SAIL

Tides Marine Sailtrack

Gravity is an important force at work on a sailboat. It keeps the boat upright, it makes the anchor drop to the bottom, and it makes the mainsail slide neatly down the mast to be flaked and put away at the end of the day… until it doesn’t.

In the case of dropping the mainsail, the enemy of gravity is friction. Full-length battens and modern, stiff sail materials place forces, my 1963 Cal 40.

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