In Part 3 of this learn-to-sail lesson, you learned the basic techniques for sailing a daysailer, including how to steer and make turns not across the wind. Review that lesson if needed before continuing here to learn how to tack and gybe (jibe).
Tacking and gybing involve turning the boat across the wind. Tacking turns into the wind and across. Gybing (jibing) turns away from the wind and across. There are key differences we’ll describe here, but both are similar in certain ways. In both, the sails move from one side of the boat to the other. In both, you need to reposition your body weight from one side to the other.
And in both, when the wind is up, the sails flap around and you may feel a moment of chaos before getting back in control! But it’s easy to tack and gybe, and once you’ve practiced, these turns will become second nature.
