Lee shore

Usage of the terms to describe shores in relation to an arbitrary point of view, including on land, can lead to ambiguity.

Sailboats are particularly susceptible to this, as even under sail they are limited to the angle they can travel into the wind; square rigged craft, for instance, can point only slightly to windward.

[2] A lee shore line (e.g. beach, sand bar, rocks, reef) poses a significantly higher risk in a storm due to the undiminished effects of the wind and waves.

A storm surge may make the entrance to a protected body of water prohibitively treacherous or impossible to locate.

Heavy weather tactics more often dictate heading out to sea, where deeper water and more room for maneuver allow a sailboat to heave to or adopt other defensive measures.

Forester highlighted the dangers of a lee shore in his famed series of novels about Horatio Hornblower.

For example, Hornblower's first experience commanding a brig is described as follows: "...all his reading and all his instruction had warned him of the terrors of a lee shore.

"[5] Likewise, the fearsome dangers of a lee shore were frequently emphasized in the Aubrey–Maturin novels written by Patrick O'Brian, which have been acclaimed for nautical accuracy.

Such expositions are often made to the nautically naive medical surgeon Stephen Maturin as a means of comic relief.