Basic tips

cadete

Hi all, this may be a bit silly but i hope someone can help, my mates and i are doing the virtual volvo ocean race and i have no clue about sailing. Could anyone give me some tips on what way to sail into head winds etc? cheers and i am very greatfull for any help

lightening

Hi Cadette. I crew on an X-Yacht in Dublin bay, not exactly ocean racing, but I will help as best I can. To sail against the wind you have to tack. This means sailing a few degrees off the wind. The sails act more like an airplanes wing than a "kite" type of sail.

So if you are trying to get from one place to another against the wind you could do it in a series of zig zags, or you could sail miles off in one leg and then do one tack and sail to your destination. Loads of things will affect your decision; Is there more wind miles out West? Will the tide help me? If I do the long leg will I hit that storm? If I do a long leg in the opposit direction will I hit the doldrums, or catch the trade winds?

Enjoy.

af_thefragile

I'm just a beginner sailing dinghies and stuff. But every time i sail into the wind (which you can't sail into the wind, thats defying physics!), i sail zig zag to reach my destination. Tacking and gybing my way to the destination. You sail at an angle to the wind (and you destination) in one direction then you sail across at an angle in the opposite direction making the zig zag...
hope that made any sense...

Tabnabs

If the official Volvo race is not quite your thing, try the Swedish alternative www.sailonline.org

Much better and a great online sailing community with a chat feature to help with any questions (and it's free!) :cool: