At my house on Long Island Sound I frequently travel along the shore. The prevailing wind is on shore with waves comming in at a 45% angle. A I travel along in one direction the waves/wind hit the stern first and point the bow into the wind. I assume this is a clasic weathercocking situation. When I return the other way along the coast the problem is not nearly as pronounced. I am also fairly new to paddeling and know that good technique can adjust for weathercocking but would like to understand the physics of what is going on.

A couple of questions

1. Why is the weathercocking effect more pronouced in one direction vs. the other? (i.e. when the wind/waves hit the bow at an angle the stern doesn't point into the wind nearly as much as the reverse situation)

2. I can see how a skeg would keep a boat straight with wind pushing on the boat but I would think that when a wave pushes on a boat sidways that a skeg would only presents more surface area to push the stern around. How does the skeg help tracking in this situation?

3. Does a skeg in the help with following seas? I find it much harder to keep the boat straight when swells are comming up from behind.

Many Thanks,

Jack