ADKO

sail2

4 min read

This article by Miles Mathis, first published on April 22, 2022, challenges the mainstream explanations of how sailboats sail into the wind. Mathis argues that the common explanations, relying on the Bernoulli effect, the Coanda Effect, and the sail acting as an aerofoil, are incorrect and have been disproven. He contrasts these with his own intuitive understanding, which he believes is a simpler, first-year physics concept.

Mathis criticizes popular videos and resources like Wikipedia, LiveScience, and MIT for perpetuating these flawed theories. He highlights how these sources misrepresent physics principles and fail to logically explain the mechanics of sailing upwind. For instance, he points out that explanations of the keel or centerboard acting as a hydrofoil are flawed due to incorrect vector representations and a misunderstanding of water flow.

Mathis proposes that sailing into the wind is fundamentally about a “pinch” effect. He uses an analogy of a rectangular block and a wedge against a wall to illustrate how a wedge shape, created by the angle of the centerboard and the back of the sail, transforms the backward pressure of the wind into forward motion. He asserts that this “pinch” mechanism is what allows sailboats to move forward, and that the wind pushing on the inside of the sail is the primary force, not pressure differences created by airfoil shapes.

He also addresses the mystery of sailboats sailing faster than the wind, attributing it to the cumulative effect of continuous wind pressure, similar to how a toy car gains speed from repeated pushes.

Mathis criticizes mainstream science for suppressing his earlier work, particularly his paper “Lift on a Wing”, and for intentionally obfuscating the explanation of how sails work to maintain their authority. He accuses Google of censorship by hiding his highly ranked papers and argues that the scientific establishment is resistant to new ideas and resorts to “fascism and censorship” to protect its outdated theories. He concludes by questioning the credibility of physicists who cannot explain a sailboat’s mechanics when discussing more complex topics like black holes or the early universe.

List of Subjects, Names, References, Locations, Companies, etc.:

Graph View