Questions on leeway can be found in the context of a chart problem or as an independent question in Navigation General on almost any license candidate's examination.

Course to Steer (#3607)

Answer: D

Course Made Good (#3608)

Answer: A

Questions on leeway are not difficult, which may explain why they are so frequently missed on examinations.  The candidate glimpses the word "leeway," relaxes and only skims the question or reads it too casually.  As often as not, when a student returns from an examination and tries to determine which question he or she missed, it's rarely the one he worried about and is almost always something as straightforward as a leeway problem.  If worry induces careful reading, then on an exam, worry a little about everything.

Leeway is the deflection of a vessel from her course because of wind.  The wind direction (the direction from which the wind is coming) and leeway are assigned in the problem.  As an example, a leeway of 3° produced by a northwesterly wind will cause a vessel steering 000° to make good a course of 003°; she will be pushed 3° off her course in a direction away from the wind.  If that same vessel wishes to make good a course of 000°, she will have to steer into the wind on a course of 357°.  The concepts are straightforward.

• If the wind is on the starboard side of the vessel, subtract the number of degrees of leeway from the course steered to find out what course the vessel is making good.  Add the leeway to the course to find out what course to steer to make the course good.
• If the wind is on the port side of the vessel, add the leeway to the course steered to determine what course the vessel is making good and subtract the leeway to determine what course to steer to make the course good.

In Question #3607, we are asked what PSC course should we steer to MAKE GOOD a true course of 152°T.  The wind is coming over our starboard side, so we must ADD the leeway.  Gyro error is a distractor.

Question #3608 asks what true course are we making good, given a leeway and a gyro heading of 125°.  Variation and Deviation are distractors.  The wind is on our starboard side so we SUBTRACT the leeway.

Again, note whether the question is asking what course to steer to make a particular course good or what course is being made good while steering a particular course.  Huge difference.  Remember that wind is named by the direction from which it comes; current is named for the direction in which it is moving.  A southwest wind COMES from the southwest.  A southwest current SETS TO the southwest.  And finally, pay attention to whether the answers are PSC, PGC or True.