![]() The luff and leech of a fore-and-aft sail function much the same way as they do in a square sail, which is why we call the leech the leech to this day. any bloodsucking annelid worm of the class Hirudinea, as the European Hirudo medicinalis, once used widely for bloodletting. Anyway, you can see that after drinking all that rum it wouldn’t take much time for the term “lee edge” to be corrupted to “leech”. Getting back to square sail terminology, we have the windward edge and the leeward or lee edge of the sail. Originally it just meant that it was high noon since that’s where the sun could be observed if the ship was sailing directly east or west. Sailors who have spent a lot of time in harbor bars may have heard the phrase, “The sun is over the yardarm.” In its modern context this means its time to drink. ![]() Each side of the sail is also described as either windward or leeward. While sailing, each yardarm can be defined as either the windward or leeward yardarm depending on the tack being sailed. At each end of the yard is the yardarm, the part of the yard that sticks out beyond the edge of the square sail. (A lot more drinking was done in those days.)Ī little about square-rig terminology: The spars that hold up the square sails from the top are called yards. This is also when the rum rations were given out. When the sun was at its highest above the horizon, noon was declared and the watch was changed. Throughout the Middle Ages, doctors were. The name was given to a person who was a doctor. ![]() In those days time was measured exclusively in accordance with the sun. The name Leech is from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. These plied the trade winds, which largely meant sailing east or west. That’s when trade and warfare was conducted on square-rigged ships. Going back to the late 1700’s and early 1800’s is far enough. Leech seems like a peculiar word to name a part of a sail but it makes sense if you go back far enough into sailing history.
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