Tack, which:
This is something that many men get sadly mixed on, and consequently are frequently violating the rules of the road. A vessel is on the starboard tack when her boom is on the port side and the wind is blowing on her starboard side. She is on the port tack when the boom is on the starboard side and the wind is blowing on her port side. Not only are there men sailing who in an emergency cannot tell the port side from the starboard, but who do not know their right from their left hand. One day I was watching a sergeant drilling a squad of recruits. He said to me, “would you believe it, half these men don’t know their right from their left hand.” Upon my questioning this, he suddenly commanded them to raise their right hands, two lifted the right, one the left, and the other three looked doubtfully at both for some seconds before raising the right one up. You can always know when you are on the starboard tack in this way: Standing at the helm and facing forward, if your right hand is on the side from which the wind is blowing you are on the starboard tack. When I was a boy, and even to-day in an emergency, I always tell my right hand by thinking which hand I would throw a stone with.