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Yachts move through the water because they are pushed by the wind on the sails. If you think about that, the wind is really trying to push the boat over, because the sails are so high. The reason yachts don't tip over is that they have a heavy keel under the water that most times is heavy enough to keep the boat upright. Yachts arrange their sails differently, depending on where the wind is coming from. If the wind is behind the boat, the sailors let their ropes out so that the sails go out sideways to catch as much wind as possible, and they often put up extra light huge sails (spinnakers) to catch even more wind. If a yacht wants to go in the same direction that the wind is blowing from, it can't. It has to go either side of the wind direction, in a kind of zig zag. This is called tacking. When yachts are doing this, the sailors pull in their ropes to get the sails as close to the centre line of the boat as possible, and the boat heels over on its side. The sailors on board then usually go to the high side of the boat and lean their weight over so that it helps the keel to stop the boat tipping over, or capsizing. |