A control-theoretic outlook at the no-go zone in sailing vessels

Abstract

Sailing vessels, due to their particular propulsive mechanism, gradually lose power as they face the wind, i.e. when they are in the so-called “no-go zone”. Interestingly, dynamical models of sailing vessels, which are usually quite complex, all have in common this no-go zone effect. Using a control-theoretic concept called backward reachable set, we demonstrate how a much simpler dynamic model that we proposed in an earlier study, has very similar dynamic properties as that of its most complex counterparts. This model comparison is done through theoretical validation and computation of their reachable sets.