Faster than the Wind!

It’s really remarkable when you think about these sailing boat nowadays and the fact that they can actually sail faster than the true wind.

The thing is, that when you move at a certain speed, you actually create wind (in the opposite direction of where you’re going to) and that happens all the time, not only on a sailing boat. That’s the reason why on a bicycle you usually feel the wind coming from the front, even when you turn around and go in the opposite direction. It’s called the apparent wind, and is not more than the actual wind you’re feeling when you are moving. If the wind is coming from side at, let’s say, 20 kph and you’re riding at 20 kph, you’ll find an apparent wind of around 28 kph from 45 degrees in front of you... and when you turn around, you’re going to feel that same wind but from 45 degrees on the other side.

Anyway sorry for that engineering distraction, I guess sometimes it just wants to pop out. The same happens on a boat. But contrary than on a bike where the friction with the air is the strongest force stopping you along with gravity, on a sailing boat you’re being powered by that wind. And when you move and “create” some more apparent, you’re actually sailing with a stronger breeze than the true wind and thus you can sail faster than the wind. So simple, but yet so fascinating to understand it and to experience it.

Light winds since the start and apart from a good couple of hours with the kite, it’s all been a struggle to keep the boat moving and in the right direction... seems like we have a long race in front of us!