Rough Sailing

Rough sailing is an abbreviation for rough weather sailing or sailing in rough waters. This gives the impression of very difficult progress requiring much greater effort than normal progress.


Example: Thanks to widespread disaffection with Congress and the generally poor state of the national U.S. economy, Democrats have rough sailing ahead of them as they approach the mid-term elections in November. While dissatisfaction with both parties is high, Democrats, who enjoy majorities in the House and Senate, possess power, and therefore, have much more to lose from general dissatisfaction with government.