How to Tack Through the Wind Smoother, Faster, And Easier!

Did you know that you can learn to sail like a pro when you tack without the worry of confusing calculations or using a steering compass? These little-known sailing tips make tacking a snap and will make sailing to windward lots of fun with greater speed and performance.

Sailing close hauled means you keep the true wind at a 45 degree angle to the boat. When you tack, the bow passes through the wind to place the wind at a 45 degree angle on the other side of the boat. Your small sailboat tacks (turns) through the true wind a total of 90 degrees.

Instead of using lots of fancy addition or subtraction, use an easier, more natural method called over-the-shoulder "aim" points. Follow these three easy steps to tacking success:

1. Steady up on your close hauled course. Stand in front of the tiller or behind the sailboat wheel so that you face the bow. Keep your shoulders square (perpendicular) to the center-line of your boat.

2. Look over your shoulder to the windward side (upwind). Find a house, tree, pier, hill, mountain peak, or some other fixed point that you can use as your "aim" point.

If out of sight of land, use the well defined part of a cloud as your "aim" point. If no clouds are available, study the angle that the waves will make to the boat after tacking.

3. Tack the boat through the wind and turn the boat onto the "aim" point. Once you steady up, adjust your sailing course so that the luff of the mainsail lies just on the edge of a flutter.

To do this, ease the boat up toward the wind until the luff of the mainsail just begins to flutter. Fall off just a bit until the flutter stops. Now you are right on the edge of the wind. Your boat should accelerate like a thoroughbred at a racetrack!

Learn to sail better than ever before with simple, easy-to-use techniques that work on any sailboat of any size anywhere in the world. You will become a more confident, skilled sailing skipper and enjoy better speed and performance--wherever in the world you choose to sail.


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