True Wind Archives

Tag Archive for: True Wind

Is a beam reach relative to true wind or apparent wind

December 11, 2024/by Grant Headifen

Beam reach – true wind or apparent wind – that is the question. Learn about the interplay between theory and practice when sailing a beam reach.

Polar Plots and True vs Apparent Wind Triangle – all explained

December 30, 2023/by Grant Headifen

Learn to use polar plot diagrams to generate a true wind / apparent wind/ boat speed triangle. Understand how a decrease in true wind velocity is not a knock and an increase is not a permanent lift with our simple explanation.

Apparent Wind Speed vs True Wind Speed

July 8, 2014/by Grant Headifen

How to Understand True vs Apparent Wind Here is our latest wind animation built using html5 technology so that it works on computers and mobile devices. It means you can bookmark this page on your phone and use it to explain the concept of true vs apparent to anyone – even whilst out on the […]

The Wind Triangle: Apparent Wind vs True Wind

October 2, 2012/by Grant Headifen

Apparent wind is a vector summation of the boat velocity and the true wind velocity. The animation we have included below shows how the apparent wind changes with boat angle to the wind, given no change in boat speed and true wind velocity. Sailing concepts like this are discussed in depth in our NauticEd Skipper […]

Stopping Rounding Up Dead in it’s Tracks

June 8, 2010/by Grant Headifen

Rounding up is caused by many factors. One is too much wind and force aloft which tends to heel the boat over. This reduces the amount of rudder in the water and thus the rudder’s effectiveness. Another factor in rounding up is the center of pressure of wind on the sails is too far aft […]

True Wind versus Apparent Wind

April 3, 2010/by Grant Headifen

We took this from a section in the Crew and Skipper Courses to easily explain the difference between true wind and apparent wind. >>>>>> Section 7.2 – True Wind versus Apparent Wind – Explained Put you hand outside the window of your car traveling at 60 miles per hour on a still day and your […]

Further elaboration of true vs apparent wind

February 7, 2009/by Grant Headifen

There has been a request for further elaboration of the wind vectors as to why the true wind is always behind the apparent wind. Previously we used this diagram and the confusion is that the true wind vector is in front of the apparent wind vector. The following diagram explains the vectors better perhaps. The […]

Understanding true vs apparent wind

February 4, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Here is an easy description of true wind and apparent wind. Put you hand outside the window of your car traveling at 60 miles per hour on a still day and your hand will feel a 60 mile per hour wind. That’s apparent wind yet the true wind is zero. What if the car was […]