Wind

The angle of the ship’s movement to the wind direction determines the speed gained or lost by the wind. First determine if the bow (front) of the ship is pointed windward, leeward or beating into the wind.

vessel going leeward vessel beating the wind vessel going windward

Windward is directly into the wind and a pure sailing vessel can never sail directly into the wind or with wind 45° over either side of the bow. Beating into the wind occurs when the wind points 45° to 90° from the bow.

Leeward is directly away from the windand this is the best direction for a pure sailing vessel to move. Leeward is when the wind is directly behind the stern of the ship or up to 89° to either side of the bow. Note that if a ship is pushed leeward by the wind, the facing of the ship’s bow does NOT change.

The wind can push a vessel sternward or leeward. However, this does not mean that the ship actually went sternward at any point during its movement, but rather the backwards movement on the game table represents the wind drag on the vessel.