> While on a sailboat, which side is to your left, as you look towards the frontof the boat?And the answer: port. Photo credit: discoverboating.com[https://www.discoverboating.com/resources/buying-a-sailboat].While left andright can change depending on which way you're facing, the terminology used onboats and airplanes relate to fixed locations and don't change. If you're on asailboat and facing towards the front of a vessel, port is always on the leftside, while starboard is on the right. The stern is in the back.Before there were planes, trains, and automobiles, there were sailboats. Withoutthem, the world as we know it would not exist – sailboats are uniquelyresponsible for mankind's early ability to move freely between nations,continents, and even cities. Square-rigged sailboats brought masses of Europeans to America in the 16th and17th centuries. Their stable decks and massive holds carried the people andsupplies that built the beginnings of most major coastal cities in the UnitedStates today. However, early square-rigged sailboats had their limitations: theywere slow, and could only travel in the direction of the wind. The massivemastheads were used as parachutes to harness and channel the power of the wind,so if there wasn't much of a breeze, travel would be slow. Sailboats are of a very different nature today. Modern day sailing oftenincludes races that challenge the limitations of the now-streamlined boats.These days, sailboats are designed to work with the wind in any direction, usingspecial rigs to move the mast into or away from the wind. Sailboats can now sailtoward the wind using aerodynamics – just like an airplane wing, the sail canlift the boat, allowing it to go nearly any direction. Learn more about the physics of this complicated, ancient form of travel below.