Gilligan wrote:
The USS Constitution demonstrated that in light air, the speed of the ship
could be increased by spraying water on the sails.

Documented he

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/e...a/const-es.htm


Sure. Well known and oft-practiced trick for getting a bit
of speed out of natural fabric sails. I don't know when it
was first used, possibly back when they started weaving
cloth strong enough that sails no longer needed leather
reinforcing strips (the Viking Age tape-drive laminate).






Think of this. The sail has the most power delivered to it when the
residual wind velocity is zero after interacting with the sail.


I think that's a mistaken assumption. The sail has the most power
delivered to it when it is developing max differential pressure
theoretically possible for it's density & initial velocity.


The maximum pressure differential occurs for any given windspeed when the
airspeed on the low pressure side of the sail is zero.

No, the maximum differential pressure possible is when the
LP side is a vacuum. Velocity can produce pressures lower
than ambient; air that is sitting still cannot.


.... If the velocity on
the "low pressure side" equals the velocity on the high pressure side there
is no lift.


C'mon, you're not thinking in vectors! What if that velocity
is equal to, or faster, than on the HP side and in a
different direction?

DSK