A great deal of the skill in tacking depends upon one’s ability to judge just when to come about on the other tack. Very few boats will sail equally well on both tacks and as soon as you find on which tack your boat sails best you can make your longest tacks or “lays” on that tack and make shorter tacks when sailing with the wind on the other bow.
To make too many short tacks is a mistake for each time you go about you lose a trifle of what you have gained, but to make tacks which are too long is also a mistake, for you travel a great deal further than is necessary in this way. As a rule a long and a short leg is the best method to follow. This consists of making long tacks, or lays, close to the wind and then going about and making shorter and quicker reaches in the other direction a little farther off the wind. All of these maneuvers are illustrated in the diagrams and by studying these you will readily see just how the boat may be sailed directly to windward.
When ready to go about on a new tack the boat should always be eased off a little, the sails loosened lightly and as soon as the speed increases the rudder should be thrown hard over, the tiller being pushed away from the wind. As the boat wheels about the sheet should be hauled in briskly until it begins to fill on the opposite side. Then ease it off gradually until good headway is made and trim in and head up to the wind as before.
When tacking with other persons in the boat you should always signal before going about or tacking by crying, “Ready about” and as the boat is brought into the wind, call, “Hard-a-lee” and at these words your passengers should duck their heads as the boom swings over or should shift their seats to the other side of the boat if she heels over very much.
Some boats have a tendency to remain hanging in the wind when brought about or else come into the wind and fall off on the same tack again. This is known as missing stays and when it occurs you should swing the boat’s head around by an oar over the stern or hold the boom or sail far over to windward until the bow swings around. If the boat has a centerboard she may often be brought about quickly by raising the board as you swing her into the wind and then dropping it again as the sail fills away on the other tack.
If the boat carries a jib she will seldom miss stays if the jib is hauled flat as you go about and is kept sheeted to windward until the other sails fill away on the other tack. Then the windward sheet of the jib should be eased off and the leeward sheet should be trimmed in as shown in the illustration.
Usually a well built boat, if properly trimmed and rigged, will seldom miss stays except in heavy seas or in a very light wind or a strong current and often a boat under reefed sails will come about more easily and will sail to windward far better than under full canvas.
Remember that a boat’s sheets can be trimmed flatter in light winds and smooth waters than in rough seas and strong winds and that even a comparatively small sea will cause the sail to swing and spill the wind and thus lose headway.
Don’t forget that when a boat, sailing close-hauled is to be turned so as to sail off the wind the sheets must be eased off as she swings about and in the same way a boat sailing free must have her sheets hauled in as you bring her up into the wind.
The foregoing directions apply to boats with one sail only and it is best to learn to sail with such a craft and then you will find it much easier to learn to handle a boat with headsails or jibs.