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by sergiosgc 1160 days ago
Four, actually. You also have the wind frame of reference, which is actually the most important (for sail boats). You don't turn left or right, you turn upwind or downwind.
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For wind there is leeward (downwind) and windward (upwind). I don't think there are common terms for the 2 crosswind directions though?
I'm not familiar with sail vocabulary in English, but in Portuguese there is only downwind (sotavento) and upwind (barlavento). Functionally you don't need the other two, so I imagine it's similar in English.