Den of Earth

@dillyd @Badgardener
A few years ago there was a tall ships festival in Québec City. The docks were full of people so it occurred to me that seeing them from the water side might be an alternative. We signed up for an introduction to sailing at the nearby marina. Another couple had the same idea. There were only 6 of us (with two instructors) on a 30' sailboat. We learned how to sail into the wind, changing tack, keeping a steady course, different sails for different weather... It was wonderful.

I'm sure you can find something like that in Montréal.

@dillyd @Badgardener @Starry1086
These are all sailing expressions.

I was not familiar with the yardarm one but as it is a horizontal span high overhead, I assume it means that (on a steady course) the sun has gone from one side to the other, meaning it's now afternoon and acceptable to uncork the rum.

Ropes used to tie down sails are called sheets. Usually there is one at each corner, particularly for an early square-sail ship (versus modern triangular). In a storm, a sail might come undone from as many as three sheets, and will be pretty much unmanageable, hence the metaphor for drunkenness.

I know of one last one: "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey", which sounds naughty but is rooted in physics! Cannonballs used to be stacked on a rack called a monkey, which had bars of the correct dimensions . In extremely cold weather, metal contraction would be such that the ball stacks would collapse, though this explanation may well be apocryphal.

Sorry for the long toot!