Capt. Rob wrote:
I would say that 99% of the boating community would say that VMG to
windward implies beating,


Total nonsense. Windward work is exactly that and does not always imply
beating.

You really don't know anything about sailing, do you? Yes, if you're
on a close reach you're still making way to windward. However, your
VMG to windward will be **** poor, unless your speed increases a huge
amount.

Beating implies beating or "hard on the wind." Windward is ANY
point of sail above a beam reach to use the term 100% correctly. If the
folks in your fartbutt county skewed to have a specific meaning that's
fine. But following both the rules of sailing and English, you're wrong
and I'm right. End of story.

Sorry, it would appear that you still don't understand. Let me try to
explain. I'll try to use small words, but unfortunately it does
require some 8th grade math. "VMG to windward" is the Velocity Made
Good to a point directly upwind. It isn't your speed through the
water or your speed over ground. It represents the average speed you
would have on a beat to a mark directly upwind. A simple way to
calculate it is to take your angle to the true wind, add about 4
degrees for leeway, take the cosine of that, and multiply by the speed
through the water. The result is typically about 70% of boat speed
for a beat, but of course varies a lot with the boat and conditions.

VMG to windward can be determined for any heading, but for a given
condition there will generally be one optimal angle and implied best
speed for going to windward. However, a performance table will list
the VMG for all headings, zero at 90 degrees and negative numbers for
downwind. In all cases, this is the "VMG to windward."

Sorry, Bob, you may think the racers and designers (as well as many
cruisers) who prefer to use boating terminology properly as
"fartbutts" but this is just one more example of you making a real
jackass of yourself.