Sail

A sail is any type of surface intended to generate thrust by being placed in a wind—in essence a vertically-oriented wing. Sails are used in sailing. The ships built at around 10,000 BC were just crude log rafts or dug-out canoes. The earliest known ships were papyrus reed boats built by the Egyptians around 4,000 BC. The Greeks and Phoenicians had begun trading by ship around 1,200 BC. The Arabs had invented the sail in about 2,000 BC in an atte... more

A sail is any type of surface intended to generate thrust by being placed in a wind—in essence a vertically-oriented wing. Sails are used in sailing. The ships built at around 10,000 BC were just crude log rafts or dug-out canoes. The earliest known ships were papyrus reed boats built by the Egyptians around 4,000 BC. The Greeks and Phoenicians had begun trading by ship around 1,200 BC. The Arabs had invented the sail in about 2,000 BC in an attempt to establish trading routes around the Persian Gulf. The Chinese had designed sails around 3,000 BC, and can still be seen on traditional wooden ships sailing off the coast of Vietnam in Ha Long Bay. Square sails mounted on yardarms perpendicular to the boat's hull are very good for downwind sailing, and dominated in the ancient Mediterranean and spread to Northern Europe, while being independently invented in China and Ecuador. Although fore-and-aft rigs have become more popular on modern yachts, square sails continued to power full... less