Point of Sail

We've all seen the graphic below, in some form. The right side shows the point in terms of apparent wind (direction indicated by a flag on the boat), and the left side shows the true direction, sometimes indicated by waves. The right side is traditional. First, the obvious "error." Directions are all in terms of apparent wind, except for close-hauled. And the first thing we see, right at the top, is a 90-degree no-sail zone based on true wind, not apparent wind. An agreed-upon misrepresentation. The actual apparent wind when close-hauled is more like 26-35 degrees, depending on conditions and the boat, so the chart cheats on that one. Why? Because the term close hauled does not tell us where we are going, which apparently matters. The second problem is that of clarity. On most boats, basing it on apparent wind makes sense, we think. That is what you trim for. But in the case of a performance catamaran sailing close-hauled, if we simply bear off 10-30 degrees, boat speed doubles, the…