🔍 Key Concepts

• Lee shore – what danger does a lee shore create in heavy weather? • Heavy weather shiphandling – best heading relative to wind and seas for safety and control • Effects of speed on pounding, shipping seas, and risk of broaching or being set onto a lee shore

💭 Think About

• First, eliminate the option that obviously places the vessel in the least controllable and most dangerous orientation to the seas. • Ask yourself: in heavy weather, do you usually want full speed, increased speed, or reduced speed when the vessel is already laboring? Why? • Think about the safest relative heading to the seas: directly ahead, directly astern, on the beam, or slightly forward of the beam?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which option avoids being in the trough of the sea (beam seas), which is generally dangerous in heavy weather. • Check which answer balances maintaining headway and steering control with reducing stress on the vessel’s structure and machinery. • Confirm that the chosen heading and speed reduce the risk of being set down onto the lee shore by wind and sea.