Module 4 Wind Speed Effects

When the wind starts picking up in speed, halyard tension, outhaul, draft and Cunningham begin to play a greater role. They're a bit beyond the scope of this course and are covered more extensively in the full NauticEd Sail Trim Clinic.

However, we are going to discuss sail twist here now. It's a bit technical but it's important so we've created some interactive flash animations to easily understand and grasp the concepts.

Twist in the sail is important for two reasons:

1. The wind direction at the top of the mast is different than the direction at the bottom of the mast.
2. The force from the wind at the top of the mast creates more heeling moment on the boat than wind force at the bottom of the mast.