I'm looking for a way to simulate the forces created by wind and how it affects a boat.
In a nutshell: if wind hits a boat (sailing yacht), the bow is aligning with the wind and if the wind is strong enough, the boat will then slowly start to move.
I am not looking for a correct simulation of sails or alike. Just wind as it would affect a boat during maneuvers at slow speed.
Here's what I have tried:
- Make the boat just one body and apply a force: this does not take into account the heavier stern versus the lighter bow.
- Make the stern a heavy body and the bow a lighter one and connect them with a fixed joint: this will make the boat rotate if the same force is applied to both bodies but ignores the fact that once the boat is aligned with the wind, the force should be reduced.
- Create many (thousands) of very small objects with little mass and apply a force to them, simulating the wind "particles" and let them hit the boat: this kills performance on slower devices.
Maybe I am missing a very simple solution that would work good enough?