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Box 1

The vessel must have sufficient 'way on' to be able to tack. This means it must be moving through the water at the best speed for the conditions and be at the right angle to the wind neither too close nor too far off.

In this article we are going from starboard tack onto port tack. A sailing vessel is on the port tack if the wind is coming from the port side and on starboard tack if the wind is coming from the starboard side.

The staysail lizard or backing line (red) is secured.
The crew are in position - No.1 to cast off the staysail lizard, No.2 to cast off the port jib sheet (mauve) No.3 on the helm and No.4 ready to sheet in the jib on the starboard side. Any topsails will have been been lowered before tacking.

Box 2

We will now be choosing the best time to tack, watching out for wind shifts, favourable or unfavourable and timing the tack with the waves.

'Stand by to tack' calls the crew to their positions.
'Ready about' means tacking is imminent.
'Lee oh' or 'helm's alee' means the helm has been put over and the tack has started.

The amount of rudder (how far the wheel is turned) needs to be enough to start a good swing and every one onboard should now be watching the swing of the bows in relation to the wind.

As soon as the bows start to come head to wind the port jib (mauve) sheet is let fly and the sail allowed to blow across as we turn. To help beginners the skipper or mate will shout 'Let fly'.
The staysail is now held aback by the lizard (red) and it helps to turn the head of the ship round

Box 3

Care must be taken not to sheet the jib in too soon and end up with it aback on the starboard side. This would force the bows back round to port, Trinovante would miss the tack and we have to start all over again from the start of box 1.

As soon as the foresail shows signs of filling the staysail is let fly with a tug on the lizard.
The rudder is brought back amidships to check the swing of the bows.
The jib is sheeted in but not too far. It is a common fault to over sheet the jib which takes all the drive out of the sail and also forces the bows right round beyond the required heading.
The crew should not need to use the winch handle on the jib if they get the timing right.

The ideal is to have the boat tack smoothly with all the crew trimming their respective sails at the right time.

The sails are now filling and drawing nicely. If we are using the fishermans topsails they can now be rehoisted.

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