Sailboat Part 1: Why a Sailboat?

A while ago, for whatever reason I became interested in boats, and particularly sailboats. Eventually I found some really interesting stuff and came up with a basic design that could outperform everything that currently exists in a number of ways. Before that, though, it might seem odd that I would care about sailboats, since when most people think of sailboats they think of rich people and 18th century pirates, and how could something like that turn into interesting engineering?

For starters I think it would be good to cover what a sailboat can't do. A sailboat will probably never be the fastest boat (although there are people who try). Jet propelled boats properly hold that title and will probably never lose it. A sailboat also cannot carry a heavy load like a cargo ship or oil tanker. Sail power grows with the square of the sail area whereas boat weight increases with the cube of the volume. In other words sails scale poorly.

However for small and medium boats, sails can be surprisingly efficient and powerful. In light winds and smooth water a motor powered boat might well be able to outrun a sailboat, but in heavy wind and chop the motorboat slows down dramatically while the sailboat takes off. Of course, sails require a good deal of skill to manage, but under unfavorable conditions a skilled sailor has a big advantage over their lazier, motor lubbing counterparts. Some of the best sailboats are much faster than their motorized counterparts even under more average conditions.

Besides speed and handling under the rough, sails also carry some additional advantages. The most obvious is that all they require is a sheet and some wind to make the boat move, and the wind part of that is free. You can never run out of fuel, and assuming that you generate power for other uses by renewable sources, then you can avoid the toxic and dangerous costs of storing fuel onboard (and spare the water from those things as well).

Finally, sailing is fun. There's something undeniably romantic about the stark triangular outlines and the freedom you get with sails. You feel closer to the ocean and the wind when you're adjusting and navigating by paying attention to them, and the quiet of sails has a whole different feel from the constant drumming of an engine. With an engine you fight the ocean, with sails you ride it. Of course that has nothing to do with engineering in particular, but if engineering (or anything else) isn't fun then you're probably doing it wrong.