Start to Win - Eric Twiname

S

softshuffle

Member
Hello,

Can some of you clever people please explain the meaning of this paragraph from this fascinationg book:

Most sailing dinghies make about 45 degrees to the true wind when beating.
Judgement of the moment at which to tack to lay a mark obviously depends
on what angle your boat makes to the wind.
If you have difficulty judging the angle in a dinghy, look along the thwart,
which is at right angles to the centreline.
You will lay the mark when you can sight it along the thwart.


what is laying the mark?
what is the thwart?
does it matter where your sit when "twarting"
is the thwart used for anything else?


Thank you.

.
 
A thrawt is a cross beam on a boat, on some classes it will also appear as a bit of a seat or a beam which the traveller track sits on. A laser really doesn't have one, but the front edge of the cockpit can be used as one. All Eric was implying is use part of the boat to determine when you're at 90 degrees to the mark by looking across the boat, before tacking to reach the mark (assuming that your boat travels at 45 degrees to the wind). The whole consept works much better in two or more handed boats when not everyone is hiking.

Laying the mark is when you get to the top mark on the new tack without needing to tack again, also whilst remaining close hauled. If you need to reach to the mark, then you've over layed the mark.
 
Term: thwart (n)
Definition: A seat or brace fastened from gunwale to gunwale in a small boat or canoe to keep the shape and add strength.

Term: thwartship (adj)
Definition: Describing any feature that lies from side to side across the deck or rigging.


Source: http://www.seatalk.info/
 
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