My Luff is Luffing: One Word, Two Meanings

My luff is luffing!  That sounds redundant, or maybe just obvious.  Of course the luff is luffing.  It's got the word in it!  Except that it could also be the leech that is luffing. 

Wait.  Do what now?

Yeah, luff is actually two things: two words that mean different things.  One is a verb, and the other is a noun.

Source: http://www.seatalk.info/

Luff (noun)

As you can see, the luff is the forward edge on a three-sided sail.  Note that that is also the case for the triangular headsail, even though it's not the vertical part:

So that's what the luff is- the noun form.  Okay?  Okay.  Let's muddy the water a little then, shall we?


Luff (verb)

Here's the definition: to  turn gradually toward the eye of the wind so that the sails begin to take air on the lee side and shake.  There's more to it than that, but that's the gist.

When the sail is full, it's taut- it's tight and forms that nice shape we all love.  That's because the majority of the air around it is being caught by one side.  But change that so that the air is going over both sides, and the sail flops around- sometimes like crazy.

According to the definition above, that isn't the definition of luffing, but it is what happens when you luff.

But, in my (limited) experience, that's not how people talk about it.  People mostly seem to talk about luffing as something that happens to the sails.

Technically that's incorrect, but I've heard it a lot so in case you do to, here's the other colloquial definition: 


Luff (technically incorrect verb that everyone seems to use) and what it means to you

Definition: the sails are flopping around because you're too close to the wind or the sheets aren't tight enough.

According to this definition, the sails themselves can luff.  This can happen on the leading edge of the sail (the luff....the noun version now)...or the trailing edge (the leech).

If the luff (noun again) is the part that is luffing, then you're probably too close to the wind.  .

If the leech is luffing, then you probably need to trim the sheet a little tighter.

That's the long and short of it.  It may not all be technically correct, but this is some confusing stuff as it was explained to me.  Hopefully, it will be helpful.

If not, here's some more info from people who know WAAAY more than I do:
http://www.nauticed.org/freesailingcourse-m2-3

And if you have questions, people who know more can also answer it here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/

Happy sailing, friends!