Scalloped wing surfaces for sailboat foils

Milton Thrasher: Scalloped wing surfaces for sailboat foils

The whale through millions of years have developed scalloped leading edges on their flippers. It has been shown in wind tunnel tests that scalloped edges produce vortices that break up laminar flow so that lift is better and turning faster for scalloped edges versus straight or curved edges.

Posted by: Milton Thrasher - website: http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/mft

Rating:: 5/5,

yipster

tatata, what do you know! very interesting

Aug 7, 2004

charliega

I saw an article on this in Scientific American. I wondered myself about how this could be incorporated into a daggerboard or rudder design. I am in the process of restoring an old, small, sailboat.

Aug 14, 2004

asathor

And it WORKs very well!

Oct 6, 2004

marcpiery

The problem is that you find these scalloped fins on slow swimming whales, such as the Humpback. Faster swimming whales such as Blues, Sperms, and Porpoises all have a curved leading edge on their fins. Also, look to the bill fish for high speeds under water, especially the Sailfish, which has been clocked at 68mph. These high speed fish and cetaceans also tend to tuck most fins for high speeds and deploy them when slow.

Oct 22, 2007

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Milton Thrasher: Scalloped wing surfaces for sailboat foils