The wind is so important to the sailboat that every direction the vessel takes - indeed each motion the helmsman makes with the tiller - must be understood in relation to it. No sailboat can travel directly into the wind, or course. But outside a dead sector extending about 0° to 30° on either side of the wind's eye, a boat can sail effectively in any direction.

For beginners the business of trimming sail - indeed, the whole problem of balancing the boat properly and efficiently on the different points of sail - may at times seem mysterious, if not altogether confusing. But if the skipper ever feels he is getting into trouble, all he has to do is let go the sheets and head into the wind. There will be a considerable flapping of sails, but the boat will stop while all hands pull themselves together to begin anew.

The basic points of sail are illustrated by the various headings of these boats. Each one is moving in a different direction relative to the wind, but none of them can sail close enough to the wind's eye to operate effectively within the dead sector. The boats on the right, all on the port tack, are headed progressively farther off the wind: The boat at top right is close-hauled; the next three are on various degrees of a reach; and the bottom boat is running.

But when a boat is running (bottom), the wind simply pushes against the sails from behind, sharply reducing the aerodynamic effect. Furthermore, the mainsail may blanket the jib, i.e., prevent the wind from reaching it. Some skippers, therefore, carry their mainsail on one side and their jib on another - known as sailing "wing and wing".

Sailing close to the wind

A system for testing course in order to sail as close to the wind as possible is shown on the left. To make sure that the wind has not shifted or the boat inadvertently strayed too far downwind, the helmsman keeps nudging the tiller a few inches to leeward to see if he can head a little higher. If the jib begins to luff, he quickly heads back down to the original course. If not, he continues edging upwind until he is on the verge of a luff, falls off a fraction to pick up speed and sails along on his new heading.

Often, when a boat sails close-hauled, the skipper is trying to reach a point so close to the wind's source that he cannot head directly for it. He must approach his destination in a series of alternating tacks, following a zigzag course like the one below. In effect, he is climbing up the wind... similar to the way a a railroad train climbs a hill in a series of switchbacks.

Each time the helmsman changes tacks, he swings the bow of his boat through the wind's eye. This procedure, called coming about, requires close teamwork between the skipper and crew.

As the bow turns into the wind, the sails will luff and the boom will swing from one side of the boat to the other; skipper and crew will have to duck their heads to avoid getting hit. As the boat's momentum carries it around, the crew must release one jib sheet and take in the other at precisely the right moment.

If the crew faults his timing, or if the boat is traveling too slowly to complete the turn, it may simply fall back on its old tack, a situation called "missing stays." Or worse, it may hang, shuddering, head on the wind and then drift helplessly backward, a predicament known as "being in irons." See the diagram and technique of getting "out-of-irons" below.

Beating to windward, the skipper of this boat must follow the zigzag course shown by the blue arrow to reach his goal. To cut his distance over the water, he sails each leg as close to the wind as he can.

He prepares for his final tack when the mark is at right angles to the centre line of his boat (dotted arrow) - or directly behind him as he sits facing across the boat. Then, waiting a moment to allow for the boat's tendency to sideslip when sailing upwind, he comes about to head directly for - or fetch - the mark.

Getting "out-of-irons"

Getting out of turns after a failed tack can be maddeningly difficult for a novice who has not mastered the corrective action shown here. At top left the boat is caught head to the wind and lies dead in the water.

1. To come out of irons (in this case on the port tack), the skipper tells the crew to hold out the jib to port.
2. Backing it so the wind will drive the bow to starboard. As the boat drifts backward, the skipper reverses his helm, pushing the tiller to starboard; this swings the stern to port.
3. As the mainsail fills, checking the boat's backward drift, the helmsman puts the tiller amidships
4. While the crew lets go the jib and sheets it in to starboard. Soon the boat will be well underway on her new tack.

Heading downwind, whenever a helmsman changes tacks he executes a manoeuvre called a jibe. In so doing he moves the stern of the boat through the path of the wind and brings the mainsail from one side of the vessel to the other. Simple as this tactic sounds, it requires even closer timing and coordination than coming about. For unless the boom is properly guided, it can swing across the boat with alarming suddenness and immense force, knocking down anyone who forgets to duck. Also, unless the helmsman minds his tiller, the momentum of the jibe may swerve him wildly off course.

If properly controlled however, as at right, a jibe presents none of these hazards. To start a jibe the mainsail should be sheeted all the way in to reduce the path of its swing. Then, with the main thus trimmed, and the stern to the wind, the slightest movement of the tiller will suffice to bring the wind into the other side of the stern, and start the boom across.

When the boom does cross, the helmsman must slack off the sheet as quickly as possible. Otherwise the force of the fast swinging, wind-filled sail will tend to pivot the boat broadside to the wind - a perilous occurrence called broaching.

In light airs, wind pressure against the sails is sufficiently gentle so that the hazards and complexities of jibing are reduced. Often the helmsman can ignore the sheet entirely; the crew simply grabs the boom and heaves it across the boat. In moderate to heavy wind, however, quick action and close timing are vital.

One trick for ensuring a safe, easy jibe is to wait until the boat has picked up speed from a passing gust. Then, as the boat moves faster, the apparent wind will drop and the sails will be easier to handle.

Gybing from the starboard to the port tack, the skipper of the boat above first announces the impending manoeuvre by calling "Ready to gybe." Then, at the command "gybe ho," he puts his helm over, turning the boat from a broad reach to a dead run.

1. When the stern begins moving through the wind
2. He hauls in the main sheet. The moment the boom crosses the boat
3. The helmsman lets out the sheet; the crew trims the jib as the boat settles on the new tack.

Why does a catamaran sail faster than the single-hulled boat? The reason is twofold. The cat's twin hulls provide a stable platform capable of supporting considerably more sail than a monohull of equal length could carry, yet the catamaran is much lighter because there is less boat in the water.

This combination of high speed and special design calls for special handling techniques. The cat's headlong motion is so great that it brings the apparent wind farther forward than on a slower craft. So the cat's sails should generally be trimmed in quite close, even on a reach.

Zigzagging in a series of jibes, a catamaran tacks downwind, outspeeding another cat sailed directly before the wind. The former is going so much faster that its speed more than makes up for the extra distance. The course that gives the most speed for the least extra distance is at about 135° from the true wind, or 90° from the apparent wind.

Reaching is a catamaran's most efficient point of sail, in fact; at high speeds the underwater shape of the twin hulls provides lift like that of a hydrofoil. When a skipper is sailing for a windward mark, he should steer a course about 50 from the true wind - a very close reach - to get that extra speed.

The catamaran's great efficiency on a reach also calls for special downwind tactics. Sailing at an angle to the wind, a cat will go much faster than it will when sailing dead before it. Therefore most cat skippers tack downwind when headed for a leeward mark; that is, they zigzag across the direct course, jibing from broad reach to broad reach and gaining more in speed than they give up in distance. Illustrated at left.

Also, catamarans are easier to jibe than monohulls. Their great beam gives them tremendous stability and eliminates most of the danger of broaching that often afflicts monohulls when jibing.

Cats are somewhat less handy, however, when it comes to tacking upwind. Their light hulls lose headway quickly when pointed into the wind, and because of their width they do not pivot as a monohull does. A cat must therefore be sailed gradually through the wind's eye when coming about; the tiller should be put to leeward only about 20° at first, then should be angled more sharply when the bow comes into the wind. Even when well sailed, a cat will sometimes not carry its way through a tack. Then the jib must be backed, as in getting out of irons to bring the bow around. Refer to Technique for Tacking.