Glossary · Sailing & navigation
Polar
Also called: Polaires, polaire, polars, polar diagram, VPP
A table of a boat's speeds for each wind strength and angle.
Polars describe a boat's potential: in 15 knots of wind at 120°, it should reach such a speed. Computed by the designer (VPP, velocity prediction program) and refined by sailing, they feed routing software and show whether the boat is well trimmed.