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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
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Wet sails

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is on at the moment, and we are being plied with all sorts of boating metaphors. (Sorry for what I'm about to do Rey).
One term that I always thought I'd understood was 'coming home with a wet sail'.
I'd always thought this meant making a late (but rapid) run from behind to threaten victory. But apparently, boats don't travel all that well with wet sails. (What I know about boats could be written on a postage stamp with a felt tip pen, so I'm ready to stand corrected here.)
If this is so, does anyone know how or why this metaphor came to be used as it currently is?
cheers
Chrissy
  

Top answer

[nq:1]The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is on at the moment, and we are being plied with all sorts of ... html Christopher (Change 3032 to 3232 to reply by private e-mail)

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  • [nq:1]The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is on at the moment, and we are being plied with all sorts of ...
  • html Christopher (Change 3032 to 3232 to reply by private e-mail)
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49 Answers
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[nq:1]The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is on at the moment, and we are being plied with all sorts of ... If this is so, does anyone know how or why this metaphor came to be used as it currently is?[/nq]
See the middle of the following page:
http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/June2002/Mailbag.ht
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[nq:2]The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is on at the ... this metaphor came to be used as it currently is?[/nq]
[nq:1]See the middle of the following page: http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/June2002/Mailbag.html Also:
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[nq:2]One term that I always thought I'd understood was 'coming home with a wet sail'.[/nq]
[nq:1]See the middle of the following page: http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/June2002/Mailbag.html Also:
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[nq:2]See the middle of the following page: http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/June2002/Mailbag.html Also: http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin board/25/messages/975.html[/nq]
[nq:
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[nq:1]Seems the practice of wetting sails to take advantage of the wind has been known a while (though I'm not sure how it works and whether we need an aerodynamicist or a physicist to tell us) http://www3.teleplex.net/timonier/speaks/book04.html[/nq]
It may be that the air goes through dry sails
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[nq:2]See the middle of the following page: http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/June2002/Mailbag.html Also: http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin board/25/messages/975.html[/nq]
[nq:
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[nq:2]Seems the practice of wetting sails to take advantage of ... need an aerodynamicist or a physicist to tell us) http://www3.teleplex.net/timonier/speaks/book04.html[/nq]
[nq:1]It may be that the air goes through dry sails, at a slower rate than if there were no sail ... going through the clo
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[nq:1]Seems the practice of wetting sails to take advantage of the wind has been known a while (though I'm not sure how it works and whether we need an aerodynamicist or a physicist to tell us) http://www3.teleplex.net/timonier/speaks/book04.html[/nq]
It's just a guess, because I forgot my physic
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[nq:1]Seems the practice of wetting sails to take advantage of the wind has been known a while (though I'm not sure how it works and whether we need an aerodynamicist or a physicist to tell us) http://www3.teleplex.net/timonier/speaks/book04.html[/nq]
This practice is no longer significant since
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[nq:1]I don't recognise the phrase, but I do recognise the practice. As a teenager I spent all my spare time ... our elders - but I suppose it was to make the sails hang more heavily and take the wind better.[/nq]
Intentionally heeling the boat in light air is, as you note below, pretty much a standard tactic. Wetting the sails may be a method to help in such conditions, but I am rather sure t
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