North, North by East, Northeast by North, Northeast.

So it's HOWLING wind outside this morning, and it reminded me of some of my time in the Sea Scouts. We did a lot of rowing, and I loved it. Both with a bit of swell, as you had to try and navigate the waves and find a stroke that didn't have you catching crabs or air, and in perfect calm, when the movements of the oars in the spurs were perfectly in unison to the beat of 'We Will Rock You' I always found sailing to be 'sit there and hold a rope/stick' Gimme an oar any day. So this happened as a bit of a warmup.

This goes a long way to explain my ability to recite 32 points on the compass, all those sea shanties and an allround disapproval of paintings of boats with the tide out.