Don’t believe the helmsman

Every skipper should be aware that helmsmen or even women rank among the world’s most chronic liars. It isn’t that they’re born crooked, it’s just that fore-and-aft-rigged sailing yachts on a reach all want to screw up to windward. Broad-beamed modern craft are specialists, but even classics give their best shot to poking their noses above the course. It takes a skilled helm not to succumb to the tendency to steer a few degrees above the course, even if it matters less nowadays because we have GPS and are not so reliant on estimated positions. So never mind what they try to tell you they’ve been steering. They’re all at it! Watch them, and add a few degrees to weather.