English isn't for the faint of heart. This country boy from Alaska struggles mightily.

One of the joys of usage (and the terror of glossarians!) is that sailors were a mostly uneducated polyglot of ruffians with a flair for local color. The result is usages that are all over the place in terms of consistency, many to most of which have equal claim to legitimacy.

Naval and yachting traditions tend to be more concerned with propriety and exactitude, while working sail traditions seem to be more local and easy going.

Subtle distinctions - as between verb/adjective pairs such as back/aback vs backwind/backwinded - were probably lost on most sailors who ever lived. It was likely all the same to them. It's only in the last few generations that we have anything approaching aerodynamic theory!

To tell you the truth, I don't really have my heart in discerning the finer points... I rather like the free and easy use of terms which convey the general meaning, even when it's a somewhat loose fit.

When aboard other boats, I often find that there's a verbal equivalent of 'house rules'... the skipper sets out what she or he means by such and such, and that's what we use aboard the good ship under their command. Understanding has never suffered, while each variant seems rooted in one lineage of tradition or another.

An example would be yard vs lug... technically, the JR is a standing lug sail, so the spar at its head is a lug. But the HM tradition calls it a yard, which some would fight to the death, maintaining that a yard "is NOT a fore-and-aft spar". Me, I'm agreeable... I'll call it whatever we agree to call it.

So I see the purpose of the JRG to set our own 'house rules' (agree upon some standards), where helpful or necessary. And tread with a light touch elsewhere, hinting at the rich latitude of our sailor's language.

That's my approach, anyway.  8)  It sure makes for interesting work!

Dave Z

PS. Annie, 'manoeuvre' it is (uh-oh... now we've offended my spell-checker!).

.. Backwind, being back-winded, backing, being backed, with the jib aback...

Sailing terms, and not least English sailing terms can easily confuse an old farm boy from Norway, even though he grew up on a Massey Ferguson, made in England.

Now I have browsed the web: It appears that a few use the term backwinding a sail where most others seem to use the term backing the sail or keeping/holding the sail aback. Backwinding seems mostly to be describing the situation when the wind from one sail blows into the one aft of it.

Below you find a few strings of text, cut from the web:

“Using the back winded jib to get through the tack,...”

«One sail backwinds another when it directs its wind onto the leward side of the other sail. «

“.. Ah, nice graphic showing why the luff of the main will back-wind and ruin the performance...”

“...Backwind TIP
• Closehauled, a jib will sometimes backwind the mainsail, causing it to luff along the leading edge. This is normal; if there's 1 to 2 feet of backwind, your trim is likely fine. If there's a lot of backwind, the jib may be overpowered; try moving the jib-sheet lead aft or outboard. You can also try rolling in a portion of the jib....”

Jib aback...
Here are a few examples  from the online Oxford Dictionary:

• Once the boat has tacked the jib will be aback.
• The wind came now from this side, now from that, determined to catch the sails aback.
• Peter holds the jib aback until our bow swings across the wind.

From RYA Sail training:

“The principle of heaving-to is that the boat is set up with its jib aback, driving its bow to leeward, while the main is filling conventionally, shoving the stern downwind and balancing out the headsail. The rudder serves as a kind of fine tune, leaving the boat in a state of equilibrium lying about 45 degrees off the wind and waves.”

Conclusion:
I am sooo glad I don’t have to fit this into the JRG...

Good night and good luck,
Arne

 PS: I also spotted diagrams with hove-to boats with a "backed jib" note on the jib and "jib aback" on others...

Darren Bos wrote:

..Marchaj and Gentry are a much better place to learn about these things compared to many other sources which rely on older theories which are incorrect in whole or in part.  It is ironic that we are putting a bunch of thought into this, since as Chris points out we can't really benefit from the effect with most Junk platforms (with the exception of the Split Junk Rig, which probably sees some benefit).  However, it is cool and part of an understanding of aerodynamics which when applied to Junk rigs can make them better.

I get the sneaky feeling my main is causing the foresail to stress more, it certainly suffers more (one tear already - though that maybe because it feels all the pitching).

Arne Kverneland wrote:

Is backwinding just synonymous with luffing, or is the term only used with sails in front of each other?

Hi Arne,

As usual, I get a whole range of similar but vaguely incompatible results from various sources.

These seem to be the general candidates for backwinding:

1. to divert wind against the lee side of (a sail) from another sail.

2. to set (a sail) so that the wind is on what would ordinarily be the lee side, as for turning the bow of a boat away from the wind.

3. to blanket (another sailing vessel) by spilling wind from the sails of one vessel onto the lee side of the sails of the other.

4. to have wind blow against the lee side of a sail.

The terms luffing and backwinding

The term luffing a sail describes what happens when you pinch too closely to the wind, as shown here.

I also read about the term backwinding. It seems to be much the same as luffing the sail, but this time as a result of over-sheeting the sail in front of it. “The mainsail is backwinded by the foresail”, something like this.

Is that so? Is backwinding just synonymous with luffing, or is the term only used with sails in front of each other?

I hope some of you can straighten this up so the term backwind can find a place in the JRG.

Thanks,
Arne