Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side . If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side". During the age of sail, the term weather was used as a synonym for windward in some contexts, as in the weather gauge . Leeward and windward refer respectively to what a game stalker would call downwind and upwind . The terms are used by seamen in relation to their ships but also in reference to islands in an archipelago and to the different sides of a single island. In the latter case, the windward side is that side of an island subject to the prevailing wind , and is thus the wetter side (see orographic precipitation ). The leeward side is the side protected by the elevation of the island from the prevailing wind, and is typically the drier side of an island. Thus, leeward or windward siting is an important weather and climate factor on oceanic islands. In the case of an archipelago, windward islands are upwind and leeward islands are the downwind ones. In aviation, downwind refers to a portion of an aircraft's landing pattern . The long side parallel to the runway but flown in the opposite direction is called the downwind leg. On land, downwind is often used to refer to a situation