To arrive here turn the boat about 20 degrees away from the broad reach position and you

will be pointing almost directly away from the wind.

Release the mainsail so the boom is almost at 90 degrees to the boat, and the centreboard

should be about three quarters of the way up.

This is the best point of sailing if you want to sail with the wind behind you, as there

is less of a risk of the boom accidentally flipping across, which is called gybing. However,

if you do need to change direction like this you should watch our video on gybing to see

how it’s done.

The final point of sailing is a dead run. This is when the boat is pointing directly

away from the wind. As you learn, this point of sailing is probably best avoided until

your wind awareness has developed. It is very easy for the wind to suddenly catch the wrong

side of the sail, which can cause the boom to flick across the boat very fast and capsize

you.

Turning back towards the wind you can get back to any of the points of sailing by pushing

the tiller gently towards the boom, pulling in the sails a little more to stop them flapping,

and pushing the centreboard down, until you are on the close hauled point of sailing once

more.