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- Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.columbia.edu!lamont!news
- From: whoward@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu (Will Howard)
- Subject: Re: Question: Layline
- Message-ID: <1993Jan22.152417.24901@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu>
- Originator: news@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu
- Sender: news@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu
- Organization: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
- References: <1jnnc7$3gk@DIALix.oz.au>
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:24:17 GMT
- Lines: 26
-
- In article <1jnnc7$3gk@DIALix.oz.au> atr@DIALix.oz.au (Australian Technology
- Resources) writes:
- >Hi there,
- >
- >can anybody out there in netland explain what a layline is,
- >and what they are used for?
- >
- >I think they have to do with approaching markers but I'd like to know more
- about them.
-
- In racing around the buoys, there is typically a "weather" mark (buoy) that is
- directly upwind from the start of the race. You can't sail directly upwind so
- you must tack back and forth to get to it, at some angle from the wind
- direction (say for argument 45 degrees). So the laylines are two imaginary
- lines drawn between the weather mark at 45 degrees fro the wind direction (as
- you face the mark), or 135 degrees from the wind direction - remembering that
- we're always talking about where the wind is coming FROM, not where it's going
- TO. So when you reach the layline your apparent wind angle (relative to the
- wind) and heading to the mark "match" and you can now "lay" the mark or get to
- it without tacking anymore. So the laylines will be different for different
- boats or boards and conditions, all depending on how "close" to the wind you
- sail ( how close to straight upwind) and of course their position in absolute
- terms (over the "bottom" or fixed coordinates) will shift if the wind shifts.
- Hope this helps.
-
- Will.
-