Model Boat Weather Vane — Handmade Wind Pointer

A weather vane with a sailing boat as the pointer, and cardinal direction letters beneath it.

Details

• Handmade construction
• Boat-form pointer on a pivot
• Cardinal direction indicators
• Hand-applied finish
• Suits a shelf, desk, porch, boathouse or coastal interior

How a weather vane works

The vane is deliberately unbalanced. The tail presents a large surface to the wind and the head presents a small one, but the pivot sits close to the head — so the wind pushes the big end downwind and the small end swings round to point into it.

Which means a weather vane shows where the wind is coming from, not where it is going. A north wind is one blowing from the north, and the vane points north.

They have been on European buildings since a papal decree of the 9th century put a cockerel on every church — which is why the word weathercock exists and why so many vanes are still birds.