Sailing Faster Than The Wind - How Is That Even Possible?

This is gonna be a game changer in season of thieves

So in essence a sail is just a simple machine such as wedge that can redirect a force over a distance to increase or decrease work depending on the angle and amount of force?

Use a fan, man

ok but because the work will remain sthe same, it would have less power

I'm sure you can sail faster than the wind by using a nuclear reactor

This reply could be in parts. Because in my mid 20s, just over 30 years ago, I speculated that I could make a boat to go directly up wind without tacking so I did it. Very high pitch windmill turning a large very low pitch water propellor. Now every time I see a vid like this it brings out my nostalgia 😎

So you’re essentially using mechanical advantage

Sails and airfoils in general do NOT work by direct deflection of airn like it's portrayed with this model

The Sails do work a lot like a plane wing it's the air rushing around the outside of the sale faster than the inside of the cell which creates the low pressure system so it doesn't actually get pushed along it gets sucked along it keeps slipping into the lower air pressure system and then you have to look at the boat itself the boomy of the boat the more surface area so the more surface area the faster you go too

Wind gear ratios

You're legend, leaving this up. There's a reason sailboat sail is same as wing in airplane :)

On sail boats I propose "lift" should be termed "shove".

Double the amount lf sails now you are going twice as fast as the wind, easy

"The speed at which the sail exactly misses the packet of air"
That's such a clever way of putting it!

I appreciate this being the first time that someone can explain the devil magic that is sailing to me. Everything I tried to read online just says "It's like how airplane wings work!" As if it explained anything lol

even as a moron, i already guessed the first 2 minutes worth of "explination"
get to thefucking click bait part

i clicked on the fucking video to see how it works.
you dont have to waste 60 seconds explaining to me why i want to know.
i already came, i want to fucking know
stop blabbin
get to the facts.

I guessed tacking before I played the video, but I was not prepared to see what I saw. Impressive!

The Pico dolly can be fitted with a simple French flag and it will accomplish the same thing.
Unfortunately the dolly seems to be out-of-stock!

I'd love to see the energy balance on this. I think people (myself included) see something traveling directly into the wind at a speed faster than the wind and initially think "perpetual motion!" but obviously that isn't true. Great video.

I know I'm late to the party but since we are talking about sails, how does this change in space, like with a solar sail?

Incredibly the thumbnail for this video explains everything.

Finally, a science video I actually can understand!

Great video Steve!

YES, THE POWER CORD THING! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE THAT OUT FOR MONTHS! I mean, i actually just thought about it for a couple minutes a couple months ago but I COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT PLEASE PLEASE SHOW ME!!! I NEED IT FOR PARTIES AND PRANKS

So technically you could go as fast as you want if the angle of the sail was super small and there’s no resistance

This video finally made me understand how it is possible. Thank you for the great explanation

Can I just say that I love Matt Parker's framed picture of 80s teen heartthrob Steve Mould.

Oh yes one other thing, a sailing yachts length does not mean it will go faster than a shorter one. E.g. Kite surfer verses an 86 meter high performance superyacht. Having sailed both the former is a lot faster but the coffee and biscuits are better on the latter😄

Sailing Speed through the water (STW) is the end product of a multitude of variables. Wetted surface area, sail area, righting moment, true wind velocity, apparent wind speed and direction, to name the main elements. So a very light yacht with very a low wetted surface area, high sail area and a righting moment that prevents it heeling over when wind speed increases, will easily sail faster than true wind speed. Multihulls generally sail faster than true wind speed as do light monohulls or any sailing vessel on foils. Basically design a light yacht, keep it upright and out of the water as much as possible, trim the biggest sails you can handle, trim them properly, steer nicely and bob's your uncle. Sailing's amazing so if you haven't had a go then give it a shot.

Now do it to a solar sail

Isn't @veritasium that sometimes fake science channel that posts corporate lies and propaganda in exchange for corporate money?

Dereks contraption had some questionable moments and might be fake. I did commented on that, but didn't got any explanation

There’s an old Boeing engineer with a video that shows it to be both Bernoulli and Newton aka snow-plow. He also shows that the assumption of Bernoulli advocates for air molecules meeting up at the trailing edge is false though in favor of even more Bernoulli as the top side molecules actually beat the shorter bottom side from leading edge to trailing edge. It’s a lengthy lecture, however.

LOL, "resting sarcasm voice"!

LOL @ Matt: "You've reached a million... it's not X-OR!"

It's possible that Derek's video is still remarkable even if we have seen it.

"Up... in the upwards direction"? Wow, instead of "up... in the downwards direction"?

"And that pushes the boat forwards. That's pretty straightforward...."

HAHA, I got it; nice pun!

I don't remember if I watched and commented on this one or not.

IDI OTS! .... this is for sure Faster than the speed of the stick, not the wind... we are a world of intelligent individuals MADE MEGA MEGA MEGA idi ots repeating idio cies that multiply the number number blind idi ots in them audiences.... faster than the speed of the wind in the same direction of the wind with only the wind as the driving force only idi ots can thick other idi ots into believing that it is possible ....obtaining more energy than the energy put in is only possible with fusion and fision but only for idi ots because the energy released in fusion and fision was already put in long time ago .... but the trick or magic for the idi ots is that if you blow on the sails the vehicle will move forward and faster than the air when the air stops blowing and one can prove it thay it is faster by measuring it but it is only because the source have stopped blowing.... idiots ... even an electrical fan continues to rotate after the electricity has been turn off... lets create an investment company to start making this faster than air speed vehicles, for idi ots

Well done, who needs a high dollar budget?

Sailing faster than the wind? They've been doing that for over a hundred years. No big deal......... on ice.
Plus, it's being done with the new Americas Cup Yachts. Check out these incredible Yachts.

This guy needs to understand phsics, he teaches all wrong

If the blade can capture more force of the wind then the car weighs yes it can go faster.
But it can not go faster then the force applied to it.
Speed is only one factor.

Newton third law requires a pair, where is the pair? WRONG!