A tack is a 180-degree turn that is initiated by luffing. As the board makes a semi-circle to windward when tacking, you can also counteract the usual initial drift to leeward by tacking regularly.
For this reason, tacking and crossing are usually taught first in the beginners' course, before manoeuvres to leeward (jibing). We'll show you everything you need to know about tacking and running upwind here!
To practise the basic tack, you should use a board with as much volume as possible (rough rule of thumb: body weight + 100 = recommended board volume) and a daggerboard, plus a medium-sized and not too heavy rig.
If the basic tack shown here is safe, you can also do a fast tack. The board will not slow down to a standstill, but will maintain a certain speed. We show you how to make a quick tack in windsurfing here
The most common tacking mistakes
The first mistake often happens on land - when you're sitting on the beach with little wind and hoping for more wind instead of simply going out on the water with a big board and practising your moves. The well-worn surf instructor saying that you can "learn something in any wind" is rarely as true as when tacking. Above all, the nimble change of sides requires practice on large boards, then the success rate also increases on small boards and in less perfect conditions. Nevertheless, there are also some technical mistakes that almost every learner makes - find out now how to recognise and avoid them.
"I don't have enough space when I change sides!"
Whether it's a basic tack or a fast version, you need space to change sides. If you pull your arms up, the rig stands upright and you rob yourself of the space you need to switch to the other side. Especially on small boards, you can't simply move your feet further onto the bow, as you would immediately send the tip of the board diving.
Therefore, keep your arms long until you change sides! This also has another advantage: the stretched arms move the sail with the boom end further towards the water, the luffing or steering movement increases and the board turns faster through the wind. So instead of pulling the sail towards the tail with a lot of force and tightened arms, let the wind do the work, stretch out your arms and only hold the sail slightly taut with your back hand.
"The sail is coming towards me!"
If the wind suddenly comes into the sail from the front, i.e. the wrong side, when changing tack, this is called "backlapping". It is then difficult or even impossible to turn the board out of the wind. There can be two reasons for unintentional backbeating:
Change sides too early
Ideally, you should only change sides when tacking when the board has already turned upwind, i.e. the bow is pointing to windward. Therefore, check that the lower leech of the sail is actually touching your shin before you change the side of the sail - the sail is therefore already slightly over the tail.
If this is not the case, your board has not yet turned far enough and the subsequent drop will be difficult.
Sail too open when dropping
The second reason for an unintentionally backbeating sail can be a faulty downhaul after the side change, where the sail is too open.
As your board is almost exactly in the wind during the side change, dropping in this situation is slightly different from normal steering: to get the wind into the sail from the right side, you have to sheet in extremely tightly with your back hand - a wide grip on the boom helps you to do this.
