Posted by John on May 09, 2009 at 21:36:56 user John.
In Reply to: Re: confusing terminology, was: Re: Daylight saving time posted by Peter H on May 09, 2009 at 12:31:51:
Well . . as I was saying. You put the tiller down (towards the foam rushing along the side of your vessel) and the bow heads away from the waves threatening to invade your privacy. It heads into the wind which slows down the boat. The sails flap, showing you are heading directly into the wind. If you move the tiller to the central position you will sit there perhaps forever with the sails flapping and snapping uselessly. This is called "being in irons" because it is not easy to ease the boat using the tiller, fooling around with the sheets (ropes attached to the sails) and heavens knows what else until you manage to get the wind to blow on one side of the sail or the other. The trick is to put the tiller over smoothly until the wind is blowing on the other side of the sail. This is called "coming about" and is necessary if you are tacking or sailing zig-zag. You often have to do this if you want to go in the direction the wind is blowing from. Of course, no sailing vessel can sail directly into the wind, but the closer you can sail to the wind the more she heels over. This isn't bed, because the hull of a sailing boat is made to sail quite well in such a position. It is not a good idea to let the wind blow you around so it blows directly on the side of your boat. In light weather it's all right, but in heavy weather the wind might be strong enough to knock you down sideways. The sail then slaps the water hard and because of surface tension, stays there while your boat fills with water, sinks and you eventually drown. Who said something about duffers? Here endeth the lesson. Apologies to those who already know this.