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Brought up in Britain, the use of nautical terms,or sailing terms were so common in my childhood, that I am always astonished when folk question them, or doubt them.
To "Sail too close to the wind" was a very common term in my childhood. Not only common, but used for as long as anyone has tied sail to mast and attempted to negotiate the seas.
I'm not a great sailor myself, but I do know that sailing a boat requires "tacking" sometimes sailing with the wind, and sometimes sailing into the wind. Sail too close to the wind for too long, and your boat is likely to capsize.
There are numerous old folk songs which use the phrase "sailed too close to the wind"
One of the lovliest was recorded by folk group Fairport Convention about highwaymen from Northants.
"And the wild sea we sailed upon it, too close to the wind"
By the way, many years ago, I was a shepherd. Once a year, I would take my holiday in Yorkshire, house and farm sitting for a couple who had only 40 sheep. (I was working on a farm with 1000 ewes at the time). The locals used to comment, that I was on my busman's holiday.
Pointing perilously close to the wind.
A sailboat, even a very modern racing sloop, can only sail to within about 30 degrees to the wind. It is impossible for the boat to sail directly into the wind. The sailboats relationship to the wind is such that when sailing at angles less than 90 degrees to the wind she is sailing up or into the wind, and as she approaches her maximum effective closeness to head to wind, she is close hauled, or pointing, or sailing close to the wind.
If a sailboat begins to sail above (or closer to the wind) than her sailplan can efficiently carry, then the front of the sails begin to luff, or backfill with wind… this creates drag and begins to slow the boat down, even if there is still some forward lift created from the rest of the sailplan. At a point where the boat is nearly "head to wind" she is stalled completely, (in irons) can lose function of her steering because there is no movement through the water for the rudder to act on, and the boat can become subject to an unintended tack where the head of the boat passes through the direction of the wind and the wind is suddenly on the other side of the boat, requiring significant changes to sail trim and course, and the boat is then sailing nearly 90 degrees off course.
So pointing is merely sailing close to the direction the wind is coming from. Perilously close means one is above one's capacity and effeciency, and in danger of a severe course change.
Applalan
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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