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| Technical Information “Tack on a header, Sail on a lift….” Learning to understand and use wind shifts can improve any Skipper’s ability to sail better... by Bruce Hood |
Bruce Hood sailing with 2nd Mate Spike!
When I got my first P-15 Potter in 1985, I was soon invited to join “The Potter Yachters”, and every time I
traveled to San Francisco Bay for a sail with the other club members I learned something new and
helpful from the members of the club.
“Old Salts” like Harry Gordon, Terry Gotcher, Don Bergst, Jerry Barrileaux, and many others, were
more than generous in sharing their experience, and I have been grateful for their friendship and help
ever since.
I think it was Terry who first taught me the axiom “ Tack on a header, sail on a lift.” What this means
is….....well let’s imagine you are leaving the dock on one side of a lake and you want to sail a mile up
the lake to anchor alongside of a friend anchored out there. There is a huge pine tree on the shore right
by where your friend’s boat is moored. Using the tree as a “mark” you steer for it and discover that the
wind is coming straight at you EXACTLY from the location of the tree.. So you start tacking upwind in a
nice zigzag course.. And since the wind is continuing to come EXACTLY from the direction of the tree,
you are making good progress toward the other end of the lake, regardless of whether you are tacking
to the left or to the right! OOPS!
As I am sure you already have discovered the wind never comes from EXACTLY from one direction.
Even though the wind may be consistently from the same general direction it will shift to the right or
to the left as you are sailing along.
Lets have a look at what happens, and what to do. Imagine once again that you are sailing to the pine
tree with your boat on a perfect 45 degree angle to the left of straight into the “Exact” wind, but
now that wonderful perfect wind stops being “Exact”, and moves to the left and is now coming from
ten or fifteen degrees to the left of the Pine tree. To keep going, and keep the boat from stalling because
now you are pointed too directly into the shifting wind, you now must steer, further to the left to keep
the boat in motion.
Now you are sailing further to the left and the tree is now further to the right, and you aren’t able to steer
as directly toward the tree as you wanted to. You have just been “HEADED”! Being a brilliant sailor,
you immediately tack back to the right and maintain a course close to the wind. Now sailing upwind on
this new course you notice that now you are able to sail ten or fifteen degrees more on a direct line
toward the Pine tree. You have just been “LIFTED”, which means you are now able to sail a bit
straighter toward where you want to go ( The Pine tree! ).
Now you get really lucky! The wind moves even further to the left, and you are able to steer even more
closely toward where you wish to go. Wisely, you continue to “Sail on the lift”.
Now there’s the basic strategy or “rule”, and I now understood why some of the “old salts” I was sailing
with, often would gradually pull away from me and sometimes leave me a mile behind them! In time I
also learned that this idea of wind shifts and adjusting to them can get a little more complicated.
The major complication is that winds often oscillate, back and forth, that is, swing back to coming
from the earlier observed direction…which would mean if I tacked on a header,and did not notice that
the wind was shifting back to its original direction… I could then be “heading” rather than “lifting”
myself!
Since those early “lessons” I continue to learn a lot from my friends and pick up useful sailing lore from
them, which is just one more benefit of belonging to the friendly Potter Sailing community.
Happy Sailing! Bruce Hood
When I got my first P-15 Potter in 1985, I was soon invited to join “The Potter Yachters”, and every time I
traveled to San Francisco Bay for a sail with the other club members I learned something new and
helpful from the members of the club.
“Old Salts” like Harry Gordon, Terry Gotcher, Don Bergst, Jerry Barrileaux, and many others, were
more than generous in sharing their experience, and I have been grateful for their friendship and help
ever since.
I think it was Terry who first taught me the axiom “ Tack on a header, sail on a lift.” What this means
is….....well let’s imagine you are leaving the dock on one side of a lake and you want to sail a mile up
the lake to anchor alongside of a friend anchored out there. There is a huge pine tree on the shore right
by where your friend’s boat is moored. Using the tree as a “mark” you steer for it and discover that the
wind is coming straight at you EXACTLY from the location of the tree.. So you start tacking upwind in a
nice zigzag course.. And since the wind is continuing to come EXACTLY from the direction of the tree,
you are making good progress toward the other end of the lake, regardless of whether you are tacking
to the left or to the right! OOPS!
As I am sure you already have discovered the wind never comes from EXACTLY from one direction.
Even though the wind may be consistently from the same general direction it will shift to the right or
to the left as you are sailing along.
Lets have a look at what happens, and what to do. Imagine once again that you are sailing to the pine
tree with your boat on a perfect 45 degree angle to the left of straight into the “Exact” wind, but
now that wonderful perfect wind stops being “Exact”, and moves to the left and is now coming from
ten or fifteen degrees to the left of the Pine tree. To keep going, and keep the boat from stalling because
now you are pointed too directly into the shifting wind, you now must steer, further to the left to keep
the boat in motion.
Now you are sailing further to the left and the tree is now further to the right, and you aren’t able to steer
as directly toward the tree as you wanted to. You have just been “HEADED”! Being a brilliant sailor,
you immediately tack back to the right and maintain a course close to the wind. Now sailing upwind on
this new course you notice that now you are able to sail ten or fifteen degrees more on a direct line
toward the Pine tree. You have just been “LIFTED”, which means you are now able to sail a bit
straighter toward where you want to go ( The Pine tree! ).
Now you get really lucky! The wind moves even further to the left, and you are able to steer even more
closely toward where you wish to go. Wisely, you continue to “Sail on the lift”.
Now there’s the basic strategy or “rule”, and I now understood why some of the “old salts” I was sailing
with, often would gradually pull away from me and sometimes leave me a mile behind them! In time I
also learned that this idea of wind shifts and adjusting to them can get a little more complicated.
The major complication is that winds often oscillate, back and forth, that is, swing back to coming
from the earlier observed direction…which would mean if I tacked on a header,and did not notice that
the wind was shifting back to its original direction… I could then be “heading” rather than “lifting”
myself!
Since those early “lessons” I continue to learn a lot from my friends and pick up useful sailing lore from
them, which is just one more benefit of belonging to the friendly Potter Sailing community.
Happy Sailing! Bruce Hood
