Timing for the perfect tack

RussC

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Sep 11, 2015
1,646
Merit 22- Oregon lakes
You'd think after 11 years of very active lake sailing I'd have tacking pretty well nailed down by now. maybe being self taught I should just blame my instructor ;) but I still find my tacks to be inconsistent at best. always single handed, even with a passenger onboard, but my general process is: locate a spot 90* as a target, release and hold the working sheet, swing rudder, allow the jib to back fill and push the bow through the tack, release the now lazy sheet as I pull and set the new working sheet and simultaneously center the rudder. sometimes I nail it, sometimes I over or undershoot.
what's the secret to consistently nail it? :cool:
 
Jan 11, 2014
13,151
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
what's the secret to consistently nail it? :cool:
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

Trying to tack single handed is tough, too many things to do all at once and all it takes a line that doesn't run freely or a wave or a dropped tiller to screw it up. Fall off a little, begin the tack and once the jib starts to luff, let the sheet go. Get the bow across the wind and bring in the now active sheet. Let the boat fall off the wind a few degrees to build speed and trim the jib as you come up on course.

Good luck.
 

dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
4,548
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
You mention the 90* target initially, but now how it plays into the tack. Can you clarify that for me please? You are a sailing a Merit 22, correct? Do you have a windex?

dj
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,109
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
That 90 deg target is monstrously incorrect and way too tiny. What I recommend you actually do is sail upwind and note your course. Then tack and sail back upwind on the new course, both courses as high as you can. Then compare the courses. 90 is nuts.

Otherwise, your technique is just fine, and I agree with Dave practice, but singlehanded (I've been doing it on my own boats since 1983!) means you will not nail them all the time. I think your jib technique is better than Dave's, especially in heavier air, don't luff any sail, ever, if you can avoid it.
 
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May 17, 2004
5,778
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
I prefer to release the old sheet when the jib starts to luff, as the bow comes through the wind. I find backwinding it makes it too likely to overshoot the tack, and it makes it too hard to release the old sheet and grab the new one quickly enough. If timed properly the amount of time the jib luffs will be just minimally longer than with back winding.


That 90 deg target is monstrously incorrect and way too tiny. What I recommend you actually do is sail upwind and note your course. Then tack and sail back upwind on the new course, both courses as high as you can. Then compare the courses. 90 is nuts.
I don’t know the Merit 22 myself, but I’d be surprised if 90 degrees was that crazy. Many boats tack through just about 90 degrees, or maybe 100, but that includes a few degrees of leeway on each side. A heading change of 90 degrees sounds like a good starting point to me, at least to get an idea for the new target. It’s also pretty easy to estimate 90 degrees, where 100 or 110 would be trickier.
 
Apr 25, 2024
692
Fuji 32 Bellingham
Your boat tacks pretty quickly, so good timing comes down to fractions of seconds. Single-handing, being completely consistent will always be an elusive goal, as the tiniest misstep will throw it off. (By contrast, in my boat, I start my turn, take a nap, wake up, look around, make tea, come back up, and think about sheeting in the leeward sheet.)

Pretty hard to diagnose your tack exactly, but I will tell you what I have seen as an instructor, as the most common "mistakes". (I put "mistakes" in quotes because they aren't really mistake, per se, just areas that could be done more effectively.) In no certain order:
  • Letting the original leeward sheet out too soon. This is pretty much the most common problem I see, especially for single-handers. Since you have a few things to do in short order, it is tempting to let out the sheet before it is completely unloaded. It sounds like you've got this figured out.
  • Sheeting in the new sheet too hard too fast. To make the best windward progress, you do actually want to overshoot slightly and then turn up and sheet in as you build speed. If your goal is simply to point as high as possible at all times, do as Stu says and sail from close-hauled to close-hauled, but that is not actually the best way to make windward progress. Actually, 90 degrees is about right, as a starting point. Your boat will be a little narrower than this (like maybe 75-80), whereas mine is more like 100 or so. I'm not sure where Stu is coming from that this is "nuts". It is a really good way to ground your turns for consistency - to steer relative to that 90-degree landmark. This touches on the next issue ...
  • Sailing too high. Your boat will probably make the best VMG about 40 degrees off the wind (I am guessing - I don't really know your boat that well). Your boat will sail higher, but that won't necessarily get you to your destination any faster. GPS is really useful for figuring out optimal angles, but understand these will vary a bit with conditions. After a while, you can feel the angle of diminishing returns - that angle at which you are pointing higher but speed-over-water drops off palpably. Just below that is where most boats make the best VMG (as a close-enough rule).
  • Fussing with the traveler too early. Your traveler angle does matter, but it should not take precedence over sheeting. Ideally you would move your traveler as you built up speed, sheeting in the headsail, and pointed up. But, you can't do all three simultaneously and you get more benefit from a properly sheeted headsail.
  • Abrupt rudder deflection. The turn should be smooth and powered as late as possible on the original tack and as early as possible on the new tack. People get rushed to get it all done and sometimes push the tiller too hard over, all at once. This just causes the rudder to stall and is just like putting the brakes on. Similarly, when overshooting, people will sometimes overcorrect and stall the rudder the other direction. Smooth and steady. The only time you want to steepen the rudder angle is right after you loose the original jib sheet. Your SOW will have slowed, making the rudder less prone to stalling, and you need to get that bow across the wind as quickly as possible. (If seas are rough, you might need to make your turn a little quicker because the boat slows more rapidly. Timing the start of your turn between waves can help on a smaller, more responsive boat.)
Bottom line: Understand that the best back actually has a slight "S" shape. The goal is not to get from close-hauled tack to close-hauled tack as quickly as you can, but to maintain as much of your original speed-over-water as possible (i.e. avoid losing speed-over-water). If you have a passenger and want to refine your technique, have them watch your SOW and call it out. That will give you feedback as to what is working and what isn't, to maintain speed.

The lighter the air, the more you need to overshoot, but use 5 degrees as a starting point for "about" the right amount. The lighter the boat, the less you need to overshoot ("light" meaning "relative to sail area").
 
Apr 25, 2024
692
Fuji 32 Bellingham
That 90 deg target is monstrously incorrect and way too tiny. What I recommend you actually do is sail upwind and note your course. Then tack and sail back upwind on the new course, both courses as high as you can. Then compare the courses. 90 is nuts.
I think I must be misunderstanding this, because no part of this is correct. 90 degrees is actually a really good starting point - very close to what most monohulls do when sailed for the best VMG. For best VMG, there is no boat that should be sailed as high as it can go. The optimal angle is below that point.

For the Merit 22, it will probably sail somewhere in the neighborhood of about 30-35 degrees from the AWA, which will be something like 40-45 degrees off of TWA. The best VMG angle will be about 5 degrees below that, for that boat ... something like that. Sailing slight freer than your highest possible point always gets you there faster. (There are some edge case examples where this isn't true, but those are mostly academic, for most sailors.) Pinching might make you feel better, but footing gets you there faster.

Now ... keep in mind everything I wrote above applies to non-racers. If you are racing, the same physics obviously apply, but there are a bunch of tiny exceptions to these "rules" that add up to actually matter if you are trying to shave milliseconds.
 
Jan 7, 2011
5,767
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
My 32-footer may not be a good comparison… but, I need way more than 90 degrees to tack. I usually figure 120 degrees and then Adjust from there depending if I am trying to beat upwind, or just reverse my course.

I single-hand most of the time, but I can reach my primary winches easily from behind the helm. I release the working sheet from the winch jaws, and hold it tight…. Then start my tack, hard and fast. As the jib starts to backwind, I release the turns on the winch and let the line drop…while grabbing for the new working sheet….which I already have wrapped twice and ready to haul in. If I am good, I can get the line pulled tight before it is fully filled, and I don’t even need to winch it tight.

Once the boat is on the new tack, I will look at the trim and adjust as necessary.

Greg