sail before the wind

sail before the wind

To achieve something easily. This nautical phrase refers to the ease of sailing in the same direction as the wind. I don't understand people who just sail before the wind and get great grades without ever opening a book, when I study really hard and am just an average student. I hardly studied, and I still got A's on all of my exams—I really sailed before the wind this semester!
See also: before, sail, wind
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • sail against
  • sail against the wind
  • sail near the wind
  • near the wind
  • up the wind
  • close to the wind
  • sail
  • steady as she goes
  • under the wind
  • under sail
References in classic literature
After a keen sail before the wind, this fourth boat --the swiftest keeled of all --seemed to have succeeded in fastening --at least, as well as the man at the mast-head could tell anything about it.
Moby Dick LXVIII CXXXIV
Let us sail before the wind, and unless it changes we shall be drifted either to Calais or Boulogne.
Twenty Years After