We pushed off of the docks, taking our main sheets and tiller extensions in our hand. I pulled in my sail and headed upwind, watching the telltales to make sure I had the correct sail trim. The breeze that day was mild, so we weren't moving too fast. We definitely wouldn't be overpowered.

We stayed in the harbor. We circled the channel markers, practicing our tacks and gybes. It's a maneuver that's a little hard to explain to someone who has never been sailing before.

Okay. Let's get this straight. Boats cannot sail directly into the wind. We cannot move, and if it's a windy day, we'll be pushed backwards. That's not a good thing. When a boat is caught facing directly into the wind, it's called being "in irons."

Tacking and gybing is a turning maneuver where either the bow (front) or stern (back) of the boat passes through the "no go zone," which is directly into the wind. If I was tacking, I would push my tiller away from me and the boat would begin to turn. The bow of the boat will pass through the no go zone and the boom will switch sides of the boat. You'd better duck if you don't want to get slammed in the head. Once you complete a tack, the boat has passed through the wind, the sail has switched sides, and you're sitting on the other side of the boat. Tacking is simply changing direction with the front of the boat passing through irons and finishing on the other side. 

Gybing is like the opposite of tacking. We're still changing direction, but the back of the boat, the stern, is passing through the wind instead of the bow like a tack. Also in gybing, the sail switches sides much faster than tacking. You have to duck, and fast- I can't count how many times I've been hit in the head by the boom on a gybe. Gybing is primarily done while sailing downwind, and tacking while sailing close to the no go zone, often called "upwind" "close hauled" or "beating." I think you can conclude from this that downwind means away from irons.

We sailed, tacked, and gybed to our hearts content that day. Bradley was still learning how to sail, so we tried to go as slow as possible so he could keep up. There's nothing better than the sea breeze in your hair. That's why I love sailing.

—————————————————————————————————————————

A note from Ripple the SeaWing: 

Wow, that's a lot of vocabulary! Maybe I should define some of the words at the bottom of each page.... Hopefully these definitions helped! 

Boom: a long metal piece running perpendicular to the mast and along the bottom of the sail. It switches sides when tacking or gybing, so watch out! It hurts! 

Tiller: A piece connected to the rudder. Larger sailboats don't have tillers, they have steering wheels instead.

Tiller extension: A piece connected to the tiller. The tiller extension is held in one hand of the sailor and is used to steer/control the boat from a distance. You can sit farther forward In the boat if you're holding the extension than the tiller. Again, this isn't present in larger boats. They have steering wheels instead.

Okay, that's a little bit of vocabulary I haven't exactly defined in the story yet. There will be more, I guarantee it. Sailing is like a different language. :) Thanks for reading up to this point! :) -Ripple the SeaWing