Airplanes deploy revers thrusters when landing which are basically just shaped metal shields that move into place behind the engines to provide reverse thrust and slow the plane.

But adding a fan on a sailboat is seen as stupid and doesn't work.

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[–] 2 points 1 week ago (4 children)

It works by redirecting the flow of outgoing gas forwards.

This may shock you to learn, but typing your question into a search engine and reading any Wikipedia articles in the results is something you can do yourself; it's much faster and more accurate than asking random strangers on the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_reversal

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago

    But it isn't as fun

    You know that everyone knows that Wikipedia and search engines exist, right? People don't post questions on forums because information doesn't exist elsewhere. It's because of the social factor.

    Besides, Wikipedia isn't perfect, and search engines have gone to shit

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    How is the sail in this pic any different?

    It is redirecting the flow of air from the fan

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    The reverse thrusters redirect the air coming out in the opposite direction, so it is like turning the fan in the opposite direction.

    A sail catches the air to pull the boat along and some of it bleeds off, but it does not direct any air backwards to propel the ship forward.

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