March 29, 2004

Hats and aerodynamics

After looking for the Ideal Hat for quite some time, I think I found it.

I had my hat from Paraguay, visible in this photo, but it has the unfortunate attribute that it changes size quite significantly based on the weather. It fits *great* when it is rainy, but doesn't fit at all when it is warm and dry.

Anyways, I got an "aussie hat", which is a leather fedora, a la Indiana Jones, and I've become very fond of it. Except that it has one of those goofy snaps on the side, so that you can snap up one side for no apparent reason.

Well, last week, when it became warm enough to put the top down, I found out what it's for. You see, when you're driving a convertable with the top down, aerodynamics are such that the wind blows directly up on the left side of your head, blowing off any hat you happen to be wearing. But if you snap up the left brim of the hat, it decreases the lift, and the hat doesn't blow off.

Of course, as my mother immediately observed, I'm not sure how that maps to riding a horse. And don't they drive on the left in Australia anyway?

Posted by rbowen at March 29, 2004 08:48 PM | TrackBack
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