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The Lubber’s Guide
Getting ‘Caught In Irons’
is a problem that all sailors of boats and ships
which harness the wind eventually experience.
It can be embarassing but can also be very dangerous, especially in crowded waters or near a
lee shore.
So, what to do if you get ‘caught in irons’?
Read on for The Lubber’s Guide guide to ‘Getting Caught in Irons and How to get out of
Irons’.
Before we start, we need to define what we mean by ‘going or coming about’. Salty old sea dogs like
BB know all about this and many of our readers will as well but BBM is also about helping those lubbers who fancy lear ning a bit about sailing and the sea and would perhaps like to try it out. So, those
of you who know what ‘tacking’ is can skip out the next bit.
The Lubber’s Guide to Nautical Speak
“Sailing into the wind”
Sailing ships or boats cannot sail into the wind (that is the direction from which the wind is blowing). In order to go in the direction the wind is blowing from (to beat to windward), a sailing vessel
must zig zag into the wind, zig or zag being initiated or ended with a turn across the wind, this turn
is known as ‘tacking’.
“tacking: Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel (which is sailing approximately into
the wind) turns its bow into the wind through the ‘no-go zone’ so that the direction from which the wind blows changes
from one side to the other. For example, if a vessel is sailing on a starboard tack with the wind blowing from the right
side and tacks, it will end up on a port tack with the wind blowing from the left side. This maneuver is frequently used
when the desired direction is (nearly) directly into the wind.” (direct quote from Wikipedia entry on tacking) .
In the GOOD OLD DAYS square sailed ships could rarely sail more than 67 degrees off the wind.
Fore and aft rigged boats and ships can sail considerably closer to the wind, 45 degrees or more. Rotor ships whch use spinning solid columns rather than sails can sail closest of all and can come to 10
degrees off the wind.