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An interactive 3D vector analysis showing the velocity triangle and the net forces acting on the WBHF can be toggled on the Interactive 3D CAD model (240kb)
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The fundamental law of sailing

$\beta =\arcsin \left(\frac{\sin {\epsilon }_{\mathrm{A}}}{\cos {\phi }_{\mathrm{A}}}\right)+\arcsin \left(\frac{\sin {\epsilon }_{\mathrm{H}}}{\cos {\phi }_{\mathrm{H}}}\right)$

Symbols β Apparent wind angle εA Aero drag angle εH Hydro drag angle &phiopen;A Aero elevation angle &phiopen;H Hydro elevation angle W Weight FA Aero force FH Hydro force VA Apparent wind velocity VH Water flow

VRML model of vector diagram (10kb)
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Further information

Ultimate Sailing (4.8Mb, PowerPoint slides, July 2005)

A Fundamental Theory of Sailing and its application to the design of a Hydrofoil Sail Craft , (559kb pdf format, Technical paper, October 2001)

For correct rendering of this page your browser must support XML and MathML. Visit the old science page to see a gif image of the fundamental law equation. The old page does not show new material added since 12 April 2008.