Essay on Sailing

S

SailFast13

New Member
Hey guys,

So for school I have to do a 2500 word essay on a topic within a subject. I chose physical education as my subject and sailing as my topic.

Now I have to formulate some sort of question that can be answered by doing a series of experiments.

I have no idea what to choose, so I was wondering what suggestions you guys had... what would you like to learn about sailing or sailing lasers from reading an essay?

The essay title should sound something like

"How various sail adjustments alter boat performance in winds exceeding 15kts"
 
I think it will be difficult to do an experiment due to variable weather conditions. You won't be able to hold everything beside what you're trying to test constant. Unless you're indoors, there are too many variables. Maybe you should think about testing a component of the boat instead of the whole thing, but I can't think of a good experiment off the top of my head that would be easy to do.
 
How about: When sailing a Hobie 18 in 15-20 knots over an Olympic race course, endurance is more important that strength. (or vice versa)

It is arguable and you could create some simple experiments (fun too) to test your thesis.
 
Beg/Borrow a heart rate monitor and check to see how various hiking style affect your heart rate. A hiking bench would make it easier. You could do something like :

Straight leg- 5 mins
Straight leg - 10 mins
Toes Only - 5 minutes
Toes Only - 10 minutes.

etc... Then you could also add how much sheeting actions/changing hiking position (in a gust/lul situation) affects your heart rate.

I'd be interested in what you find! Course, I can't hike for more that 3 minutes without passing out, so I guess I am not really able to talk.
 
Mawill said:
Beg/Borrow a heart rate monitor and check to see how various hiking style affect your heart rate. A hiking bench would make it easier. You could do something like :

Straight leg- 5 mins
Straight leg - 10 mins
Toes Only - 5 minutes
Toes Only - 10 minutes.

etc... Then you could also add how much sheeting actions/changing hiking position (in a gust/lul situation) affects your heart rate.

I'd be interested in what you find! Course, I can't hike for more that 3 minutes without passing out, so I guess I am not really able to talk.
Click to expand...

I like this idea
 
A couple years back I saw someone actually do a science project on the affects of weight posistion vs speed. This kid had everything knocked out from 4 knots to 30. I think he had someone on a powerboat time him from point A to point B and watched the time it took for each time of wind in each position. It was a pretty cool project
 
Another one could be boat heel to windward.

Do the same tack 10 times with heel and then flat (10 times to get an average)
You could try it in different wind strengths as well.

Personally I sail with heel in winds below 5kn to reduce wetted surface area as well as using the hull shape to push you to windward. Your tests could show if this is so.

Just have to wait for right conditions though.

Ian
 
Mawill said:
Beg/Borrow a heart rate monitor and check to see how various hiking style affect your heart rate. A hiking bench would make it easier. You could do something like :

Straight leg- 5 mins
Straight leg - 10 mins
Toes Only - 5 minutes
Toes Only - 10 minutes.

etc... Then you could also add how much sheeting actions/changing hiking position (in a gust/lul situation) affects your heart rate.

I'd be interested in what you find! Course, I can't hike for more that 3 minutes without passing out, so I guess I am not really able to talk.
Click to expand...


This idea has ALOT of merit; since you're pursuing physican education topic here, run one set of experiments then after say a week or two of cardiovascular training (running swimming cycling etc..) see if your heartrate is lower.
 
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