Sailing | Gentle Reading To Help You Sleep

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading about sailing, perfect for easing insomnia and finding restful sleep. Relax as Benjamin explores the fascinating history of sailing—from ancient sea voyages to modern exploration—through soothing narration designed to quiet your mind. His steady, peaceful voice guides you through the winds, waves, and wonders of maritime travel, helping release the day’s tension while you learn.

There’s no whispering here, just gentle, fact-filled storytelling to help you relax, unwind, and drift into slumber. Ease your mind, breathe deeply, and let the rhythm of the sea carry you to sleep. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about sailing.

Sailing employs the wind,

Acting on sails,

Wingsails,

Or kites,

To propel a craft on the surface of the water,

Sailing ship,

Sailboat,

Raft,

Windsurfer,

Or kitesurfer,

On ice,

Iceboat,

Or on land,

Land yacht,

Over a chosen course,

Which is often part of a larger plan of navigation.

From prehistory until the second half of the 19th century,

Sailing time craft were the primary means of maritime trade and transportation.

Exploration across the seas and oceans was reliant on sail for anything other than the shortest distances.

Naval power in this period used sail to varying degrees depending on the current technology,

Culminating in the gun-armed sailing warships of the Age of Sail.

Sail was slowly replaced by steam as a method of propulsion for ships over the latter part of the 19th century,

Seeing a gradual improvement in the technology of steam through a number of developmental steps.

Steam allowed scheduled services that ran at higher average speeds in sailing vessels.

Large improvements in fuel economy allowed steam to progressively out-compete sail in ultimately all commercial situations,

Giving ship-owning investors a better return on capital.

In the 21st century,

Most sailing represents a form of recreation or sport.

Recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising.

Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean crossing trips,

Coastal sailing with sight of land,

And day sailing.

Sailing relies on the physics of sails as they derive power from the wind,

Generating both lift and drag.

On a given course,

The sails are set to an angle that optimizes the development of wind power as determined by the apparent wind,

Which is the wind as sensed from a moving vessel.

The forces transmitted via the sails are resisted by forces from the hull,

Keel,

And rudder of a sailing craft,

By forces from skate runners of an ice boat,

Or by forces from wheels of a land sailing craft,

Which are steering the course.

This combination of forces means that it is possible to sail an upwind course as well as downwind.

The course with respect to the true wind direction,

As would be indicated by a stationary flag,

Is called a point of sail.

Conventional sailing craft cannot derive wind power on a course with a point of sail that is too close into the wind.

Throughout history,

Sailing was a key form of propulsion that allowed for greater mobility than travel over land.

This greater mobility increased capacity for exploration,

Trade,

Transport,

Warfare,

And fishing,

Especially when compared to overland options.

Until the significant improvements in land transportation that occurred during the 19th century,

If water transport was an option,

It was faster,

Cheaper,

And safer than making the same journey by land.

This applied equally to sea crossings,

Coastal voyages,

And use of rivers and lakes.

Examples of the consequences of this included the large grain trade in the Mediterranean during the Classical period.

Cities such as Rome were totally reliant on the delivery by sailing ships of the large amounts of grain needed.

It has been estimated that it cost less for a sailing ship of the Roman Empire to carry grain from the length of the Mediterranean than to move the same amount 15 miles by road.

Rome consumed about 150,

000 tons of Egyptian grain each year over the first three centuries A.

D.

A similar but more recent trade in coal was from the mines situated close to the River Tyne to London,

Which was already being carried out in the 14th century and grew as the city increased in size.

In 1975,

4,

395 cargos of coal were delivered to London.

This would have needed a fleet of about 500 sailing colliers,

Making 8 or 9 trips a year.

This quantity had doubled by 1839.

The first steam-powered collier was not launched until 1852,

And sailing colliers continued working into the 20th century.

The earliest image suggesting the use of sail on a boat may be on a piece of pottery from Mesopotamia,

Dated to the 6th millennium BCE.

The image is thought to show a bipod mast mounted on the hull of a reed boat.

No sail is depicted.

The earliest representation of a sail from Egypt is dated to circa 3100 BCE.

The Nile is considered a suitable place for early use of sail for propulsion.

This is because the river's current flows from south to north,

Whilst the prevailing wind direction is north to south.

Therefore,

A boat of that time could use the current to go north,

An unobstructed trip of 750 miles,

And sail to make the return trip.

Evidence of early sailors has also been found in other locations,

Such as Kuwait,

Turkey,

Syria,

Manoa,

Bahrain,

And India,

Among others.

Austronesian peoples used sails from sometime before 2000 BCE.

Their expansion from what is now southern China and Taiwan started in 3000 BCE.

Their technology came to include outriggers,

Catamarans,

And crab claw sails,

Which enabled the Austronesian expansion at around 3000 to 1500 BCE into the islands of maritime Southeast Asia,

And thence to Micronesia,

Island Melanesia,

Polynesia,

And Madagascar.

Since there is no commonality between the boat technology of China and the Austronesians,

These distinctive characteristics must have been developed at or sometime after the beginning of the expansion.

They traveled vast distances of open ocean and outrigger canoes,

Using navigation methods such as stick charts.

The windward sailing capability of Austronesian boats allowed a strategy of sailing to windward on a voyage of exploration,

With a return downwind either to report a discovery or if no land was found.

This was well suited to the prevailing winds as Pacific islands were steadily colonized.

By the time of the Age of Discovery,

Starting in the 15th century,

Square-rigged,

Multi-masted vessels were the norm,

And were guided by navigation techniques that included the magnetic compass and making sightings of the sun and stars that allowed trans-oceanic voyages.

During the Age of Discovery,

Sailing ships figured in European voyages around Africa to China and Japan,

And across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America.

Later,

Sailing ships ventured into the Arctic to explore northern sea routes and assess natural resources.

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

Sailing vessels made hydrographic surveys to develop charts for navigation,

And at times carried scientists aboard as the voyages of James Cook and the second voyage of HMS Beagle with naturalist Charles Darwin.

In the early 1800s,

Fast blockade-running schooners and brigantines,

Baltimore Clippers,

Evolved into three-masted,

Typically ship-rigged sailing vessels with fine lines that enhanced speed,

But lessened capacity for high-value cargo,

Like tea from China.

Masts were as high as 100 feet,

And were able to achieve speeds of 19 knots,

Allowing for passages of up to 465 nautical miles per 24 hours.

Clippers yielded to bulkier,

Slower vessels,

Which became economically competitive in the mid-19th century.

Sail plans with just four and a half sails,

Schooners,

Or a mixture of the two,

Brigantines,

Barks,

And barkantines,

Emerged.

Coastal top-sail schooners with a crew as small as two managing the sail handling became an efficient way to carry bulk cargo,

Since only the four sails required tending,

While tacking and steam-driven machinery was often available for raising the sails and the anchor.

Iron-hulled sailing ships represented the final evolution of sailing ships at the end of the Age of Sail.

They were built to carry bulk cargo for long distances in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

They were the largest of merchant sailing ships,

With three to five masts,

And square sails,

As well as other sail plans.

Iron-hulled sailing ships were mainly built from the 1870s to 1900,

When steamships began to outpace them economically because of their ability to keep a schedule,

Regardless of the wind.

Steel-hulls also replaced iron-hulls at around the same time.

Even into the 20th century,

Sailing ships could hold their own on trans-oceanic voyages,

Such as Australia to Europe,

Since they did not require bunkrage for coal nor fresh water for steam,

And they were faster than the early steamers,

Which usually could barely make eight knots.

Ultimately,

The steamship's independence from the wind and their ability to take shorter routes,

Passing through the Suez and Panama canals,

Made sailing ships uneconomical.

Until the general adoption of carvel-built ships that relied on an internal skeleton structure to bear the weight of the ship,

And for gun ports to be cut in the side,

Sailing ships were just vehicles for delivering fighters to the enemy for engagement.

Early Phoenician,

Greek,

Roman galleys would ram each other,

Then pour onto the decks of the opposing force,

And continue the fight by hand,

Meaning that these galleys required speed and maneuverability.

This need for speed translated into longer ships with multiple rows of oars along the sides,

Known as biremes and triremes.

Typically,

The sailing ships during this time period were the merchant ships.

By 1500,

Gun ports allowed sailing vessels to sail alongside an enemy vessel and fire a broadside of multiple cannon.

This development allowed for naval fleets to array themselves into a line of battle,

Whereby warships would maintain their place in the line to engage the enemy in a parallel or perpendicular line.

While the use of sailing vessels for commerce or naval power has been supplanted with engine-driven vessels,

There continue to be commercial operations that take passengers on sailing cruises.

Modern navies also employ sailing vessels to train cadets in seamanship.

Recreation or sport accounts for the bulk of sailing in modern boats.

Recreational sailing can be divided into two categories,

Day sailing,

Where one gets off the boat for the night,

And cruising,

Where one stays aboard.

Day sailing primarily affords experiencing the pleasure of sailing a boat.

No destination is required.

It is an opportunity to share the experience with others.

A variety of boats with no overnight accommodations,

Ranging in size from 10 feet to over 30 feet,

May be regarded as day sailors.

Cruising on a sailing yacht may be either nearshore or passage-making,

Out of sight of land,

And entails the use of sailboats that support sustained overnight use.

Coastal cruising grounds include areas of the Mediterranean and Black Seas,

Northern Europe,

Western Europe and islands of the North Atlantic,

West Africa and the islands of the South Atlantic,

The Caribbean,

And regions of North and Central America.

Passage-making under sail occurs on routes through oceans all over the world.

Circular routes exist between the Americas and Europe,

And between South Africa and South America.

There are many routes from the Americas,

Australia,

New Zealand and Asia,

To island destinations in the South Pacific.

Some cruisers circumnavigate the globe.

Sailing as a sport is organized on a hierarchical basis,

Starting at the yacht club level and reaching up into national and international federations.

It may entail racing yachts,

Sailing dinghies,

Or other small open sailing craft,

Including ice boats and land yachts.

Sailboat racing is governed by world sailing,

With most racing formats using the racing rules of sailing.

It entails a variety of different disciplines,

Including oceanic racing held over long distances and in open water,

Often last multiple days,

And include world circumnavigation,

Such as the Vendee Globe and the Ocean Race.

Fleet racing featuring multiple boats in a regatta that comprises multiple races or heeds.

Match racing comprises two boats competing against each other,

As is done with the Americas Cup,

Vying to cross the finish line first.

Team racing between two teams of three boats each in a format analogous to match racing.

Speed sailing to set new records for different categories of craft was oversight by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.

Sailboarding has a variety of disciplines,

Particular to that sport.

A sailing craft's ability to derive power from the wind depends on the point of sail it is on,

The direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface.

The principal points of sail roughly correspond to 45 degree segments of a circle,

Starting with zero degrees directly into the wind.

For many sailing craft,

The arc spanning 45 degrees on either side of the wind is a no-go zone,

Where a sail is unable to mobilize power from the wind.

Sailing on a course as close to the wind as possible,

Approximately 45 degrees,

Is termed close-hauled.

At 90 degrees off the wind,

A craft is on a beam reach.

At 135 degrees off the wind,

A craft is on a broad reach.

At 180 degrees off the wind,

Sailing in the same direction as the wind,

A craft is running downwind.

In points of sail that range from close-hauled to a broad reach,

Sails act substantially like a wing,

With lift predominantly propelling the craft.

In points of sail from a broad reach to downwind,

Sails act substantially like a parachute,

With drag predominantly propelling the craft.

For craft with little forward resistance,

Such as ice boats and land yachts,

This transition occurs further off the wind than for sailboats and sailing ships.

Wind direction for points of sail always refers to the true wind,

The wind felt by a stationary observer.

The apparent wind,

The wind felt by an observer on a moving sailing craft,

Determines the mode of power for sailing craft.

True wind velocity,

VT,

Combines with the sailing craft's velocity,

VB,

To give the apparent wind velocity,

VA,

The air velocity experienced by instrumentation or crew on a moving sailing craft.

Apparent wind velocity provides the mode of power for the sails on any given point of sail.

It varies from being the true wind velocity of a stopped craft in irons in the no-go zone to being faster than the true wind speed as the sailing craft's velocity adds to the true wind speed on a reach.

It diminishes toward zero for a craft sailing dead downwind.

The speed of sailboats through the water is limited by the resistance that results from hull drag in the water.

Ice boats typically have the least resistance to forward motion of any sailing craft.

Consequently,

A sailboat experiences a wider range of apparent wind angles than does an ice boat,

Whose speed is typically great enough to have the apparent wind coming from a few degrees to one side of its course,

Necessitating sailing with the sail sheeted in for most points of sail.

On conventional sailboats,

The sails are set to create lift for those points of sail where it's possible to align the leading edge of the sail with the apparent wind.

For a sailboat,

Point of sail affects lateral force significantly.

The higher the boat points to the wind under sail,

The stronger the lateral force,

Which requires resistance from a keel or other underwater foils,

Including daggerboard,

Centerboard,

Skeg and rudder.

Lateral force also induces heeling in a sailboat,

Which requires resistance by weight of ballast from the crew or the boat itself and by the shape of the boat,

Especially with a catamaran.

As the boat points off the wind,

Lateral force and the forces required to resist it become less important.

On ice boats,

Lateral forces are countered by the lateral resistance of the blades on ice and their distance apart,

Which generally prevents heeling.

Wind and currents are important factors to plan on for both offshore and inshore sailing.

Predicting the availability,

Strength and direction of the wind is key to using its power along the desired course.

Ocean currents,

Tides and river currents may deflect a sailing vessel from its desired course.

If the desired course is within the no-go zone,

Then the sailing craft must follow a zigzag route into the wind to reach its waypoint or destination.

Downwind,

Certain high-performance sailing craft can reach the destination more quickly by following a zigzag route on a series of broad reaches.

Negotiating obstructions or a channel may also require a change of direction with respect to the wind,

Necessitating changing of tack with the wind on the opposite side of the craft from before.

Changing tack is called tacking when the wind crosses over the bow of the craft as it turns and jibbing if the wind passes over the stern.

A sailing craft can sail on a course anywhere outside of its no-go zone.

If the next waypoint or destination is within the arc defined by the no-go zone from the craft's current position,

Then it must perform a series of tacking maneuvers to get there on a zigzag route,

Called beading to windward.

The progress along that route is called the course made good.

The speed between the starting and ending points of the route is called the speed made good and is calculated by the distance between the two points,

Divided by the travel time.

The limiting line to the waypoint that allows the sailing vessel to leave it to leeward is called the leyline.

Whereas some Bermuda rigged sailing yachts can sail as close as 30 degrees to the wind,

Most 20th century square riggers are limited to 60 degrees off the wind.

Fore and aft rigs are designed to operate with the wind on either side,

Whereas square rigs and kites are designed to have the wind come from one side of the sail only.

Because the lateral wind forces are highest when sailing close hauled,

The resisting water forces around the vessel's keel,

Centerboard,

Rudder,

And other foils must also be highest in order to limit sideways motion or leeway.

Ice boats and land yachts minimize lateral motion with resistance from their blades or wheels.

Tacking,

Or coming about,

Is a maneuver by which a sailing craft turns its bow into and through the wind,

Referred to as the eye of the wind,

So that the apparent wind changes from one side to the other,

Allowing progress on the opposite tack.

The type of sailing rig dictates the procedures and constraints on achieving a tacking maneuver.

Fore and aft rigs allow their sails to hang limp as they tack.

Square rigs must present the full frontal area of the sail to the wind,

When changing from side to side.

And windsurfers have flexibility pivoting and fully rotating masts that get flipped from side to side.

A sailing craft can travel directly downwind only at a speed that is less than the wind speed.

However,

Some sailing crafts,

Such as ice boats,

Sand yachts,

And some high-performance sailboats,

Can achieve a higher downwind velocity made good by traveling on a series of broad reaches,

Punctuated by jibes in between.

It was explored by sailing vessels starting in 1975,

And now extends to high-performance skiffs,

Catamarans,

And foiling sailboats.

Navigating a channel or a downwind course among obstructions may necessitate changes in direction that require a change of tack,

Accomplished with a jibe.

Jibing is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing craft turns its stern past the eye of the wind so that the apparent wind changes from one side to the other,

Allowing progress on the opposite tack.

This maneuver can be done on smaller boats by pulling the tiller towards yourself,

The opposite side of the sail.

As with tacking,

The type of sailing rig dictates the procedures and constraints for jibing.

Fore and aft sails with booms,

Gaffs,

Or spreads are unstable when the free end points into the eye of the wind and must be controlled to avoid a violent change to the other side.

Square rigs,

As they present the full area of the sail to the wind from the rear,

Experience little change of operation from one tack to the other.

And windsurfers,

Again,

Have flexibility-pivoting and fully-rotating mass that get flipped from side to side.

Winds and oceanic currents are both the result of the sun powering their respective fluid media.

Wind powers the sailing craft and the ocean bears the craft on its course,

As currents may alter the course of a sailing vessel on the ocean or a river.

Wind.

On a global scale,

Vessels making long voyages must take atmospheric circulation into account,

Which causes zones of westerlies,

Easterlies,

Trade winds,

And high-pressure zones with light winds,

Sometimes called horse latitudes in between.

Sailors predict wind direction and strength with knowledge of high- and low-pressure areas and the weather fronts that accompany them.

Along coastal areas,

Sailors contend with diurnal changes in wind direction,

Flowing off the shore at night and onto the shore during the day.

Local temperature wind shifts are called lifts when they improve the sailing craft's ability to travel along its rum line in the direction of the next waypoint.

Unfavorable wind shifts are called headers.

Currents.

On a global scale,

Vessels making long voyages must take major ocean current circulation into account.

Major oceanic currents,

Like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean and the Croceo Current in the Pacific Ocean,

Require planning for the effect that they will have on a transiting vessel's track.

Likewise,

Tides affect a vessel's track,

Especially in areas with large tidal ranges,

Like the Bay of Fundy or along southeast Alaska,

Or where the tide flows through straits like Deception Pass and Puget Sound.

Mariners use tide and current tables to inform their navigation.

Before the advent of motors,

It was advantageous for sailing vessels to enter or leave port or to pass through a strait with the tide.

Trimming refers to adjusting the lines that control sails,

Including the sheets that control angle of the sails with respect to the wind,

The halyards that raise and tighten the sail,

And to adjusting the hull's resistance to heeling,

Yawning,

Or progress through the water.

In their most developed version,

Square sails are controlled by two of each,

Sheets,

Braces,

Crew lines,

And reef tackles,

Plus four bunt lines,

Each of which may be controlled by a crew member as the sail is adjusted.

Towards the end of the age of sail,

Steam-powered machinery reduced the number of crew required to trim sail.

Adjustment of the angle of a fore and aft sail with respect to the apparent wind is controlled with a line called a sheet.

On points of sail between close hauled and at broad reach,

The goal is typically to create flow along the sail to maximize power through lift.

Streamers placed on the surface of the sail,

Called telltales,

Indicate whether the flow is smooth or turbulent.

Smooth flow on both sides indicates proper trim.

A jib and a mainsail are typically configured to be adjusted to create a smooth laminar flow,

Leading from one to the other in what is called the slot effect.

On downward points of sail,

Power is achieved primarily with the wind pushing on the sail as indicated by drooping telltales.

Spinnakers are lightweight,

Large area,

Highly curved sails that are adapted to sailing off the wind.

In addition to using the sheets to adjust the angle with respect to the apparent wind,

Other lines control the shape of the sail,

Notably the outhaul,

Halyard,

Boom vang,

And backstay.

These control the curvature that is appropriate to the wind speed,

The higher the wind,

The flatter the sail.

When the wind strength is greater than these adjustments can accommodate to prevent overpowering the sailing craft,

Sail area is reduced through reefing,

Substituting a smaller sail or by other means.

Reducing sail on square rigged ships could be accomplished by exposing less of each sail,

By tying it off higher up with reefing points.

Additionally,

As winds get stronger,

Sails can be furled or removed from the spars entirely until the vessel is surviving hurricane force winds under bare poles.

On fore and aft rigged vessels,

Reducing sail may furling the jib,

And by reefing or partially lowering the mainsail,

That is reducing the area of a sail without actually changing it for a smaller sail.

This results both in a reduced sail area,

But also in a lower center of effort from the sails,

Reducing the heeling moment and keeping the boat more upright.

There are three common methods of reefing the mainsail.

Slab reefing,

Which involves lowering the sail by about one quarter to one third of its full length,

And tightening the lower part of the sail using an outhaul or a preloaded reef line through a kringle at the new clew,

And hook through a kringle at the new tack.

In-boom roller reefing with a horizontal foil inside the boom.

This method allows for standard or full length horizontal battens.

En-mast or en-mast roller reefing.

This method rolls the sail up around a vertical foil,

Either inside a slot in the mast,

Or affixed to the outside of the mast.

It requires a mainsail with either no battens or newly developed vertical battens.

Hull trim has three aspects,

Each tied to an axis of rotation they are controlling.

Heeling,

Rotation about the longitudinal axis,

Or leaning to either port or starboard.

Helm force,

Rotation about the vertical axis.

Hull drag,

Rotation about the horizontal axis amid ships.

Each is a reaction to force on sails,

And is achieved either by weight distribution or by management of the center of force of the underwater foils,

Keel,

Daggerboard,

Etc.

,

Compared with the center of force on the sails.

A sailing vessel heels when the boat leans over to the side in reaction to wind forces on the sails.

A sailing vessel's form stability,

Derived from the shape of the hull and the position of the center of gravity,

Is a starting point for resisting heeling.

Catamarans and ice boats have a wide stance that makes them resistant to heeling.

Additional measures for trimming a sailing craft to control heeling include Ballast in the keel,

Which counteracts heeling as the boat rolls.

Shifting of weight,

Which might be crew in a trapeze or movable ballast across the boat.

Reducing sail.

Adjusting the depths of underwater foils to control their lateral resistance force and center of resistance.

The alignment of center of force of the sails with center of resistance of the hull and its appendices controls whether the craft will track straight with little steering input,

Or whether correction needs to be made to hold it away from turning into the wind,

A weather helm,

Or turning away from the wind,

A lee helm.

A center of force behind the center of resistance causes a weather helm.

The center of force ahead of the center of resistance causes a lee helm.

When the two are closely aligned,

The helm is neutral and requires little input to maintain course.

Fore and aft weight distribution changes the cross section of a vessel in the water.

Small sailing craft are sensitive to crew placement.

They are usually designed to have the crew stationed mid-ships to minimize hull drag in the water.