Guest Dry Reach Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Here is a Brain Teaser. It is from an engineering Website and it is possible a couple of others here also view this website. The actual answer is going to be posted on the 6th, so even those that have seen this before, can still offer there opinions. Although they most likely have been privy to many of the replies. So here it is. You are in a sailing race on a very wide river. On land there is no wind; it is a dead calm. The race is 10 Km downstream, and the river is running 5 Km/ hr. Your opponents decide that to make the best time, they will streamline their boats to the wind and float downstream as fast as they can. You decide on a tacking strategy, sailing back and forth across the river's width. Who wins the race? What is the winning time? Hold on everybody!!! Tacking is certainly faster, with a speed of about 3 km/h through the water being feasible on a fast boat in this breeze. If the boat is well sailed, .7 of this will be VMG, so the speed over the ground will be about 2 km/h + 5 km/h or about 7 km/h. Time would be about 1.4 hours. The drifters would be pushed back a bit by aero drag. So maybe 2.1 hours would be required. Um? let be think? ahhh yes Link to post Share on other sites
SloopJohnB 323 Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Sorry I bet you to the post SJB. It would be cleating for me to post the answer before you. Someone might protest. Also you get up before me in the mornings. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Oh but I knew you would have known the answer before it was posted on CR4 SJB Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dry Reach Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Sorry I bet you to the post SJB. It would be cleating for me to post the answer before you. Someone might protest. Also you get up before me in the mornings. Cleating? is that defined as being in a Jam while Cheating? Wheels, the solution is very basic and based on no detail. given that the question gave river velocity and wind velocity (on Land) but no detail on boats (speed / windage) i would respectfully suggest that this is not a Technical nor engineerign (C4 and other websites forums) question but a "general/hyperthetical" or basic theory question. Not saying the answer is wrong, but it is just a reflection of the vague question. IMHO Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share Posted July 7, 2010 Wheels, the solution is very basic and based on no detail. Absolutely. What do you expect from an engineering site. That i why i said earlier, that everyone is way over analyising the question and making the answer too complex. It has shown one thing though, with the number of replies, we obviously all enjoyed the quiz. So maybe I will look into finding some kind of similar and regular sailing quiz typoe question that we can have a go at weekly. What do you reckon squid??? Link to post Share on other sites
B00B00 310 Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Yes I really enjoyed it, both interesting and extremely frustrating at the same time.......! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dry Reach Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Wheels, the solution is very basic and based on no detail. Absolutely. What do you expect from an engineering site. That i why i said earlier, that everyone is way over analyising the question and making the answer too complex. It has shown one thing though, with the number of replies, we obviously all enjoyed the quiz. So maybe I will look into finding some kind of similar and regular sailing quiz typoe question that we can have a go at weekly. What do you reckon squid??? Yeah Very... bring it on Quiz "master" Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 Absolutely!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
bene_sails 0 Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 What is the winning time? so do we have an answer for this bit? Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share Posted July 7, 2010 Arrr, yeah, faster than the other boat. Yeah I know, it's a bit lame. Sorry, I was expecting something just a trifle more detailed than that also. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dry Reach Posted July 7, 2010 Share Posted July 7, 2010 What is the winning time? so do we have an answer for this bit? i PICKED 4:30:23PM Link to post Share on other sites
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