Interesting info. Thanks!

Thanks Captain John. I wasn't suggesting to use wings on boats necessarily. Just pointing out the our traditional sails, keels and rudders operate like wings, as we know. Agree simpler is safer and more reliable, and the sea is a harsh and unforgiving environment. That said, proper wings used on a boat are definitely kind of cool.

Aircraft are also subject to a lot of loads, flexing and corrosion in their own way. Wings and bodies flex and pressurized cabins are subject to enormous repetitive loads. The lifetime of an airframe is largely determined by the pressure cycles, which is why commuter-route, short-haul planes need to be replaced sooner. Lots of pressurization cycles over a relatively short time puts wear on the pressure vessel.

Good points. Unlike aircraft, cruising sailboats, in particular, and offshore racing sailboats experience continuous flexing and vibration in a wet, corrosive environment. Then, you deal with load shifts on both bolted and free weights. When you tack, bolted weights are suspended from the high side. Loose weights like anchor chain or sailing gear inside lockers or liquids inside tanks can shift. Pitching and pounding create stress too. And, of course sailors deal with flexible foils that shake and shudder and flog. All of these can be controlled to some degree. In my mind, that's a big reason to keep sailing simple. Think about a system before you order or install it. Market hype is often just that. The sea is a harsh taskmaster. Keep it simple and you'll do more sailing and less repairing.

Yes, we have multiple foils on a sailboat: keel, rudder, sails. Some work in water; others in air. When we sail, we're keeping them all flying together. (Some racing sailboats even have proper wings: wingsails, vertical and/or horizontal foils in the water, etc.)

Road vehicles have lots of feel and feedback through the steering wheel and tires. Boats have softer feedback through water and wind. Planes have feedback from air on relatively delicate wings, which is even softer. So pilots tend to develop very sensitive feel and fine control. Several of the instructors in our sailing club are also pilots.

The main reason I pointed out the FAA document is that aircraft practices evolved over a lot of hard won knowledge about how to best use and maintain critical hardware like the pins, cables, turnbuckles, etc. We should generally copy what they do if we want our craft to be safe and durable. There may be some differences in practices, but the reasons for their procedures have detailed failure analyses behind them in order to better keep planes in the air.

Interesting report. Aircraft and sailboat practices are similar. I've sailed with pilots who were excellent sailors. They have an edge when it comes to understanding air flow, lift and stalling.

Slow is good for teaching new concepts, and is therefore appropriate for this audience.

Patrick, I speak quite a bit slower on the videos because of the complexity of some of the subjects. I actually speak pretty fast in front of a crowd or when I'm teaching live. Really fast. Maybe I'll go live on YT one day. It might be entertaining.