🔍 Key Concepts

• How wind pressure acts on a ships above-water profile (superstructure, bow, stern) • How the underwater shape (underwater hull form) affects how a vessel drifts • The idea of a vessels weather vane tendency in calm seas with little or no current

💭 Think About

• Think about which end of the ship usually has more area exposed to the wind above the waterline, and how that would make the vessel turn when drifting • Consider what happens to a small boat or even a floating log in a light breezewhich way do they tend to point relative to the wind? • Ask yourself which orientation would be the most stable balance between wind force on the hull above the water and resistance of the underwater hull

✅ Before You Answer

• Compare which has more windage on a typical ship: forward (bow/superstructure) or aft (stern) • Visualize the ship as a weather vane: the lighter, higher-windage end tends to be blown downwind; the deeper, more resistant end tends to stay upwind • Eliminate any choice that would make the ships most wind-exposed structures sit directly broadside (beam) to the wind, unless you can justify why that would be stable