Rick, If you look at a map of Maine you will see that the coast doesn't actually run North-South, it runs primarily East-West. The prevailing winds in the area are Westerly. Therefore when you are sailing from Kittery towards Eastport you are sailing downwind. In other words you are running downwind to the east, or "downeast". Nick On Thursday, February 6, 2003, at 08:49 AM, <Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com> wrote: > Hello. I recently viewed a VHS tape of the Maine Coast - got it from a > Library near my work. It toured the coast from the most southern > part, up to > the most northern part. As they moved along the coast in the northerly > direction, they referred to it as going "down east". Now, I realize > I'm just > a redneck from Virginia, but "HUH"? What's with this "down east" > stuff? I > got the impression that it was a reference to some navigation thing > that has > long since passed away, but is still part of the Maine lingo. Can > anyone shed > a little light on this? > Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 824 Thompson St Glastonbury, CT 06033 USA Ph/Fx: (860) 659-8847 http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Feb 06 2003 - 06:17:32 PST
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