How to Tack a Boat

Most of the time, wind isn’t behind a sailboat. This means that when you need to go any direction in which the wind isn’t blowing, you have to tack. Wind, more often than it pushes against a sail, blows across a sail, like an airfoil. The low pressure on the front of the sail pulls the sail -- and the boat -- along, no matter which way the wind blows. When sailing against the wind, you must sail at slight angles to the wind and zigzag your way to your intended destination.

Things You'll Need

  • Stopwatch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Look at the wind telltale in the standing rigging on the mast. Pull the rope on the end of the boom -- the main sheet -- until the boom is within about 10 degrees of the direction of the wind. Watch your GPS and, when your speed-over-ground begins to drop, slack the main sheet. Belay the main sheet when the boat's speed begins to rise.

    • 2

      Shout “Ready about” to warn the crew, if any, that you plan to tack in a moment. Grasp, but do not slack, the jib sheet; the rope that controls the aft corner -- called the "clew" -- of the jib.

    • 3

      Alert the crew, if any, at the moment you plan to tack by shouting “Hard a-lee” just before you move the tiller or turn the wheel to shift the rudder. Shifting the rudder when tacking means you turn the rudder from “X” degrees on one side of the base course to the same number of degrees on the other side of the base course.

    • 4

      Duck to avoid the main boom, which will shift from one side of the boat to the other. Slack the jib sheet as the jib begins to luff – flutter – and move its sheet to the opposite side of the boat. As the jib shifts from one side of the boat to the other, pull the sheet tight and belay it.

    • 5

      Press the button on your stopwatch to time the length of time and the distance covered on the new tack. If you shift from one tack to another after a regular interval, you will stay closer to your base course.