plain sailing

plain sailing (uncountable)

1. (nautical) The navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds.
2. (nautical) Obsolete spelling of plane sailing
3. (by extension) Something that is simple, straightforward, or easy; something that offers no troubles or difficulties.
   • 1853, William Harrison Ainsworth, Ainsworth's Magazine‎:

     Life is not plain-sailing, and writers on Life must not put themselves in antagonism with their subject

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     In another fifty yards there was a second turn, this time toward the left! but it was more of a gentle curve, and we took it without trouble. After that it was plain sailing, though as far as I could know, there might be most anything ahead of us, and my nerves strained to the snapping-point every instant.

   • 1941 November, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 484:

     At Tebay however, he began to get the mastery over these untoward conditions, and actually got back a little time up to Shap, after which all was plain sailing.

   • 2007, Hendrik Ibsen, An enemy of the people:

     Plain sailing or no, it has got be be done, anyway

   • 2012, Chelsea 6-0 Wolves‎:

     It was not all plain sailing for Chelsea, however. First David Davis saw his strike tipped over before Slawomir Peszko surged clear of Terry and Cahill and rounded Ross Turnbull before shooting into the side netting.

   • 2023 April 5, Anne Shaw tells Peter Plisner, “West Midlands Metro metamorphosis”, in RAIL, number 980, page 33:

     But it's not been plain sailing for those planning the new route. The second half of the line from Dudley to Brierley Hill has run into financial difficulties, as a result of rising construction and operation costs.

plain sailing (not comparable)

1. (by extension) simple, straightforward, or easy
   • 1813, unknown, Good Words, Volume 14:

     He's a straightforward, plain-sailing fellow.

• smooth sailing

• “plain sailing”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.