Learn to Sail Series - Holding a Straight Course

Holding a straight course is an imperative skill to master as you learn to sail. As an experienced sailor - nothing is more distracting to a good day out sailing than a novice helmsperson swinging the boat in all directions. What I've found is that often a new sailor has been taught to "fly the telltales" too early in the learn to sail process. Telltales are short pieces of ribbon mounted on the sails. When they fly backwards along the sails it means that the airflow there is flowing smoothly and in turn means the sail is set correctly.

It's no question that all sailors are keen to introduce and teach others to sail. What a great community of passionate people. So whether you're a novice sailor learning to sail or an experienced sailor who loves to teach, this article is for you. As a sailing instructor and having owned my own practical sailing school, I have have taught many people to sail. I've discovered that teaching to fly the telltales too early almost inherently invites the novice to be sailing all over the map. The reason being is that the sailor is spending too much time watching the sails and not enough time looking out of the sailboat.

The issue really lies in that there is a delay between a course change and the telltales. So the new sailor tends to wait until the telltales are flying correctly before looking up and straightening the helm out. But by the time the sailboat is straightened out, the new correct point of sail has been overshot. The novice then tries to bring the sailboat back but overshoots again. And thus there is a constant s curve of trailing wakes out behind. A good thing to do is to point out the curvey wake to the novice so they can see what they have been doing.

The biggest mistake occurs when adjusting back up wind to a close haul position. If this is over stood, the boat can auto tack over to the other side. An auto tack occurs when the wind catches the headsail on the opposite side pushing it through the wind and causing a involuntary tack. It's an extremely common occurrence with new sailors and creates a lot of confusion as to why this happened. It also creates a lot of calamity and is a pretty embarrassing thing to do as the helmsperson. And you'll find that you're resorting to saving face by blaming the wind for a big change in direction. LOL. The term is called "the wind clocked". But in reality the wind doesn't clock. You just over stood the wind and got auto tacked.

So lets fix that shall we?

Introducing Rule A thru Z, 1 through infinity - Keep your eyes out of the sailboat.

When you drive a car and you want to speed up to 50 miles per hour (80kph) you don't do the following: Set your car going straight then watch the speedo intently until you reach 50 then look up to make sure every thing is ok. No what you do is: you keep your eyes out of the car watching the road and traffic and making small steering adjustments to stay between the lines. You flick you eyes to the speedo for perhaps 0.5 seconds every 5 seconds or so. When you reach 45 you lift your foot slowly and if you're a good driver you'll probably land right bang on 50 having stayed between the lines all the way.

Lets bring that concept over to sailing.

What you don't want to do is the following: hold you eyes on the telltales (speedo) until they are flying right then look up. No! What you want to do is keep your eyes out of the sailboat watching your heading and traffic and flick check your eyes to the telltales for 0.5 seconds about every 5 seconds or so.

With this simple revelation, you'll never auto tack again and your wake will be straight.

Now, here's how to make adjustments for wind changes. You're sailing along towards a distant hilltop on a distant island and see that you need an adjustment to lee. As you begin to learn to sail better and your experience increases, you'll be able to determine from the telltales how much of an adjustment is needed. For now a 5 degree adjustment is a good starting point. First, make the adjustment with your eyes. Pick a 5 degree change on the hilltop and turn the sailboat towards that new point. Wait until the sailboat straightens out on that new point then check the telltales. If more adjustment is needed, repeat the process. Note that you're not watching the telltales. You're just checking them when the boat is heading straight. Using this method you'll reduce or stop any over standing on the points that you want to sail to.

When teaching this, I always get the question, "umm durh, what if I'm not heading towards an island"? Well there is always something and if there's not something, there is a cloud. I doubt very much that you'll be learning this in the middle of the ocean with out land in sight. Even if land is not directly ahead there is land to the side. Make your adjustments according to the relative position of land on a shroud line or something on the boat. The point is that with your eyes out of the boat you can see your boat turning. Once you're an experienced sailor you won't have to worry about holing a straight course, it will all be inherent. But for now - get out and learn to sail and learn to hold a straight course.

Using this process by watching a compass instead of land (cloud) is also not a good idea. Compasses lag like the telltales, as do wind meters. Get your eyes out of the sailboat.

So the secret to sailing a straight line is always be aiming at something in the distant or have a relative bearing on something in the distant against something on the boat so that your eyes are telling you if you are turning or not. When making adjustments to your heading, keep you eyes out of the sailboat so that they are telling you how much your boat is turning. Make small adjustments according to those distant objects and flick check your eyes for ½ second to the telltales or wind meter (or compass if you're turning onto a new compass heading).

Keep your eyes out of the sailboat. And besides it's safer, you're keeping your eyes out for traffic at the same time.

And if you can't remember "Keep your eyes out of the Sailboat" remember this one.

Your'e a sailor if you can...
hold a drink
hold a conversation
...and hold a course.


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