Thanks to Robert Brown for this shot of his Ted Brewer 45 Iron Mistress heading out from Reunion Island into a confused sea en route to South Africa.
Do you have cool shots from your cruising adventures? Send them to me at cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com.
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Wind Works
“I can’t believe the wind alone can move a boat like this,” a non-sailor-friend said to me with excitement and a huge smile. I smiled back and thought, “welcome to sailing.” Sure, it was blowing in upwards of 15 knots and we were clipping along at about seven, but that’s just it. The wind is powerful. It moves boats, water, massive turbines nowhere near water and can be a destructive force second only to the water in which it moves.
Sailing is about a lot of things and one of those is trying to be on the same page as the wind. Where is it coming from and when? How do we use it to our advantage and what do we do when we can’t. For thousands of years seafarers have been doing this and modern sailors are no different. Understanding how to use the wind in relation to our sails is the cornerstone of being even a decent sailor. But after a while, often times years, the sense of the wind becomes a part of you. Have fun with the wind. Respect it, and tell your friends about it. They might just get hooked too.
Enjoy this week’s edition.
Cheers,
Andrew Cross
