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The Art and Science of Sails: A Guide to Modern Materials, Construction, Aerodynamics, Upkeep, and Use
A fresh, readable guide for sail cruisers and racers! Tom Whidden discusses the latest materials and rigging methods for sailboats and shows the consumer how to choose between different cloths and designs, plus the construction and trim of sails, as well as the upkeep of a proper sail inventory.
371 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2020
The Art and Science of Sails is a revised edition of the book written by the same authors 25 years ago. So much happened in sailmaking during a quarter of the century. Actually, there’s not so much art left in the modern world of sails design and manufacturing. Science and data driven methods are almost always involved when you acquire a new sail today.
Computing powers enabled their clever operators (still a mix of artists/scientists) running state-of-the-are CAD/CFD/FEM models to provide sails of the perfect shape for designated conditions. The sailing boats, however, are still operated by humans, and conditions out on a racing or cruising course are constantly changing. This requires a deep knowledge about how to handle and trim those perfect sails. The book gives a lot of good lessons and tips in this challenging endeavour. A lot of things happened recently on the material side as well, which is covered in a considerable amount in the book.
This is one of the best books understandably explaining what Bernoulli has to do with your sails and flow around them. I highly recommend this book to all sailors, and I will keep it at a close reach.
Computing powers enabled their clever operators (still a mix of artists/scientists) running state-of-the-are CAD/CFD/FEM models to provide sails of the perfect shape for designated conditions. The sailing boats, however, are still operated by humans, and conditions out on a racing or cruising course are constantly changing. This requires a deep knowledge about how to handle and trim those perfect sails. The book gives a lot of good lessons and tips in this challenging endeavour. A lot of things happened recently on the material side as well, which is covered in a considerable amount in the book.
This is one of the best books understandably explaining what Bernoulli has to do with your sails and flow around them. I highly recommend this book to all sailors, and I will keep it at a close reach.
April 9, 2018
The greatest merit of this book is that it explains aerodynamic of sails accurately. It provides the right interpretation of the Bernoulli law and debunks several myths about how sails work.
The aerodynamics chapter is worth reading the book.
About the rest, I liked the in depth technical explanation about processes and materials, I liked less the discussion about trimming, harder to follow than in several other sailing books I read. More diagrams would help.
Bonus point: beautiful photos.
The aerodynamics chapter is worth reading the book.
About the rest, I liked the in depth technical explanation about processes and materials, I liked less the discussion about trimming, harder to follow than in several other sailing books I read. More diagrams would help.
Bonus point: beautiful photos.
January 2, 2020
A true Classic that should be in every sailor bookshelf
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews