Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction
downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward
is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will
be the "lower side". During the age of sail, the term weather was used as a synonym for
windward in some contexts, as in the weather gage.
Pronunciation The traditional nautical pronunciations are
the elided forms and , but this is regarded as old-fashioned. The literal pronunciations,
and , are more common. The pronunciation for the Leeward and Windward Islands and the Leeward
Antilles is normally the latter form. Meteorological significance
Leeward and windward refer respectively to what a game stalker would call downwind and
upwind. The terms are used by seamen in relation to their ships but also in reference to islands
in an archipelago and to the different sides of a single island. In the latter case, the
windward side is that side of an island subject to the prevailing wind, and is thus the wetter
side. The leeward side is the side protected by the elevation of the island from the prevailing
wind, and is typically the drier side of an island. Thus, leeward or windward siting is
an important weather and climate factor on oceanic islands.
In the case of an archipelago, windward islands are upwind and leeward islands are the downwind
ones. Other significance
In aviation, downwind refers to a portion of an aircraft's landing pattern. The long
side parallel to the runway but flown in the opposite direction is called the downwind
leg. On land, downwind is often used to refer to
a situation where a point source of air pollution or a scent moves from a point upwind, along
the direction of the wind, to the point of the observer.
Downwind has specific connotations in industrial cities in the English North, where less desirable
and less expensive housing was often situated to the leeward of steelworks, blast furnaces,
mills, or other sources of intense pollution. Hence in some cities it is used as a generic,
slang, pejorative and discriminatory term for less wealthy areas or their inhabitants.
Nautical and naval
Windward and leeward directions are important factors to consider when sailing a sailing
ship. Other terms with broadly the same meaning are widely used, particularly upwind and downwind,
and many variations using the metaphor of height.
The windward vessel is normally the more maneuverable vessel. For this reason, rule 12 of the International
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea stipulates that the windward vessel gives
way to the leeward vessel. Similarly, a square rigged warship would often try to enter battle
from the windward direction, thus gaining an important tactical advantage over the opposing
warship – the warship to windward could choose when to engage and when to withdraw.
The opposing warship to leeward could often do little but comply without exposing itself
unduly. This was particularly important once artillery
was introduced to naval warfare. The ships heeled away from the wind so that the leeward
vessel was exposing part of her bottom to shot. If damaged "between wind and water"
she was consequently in danger of sinking when on the other tack, as happened to some
ships of the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines.
The term lee derives from Old English hleo, shelter, and was in use at least as early
as 900 AD. The word aloof is a related term derived from
loof, old English for "weather gage" or "windward direction", probably from the Dutch word loef,
“the weather side of a ship." Aloof was originally a nautical order to keep the ship's
head to the wind, for example to avoid a lee-shore, but it has since taken a figurative meaning
of "at a distance, or reserve suggesting consciouness of superiority".
See also Barlavento and Sotavento in Cape Verde Islands
Downstream and upstream Lee shore
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, also known as Leeward Islands
Windward Islands, Leeward Islands and Leeward Antilles
Windward Islands and Leeward Islands Foehn wind
Notes ^ Jones, Daniel. English Pronouncing Dictionary.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45903-6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language External links
Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Lee". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press.