Positions of the yacht relating to the wind
The angle between the corpus of the yacht and the wind is crucial, but what is even more important is the angle between the sails and the wind. Yet, the captain of a yacht should take into consideration both, and realize how important it is to be aware of this angle anytime when he steers her. In regattas and sailing races, the ability to estimate the best angle between the yacht and the wind (hence the speed) is one of the basic things that are tested.
A sailors's universe is divided into 2 - toward the wind and away from it. If you face upwind by looking into the wind, to the direction from which it blows. Down is when you turn your back to the direction of the wind. The divide line is the beam reach. If there is a command from the captain to "bring her up" it means to turn heading up (beam reaching or close reaching), whereas to "take her down" means to turn away (go broad reaching, then running).
The ideal wind direction for launching is sideshore, when the wind is blowing parallel to the shoreline. This should allow you to sail out on a reaching course, turn round, and sail back on the opposite reach.
The more offshore (blowing on to the shore) the direction of wind is, the more problems you are likely to come across. A side onshore wind of 2-6 knots may start stacking up waves, but should still give you the opportunity to sail straight out from the beach/bay. A dead onshore wind will push in waves that drive the boat back, and mean that you have to sail out at an angle across the waves. Offshore winds, blowing away from the shore should be treated with particular caution. An offshore wind, which appears zephyr-like close in by the beach will gain strength as you move away from the shore.
The dead area, when the yacht will not move at all, because the wind will be like a stopper is when it is close-hauled - with the bow from 0 to 45o to the wind. Winward means upwind, leeward (sometimes pronounced "loo'ard" is downwind. There are two other ways of expressing the same thing - weather/lee: weather is the side which is blown by the wind - a weather side of a yacht is exposed to the wind, a weather shore protects you from the wind. A lee is wind-less. The other way of saying this is on/off - sailing on the wind means your course is in winward direction. Sailing off means you are on a beam erach, broad reach or running with the wind, and you have headed in leeward direction.
The most effective way to sail (from speed point of view, biggest distance sailed for the smallest amount of time) is close-reach.
This will be further explained in the tacking chapter.
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