Sunday, July 02, 2006

Optical Illusion

Original picture by Herman Verwaal via Optical Illusions Etc.

10 comments:

EVK4 said...

as my little girl says, kewl.

Anonymous said...

Flashback!

Dude, I am stealing this puppy.

Carol Anne said...

Odd, how apparent shadows can cause apparent motion. The light is hitting the blue dots from the right, and the red dots from the left.

I suppose if the shadows were different, the boat would seem to be going backward. Or if the light were hitting the blue dots from above and the red dots from below, the boat would be sinking. That would not be good.

Tillerman said...

How analytical of you CA. I'm sure you're right. The link to Herman's site doesn't seem to be working right now but he has a bunch of similar pictures. I find this one works best if I keep switching my eyes from top to bottom of the picture every couple of seconds. Do others have the same experience?

EVK4 said...

after seeing a bigger version of this on Joe's site, it ocurred to me that this boat is sailing directly into the wind. i would like to see a discussion of how the new dot matrix sails might improve windward performance especially when that jib appears to be grossly undertrimmed yet the boat is still exceeding hull speed.

EVK4 said...

AND could this new dot matrix technology allow a boat to sail dead downwind (DDW) faster than true windspeed (TWS)?

Tillerman said...

You guys may be on to something. Don't they do something similar with radio telescopes? An array of small telescopes is as effective as a big one the area of the whole array. Maybe the same is true for sails. So if we choose some development class that only has a max sail area spec and then build a massive array of small sails that in total have the area of sailcloth allowed ....

Pat said...

Obviously, the dots function in a manner analogous to the dimples on a golf ball, which significantly increase the golf ball's range. Experimentation has determined the ideal number, distribution, geometry, and morphology for golf-ball dimples; similarly sailors should plan on dot-matrix dimple-sail technology trails. Tillerman should suggest that the local laser fleet give it a try.

Tillerman said...

Or perhaps you should go out with a hammer and a punch one night and bang little dimples all over the hull of Carol Anne's boat. I'm sure it would increase its range.

Anonymous said...

I like all the comments about my sailingship. However it is obvious, that I know more about tric-art than sailing.
In Holland we say in this case:
Keep at your own profession!!!
Regards
Herman

Post a Comment