A tack is the windward side of a sailing craft (side from which the wind is coming while under way)—the starboard or port tack. Generally, a craft is on a starboard tack if the wind is coming over the starboard (right) side with sails on port (left) side. Similarly, a craft is on a port tack if the wind is coming over the port (left). Tack is also a nautical term both for the lower, windward corner of a sail.

Windward side of course sailed

As a point of reference, tack is the alignment of the wind with respect to a sailing craft under way. If the wind is from the

starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...

side of the sailing craft, it is on ''starboard tack'', and if from port, on ''port tack''. The

International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972, also known as ''Collision Regulations'' (''COLREGs''), are published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and set out, among other things, the "rules of the road" o ...

for vessels underway declare that when the courses of two sailing vessels converge, the vessel on ''port tack'' must give way to a vessel on ''starboard tack''. The maneuver of changing a sailing craft's course from one tack to the other during which the wind direction is brought across the bow is called tacking; with the wind direction brought across the stern, it is called

jibing A jibe (US) or gybe (Britain) is a sailing maneuver whereby a sailing craft points of sail#Reaching, reaching downwind turns its stern through the wind, which then exerts its force from the opposite side of the vessel. It stands in contras ...

for fore-and-aft rigged sailing craft, or '' wearing ship'' for square-rigged vessels. When a boat is running with the wind coming directly from astern and the mainsail and jib are on opposite sides of the vessel, the windward side is considered to be that opposite to the side on which the mainsail is being carried. On a starboard tack the mainsail is on the port side; on a port tack the mainsail is on the starboard side.

Sail corner

The tack is the corner on a

fore-and-aft sail A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing ship rig with sails set mainly in the median plane of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it, as on a square-rigged vessel. Description Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, ga ...

where the ''luff'' (the forward edge) and ''foot'' (the bottom edge) connect and, on a

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

, is located near where the boom and mast connect. On a

square sail Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which a sailing vessel's primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars that are perpendicular (or square) to the median plane of the keel and masts of the vessel. These sp ...

or a

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinna ...

, the tack is the windward ''clew'' (lower corner) and also the line holding down that corner; when the vessel changes course to have the other vertical edge of the sail to the wind, the other clew becomes the tack.

References

Bibliography

* West, Gillian, "Basic Cruising Skills", Sail Canada, 2019 (ISBN 978-1-894495-92-9) *Rousmaniere, John, ''The Annapolis Book of Seamanship'', Simon & Schuster, 1999 * ''Chapman Book of Piloting'' (various contributors), Hearst Corporation, 1999 * Herreshoff, Halsey (consulting editor), ''The Sailor’s Handbook'', Little Brown and Company * Seidman, David, ''The Complete Sailor'', International Marine, 1995 * Jobson, Gary, ''Sailing Fundamentals'', Simon & Schuster, 1987 {{Sailing manoeuvres Sailing rigs and rigging Nautical terminology