Making of Sailboats

The video below shows a very high class boat, which is engineered by proffesionals from a certain part of the world. Ireland doesn't produce sailing vessels as we do not have the proper resources and so we do not benefit from that area of production. Many sailobats are produced in Europe such as France, Holland and Germany. Across the sea, America is also a huge sailing vessel developer. The video shown below is the work of the Americans. Sailing boats were first constructed by hands but of course in this modern era, robotics arms and cranes are used to complete these huge boats in factories, which is sent to the organisation that sells them either online, by newspaper or even by sticking pieces of paper up on windows. They are popular all over the world and can achieve long distances. Many of them have much luxury and people can spend weeks on them as they can eat, cook and clean themselves in them. Overall, sailing is a worldwide geographical favourite.

FSX X55 Drifter Sailing Yacht - These bloopers are hilarious

Sailing Clubs

www.insc.ie/.../Default.280.html

As sailing is a huge hobby, many people join clubs to improve on their skills, which is exactly what I did. I have been attending the Irish National Sailing School, located in Dun Laoighre, Co.Dublin. It has been run since the 70s and it's a great place for people of all ages get to sail at any aspect. I joined with my cousin in August 2008 and it was great. We are now on level 2, which is one level away from being a genuine sailing, which is something I aim high for. Myself and my cousin try to return there as much as we can, either on weekends or long holiday breaks from school. It has a great atmosphere there and we are friends with many of the instructors who are nearly the same age as us. It has a real sense of family and I learned much from attending this club.

Another Club located in Dun Laoighre as well is The George, which is one of the most exclusive sailing clubs in Ireland. I have had the privilege to sail around their harbour which is full of huge, beautiful and well manicured sailing vessels. Maybe someday, I'll be good enough to join.

The photo show above, is just a group of young enthusiastic sailors, who are keen and excited to learn, a bit like I was when I first started out. Although, I'm always keen and excited to learn about this intense hobby of mine.

Racing

Yacht racing is a very popular past time and many people take part in it, either as apart of a club or organisation or just owning a yacht enables a person to race. The Racing Rules of Sailing, aka RRS, governs any type of wind associated sport on the sea e.g. Yacht racing, windesurfing, kitesurfing. A new set of rules is set up every 4 years after the Olympic Games by
the International Sailing Federation.
www.fbyc.net/Fleets/Offshore

Here are a few rules, taken from the 1940 charter:

• Boats on a port track must give way to vessel on starboard side.


• When two vessels are about to make the same tack, the windward boat must keep clear of the leeward boat.


• If two boats are tacking at same rate once more, the vessel astern must bee clear from the boat ahead, to give it room to tack.


• When a boat is tacking, it should not go near boats who are not in the tacking position during the race.


• Even with right of way, a sailor should avoid colliding at all costs, to avoid accidents and serious injury.


• If you want right of way, you must warn the boats around you, to see if they would like to aquire it
  
• When a boat tries to change course, the sailor controlling the vessel must let other sailors aware of this.

Other rules cover the topics of sailing, including starting errors, taking penalties or when a vessel becomes capsized.

There are only 14 rules in sailing now, ever since 1997 but before there was as much as 90 rules. It was proved that it's not necessary to know every basic rule of dingy sailing.

Sailing takes much of team work and communication, ignoring each other and what they say and do, may result in losing the race or even in tragedy.

It is never a good idea to go sailing in bad weather and it's recommended not to.

Sailing Safety & Rules

Safety
Here are a few simple rules that absolutely MUST be followed before thinking of going out onto water:

• Always check the weather forecast before launching off.


• Be aware of offshore winds (winds that will push you out).


• Sail at a well-known location.


• Check if equipment meets safety standard.


• Tell someone you are going out and when you'll be back.


• Protect yourself from the elements with appropriate clothing.


• Drink plenty of water - avoid dehydration.


• Know the rules & responsibilities between sailing vessels.
  


• Dodge hypothermia and know how to identify/treat it.


• Practice the heave position & man overboard drill

Rules

There are a few simple rules in Sailing, which is shown in the video located below:

http://www.veoh.com/collection/SportsSailing/watch/v18932041mB8GkSEH

If you don't follow these safety rules and regulations, something bad is bound to happen:











www.pbase.com/fish063/image/65456003

This is only a minor case, many others can result in serious injury e.g. broken limbs or hypothermia or even death, either by a bad injury or lack of water. It is the fastest way to die, a person can be dead within 10 minutes, unless it is detected in the early stages, which would be blue lips, shaking and unawareness. You must have a floating device on yourself at all times, due to the unlikely incident of the yacht having an accident or the sailor falling over board. It should be compact with requirements such as a whistle and a torch, and a lever to release the air, so it can properly function. Even dogs need to be safe aboard.

www.thedogsupplyco.com/image_manager/attribut...

Basic Sailboat Terms

www.wileynautical.com/details/feature/109909/...

Rudder: A spade-like object at back of boat, which helps steer the yacht.
Tiller: The lever that controls the rudder.
Winches: Mechanical device to pull in power on a line.
Keel: Weighed fin at the bottom of the boat that keeps boat steady.
Bow: Front end of the boat.
Pulpit: Safety rail at bow of yacht.
Stern: Back end of Boat.
Port: Left side when facing forwards.
Starboard: Right side when facing forwards.
Mast: Large Vertical spar which helps control boom and sail.
Boom: Large horizantal spar which is used to hold and extent the sail

Main Points of Sailing

The points of sailing are the most important type of theory to remember. The no go zone is about 45° either side of the true wind, which can be achieved by sailing upwind at a very fast speed. The highest rate that a sailing boat can achieve is upwind 50°-55° to true wind. As I mentioned earlier, no sail boat can sail directly into wind, which would create much drifting and can be seen when the sail begins to start luffing, which is flapping. Sail trim depends on which point sail is on. There are 5 main sailing points:

• Close haul (45°-the least angle that the boat and it’s rig can manage, sails pulled in tightly)
• Close reach (between close haul and broad reach, sails let out)
• Beam reach (90° apparent to wind)
• Broad reach (between running and a beam reach)
• Running (close to directly downwind, sails let all the way out)

www.spinnaker-sailing.com/lessons/keelboat/

Physics of Sailing

www.recsports.ufl.edu/wauburg_sailing_chap4.aspx

A sailing boat is powered forward due to the reaction of moving winds against the sails. The energy is then helped by manipulating the wind action and the water speed. If there is very little difference with movement, such as on a calm day with the ocean and weather, the boat will do nothing but drift along. But if it suddenly changes, there is energy created and you can see this when the air beats against the sails and the boat goes against the water. Sails are airfoils and that work by harnessing the wind together to combine much energy and a type of wind called apparent wind, which is the velocity of the sail's wind. The sail then produces a lift using the air around it. This works in nearly all directions but if the boat is faced head to wind it will not move as the wind is too strong to let the boat travel against it. Other Strong built sail boats e.g. iceboats can benefit from these winds as they are designed in a special way. To get out of the head of wind, a sailor needs to tack around an angle bigger than 35°or greater than 80°, just outside of the wind sector. Tacking will give the sails an aerodynamic lift when sailing up wind but down wind, it is soon released.

nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/index.htm

History

Sailing has been around for millions of years, usually known as a major source of transport between long or short distances. Sail boats were used from the simplest materials but the most used supply was wood and the plainest piece of cloth was used to catch the wind, which enabled the boat to travel across the water. The kind of ship used in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea had a sail called a lateen, which made it easy to handle but slow and too light. In the Atlantic, a square sail was used. This made the ship very fast but much harder to maneuver. These were the 2 main types of sail ships, until the age of Exploration was a turning point in the history of sailing & the world. The 2 ships were combined and the caravel was built, which made the ship fast & easy to sail. This ensured longer expeditions to new regions of the world, which were now being discovered by Explorers such as Vasco de Gama. Sailing was very hard back then and they didn't have modern instruments like nowadays and mainly relied on the sun & stars to guide them and their crew too. Sailors on board were usually prisoners presumably being sent to their death by falling over the edge of the world, as people thought the world was flat. Sailors suffered from horrible diseases, such as, scurvy, which is lack of vitamin C and typhoid, due to foul water. Also huge storms were bound to happen which could easily drown soldiers and destroy ships. In the end, many crews found new areas of the world and this proved that the developments of sailing really helped the development of the world.