"Okay, then I'll tell you how I run!" Lao Wang said in a deep voice: "The current wind direction of the Windward Strait is mainly blowing in four directions, that is to say, only if the wind direction is blowing northwest at the positive angle of the southeast wind, in that case we will encounter a large headwind."

In addition, we are not running against the wind from other angles, even if the angle is not right, and we can't eat the wind at the most complete angle, but at least, we will not have the situation of the ship spinning, to put it bluntly, we lose part of the wind, the price is to run slower, this statement can be understood. ”

Everyone nodded, and listened to Lao Wang continue: "This is where my idea comes from, let's adjust the wind angle of the sail to the northwest wind angle, and then let it go, no longer like now, adjust the sail in real time according to the wind direction, so as to save manpower." ”

"Ask. Mary said: "If the sails do not change in real time, then what to do when the southeast wind is blown, you also said, that angle is a big headwind, if the White Tulip turns because of this, our time will be even more dangerous." ”

"Asked about the idea at home. Old Wang was about to say this question, but Mary asked it, so he went down the line and said: " I found out through observation that the change in wind direction here is not a circular movement change according to a 360-degree angle, it is very neurotic, it is the kind of blowing towards the south for an hour, and then suddenly shaking your head, changing the direction and then starting to blow to the east for an hour, and so on, that is to say, the change of wind direction is segmented, and there will be no angular wind direction such as southeast and northwest halfway, so the big headwind you are worried about at home will not appear at all!"

"Boss Wang, I don't understand when you talk about this. Tan Liang was obviously confused by Lao Wang's explanation, and asked: "Since we don't have a split wind direction, then in the absence of a large southeast headwind, the northwest downwind is naturally impossible, so why do you still set the sail angle to the northwest wind to eat the wind?"

"Uncle's idea was not to eat enough positive wind from the beginning. As a result, Takenaka asked with a smile, "Is it uncle, I'm right." ”

"Little clever ghost. Lao Wang also smiled and said to Mary and Tan Liang, who didn't understand: "My so-called eating wind noodles in the northwest is just to take a middle value between the west wind and the north wind, not to say that you can turn the sail with the northwest downwind to ensure that you can eat enough wind."

My northwest sail position is actually just my own preset sail position, so that when we are relatively downwind, although the wind is not right, we can borrow the power of the west and north winds, and we don't have to go through the trouble of adjusting the sail direction. ”

Lao Wang paused, and then said: "In addition, when the east wind and the south wind come, because the sail is more oblique, not only will it not encounter a large headwind, but it will also use a little wind power in a relatively headwind, but this wind force is very small, and the acceleration effect is limited." ”

"So, is this slow acceleration really faster than real-time sail change?" Mary replied to the crux of the question: "Lao Wang, you said so many benefits of not changing the sail, but if the speed can't get up, but it is slower than the real-time sail change, then everything is in vain." ”

"That's what I just said, where bamboo is needed to calculate, and to calculate which of the two options can get the maximum speed. Lao Wang smiled embarrassedly: "I am a rough person with a low level of education, and I take time to calculate these things, so I can only bother the little guy." ”

"It's done, uncle. Before Lao Wang's words fell, Bamboo interjected with a proud voice and said: "After calculation, the sail can get greater speed, but the uncle's sail position selection is still a little bit of a small problem, you need to eat the sail surface due northwest is due south to east 45 degrees angle, in fact, this angle should be further east 15 degrees, so that the calculation, the comprehensive speed is greater, is the shortest time we can get at present." ”

"Mr. Takenaka's brain. Boss Tan picked a thumb up, and didn't care if Takenaka could see it, and praised: "It's really not an ordinary person." ”

The strategy of not changing the sail was determined in Lao Wang's decision-making and Takenaka's mathematical perfection.

When the order was given, the sailors on the White Tulip thought they had misheard the Admiral, but when they saw the seriousness of the Admiral's face, the experienced old sea wolves could only begin to carry out the order in doubt.

When the ship sails at sea, the authority of the captain is absolutely unchallengeable, and to put it mildly, even if the captain takes the whole ship to death because of wrong judgment, these seafarers only have the right to make suggestions.

When the final decision was made, they had to carry out the captain's orders unconditionally, whether they lived or died, and emphasized unconditional loyalty, which is why in the 17th and 18th centuries, rebel sailors were often punished with the harshest punishment.

Once the sails were realigned, the sailors were talking, and they all thought that Admiral Van der Kamp was deliberately slow, that he was so tired and that he had enough legends that he didn't take the race seriously.

But what happened next surprised these wind grabbers from the Netherlands.

Although the White Tulip never ran at its top speed in real time after the sail was adjusted, her speed did not become particularly slow due to the loss of power when the sail was adjusted.

Her change of speed was steady and regular, and in this relatively steady change, the White Tulip began to overtake the other contestants' ships, and in the extreme weather of the Windward Strait, the sailors found that their "good girl" was overtaking the vague shadows of the competitors one after another, and the attentive fellow understood and immediately calculated the unit speed, and then he was pleasantly surprised to inform his companions of his discovery.

The speed of the White Tulip per unit of time is nearly 40% higher than the original speed, and this speed increase does not require them to follow the direction of the wind to turn their sails, they only need to hold their posts in the storm, and then seriously deal with the sea conditions.

The manpower on the ship has undoubtedly been greatly liberated, and the simplest example is in front of you, I don't see that the sailors in the gun position have returned to their positions, they no longer have to run on the deck as firefighters.

Lao Wang was in a good mood.

Although his face was still covered with raindrops, his brother's current state was completely different from what he had just been, so that the wind and waves made him feel refreshed.

Takenaka's calculation data has already come out, and if they run like this, they will only need to spend another 6 hours passing through the Windward Strait this time.

In other words, the Invincible Uncle team has controlled the time to pass through the strait to less than 12 hours, and when they finish the strait, they will have the remaining 4 hours to enter the port of Royal, and as long as there are no complications during this period, the time perspective is proper.

In addition to them, the other contestants also crossed the sea in the final time of the competition, each showing their magical powers, and they did their best, some of them were striving for the excellent ranking of the competition, and some were simply to save their lives.

Drake Group's "Wind Pressure Baron" Sheffield is the most relaxed, as can be seen from his nickname, this guy's ability must be related to the wind, although he can't reach such a powerful level of wind control, but under his control, the entire Drake Group's Eighth Fleet runs fast.

In fact, by the time they entered the Windward Strait, Sheffield's had already sailed out of the Windward Strait, and he was the fastest of all the contestants.

Several other strong people identified by Ferdinand, such as Han Bin, the second generation of Southeast Asian officials, etc., have also run good results, although they are all the second echelon that started late, but the sailing race has run so far, they have all appeared at the front end of the sailing team without exception, and the brilliance of the strong will not be erased anywhere.

The calculations were accurate, there were no major problems during the voyage, and the White Tulip successfully completed the small 6-hour voyage in the Windward Strait.

Eventually, 11 hours and 43 minutes after the White Tulip entered the Windward Channel, she managed to emerge from the storm net and enter the northern part of Jamaica Island, which was in good hydrological condition, with 4 hours and 17 minutes left before the end of the race.

Lao Wang did not think that it would succeed just because it was about to succeed, he did not let go, and did not rest at all and ordered the sailors to clean up the messy deck in the storm just now, adjust the direction of the sail, correct the rudder position, and continue to gallop towards the finish line.

Because of his skillful strategy, the sailors held him in greater esteem, and now obeyed his orders, and the whole ship was in high spirits, singing a loud ship's song, and sailed for the port of Royal.

"Family, you beckon your little cubs to be careful, fill in all the shells on both sides, now our course and speed are no problem, the most feared is to encounter a naval battle, in case there are ill-intentioned guys waiting for us here, then the fun will be great. Lao Wang looked at the island of Jamaica, which was already vaguely outlined, and there was no relief in his heart, on the contrary, this flight race that was about to end made his heart very uneasy, he felt as if he was being stared at by a wild beast, and the eerie cold made him shudder a little in the warm Caribbean sun.

Just after Lao Wang almost broke through the limit of his thinking last time, he felt that his senses in all aspects were much sharper, especially this sixth sense, which became more and more acute.

Whenever danger comes, this feeling of being stared at appears, as if to alert him to the fact that something powerful enough to threaten his life is ready to attack him.

"Lao Wang, why is your tone so nervous?What's going on?" Mary and Lao Wang don't look at the time they have been lovers for a short time, but their relationship is slowly established in the battle, speaking of understanding, Mary is very familiar with Lao Wang, at least, she can hear it, it was not Lao Wang's normal tone just now.

"I can't say it, but I always feel that the finish line is just around the corner, but we definitely can't do things so easily, let's be careful, keep our hands tight, and if something really happens, we have to be clever and wake up. Lao Wang confessed worriedly, and his eyes kept scanning the sea, as if there was a deadly threat lurking in this kind blue.

The rest of the voyage in front of the White Tulip is actually quite simple, Port Royal is located in the southeast bay of Jamaica Island, and the route to reach here is simple and easy, which is completely opposite in difficulty to the navigation through the Windward Channel and the Mona Strait.

Those two straits were "places where even the most skilled sailors could die", and the route from the Windward Strait to Port Royal was "a place where even the most lame sailors could pass safely".

Because of the good hydrological conditions and the depth of the water, even the legendary sea creatures and monsters are rare, so basically as long as the ships that arrive here can easily enter the bay and then anchor in the port of Royal.

Takenaka gently turned the rudder according to the instructions of the old king, and the white tulips gently turned half a circle, as long as it sailed for less than 5 minutes, the weather-beaten four-masted Galen ship in the sailing race could turn around the small protruding promontory on the northeast side of Jamaica Island into the Royal Bay, and at that time, the invincible uncle team will also successfully complete the sailing race.

Lao Wang shook his head gently, and said in his heart that he was a little too much of a bow and snake shadow, maybe he was just looking at the end and was worried.

It's true, this road is hard, and there are a lot of difficulties, and now that I've reached the end peacefully, it's natural to be a little unreal, maybe this time the sixth sense is a false alarm.

Wang Mancang was convincing himself like this, and suddenly, there seemed to be a sharp alarm sounding in his head, which stabbed his brain and was buzzing, he didn't care about making any explanation, just hugged his head and shouted loudly with all his might: "Turn the rudder!"

Takenaka's reaction was extremely fast, and he was also convinced of Lao Wang, hearing Lao Wang's words, although he didn't know what to do, but he still instinctively turned the rudder, and the bow of the White Tulip suddenly deflected in the direction of the reef at the cape, and the violent change of direction inertia almost made everyone on the deck fall to pieces, including Lao Wang, who just held his head and gave the order to turn.

Before the sailors had time to complain about why the Admiral was in such a hurry to make the dishes, a few fellows close to the mast had already noticed that the right mast of the White Tulip had been neatly cut in half, and the sails on it had been neatly cut in half, and the sails on it had been neatly cut into a long and narrow opening, and they were stabbing and pulling in the wind, like a clown who laughed and leaked the wind.

It happened quietly, and they even rubbed their eyes several times before they were sure of the truth.

Wang Mancang also got up from the deck at this time, his headache had disappeared, but the terrible throbbing in his heart continued.

If it weren't for his ghostly voice just now, the main mast and part of the hull of the White Tulip would have been cut longitudinally, and as for why he knew it in advance, Lao Wang himself couldn't explain it.

"Admiral, enemy ship! hidden on the back of the cape!" "The sailors at the lookout post also shouted at this moment, and the sound drew everyone to look in the direction he described—a full five large four-masted Galen ships were waiting quietly in the bay for the White Tulip, and behind them was the port of Royal!