"Jeff" wrote
| Let me say this again: The current has NO affect. If the boats were
| out of sight of land and had no GPS (or other such instruments) they
| would be unable to even detect the current. If there is a 20 knot
| wind from the North, and a 5 knot current running South, all the
| sailor knows is that there is a 15 knot breeze.


Oh fooey! This is getting hopeless..
Jeff, your just wrong! Your in irons. Your not going foward. The wind's
pushing you backwards. The sail is banging around in the middle of the boat.
If there's no current water will be going by you from back to front. The rudder
will work but opposite of how it usually works.
In this case there's a current going the same direction as the wind and
about the same speed. Your going backwards and the water is going backwards
at the same speed. The rudder has no motion through the water. It won't work.
I can't see why you keep talking about land. It's got nothing to do with
land. Only wind, current and water.


Cheers,
Ellen