The Sunfish is a traditional sailboat, if not more so. By that I mean the "Lateen" style sail a Sunfish uses pre-dates the design of the Bermuda rig sailboats people are most familiar with today.I'm trying to design a wind-powered bicycle that has sails, and I'm looking into different types of sails.
Can you guys tell me a bit about how a sunfish is different from a regular sailboat?
...how is the sail of a sunfish moved? Are ropes used, like the sail of a traditional sailboat?
Here's a bit more realistic chart of where the wind will and will not work for you.A sunfish sail fundamentally works exactly the same as any other sail. Yes, the diagram you provided is correct, but I think you misinterperted it. You can not sail (propagate?????) in any direction. You can not sail into the wind or up to 45deg to either side of the wind.
I think most of the velocipedes in the land sailing examples aren't actual bi-cycles because designers have learned from one another through a hundred odd years of experimenting. What they've learned is lateral stability is a highly desirable characteristic for directionally controlling wind power.
- Well, my design's different from all those above (most of those aren't even bikes).
- Anyone got any tips about constructing the lateen sail?
- . . . I'd want a really heavy bike to prevent it from drifting away, right?
I'm pretty much landlocked right now in Western Massachusetts; learning to sail on water is gonna be harder than going out and getting some bruises trying to sail on land.