In the olden days, why did sailors load the base of the lead weight in a lead line with tallow?
Send your answers to cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com. A winner will be selected randomly from the correct answers and will win a one-year subscription to the digital version of Blue Water Sailing magazine.
Congratulations to Simon Martin of Portsmouth, England who answered last week’s question on what a 500 millibar weather chart tells us. “In simple terms, the 500 millibar chart shows what’s happening in the middle of the atmosphere instead of at the surface. It shows the big picture of ridge and trough patterns and what’s called vorticity, or the spin rate around pressure cells. This information can help to forecast both general weather trends and also the likely formation of tornadoes, hurricanes and extra-tropical lows.”