By Doug
Someone took this picture of me half way though a roll tack way back in 2004. I was grateful because not all of my tacks are nearly this good, but this one was not excessive, my weight was forward (the transom was out of the water), and the mainsheet was out so that it could be pulled in gradually to accelerate on the new tack. A good flat-water tack for sure.
Others apparently liked this picture too, and I was happy to see this on the back of a T-shirt at the recent Texas Laser Championships.
Oh, I must try this again now that the water's warmer! One of the co-chairs of my club's sailing committee was trying to teach me how to do this when we went out for a sail on a particularly nice day in December - she'd done a couple of really nice ones and I really wanted to try it, and I did, and she tried to help me out with it, but in the end I decided that this would be better to practice in the summertime when falling over backwards in the water is actually fun.
ReplyDeleteNice adaptation of the picture to the shirt!
There's a trick that few people talk about but many of the best sailors do instinctively - when you cross under the boom, grab the gunnel with your tiller hand (shown in the picture) and use it to pull up and stay balanced. Works like a charm!
DeleteI'll give that a try, thanks!
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