Tacking and gybing: how to tack and jibe a sailboat safely, with calls and diagrams

Tacking vs gybing: the difference

Both manoeuvres do the same job: afterwards the wind comes from the other side. Sailors say the boat changes from starboard tack to port tack or the other way round. The difference is which end of the boat turns through the wind.

Simplified diagram, blue before and red after the manoeuvre. The line from the mast shows where the boom is.

The exact moves differ between dinghies and yachts, the principle doesn't. The steps below are for a cruising yacht with a mainsail and a headsail, the kind you sail on charter.

Starboard tack, port tack, windward and leeward: what the directions on board mean is in our guide to port and starboard.

How to tack, step by step

You tack from a close-hauled course. If your destination is upwind, you string many tacks together, which is called beating to windward.

1. Build speed. The boat needs momentum, because the sails give no drive while the bow passes through the wind. Sail cleanly close-hauled and check the water is clear on the new course.
2. “Ready about!” or “prepare to tack”. The crew gets the working jib sheet ready to release and puts two or three turns of the lazy sheet on the winch on the other side, as NauticEd describes it. Anyone in the way moves. When everyone is set, they answer “Ready!”
3. “Lee-ho!” The helm puts the tiller or wheel over and the bow turns into the wind. Many crews say “helm's a-lee” or just “tacking”. What matters is that everyone understands it.
4. Headsail across. As the bow passes through the wind, the crew releases the old sheet and quickly takes up the new one. The faster the slack comes in, the less winching later.
5. The main looks after itself. The boom swings to the new side. Keep your head down, it crosses the cockpit on a tack too. If there is a traveller, move it to the new leeward side.
6. New course, trim the sails. The helm settles on the new close-hauled course and the main and headsail are trimmed.

When the tack fails

Without enough momentum the boat stops head to wind and drifts backwards, often called being in irons. Typical causes are too little speed, short steep waves on the bow, or starting from too low a course, so the boat has to turn further. Let the boat fall back onto the old tack, build speed and try again.

How to gybe, step by step

You gybe from a broad reach or a run. Unlike a tack, the sails stay full of wind the whole time. That is why the gybe is the manoeuvre where control matters most.

1. “Prepare to gybe!” Everyone stays clear of the boom and mainsheet. One person takes the mainsheet, one the headsail sheets. All set? “Ready!”
2. Bear away. The helm turns slowly further downwind until the boat is on a run. If there is a traveller, centre it first.
3. Sheet the main in. Bring the boom quickly towards the centreline. That way it has little room to gather speed when it crosses.
4. “Gybe-ho!” The stern passes through the wind and the boom crosses. Ease the mainsheet out in a controlled way straight away and use a little opposite helm so the boat doesn't round up into the wind.
5. Headsail across. Release the old sheet, take in the new one. This can happen before or after the main.
6. New course. The helm calls the new course and the sails are trimmed.

A tight boom vang (kicking strap) stops the boom lifting as it crosses, says Wikipedia. In strong wind keep the course change small and stay close to a dead run just before and after the gybe. With a gennaker or spinnaker the gybe takes more work, because that sail and any pole have to change sides as well.

The accidental gybe: the biggest danger downwind

An accidental gybe is a gybe nobody wanted. The wind suddenly catches the mainsail from the other side and the eased boom slams across the cockpit with full force. Anyone in its path can be hit on the head or knocked overboard. If the boom hits a shroud or backstay, the rig can fail, in the worst case the mast comes down.

What causes it: the helm bears away too far, the wind shifts, a following wave pushes the boat off course, or the autopilot loses its heading.

How to avoid it:

• Rig a preventer. A line from the end of the boom led forward holds the boom on its side. You have to move it when you gybe, but the boom stays put in between.
• Sail a little higher. If the wind isn't coming from dead astern, the boom is much less likely to cross. The distance grows, but the boat is often faster.
• Stay out of the danger zone. Nobody stands or sits where the boom and mainsheet swing. Tell the crew before you bear away onto a run.
• Steer with attention. Watch the wind indicator and the sails. If the headsail collapses behind the main, you are already very deep.

How strong the wind is and when it gets uncomfortable is in our guide to the Beaufort scale.

The chicken gybe: tack instead of gybing

In strong wind, big seas or with a small, inexperienced crew, a gybe is risky. Then you turn the long way round: head up from your broad reach to close-hauled, tack, and bear away again on the new tack. The boat turns about 270 degrees instead of 90. It takes longer and needs more room, but the boom crosses slowly. Sailors call this a chicken gybe, and many man overboard manoeuvres start the same way.

Beating to windward: tack after tack

No sailing boat can sail straight into the wind. If your destination is upwind, you zigzag close-hauled, first on starboard tack, then on port tack, and tack at the end of each leg. When the wind shifts, one tack gets you closer to the mark than the other. Downwind works the same way in reverse: many boats are faster on a broad reach than on a dead run, so they gybe their way downwind in a zigzag.

When beating you often meet boats on the other tack. Who keeps clear is covered in our guide to the COLREGs and right of way: the boat with the wind on its port side gives way.

After each leg SeaMemo shows the route you sailed on the map, with distance, time and average speed. How to turn that into a proper sailing logbook, and why those miles count towards your qualification, is in our guide to mile building trips.

Common mistakes when tacking and gybing

• No warning. If people don't know the boom is coming, they are in the way. Call it first, then wait for “ready”.
• Too slow into the tack. Without speed the boat stalls. Better to bear away briefly and build speed.
• Headsail sheeted too early. If you take in the new sheet before the bow is through the wind, the headsail backs and stops the boat.
• Loose mainsheet on a gybe. Then the boom swings across the full width. Sheet in first, ease out afterwards under control.
• Sheets not prepared. The new sheet needs turns on the winch, the old one has to run free. One kink in a sheet blocks the whole manoeuvre.
• No gloves. Loaded sheets run out fast. That is why sailing gloves belong on your sailing packing list.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Tacking (sailing): beating to windward, lifts and headers
• Wikipedia: Jibe: gybe calls, dangers, boom vang, preventer and chicken gybe
• NauticEd: Tacking and gybing maneuvers: preparing the sheets, calls for the tack
• Wikipedia: Patenthalse (German): causes and consequences of an accidental gybe

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