On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:33:00 -0400, trainfan1
wrote:

Dixon wrote:
Just curious, in degrees, how close can a sailboat travel into the wind?
Forget about efficiency in getting somewhere. At what point is it just
impossible to move forward?
Dixon



"If the ship go before the wind, or as they term it, betwixt two sheets,
then he who conds uses these terms to him at the helm: Starboard,
larboard, the helm amidships... If the ship go by a wind, or a quarter
winds, they say aloof, or keep your loof, or fall not off, wear no more,
keep her to, touch the wind, have a care of the lee-latch. all these do
imply the same in a manner, are to bid him at the helm to keep her near
the wind." —former pirate Sir Henry Mainwaring

Arrr!