Student Questions: The Granny Tack

Smitty:

Could still be more at ease gybing. I know what I am supposed to do but still uncomfortable. You bring the boom in  centered right?

Capt. Kris:

You have the right idea for jibing.  Just practice in light wind.  I would avoid it all together over 15 knots of wind for now.

Smitty:

Might be a dumb question buy how do you avoid it. The other night we were sailing off an east wind in a south east direction. tacked across to a NE course then to a beam reach to a broad reachTo get back  I needed to sail west. Couldn’t figure a way without a gybe. I hope i am not confusing you. thinking of it like a clock with the wind being 12 oclock. started out sailing to 2  and tacked to 10. Beam reach at 9 broad at 8 but still needed to get to six requiring a gybe. It wasn’t too bad. still not too crazy about running.

Capt. Kris:

I whipped up a diagram for you.  Check out the attachment.  you can use this same method to get to a run on the opposite tack.  you will however need to bring the jib over, but that is not a big deal.

In the future if you want to run for long distances rig up a preventer.  Otherwise, just make a series of broad reaches to avoid running all together.

-Kris
granny_tack