Workshop for setting and adjusting the sails

If you were looking for the first week on a yacht, open the page Yacht Crew.

If you need to bring the boat to the dock, open the page Mooring workshop: back off and come in again. This practice does not teach the approach to the dock.

If you are already ready to lead the yacht near shore yourself, open the page Inshore Skipper.

Which step to take is on the page How to become a skipper.

From the side the boat is already moving, the sail is full, and it seems to have chosen this road itself. The hand wants to leave everything as it is. This practice does not stop there. You look at how much curve the sail holds, and how much more open the top is than the bottom. You look at the gap of air left between the main, the large sail, and the front sail. Until those agree, the sail can look ready and still take the boat somewhere other than where you expect.

The telltales speak before the eye has decided. When they stream evenly, the sail stands the way it should. A sheet is the rope that tightens or eases the sail. The front edge of the main is tightened apart from that rope. The boom is the bar along the bottom of the large sail: you lower it so the sail does not curve upward. The car is the slide across the boat: you move it, and the main sheet goes to the left or to the right.

You sail both when there is little wind and when there is a lot. The four directions of the wind relative to the boat are named below.

A tack goes with the rest of the practice: the bow passes through the wind. A gybe is done in its own way: the stern passes through the wind, the sail crosses to the other side faster, and it is easy to fold.

The jib is the front sail, and the main is the large sail behind it. When the main pulls harder than the jib, the back of the boat is carried downwind, and the bow turns toward the wind on its own. That is heading up. When the jib pulls harder than the main, the bow is carried downwind, and the boat itself turns away from the wind. That is bearing away.

You work through both heading up and bearing away on the helm. You also agree who says what out loud, so that everyone is not shouting at once.

A racing set is when you set the sail so the boat goes faster. A quiet passage set is when you set the sail for the trip, without a race. This practice has both, and you do not have to choose between them.

The telltales show how the sail stands. The feeling that the boat is going fast does not replace that look.

If you are a beginner, you can do this practice beside the page Yacht Crew, not instead of it. A prior certificate is not required for that combination.