fix it. The sad fact is that I have been sailing 2-3 times a week and that just saps all my time and energy for writing about sailing. We keep getting well-intentioned little edits here and there, but without a complete rewrite and reorganization this article will get keep getting sloppier. Mrees1997 23:44, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
Don't see anything in here yet about various sailing qualifications/ validations from different National bodies, ie inshore, offshore, cruising, crew, skipper, yachtmasters, is it relevant here? Also don't see anything on helming skills, using waves upwind, surfing downwind and so on, maybe this is more relevant to Racing? Jagra 06:20, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that there are a large group of nautical/boating articles and needed articles out there that don't fall neatly into Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships or Wikipedia:WikiProject Maritime Trades, like for example - this one. Others would include anything dealing with recreational small craft of all kinds, authors such as Patrick O'Brian and C._S._Forester, famous yacht designers like Nathanael_Herreshoff and designer/historian Howard Chapelle. The only project that clearly covers these is far to large, WikiProject Transport. I suggest there is need for a project between Transport and Ships, more of a companion project to the Nautical Portal. If there is any interest or comments from here, please post at Portal_talk:Nautical#General_Nautical_Parent_Project.3F.-- Doug.( talk • contribs) 21:19, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Okay. Here's the story... Someone put up a post at blogspot about how the Club Med 2 is an offense to sailing. Someone else took it upon themselves to edit the caption and add a link to the blog post. I removed the picture and the caption thinking that was the easiest thing to do. Not good enough, evidently. The image and link are reposted with slightly different caption. I just removed the link. I think the blog post easily falls under WP:EL's description of "links to be avoided" for a variety of reasons. To cite one in particular: "Links to blogs and personal web pages, except those written by a recognized authority." -- Ben 14:23, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
Every time I look at this article, it gets longer. Eventually it will be like "Royces Sailing Illustrated", that wacky old jumble of yachting lore. If I break my leg and have to spend a few weeks sitting indoors, I will re-write this thing.
My diagnosis is that there is so much arcane sailing lore that whenever somebody reads the article, they think, "Oh, yeah, let's put in an explanation of a taffrail here," and they type 500 words, disregarding the fact that there is a big Glossary of nautical terms elsewhere.
Sailing lore is insufficiently self-limiting or self-organizing. When a bunch of people start writing about sailing, you get a huge disorganized jumble of stuff, some of it fun, but you don't get an encyclopedia article.
This phenomenon has to do with the nature of sailing. It is very complex and it attracts smart, creative people. Take a look at Personal water craft. There's a short, simple article. Look at Motorboat. Hmmm.
We still need to 1. cut out the how-to, 2. pare down the detail in all sections, 3. link to various subtopics that already exist in separate articles (instead of redundantly including the whole subject in this mega-article), and 4. clean up the prose.
The result should be an article about one-quarter as long. (good luck!)
Mrees1997 ( talk) 19:54, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
This user is interested in, Sailing. |
A number of Userboxes have been created for those interested in sailing. Simply copy the code from the Edit page and post to your Edit page. These link to this Article, and clicking on the logo will enlarge the Image. Jagra ( talk) 06:39, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
The statement "The combined efficiency of this sail plan is greater than the sum of each sail used in isolation." is either inaccurate or true only in a qualified sense not indicated. If it were true in a general sense, iceboats (which have very high lift to drag ratios) wouldn't have cat rigs.
It is true in the sense that a sloop rig is a way to get adequate sail area without overly increasing weight aloft excessively, but that isn't clear from the context. To make it clear to the non-expert reader would expand the scope of an already longish article, so I'd be inclined to delete it, rather than befuddle by overexplaining. 216.31.225.194 ( talk) 21:50, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
While disambiguating Heeling, I expanded Heeling (sailing). It might be good to move part or all of Sailing#Heeling to that article. -- Una Smith ( talk) 19:59, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
What is the relationship between listing and heeling? They seem to describe similar effects. Should these articles/sections mention, or link to, one another? -- Subversive Sound ( talk) 22:14, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
The Yamaha 36 was an offshore racing yacht designed to compete in the Melbourne - Osaka sailing race in the early 80's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sloop Rigged ( talk • contribs) 20:49, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
This link has been added and deleted repeatedly:
It appears to be an informative, non-commercial site that could benefit readers. On the other hand, this site:
Appears to be a commercial site covering the same topic as the link above. I think we should keep the first one and delete the second. Any other thoughts? Will Beback talk 19:37, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
I have read the UCLA link and it seems to be just a large advertisement for UCLA. The other site you mention is commercialised, but does contain useful info with no bias to any company or institution. By going for the UCLA link we are aligning ourselves with an institution rather than maintaining an objective view. So even though the second sites has got advertisements (as most good sites do have to stay alive), I prefer it. Anyother comments? TheSailMaster ( talk) 17:10, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
There are ships without sails that tilt so can heeling be made an article in its own right (or moved under general boating) so it can be wikified all over the place? Hcobb ( talk) 21:06, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
==Licensing== Depending on the country or [[continental union]], boating on coastal waters and inland waters may require a license. Usually, boating on coastal waters almost always requires a license, while boating on coastal waters only requires a license when a certain boat size is exceeded (eg a length of 20 meters), or when passenger ships, ferries or tugboats are steered. <ref>Info from Dutch wikipedia article; Vaarbewijs</ref> Boating on international waters does not require any license, due to the absence of any laws or restrictions in this area. Europe's continental union, the [[EU]], issues the [[International Certificate of Competence]].
Add references, ... Also, can the definition be changed to mention that sailing is a type of boating where sails are the main source of thrust used to propel the boat ?
Would place the article allot better in perspective —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.66.60.118 ( talk) 08:44, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
I just found the following whole section in the article, commented out with the remark that it was a 'how-to'. Obviously safety under sail is an important aspect of sailing and this is the 'sailing' article...
I wonder if, with a bit of work, we could change the tone of voice of this material, find some refs and reinstate it? Maybe it would make the article too long and would be better moved to a child-article after that work? Maybe such an article already exists and I just don't know about it. (please put me right if so). -- Nigelj ( talk) 15:52, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
Here it is:
<Start of commented-out material>
First and foremost:
Sailing requires respect for the risks of being on the water. All sailors therefore should be sensibly prepared. Most jurisdictions have certain minimum regulations that must be met as to equipment. When engaged in publicly organized activities they may be required to take additional precautions, as detailed by the authority which regulates the training or racing.
Safety measures may include:
Aside from what may be required by law or a sailing organization, real safety on the water comes from an informed awareness of risks involved and the exercise of reasonable steps to avoid dangers. A Man overboard situation is likely to be life threatening for any of several related reasons since the most likely cause is rough waters and weather conditions. These degrade the ability to maneuver easily, result in vastly different rates of drift caused by both wind and current to the boat and the unwilling swimmer, and in rough weather the reduced visibility makes fast and sure immediate action to be paramount as it is easy to lose sight of the swimming person. In some waters, including inland Lakes, hypothermia can be a major threat to life, so quick recovery of unwilling swimmers can be life-saving. This requires practice and situational awareness.
The guiding principle is to stop the boat (or slow it, if stopping is impossible) and immediately marking the location by tossing a PFD (personal floatation device) or Man Overboard Pole into the water. To achieve this, the helmsman releases the tiller and dumps (releases) the mainsheet.
A better approach is to heaving to. To do this, the helmsman pushes the tiller to leeward (away from the wind) and loosens the mainsheet, ignoring the jib sheets. (Spinnaker guy also dumped if applicable). The sailing boat will tend to come up to weather and the jib will back. When this backing happens, the tiller must be reversed to point towards the boom. - At this stage, the mainsail is loose and flapping and the jib is backed (or spinnaker floging). The yacht is now nearly stopped close to the location of the man overboard. Correctly executed, this maneuver can be completed in a few seconds. (A wheel steered boat would move the wheel to bring the yacht towards the wind and when the jib backs he reverses the wheel rotation promptly, while also dumping the mainsheet).
This should be an instinctive reaction of all helmsmen. It works on all points of sailing. At that stage the helmsman can accomplish the launching of a LifeSling, unless another crew member has previously done so. With a bit of luck, the yacht will be within the range of the cordage on the recovery apparatus.
<End of commented-out material>
At the sailing techniques, perhaps jibing and tacking can be mentioned. This are very important topics as most of the times, a boat needs to jibe or tack to get to a destination. Perhaps the images:
can be added in this article, or another article can be made at wikipedia explaining this tacking/jibing. Also, images need to be CGI'd I thought about adding them to the gibing / tacking (sailing) article, but actually the images are best used in an article describing the whole of the sailing technique.
At the tpes of sails and configurations; aren't rotor ships also a type of sailboat; they use rotors instead of sails, but are actually also a "sailing boat" as they need to plot their coarse based on the wind angle, like sailboats. If so, could be useful to mention them here.