Position: 2000 LT, 20° 20’N, 027°34’ W
Date:Friday May 28, 2010

Close-hauled (2)

We have to go where the wind comes from. Since a sailing vessel cannot sail against the wind we have to make a detour. As explained yesterday, sailing against the wind as much as possible is what we call sailing close hauled. That we have to do so in order to approach our destination speaks for itself.
Wind is not entirely stable. One moment it increases, the other it decreases.
One moment it changes more eastward, the other moment the change is more westward.
To make these changes profitable, or to minimize the disadvantages we have to steer along with the change. When sailing close hauled ( in this example the wind comes from starboard ) and the wind is backing ( turning anti clockwise on the compass ) the sails will fall back because there is too much wind coming from ahead.
This causes the ship to stop and that does not help us. Vice versa if the wind is veering we could have steered more starboard, bringing us closer to our destination.
The ship is fitted out with an auto pilot, an instrument helping a small crew to have as much hands as possible for sail handling. This instrument steers very precisely but only along the programmed compass course. The device is not aware of any wind and therefore we currently have a helmsman at the wheel.
 
The picture shows us the first officer on starboard at the helm accompanied by the chief engineer on port side, having no duty in particular here but one can observe by the look of his shirt that he must just have finished a job…
 
Richard Slootweg
Kapitein Clipper Stad Amsterdam