Beam reach definition

It is a matter of many opinions especially when teaching. For a new student to describe how the wind vane should be slightly forward of a beam because the true wind is slightly aft adds too much complexity to an already overwhelmed student. Having said that - if you know where the wind is coming from, it is easy to point to something on land that is 90 degrees off the wind direction to say that would be a beam reach. Further on the topic - a close haul is most often measured on an apparent wind basis because you are riding that fine line of luffing. Trying to sail close to the "true wind" is not practical - the helmsman must use the apparent wind because that is the only wind the helmsman and the sails feel. So then at what point does one switch between telling a student to sail apparent wind on a close haul but true wind on a beam reach? At the end of the day it is all just vernacular - more often than not anytime you are sailing off the wind, you are aiming for a point on land or a compass bearing, thus it is rare that in real sailing a person would be overly stressed about the difference of true wind or apparent wind on a beam reach. This is a great question - for now we are going to leave it as the simple answer for the student - however I'm now tempted to follow up with a blog article - leaving the true answer apparently open to discussion.

Thank you Grant for the rapid and detailed response! I'll tell you a short story about why this matters to me. One day I went out for a sail just for fun with no destination in mind. I was in a large body of water, so I had a lot of choice as to which way to head. I decided going out on a beam reach would allow me to sail fast and comfortably on both the outbound leg and the return leg. I headed out with the wind vane at 90 degrees. On the return, I was close hauled! Of course this makes sense, as I was really on a broad reach on the outbound leg. If you write a blog article, feel free to use this example. A great test question to ask a student is this: "You are sailing on starboard with the wind vane pointing abeam. You then turn the boat 180 degrees. Which way is the wind vane now pointing?"

Very cool! I like the blog, and I appreciate you letting me know about it. Cheers!