Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/38

 TACKING

It has been explained that a properly constructed boat can sail within 45° of the wind. If the wind be right ahead, or nearly so, what is known as tacking must be resorted to; that is, the boat is made to sail for a certain distance close-hauled with the wind on one side, and is then made to turn and sail close-hauled with the wind on the other side. When sailing with the wind on her right side she is said to be on the starboard tack; with the wind on the left side she is on the port tack. In Fig. 4 a boat is tacking right in the teeth of the wind, represented by the arrow W. She sails the same distance on each tack, each tack being at about right angles to the last. In Fig. 5 the wind is not right ahead, but a little on one side of the vessel's course. To attain the desired point, she is therefore made to sail further on one tack than she does on the other, making what the sailors call a long and a short leg.

CENTRE OF EFFORT

Of the various effects of the wind upon the sails of a vessel, the last we have to deal with is its