luff

I thought how my life is like a little boat and I must hold the tiller steady against the buffeting of wind and waves, and how sometimes, like this morning, I lose my hold somehow and the sail luffs helplessly and the little vessel wallows, turning this way and that in the swell.

The tower is mounted on a slewing platform, which also carries the power plant and the counterweights, while the jib is supported and luffed by fixed pendant ropes.