waterline length and is proportional to the square root of the vessel's length at the waterline. Applying more power does not significantly increase the speed of a displacement vessel beyond hull speed. This is because the vessel is climbing up an increasingly steep bow wave with the addition of power without the wave propagating forward faster. Planing and foiling vessels are not limited by hull speed, as they rise out of the water without building a bow wave with the application of power. Long narrow hulls, such as those of catamarans, surpass hull speed by piercing through the bow wave. Hull speed does not apply to sailing craft on ice runners or wheels because they do not displace water. See also Dinghy racing High-performance sailing Land sailing Racing Rules of Sailing Sailing at the Summer Olympics Single-handed sailing Notes References Bibliography "Transportation and Maps" in Virtual Vault , an online exhibition of Canadian historical art at Library and Archives Canada Rousmaniere, John, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, Simon & Schuster, 1999 Chapman Book of Piloting (various contributors), Hearst Corporation, 1999 Herreshoff, Halsey (consulting editor), The Sailor's Handbook, Little Brown and Company, 1983 Seidman, David, The Complete Sailor, International Marine, 1995 Further reading