Genuine Lee-Bow Question for GRF (not a p*ss-take)

If the wind is dierctly against the tide, then both tacks will surely be identical, with the tide helping equally. But if the wind is at an angle, then one tack is going to be better at creating the apparent wind which will then help you plane.

Or are we talking going into the tide at different angles, in which case one side will be hurting the apparent wind more, so the other side will be better.

So, the lee bow tide might simply be the angle it is at when the tide and wind are working together to create better apparent wind, and have nothing to do with the cause.

The simple answer to all this clearly is terminology.

If you don't ever sail in tide then you don't need to know or understand and if you do sail in tide regularly then nobody needs to tell you what you already know.

But, if you coach others on the subject and tell them that tide is just a conveyor belt and all you should do is adjust for the marks by sailing up the coast a bit then race across the tidal stream against each other as if nothing is going on, then you'd better be prepared to be humiliated by an old boy who knows different and sails entirely in the other direction for his first tack, and then spends the entire crossing with that tide on his lee bow planing as your progenies battle it out off the plane to arrive at the first mark ten or twenty minutes later to find the said old boy lecturing you on your ignorance of such matters..

Edited by iGRF - 02 May 14 at 4:48pm

Originally posted by L123456 You are still not getting it are you ... go back and read Chris249 citations ... The sailing wind you experience when sailing in current is the same velocity and direction regardless of which tack you are on. It will only change if you move to an area where the current is different or if there is a change in gradient wind ... ... and on that note I'm off ...

I'm not getting it?

Son you so need some help if you believe that.

I'll try one last time, you and your science friends are thinking two dimensionally, what you say is true if you just sat their sail sheeted out, you will drift slowy down wind and tide in the two fluids that are acting upon you, right up until the moment you sheet the sail in. Which then brings in the third dynamic and harnesses their collective energies.

[Ok not the OP question but you have been down a winding road]

How does the tide affect a sailing craft?

The answer is so so simple.

TIDES GO UP, THEN THEY GO DOWN.

So when the tide is rising the craft is going uphill - SLOW
When the tide is falling the craft is going downhill - FAST
And guess what, it applies in any direction.