Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In geography and seamanship, windward (/ ˈ w ɪ n d w ər d, ˈ w ɪ n ər d /) and leeward (/ ˈ l iː w ər d, ˈ lj uː ər d /) are directions relative to the wind. Windward is upwind from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is downwind from the point of reference, i.e., along the ...
Standing on the leeward side of the vessel, a sailor observes being blown towards an exposed shoreline by the wind. Here again the reference point from which a shore is viewed determines whether it is the lee shore or a leeward shore. On a lake, the reference point is a body of water, so the windward shore is upwind of the center of the lake.
When the British gained control of many of the Lesser Antilles, they designated Antigua, Montserrat, and the islands to the north as the Leeward Islands. Guadeloupe and the islands to the south were designated as the Windward Islands. Later on, all islands north of Martinique became known as the Leeward Islands. [3]
The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean islands or West Indies.Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from Dominica in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south, and lie south of the Leeward Islands and east of Leeward Antilles.
The Lesser Antilles contains the northerly Leeward Islands and the southeasterly Windward Islands as well as the Leeward Antilles just north of Venezuela. The Lucayan Archipelago (consisting of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands), though a part of the West Indies, is generally not included among the Antillean islands. [2]
The Leeward Islands that lie more to the east are a mainly volcanic island cluster: Bora Bora (Tahitian: Vavaʻu ), known for its tourism industry and World War II -era United States naval base Huahine (Tahitian: Mataʻirea ), the easternmost island of the group; split at high tide into the northern Huahine Nui ("big Huahine") and southern ...
The Windward Islands (French: Îles du Vent [il dy vɑ̃]) are the eastern group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. These islands were also previously named the Georgian Islands in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom .
Conversely, a boat on an upwind course may find itself trapped in the dirty air of a boat immediately to windward. Right-of-way rules give priority to the leeward boat and can make it advantageous to be the boat without the weather gage, especially just before the start or when the boat to leeward can point higher into the wind.