Have you ever wondered what makes a sailboat glide across the water?
Christopher Fifty, of Churchville, did. Then he attended a camp at Baltimore County Sailing Center. He said he enjoys playing follow-the-leader and tag in the boat he?s learning to sail.
“It?s fun because you can just capture the wind and it takes you someplace and you can control it,” he said.
How it works is more complicated than it sounds.
Beth Kahr, the executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association, said sailboats work more like their modern equivalent, the airplane.
“Basically, when the wind passes over the curved part of the sail or airplane wing, it provides lift, so the same way an airplane will rise in the wind, a sailboat will be drawn forward,” she said.
But what is lift?
“The air is moving faster over ? the back side of the sail, so it?s drawing the sail and propelling the boat in a forward direction,” Kahr said.
To maintain the lift, a sailor has to steer the boat to best catch the wind and trim the sails. Trimming the sails means changing their angle to the wind so they catch the most wind possible. Steering the boat and trimming the sails help you generate as much lift as possible so that you can get where you want to go quickly.
Sailing may sound complicated, but it?s so easy a child cando it ? and a lot do. Kahr said her daughter started sailing when she was 4.
There are sailing camps and classes for children in and around Baltimore. Some, like the Baltimore County Sailing Center, are open to children as young as 8.
It teaches kids responsibility, said Steve Maddox, director of the center.
“Each kid is in their own boat, so they have to do it themselves,” he said.
