while cleaning out the trailer I came across a pamphlet on sailboat racing. took a break from the clutter of stuff to read up on some older terminology.
downwind, tack, gybe, luffed to name a few. anyone know the definition of the 4 words?

downwind,
lets say that the wind is blowing from the north or 12:00. anything that is ssw or 4:30 to ssw or 7:30 is called downwind. (the other directions are called close haul, close reach, beam reach, broad reach)
tack,
if you make a turn upwind or into the wind and completely change direction it is called a tack.
gybe,
same as a tack but downwind or away from the wind turn to travel in the other direction.
luffed,
i will leave this one for you to find out. here is a hint - kites do this if they go too far.

any others we use that we dont understand?

So there I was, went to tack when my kite luffed, turned downwind and jibed instead. Yep, all makes sense to me

I have one for you just for laughs Jeff, How about SIDE ON! I know you love that one! Straight up East Coast style!

Then we can throw Cross On, just to cover them all.:P

standing in the leeshore water wistfully looking windward

downwind = leeward, the opposite of windward....as in moving downwind "falling off the wind" , and straight downwind its called "running" where the stern(backend) of vessel to windward and bow(front ) to leeward

tack = front of vessel crosses face of wind to change the point of sail in opposite direction

gybe = front of vessel turns leeward (away from face of wind) to change directions

luff = sail flagging to lee , where no power is produced

did these cold but live by them so best of my knowledge ( not gonna do the TT 2 front end thing so not to confuse)

heres' a basic one

beating? ( the general meanig in sailing).

heres one for the curious crowd , actually have a picture on a kite in action on water

pinch ? .

Quote: Originally posted by shehatesmyhobbies

I have one for you just for laughs Jeff, How about SIDE ON! I know you love that one! Straight up East Coast style! Then we can throw Cross On, just to cover them all.:P

only on the East coast can you pull that one off.
I say it once in a while and the person looks at me like the lady in the Geico commercial about "did you know words can hurt?" and they answer,"what?"

Quote: Originally posted by bigkid

Quote: Originally posted by shehatesmyhobbies   I have one for you just for laughs Jeff, How about SIDE ON! I know you love that one! Straight up East Coast style! Then we can throw Cross On, just to cover them all.:P only on the East coast can you pull that one off.

I remember hearing you say that to Rich at Wildwood and i thought he wasn't saying anything we don't use all the time in middle areas too (around the great lakes)
There are 6-7 different locations we could go to to surf and for bugging only about 3 beaches. But all angle different directions so for a SW wind i could be going straight south to one beach on lake Erie but that's blowing cross off - a few miles west and that beach is cross on - a few miles down that is side shore and over to another beach straight onshore then over to Huron it's cross on in many places but a few bays will be cross offshore - so it doesn't matte what direction the wind is blowing we just have to know the different options if it's going to be onshore or offshore or side shore.
But when it switches to winter kiting and we go to frozen lakes then we discuss NW, NE, W etc just so we know if it'll be squirrely with a wind shadow at some launch spots.

The one term we use a lot especially in the spring is "doming" - that can kill a kite day quicker than anything unless you are lucky to beat it with the power of long line extensions

Mark, isn't that a Canadian thing?:D
We use N, NW, W, S etc. that way we know which beach or area to go to. Our beaches are not wide enough to buggy from dune to water like the East coast. If it isn't directly onshore, we more than likely don't go, eh.