Two centuries ago a ship set sail from New Zealand for the south coast of Australia. It was to be a short voyage and her captain, though inexperienced, was confident that the journey would be easy. Ships with square rigged sails cannot sail easily toward the wind, and so the captain was dismayed when, after two weeks of zig-zagging toward the ever constant trade winds that blow around the southern part of the globe he had made barely any headway toward his objective to the west.
It was at this time that the sailing master, a grizzled old sea dog, took the captain aside. "Sir," he said, "what we are doing clearly isn't working and we will not make landfall before we run out of supplies. I have made this trip several times before, so let me tell you what works. We need to turn east."
"What?" replied the captain, a highly educated and intelligent man, "That doesn't hold up to even a slight logical enquiry. You are telling me to sail to Australia by sailing away from Australia. We've worked so hard to get this far and you think we should turn back? Our port of destination is but a few hundred miles ahead of us to the west!"
So the ship sailed on, tossed by the waves and fighting the wind for every inch of westward progress. After another week at sea the captain was feeling quite upset. There was no way they were going to reach their destination this way. He was afraid he would lose his command if he failed to complete even such a simple voyage. He thought again about what the sailing master had said and finally decided that he should at least try what the old sailor had suggested.
So he gave the order and the ship came about, sailing due east, turning its back on its destination. Now with the trade winds behind her the ship made steady progress. Leaving New Zealand behind she sailed past the tip of South America, past the tip of South Africa and, after another three of weeks of easy sailing, she sighted the coast of Australia.
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