""Hold on!" he shouted, and opened wide on the port-side propeller, closing the starboard completely. The Clare Fields groaned and creaked, but it began to pivot, turning into the wind, still falling slowly towards the beach. Jack gritted his teeth, grateful for the straps holding him in, until the ship was perpendicular to the current of the wind. When it was just past the ninety-degree point he shut down the port propeller and fired the other one, turning them backwards, the prow now facing towards Port Darwin, engine *singular* straining against the storm.
With both propellers *plural* working against the wind the ship slowed slightly, though the sand still raced past below them at an alarming rate."
So from this I get that the wind is following the coast and they are heading downwind with it but it's taking them too fast to reach the shore. Jack turns off the right prop and leaves the left full throttle to pivot into the wind and reverse the ship. To continue turning into the wind (regardless of whether it's perpendicular or parallel to the wind), the port propeller will have to remain on and once they were heading into the wind he would add in power to the starboard engine to en the rotation and slow their forward momentum. The port engine would definitely not be turned off at any point in the pivot manuever.
Also in a high performance maneuver like this you would never turn off an engine, you might throttle back but you would never turn it off because if it didn't turn back on when you needed it you would be fucked. Of course, this may not occur to Jack who never had problems getting engines to do what he wants =)
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Date: 2012-05-04 03:19 am (UTC)With both propellers *plural* working against the wind the ship slowed slightly, though the sand still raced past below them at an alarming rate."
So from this I get that the wind is following the coast and they are heading downwind with it but it's taking them too fast to reach the shore. Jack turns off the right prop and leaves the left full throttle to pivot into the wind and reverse the ship. To continue turning into the wind (regardless of whether it's perpendicular or parallel to the wind), the port propeller will have to remain on and once they were heading into the wind he would add in power to the starboard engine to en the rotation and slow their forward momentum. The port engine would definitely not be turned off at any point in the pivot manuever.
Also in a high performance maneuver like this you would never turn off an engine, you might throttle back but you would never turn it off because if it didn't turn back on when you needed it you would be fucked. Of course, this may not occur to Jack who never had problems getting engines to do what he wants =)