Fishing Q&A

How Fast would a fly have to fly to stay aboard a boat?

Hey people. Here's somthing that ive always wondered lol. Now you have a boat with an open cabin space...Eg a small fishing boat. Pretend you were travelling along a river at 5 knots and a fly was in the boat...if it wanted to fly to the front of the boat would it have to fly at 6 knot's to make it to the front of the boat. In a closed cabin id imagine it wouldent have to work so hard. Unless it was to loose momentum. Dumb question in know But I was out wakeboarding the other day and it crossed my mind haha

Public Comments

1. If it is an unenclosed space then the fly would have to fly at the same speed as the boat to remain moving with the boat. If it is inside the boat it wouldn't have to move at all as it does not have to push through the "moving" air.
2. If you'll read Yahoo Answers guidelines, you may find that they strongly urge you to NOT smoke weed and post questions within two hours of each other.
3. This is the same as how fast an airplane or a baseball need to fly to get where they are going. It is all a factor of wind speed. The fly would have to fly slightly faster than the spped of the boat plus the speed of the wind. The wind speed is also affected by the boat. Even in an open cabin boat the boat is going to push air with it. If there is a windshield on the boat this can help. Unless the fly gets too high, and that is when you will see the fly seem to instantly fly backwards. A better question might be what the last thing to go through the fly's mind is when he hits the boat.....
4. Wow - funny question. Think of the fly as an aeroplane - if the aeroplane, flying outside and, say, above the boat, wanted to keep up with the boat it would have to fly at the same speed as the boat. This would be the same for Ferdinand (Ferdinand Fly, that is) Now imagine you are inside the boat with all the windows closed. The air inside the boat would be still, so you wouldn't have to walk forward in order to stay put (after the initial launch). It would be the same for Ferdinand. If Ferdy wanted to be airbourne inside the boat, he would actually have to hover rather than use speed in order to stay put. So, recapping - a boat with windows open (or no cabin) - the fly would have to be going the same speed as the boat in order to keep up with the boat. A boat with windows closed - the fly wouldn't have to be travelling any speed at all in order to remain in the boat. I hope that's cleared that one up for you!
5. if the boat is travelling at 5 knots then if the fly travells at any speed greater then that, it should be able to reach the front, not perticularly 6 knots