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Summary: Learn how to sail with the wind in this free online video lesson on sailing.
Views: 14,552 | Tags: boat, basics, instruction, sailing, sail, ship, yacht, terms, tacking, steering, boats, rigging, hoist
About the Expert
Tyler Pierce Tyler Pierce is the Northern Regional Operations Manager and Sail Instructor of the Offshore Sailing School at Liberty Landing in Jersey City, New Jersey. Off... read more
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Questions & AnswersThe one thing we can’t do in a sailboat is sail the boat directly into the wind. So I need to keep the boat sailing at least 45 degrees away from the wind at all times, if I sail closer than 45 degrees, the sails will begin to luff and the boat will loose its speed and eventually come to a stop. We learned earlier that if the boat comes to a stop, the tiller won’t steer the boat and we’ll have to use some other way to get ourselves pointed away from the wind a little bit. Right now though we’re sailing across the wind so we can turn the boat a little bit more towards the wind, what I’m going to do is I’m going to look straight ahead and I’m going to push the tiller away from me and turn the boat a little bit more towards the wind. While I’m making the turn, I want to keep an eye on the front of the boat and make sure that the boat is in fact turning the way I want it to which is what it’s doing now. And we may feel that the sails are starting to catch the wind and the boat is starting to pick up speed. Right now we’re sailing with just the mainsail; the next step is going to be to get our jib out. To do that I’m going to release my black furling line, I’m going to grab my jib sheet, put my wraps around the wench and pull the sail out. We now have the boat sailing at about 45 degrees away from the wind; we’re sailing at a point of sail that we call sailing close hauled. We’re sailing the boat as close to the wind as we can.
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