It also means wind behind someone's back means that somebody has support, that the wind supports
the boat so the wind can move forward and can continue sailing. When someone has a wind in their sails, it also applies they have support or support system
to help them to be able to move forward. Hi, this is Amita from the Dusty Roads podcast
I recently took up sailing again. And if you've read any of my blogs, you would know that I recently started taking some classes at the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, which, by the way, if you happen to live around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an excellent sailing center and a great group of people to get involved with
They have one of the top sailing programs in the nation. And one of the reasons is it's just a great community center
So I was quite curious when I saw a question about, what does wind behind someone sail mean
And as I've been sailing, I thought, well, that's kind of an interesting question. That's kind of an interesting idiom
We say many times we say, oh, he's got the wind behind someone's sail
What does that mean? So when you learn sailing, you learn that there are several points of sail, and that one
thing you cannot do is you cannot sail directly into the wind
If you sell directly into the wind, it's called In Irons or the No Sail Zone
One of the reasons why it's called in irons is in the old ships they used to have the prisoners be in irons and the prisoners would not be able to move
And so because of that, they would say that if you ended up sailing directly into the wind, you would be in irons
Also, too, was well known during the time of the pirates when the pirates were roaming the seas that many times the pirates would try to force the ships into in irons or to the no-sale zone
if they could somehow force the ship to try to sell directly into the wind, the ship would stop, and then they could be able to board the ship
So when you talk about wind behind someone's back in that idiom, they're really talking about one of the points of sail, which is known as a run
And a run is a point of sail where the wind is basically behind your back
You know, whenever you sail, you always have to know where the wind is. It's kind of a little bit like trying to learn to drive a car
You always have to know where the other vehicles are, what direction you're going. Well, with sailing, it's always where is the wind
What direction is the wind going So when they talk about the wind behind your back really means that you on the point of sail which is known as a run or running which means the wind is directly behind you
And as the wind is directly behind you, you need to bring your sails out so that your sails can catch the wind, and that then you can be able to sail forward
You know, so, you know, here are some things that, you know, to get the wind behind someone's back could kind of mean, you know, when we say that, it can mean that they're moving forward
because as I mentioned before, that if you're directly into the wind, you can't move forward
You're in irons or you're in the no sail zone. So actually having the wind behind your back or the wind blowing from the back is actually the opposite
You're in what's called a run or running and you're able to move forward with your sails
as long as you bring your sails out and your sails are able to catch the wind
It also means wind behind someone's back means that somebody has support, that the wind supports the boat
so the wind can move forward and can continue sailing. When someone has a wind in their sails
it also applies they have support or support system to help them to be able to move forward
It means you're sailing well. You know, to understand that the wind is behind your back
you bring your sails out, the wind catches the sails, means that you're also sailing well
And it can also mean the same thing when we say that somebody has the wind behind their back
It means they're also living well, they're sailing well, they're moving forward
they're making progress, they're doing something in their lives because they're able to sort of catch that wind and be able to continue to move forward
It also means that you're making progress, that when we say that somebody has the wind behind their sail means that they're making progress, they're moving forward
Because when you have the wind behind you and you have your, again, your sails out and you're moving forward, you're making progress, you're moving along the water
Now, for some boats, you know, the running or the wind behind your back may not be the fastest
to sail. So it doesn't always necessarily mean that you're going the fastest way, even though
they call it running. It doesn't necessarily, it may not necessarily mean that. It could also mean
that you're, you know, you're sailing along, you're making progress, you're moving along, you're
you're doing things, you're going in the right direction. And, you know, and with that can mean that
you're moving at full speed because the wind is behind you, you're moving at the full speed
with that wind that is behind you. You know, the sailboat is not stopped. It's moving forward
You know those are all the different things that when we say this idiom of wind behind someone sail can mean that you know the wind is blowing behind you and that you pushing forward that you on a point of a run or running and that you sailing in the right direction and that your boat or that you as an individual are moving forward
You know, it's quite interesting that when you're sailing, that as I mentioned before, there are different points of sail
And I just want to kind of mention them here so you understand some of the difference between what it means
with the wind behind someone's sail or wind behind someone's, you know, wind behind someone's back
that someone's moving forward because they have the wind behind their back. As I mentioned before, the no-sale zone is, you know, when it's been considered someone's in irons
That's where you cannot sail. You're dead stopped. You know, you cannot blow into the wind
And there's probably a bit of ogy here that, you know, if you try to, you know, buckle something head on, you maybe don't get very well
You know, that if you're going to try to, you know, move right into trouble, you are not going to be able to get anywhere in life
that if we do things that try to, you know, hurt us in some way
or maybe, you know, we say we want to go on a diet, we want to lose weight
But instead of doing that, you know, what do we do? We go eat the chocolate bar
We went through the fast food restaurant. That would be kind of us, you know, in the no-sale zone or in irons
that we're basically locking ourselves in irons because we're doing something which is opposite or detrimental to what we want to do
You know, so we can actually use that ogy of being. and irons to many of our own lives, the opposite of a wind behind our sail
You know, close haul is when you're kind of skirting, you know, this no-sales zone
And, you know, you pull your sails in. And a lot of times, you know, you can go quite fast on this because the wind is quite good
So, you know, close haul, close reach, are basically one where you're sailing, you know, kind of to the side of the wind
And then the beam reach is where is where the sail will go over the beam. or over the boat itself and you'll be able to catch the wind by sailing the boat where the wind
is going from side to side. You know, broad reach is where the wind is not quite directly behind you
but it is still behind you. And then, of course, where the wind is directly behind you, as we've
mentioned before, it's called running or that the wind is basically blowing in our sails from behind
and able to move us forward. You know, so really, we, There's a lot that we can kind of ogies that we can kind of use in sailing for our own life
You know that if we want to be on a run or if you want to be you know what we call running or we want to be moving forward that we want to have that wind be you know in our sails That the only way in sailing you move forward is by the wind being in the sail There is no other way you can move
forward. If the wind is not in the sail, you will not be able to go forward. So for us to be
able to move forward in life, we need to be able to get that wind in our sail or have that wind
blowing into our sails for us to move forward. If we if we don't want to move forward, if we don't want to move
forward or we're not moving forward, we're going to go into the no-sale zone or we're going to put
ourselves in what is known as in irons. And once we're in irons, we won't move. The boat will just
completely stop. We will be stopped dead in our tracks. And that's what it means to be an iron
So I guess some things to think about here in our own life is what do we need to do to bring the wind
into our sails? What are some things that we could do in our life to do that? And what are things
we're doing in our lives to bring ourselves in irons. I love this because there's so many
ogies. There's so many things we can do with different things in life, including sailing
And if you get a chance or opportunity, go out on the water, learn to sail, live your life
as a global citizen, live your life to the fullest. That's really what this whole blog is about
is about living our life to the fullest and not being afraid to try something new
When I first started sailing, at first I was a little nervous. I thought, I don't know anybody
I'm going to this group, I don't know. I might be the only one who's alone
I might be the oldest person. I don't know. Can I do it
I had all these reasons to stop myself. When I got to the class, I was so surprised
I was A, not the oldest. B, only one, two people in the class knew each other
The rest of us were all individuals. And then I discovered that there were some people who sail every day who were much older
than me. And there was even somebody who had a cane that was getting on the sailboat all the time
Just goes to show you can live your life to the fullest. You can live your life as a global citizen
You can do whatever you want to do. If you just take the opportunity to do it, and if you just get
that wind behind your sails and move forward and don't have yourself be stuck in irons
Thank you so much for listening to our Dusty Roads podcast. We really appreciate you
Subscribe to her channel. We'd love to hear from you and have to have to have. have you be part of our community and check out our blog about what does it mean to have the wind
in your sales