We're a ketch - jib and jigger - mizzen, not main. We have done jib and poled out staysail - not sure if there is a name for that. Jib and main is a rolly, preventer demanding pain in the . . . . We don't go there.

 

I call it "wing and wing," but I've always liked the expression "sailing wung out."

 

Wing AND wing ... because it's two wings. There are no wings ON wings. On what?

 

I've always called it Wing and Wing, but on your boat, you get to call it whatever you want ;-)

 

Around here: Orejas de burro (donkey ears).

 

One sail out port and one out to starboard.
Wing on wing.

 

I have always called it wing ON wing, which now that I think about probably should be wing AND wing

I rarely do it for long

 

I call it Goosewinging

But if one uses Wing Wing its ON not and. Wing On Wing.

But as is often stated, on your boat you can be as wrong as you like... 😂🤣😂


Mark

 

I mostly think of it as crash gybe preparation

 

I'm with Don,, to much work and a lot to watch. Douse the main and fly whatever you have up front.

 

I call it wing n wing

 

As a writer, I look in dictionaries:

Collins: wing and wing. Nautical
with sails extended on either side by booms

Websters: wing and wing. With sails extended on both sides. First use in 1781.

Wiki lists wing on wing and goose wing as alternate expressions.

OED (the definitive source of English, some would say): Wing-and-wing. first use 1810s.

Several sailing magazine style guides: wing and wing.

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So it is wing and wing, the only question being whether it is hyphenated, but in American usage, it seems not.

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I will sail wing and wing down rivers and narrow channels, when reaching would be a pain, and in a good blow when reaching is rougher than running. Running is yaw-free on multihulls, like being on tracks. A little slower than reaching, but in big waves there is a lot less rolling, practically none.

 

I think I'm partial to Donkey Ears now! But it sounds much better in Spanish. ;-)

Or how about Orejas de Elefante ?

 

I think I'm partial to Donkey Ears now! But it sounds much better in Spanish. ;-)

Or how about Orejas de Elefante ?

We've got plenty of burros in Latin America, but not so many elephants... jajaja

~~ Red

 

Wing and wing using foresail and main on a Marconi rigged sloop.

Perhaps goosewing applies to a double headsail rig?

We now have a staysail ketch, so we use a foresail and the mizzen sail [jib and jigger] instead of foresail and main.

I previously owned cutter rigged sloops, and find the ketch is by far easier to manage downwind.

FWIW

Cheers, Bill

 

Twin headsails are another sensible rig, but not many of us are set up for it. I think this is a proper nomenclature, because if we mean a cutter rig we would say so. Twin means they are the same, not that there are two.

 

I raced on an Italian boat in an international series where I was the only non-Italian speaker...

It became quickly apparent that the skipper did not use his excellent English in any nautical command. I would sit there while he described the next manoeuvre in Italian and then shout "Go" (or something in Italian) and I had to race up the foredeck pondering what the hell was going on!

There is NOT ONE WORD that is nautically ubiquitous across countries.

When I was on an American boat winning the World Championships their terminology was different for every line, sheet and bit of rope on the foredeck, except halyard.
Try running up the spinnaker or trimming it, when its as if they're all speaking Italian...

Crazy


Mark

 

I raced on an Italian boat in an international series where I was the only non-Italian speaker...

It became quickly apparent that the skipper did not use his excellent English in any nautical command. I would sit there while he described the next manoeuvre in Italian and then shout "Go" (or something in Italian) and I had to race up the foredeck pondering what the hell was going on!

There is NOT ONE WORD that is nautically ubiquitous across countries.

When I was on an American boat winning the World Championships their terminology was different for every line, sheet and bit of rope on the foredeck, except halyard.
Try running up the spinnaker or trimming it, when its as if they're all speaking Italian...

Crazy


Mark

It's interesting that sailing language is local to a country... almost. The good think is that I sail alone and so I don't have conversations or commands to deal with. I did know all the jargon and did several courses related to sailing and navigation. Now I simply do what i natural. I am sure things would be different in unfamiliar waters.

 

I'm with Don on this one:

I mostly think of it as crash gybe preparation

But I really like the Donkey Ears appellation:

Orejas de burro

 

Wing ON wing makes no sense. What are the wings "on?"

... oh wait, most nautical terms makes no sense (or their sense is lost in time or translation). Forget what I just said.

 

On the boat!

 

What do you call this? Wing AND wing AND wing?

Two foresails are polled out. Main is prevented. Not much risk of a gybe, but you do have to be careful, and watch the winds.

 

What do you call this? Wing AND wing AND wing?

Ting tang walla walla bing bang?

 

Hadn't really thought about it. I like Sanders answer of Wing N Wing, I guess that's what I say.

It's not my favourite point of sail. Rolly, gybing.

 

What? No "reading the paper"?

 

Personally I call it "time to put up the spinnaker...."

But I have always believed it to be Wing and Wing.

Interestingly I pulled out a couple sailing books from the 1960's. The first book was the one that I learned to sail with in the early 1960's and it avoided the term entirely, but the 1963 Encyclopedia of Sailing called it Wing and Wing (Glossary of Sailing Terms, pg 466)
H.A. Calahan's 1932 "Learning to Sail" calls it "Wung-Out" and goes on to explain that derives from being "Wing and wing".

So it would appear that the historic term is either wung-out or wing and wing.

Jeff

 

Interestingly I pulled out a couple sailing books from the 1960's. The first book was the one that I learned to sail with in the early 1960's and it avoided the term entirely, but the 1963 Encyclopedia of Sailing called it Wing and Wing (Glossary of Sailing Terms, pg 466)
H.A. Calahan's 1932 "Learning to Sail" calls it "Wung-Out" and goes on to explain that derives from being "Wing and wing".

So it would appear that the historic term is either wung-out or wing and wing.

Jeff

From which country were the books? If they are written in the USA they could be different from the UK.

Its certainly an interesting bit of fun... but for new sailors, again, it shows theres too many terms in use and no authoritive glossary.

I did have a link to some old British Admiralty one, but cant find it.

 

Like so many things there will be localisms and local jargon. I don't know that it's a bad thing. It just makes things a bit interesting. I don't care if a guest wants to use the term bathroom... or kitchen. I use the nautical term and they may pick up on it or not. It amounts to a hill of beans.

 

Wing and wing for me.
Also agree with the “time for the spinnaker “, except when you’re running in from a sail and the wind is falling off at the end of the day and is right on your tail. This pic was early in the morning coming off anchor, and I did use the time to set the spinnaker.

 

I call it slow as heck!
I'm with Jeff, pull out the spin time. If the wind is heated up then its a great way to decapitate crew.

 

Spinnakers are not the answer in a occasions. As the wind pipes up and the distances increase Goosewinging is fantastic.

In a lot of the long tropical passages, trains-Atlantic and trains-pacific is the wind is too far behind, and a hell of a lot stronger than the pilot charts.
I've had weeks at Goosewinging main deep double reefed, and just a sniff of genoa unrolled, polled, in 25 to 30 and a squall every hour or 2 to 40-45.

All I need to do is roll a bit more genoa and hang on.

People do try to hold spinnakers for long passages but they invariably pop in some squall.

As for Catamarans... They need to gybe down wind as the really do slow down when the wind is behind 150 apparent. They work hard and lose time each gybe. But the strapped down mono at close the hull speed is doing 30 degrees better course. Game on!

Mark