J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum Racing Tools and Techniques Understanding the Physics of Sailing

I recently stumbled across an article titled The physics of sailing written by Bryon Anderson. It has a good technical explanation for lots of aspects on why and how sailboats can sail. This was published in the February 2008 edition of Physics Today.

A commonly asked question - what is the hull speed of a J/30 is answered as Hull Speed (Kts) = 1.34 x Square Root (Waterline Length). From the boat specs the waterline length is 25 feet, so hull speed = 1.34 X 5 = 6.7 kts