Tacking allows you to turn the boat around by turning across the wind.

This video concentrates on sailing towards the wind on the close hauled point of sailing.

If you want to sail towards the wind you must be able to tack the boat. You will be unable

to point your boat directly into the wind as the sails won’t work. The sails only

start to work if you remain outside a zone which

is 45 degrees either side of where the wind is blowing from.

The area marked in grey is called the no go zone, and the point of sailing you need to

establish is called close hauled. Here both sails are pulled in hard and they’re not

flapping. And by probing with the tiller to find the point where the sail just starts

to flap, you are on the edge of the no go zone.

Each tack takes the nose of the boat from one side of the no go zone through the eye

of the wind and out onto the edge of the no go zone on the other side. Progressive tacks

allow you to zig zag your way towards your destination upwind. And together, a series

of tacks

is called beating.