WHEN TACKS DON'T GO AS PLANNED

You probably understand the theory of tacking upwind; the bad news is that tacks don't always go according to plan. That is, until you understand the mechanics of changing tacks. (If other boats are close by, always be prepared to release the mainsheet quickly. If you do not release or ease the mainsheet when you fall off to avoid a collision, your boat will heel excessively, rendering the rudder ineffective because so much of it will be out of the water. In short, falling off will be difficult.)

For example, you might fail to complete a tack and your boat ends up dead in the water, or head to wind. The bow is pointed into the wind and the boat is motionless. Without motion there is no water flowing past the rudder. Remember that when you were leaving a mooring, the rudder had to deflect water in order to turn the boat. If you aren't moving, your boat has no steerageway. Turning the rudder doesn't turn the boat. You are in irons.

You know if your boat is about to stop when the sails start to luff and stream aft like a flag. Usually this happens when you allow the boat to slow up too much before attempting to tack. A wave can stop the boat in the middle of the tack leaving you with no way on, a temporary condition. The boat will shortly fall off to one tack or the other, but you may not end up on the desired tack.

If, for instance, the reason for the tack was a moored boat dead ahead, it could be very embarrassing (and costly) to get in irons and then fall back on the same tack. Since your boat can't gain any steerageway until it gains speed, by the time you are moving enough to try to tack again, you may collide with the moored boat after all. If you are steering, you may not be totally at fault. When the crew doesn't get the jib trimmed in on the new tack fast enough, the mainsail may force the boat up into the wind again if its sheet remains cleated. By this time the boat has lost so much forward momentum you end up in irons once more.

While the main does not regularly need to be uncleated when tacking, as we said earlier, someone (even the person steering) should hold the mainsheet when sailing among moored boats or near obstructions. If a gust of wind hits the boat, or the tack is not completed well (as described above), you can then release the main sheet quickly to spill wind out of the main. This lets the boat straighten up so you can change course. In a lot of wind, you will surely be heeled over, making it more difficult to maintain your course or turn away from the wind and away from another boat or object, unless the mainsheet is released.

Editor's Note: This tip is from Steve and Doris Colgate's Fast Track to Sailing textbook, published by McGraw-Hill in 2009. Order your copy today!