Can a sailboat sail faster than the wind?
On the run: of course not (well, not without the engine and other cheats). When sailing beam reach: if you have a boat with not too much drag this must be possible. Surfers, ice-sailers and catamarans can easily do two times the wind speed. With an “ordinary” sailboat you will be close to the wind speed, but probably go slower. Perhaps you can understand that when you sail on a beam reach, with the same speed as the wind, The apparent wind is like on a close reach, and you sail just like on a close reach, so that is possible.
