Lay course

To lay a course is to set and steer the heading that takes the ship along a planned leg. The navigator lays off the leg between two waypoints, reads the chart course, then corrects for current set and drift and for wind leeway to find the course to steer that makes the planned course good over the ground. A sailing vessel that cannot point high enough to lay the mark on one tack must beat, laying alternate boards until it is fetched. The laid course for each leg, with its distance and least safe depth, is the spine of the passage plan under SOLAS V/34.