Idiot, gosh!

I had a moment of revelation, immediately followed by disbelief at what a freakin idiot I am.

With turns around a point, you enter on the downwind part of the circle. What is downwind? I realized I had no idea so I walked over to Husband's office and asked.

"It's when the wind is behind you."

It's when it's a tailwind.

So if the winds are from 130, the turn should start from a heading of 310.

Downwind. What is that? At this point it's still just nodding and accepting, like accepting that 1+1=3, I mean, 2.

I've been so utterly confused thinking about slips and how they say to use downwind rudder and upwind aileron, but a slip is for when the wind is coming at the plane's side. Downwind of the runway is the leg parallel to it (beside it). So all this time I've been thinking that downwind was perpendicular to the wind. My logic doesn't make sense? Exactly. It didn't make sense to me either, and thus I've been struggling to think through the turn around a point.

Husband said, "Where's the wind when you're on downwind in the pattern?"

DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!!

You land into the wind, with a headwind, so downwind is when there's a tailwind!

DUH!