Talk:Winds in the Age of Sail

Needed work

This article has been compiled from various sources which mention the problem indirectly. It needs the attention of an expert. Need information on the following routes: Vikings to Iceland, Europe to British and French North America, slave trade route, return route from the East Indies, China to Indonesia, Peru to Panama. Were the following areas neglected because there were no proper winds or currents: northern Gulf of Mexico, northeast Brazil, Australia? Why was the Cape Horne route avoided before 1800? What is odd about the winds in the western North Pacific and western South Atlantic? Did changes in ship design have any effect? Need details on seasonal variation of prevailing winds where this is important. It is easy to talk of prevailing winds, but how much variation was there, and was this important? A table of average voyage duration would be very helpful. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Benjamin Trovato (talk • contribs)

Other editing needed

Ben, please learn: a) we use the move tab to rename articles, b) we do not SHOUT and c) we discuss an article in its talk page. Talking of renames, I think a more encyclopedic title would be Sea routes in the Age of Sail. As I said when I first moved this article, the Age of Sail is passed but the winds still blow. Descriptions of the winds do not belong here but elsewhere, most notably in trade wind! The text I have deleted from here is of course still available via the history. — RHaworth (Talk | contribs) 11:21, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Winds and currents remain

The article began (I now slightly tweaked it):

"The captain of a steam ship naturally chooses the shortest route to a destination."

So one would think. But have you ever driven a boat against the waves of a fresh breeze off shore? Or think of the steamship captain that sails a week against a 0.5 knot current, thus lengthening the distance through water with a hundred miles. Even with modern large cargo ships, you want to avoid going against the waves, and prefer to have the currents do some of the job of the engines. Thus shipping to some extent still follows the old trade routes, except for the effects of the Suez and Panama canals.

The same applied to sailing ships; especially with some ships you could not steer high into the wind, and you were zigzagging more than gaining distance windward – but beating against high seas is also wearing to the crew, the rig and the ship itself. It is not so much about whether it is possible – you do it to get away from a lee shore or to an upwind port, but you want to avoid doing it for longer distances.

–LPfi (talk) 19:42, 18 June 2022 (UTC)