Tacking tips

Sailing Skills

Laser champion and coach Michael Blackburn shows how to complete a fast, effective tack.

The keys to tacking a dinghy in light to moderate winds are to minimise drag and maximise power. Here are some suggestions to do just that at each stage of a tack:

1. First, check it’s a good spot to tack – a look over the shoulder will confirm there are no boats in the way and then you can look forward to find a flatter piece of water to begin the turn.

2. Ease the tiller – my tacking philosophy is slow in-fast out – so begin by using the natural weather helm of the rudder and let the tiller gently slip through your hand. If the tiller doesn’t move when you ‘ease it’, you can add just a little bit of heel to the boat to help it slowly start to steer up. If the tiller ‘eases’ really fast, you may have had too much heel to start with.

3. Watch the luff of the sail: when it just begins to luff, lean out a little more to help the boat roll and to make the sails work for a little longer. You’ll push the tiller a little harder at this stage to get the desired rate of turn.

4. With the boat head-to-wind, you’ll need to skedaddle to the other side, but try to make that movement as horizontal as possible – avoid lifting the body up and then slamming it down on the new side. You can push off the cockpit wall with your foot and grab hold of the gunwale on the new side to get across smoothly.

5. First your front foot and then back foot will end up under the hiking strap, allowing you to lean out and start to squeeze the boat upright. At the same time, your apparent wind will shift aft, so you’ll probably need to ease the sail further and then bring it back in once the boat is upright. To make sure the sail is sheeted accurately, observe the tell tails closely as soon as you sit down on the new side and try get them flowing.

The roll of the boat upright should be firm but not too fast or you’ll end up without enough sail eased (stalling the sail) and you’ll swish the centreboard and rudder too quickly through the water (stalling the foils as well).

Getting the sheeting and steering right can be difficult as you’ll need to change hands. Don’t think about this too much; focus on getting the tell tails flowing and let your body sort out the rest.

6. If you’ve done the above well, the boat will just about be back up to speed but you may need to fine tune your sail trim and body position to keep accelerating. Try to get settled as quickly as possible on the new tack.

Remember the keys: ease the tiller to begin the tack (minimising drag) and observe the tell tails closely when you sit down on the new side (maximising power).

Once you’ve had a chance to refine your tacks by yourself, set up a test against another boat: The drill starts with a gate start (one boat passing close behind the other). Then, every 20 or so metres the boats tack back toward each other again, crossing with port giving way to starboard if necessary.

The tacks continue like this with the better tacker of the two gradually pulling ahead. Stop when a clear advantage has been gained. As the wind gets stronger, the distance between tacks should be increased slightly to give each crew time to find some flatter water to tack in.

1. Check it's a good spot to tack.

2. Ease the tiller - slow in, fast out.

3. Use your weight to help the boat roll.

4. Try to stay horizontal as you move from one side to the other.

5. You will need to ease the sail further, then bring it back in once the boat is upright.

6. Fine tune your trim and body position to keep accelerating.