Your First Ten Minutes at the Helm

The moment sailing suddenly becomes real

Your first lesson in steering a sailing boat is discovering that the tiller appears to disagree with everything your brain tells you.

You are sitting in the boat. Someone has finally handed you the tiller extension and maybe the mainsheet.

You are now, officially, steering.

You look ahead.

The boat begins drifting slightly to the left.

Naturally, you move your hand to the left.

The boat turns even more to the left.

So you move your hand sharply in the other direction.

The boat responds enthusiastically and heads off to the right instead.

You correct again.

And a few seconds later you are sailing a course that would look rather impressive if your intention had been to avoid a series of invisible obstacles.

We've all been there.

Fortunately, steering a sailing dinghy begins to make sense remarkably quickly.

And your first ten minutes at the helm can teach you far more than simply how to point the boat in the right direction.

They begin teaching you something much more important:

how to feel what the boat is doing.

---

Before You Start — Get Comfortable

One of the first mistakes beginners make is concentrating so hard on the tiller that they forget about everything else.

Before worrying about steering, get yourself into a comfortable position.

In a typical training dinghy, you will normally sit on the side deck rather than down in the bottom of the boat.

Try to sit where you can:

• reach the mainsheet comfortably;

• hold the tiller extension without stretching;

• move your weight if necessary;

• see ahead of the boat;

• turn around and look behind you;

• duck underneath the boom when required.

You should feel reasonably relaxed.

That does not mean lounging backwards admiring the scenery.

But neither should you be sitting rigidly as though somebody has just connected you to the mains electricity.

A surprisingly large part of learning to sail is learning to relax.

If your shoulders are tense, your grip on the tiller becomes tense.

When your grip becomes tense, your steering movements become larger.

And large tiller movements usually produce large changes of direction.

---

Meet the Tiller Extension

The rudder at the back of the boat turns the boat.

Attached to the rudder is the tiller.

And attached to the tiller on most dinghies is another lightweight stick called the tiller extension.

The tiller extension allows you to steer while sitting comfortably on the side of the boat.

It may initially feel rather awkward.

You are not holding it like the steering wheel of a car.

You are often holding it lightly across your body while simultaneously controlling the mainsheet with your other hand.

That means your hands are doing two different jobs.

One hand is controlling direction.

The other is helping control the sail and therefore the power of the boat.

For somebody completely new to sailing, that can feel like rather a lot.

It becomes automatic surprisingly quickly.

---

Hold It Lightly

One of the best pieces of advice I can give a beginner is:

do not strangle the tiller extension.

You do not need a death grip on it.

Hold it lightly enough that you can make small movements with your fingers and wrist.

The rudder is surprisingly powerful.

A small movement may be all that is required.

Imagine balancing a broomstick on your hand.

You would not make enormous movements every time it started leaning.

You would make small corrections.

Steering a sailing boat is similar.

The aim is not:

turn — correct — turn — correct — turn — correct.

The aim is eventually to reach the point where the corrections are so small that an observer hardly notices you making them.

---

The Great Tiller Paradox

Now we reach the part that confuses almost everybody initially.

If you want the bow to move to the left, you move the tiller to the right.

If you want the bow to move to the right, you move the tiller to the left.

In other words:

Tiller right = bow left

Tiller left = bow right

This seems completely wrong when you first try it.

Cars do not behave like this.

Bicycles do not behave like this.

Computer games generally do not behave like this.

So your brain initially protests.

Suppose the boat begins pointing too far to the left.

You think:

"I need to go right."

Your instinct may tell you to move your hand right.

Unfortunately, moving the tiller right pushes the rudder one way and turns the bow left.

Exactly the opposite of what you intended.

You realise your mistake and immediately move the tiller dramatically left.

The boat now heads rapidly right.

You panic slightly.

Tiller right again.

And the zig-zag begins.

It is practically a sailing rite of passage.

---

Don't Try to Think About the Tiller

There is an interesting transition that happens as you learn.

At first you think:

"I want the boat to go left, therefore I must move the tiller right."

That works.

But it is slow.

Eventually you stop thinking about the tiller altogether.

You simply think:

"I want the boat over there."

Your hand automatically moves in the correct direction.

That is the goal.

It is rather like learning to ride a bicycle.

Nobody who has been cycling for twenty years consciously calculates how far they should turn the handlebars to maintain balance.

Your brain has learnt the relationship between movement and result.

Sailing becomes the same.

---

Your Most Important Instrument Is Not in the Boat

Beginners often stare at their hands.

They watch the tiller.

They watch the mainsheet.

They watch the cleat.

They look at their feet.

Almost everything receives attention except the place where the boat is going.

But your most important steering instrument is actually your eyes.

Look ahead.

Choose something in the distance.

It might be:

• a tree;

• a building;

• a buoy;

• a point on the riverbank;

• another suitable fixed landmark.

Then try to keep the bow pointing towards it.

This immediately gives your brain a reference.

Without a reference, you may not notice that you are slowly wandering off course.

With one, even a small change becomes obvious.

---

Look Farther Ahead Than You Think

This is another lesson we already know from driving, cycling and skiing.

If you stare immediately in front of yourself, everything seems to happen very quickly.

Look farther ahead and you have more time.

That matters enormously in sailing.

You should gradually develop the habit of scanning:

Where am I going?

Where are the other boats?

Where is the riverbank?

Is there something ahead of me?

What is the wind doing?

Where might I need to turn next?

At first, just concentrating on steering in a straight line is enough.

But good helms eventually spend surprisingly little time staring at the boat itself.

They are constantly looking around.

---

Your First Steering Exercise

A very useful first exercise is wonderfully simple.

Find a reasonably clear piece of water with an instructor or experienced sailor beside you.

Choose a landmark ahead.

Then try to sail towards it.

Do almost nothing.

That last instruction matters.

Beginners frequently believe they must continually steer the boat.

They don't.

If the boat is balanced and travelling steadily, leave it alone.

Let it sail.

Only make a correction when you actually need one.

If the bow starts moving slightly to the left, make a small tiller movement.

Then bring the tiller back towards the centre.

Watch what happens.

Give the boat time to respond.

This last point is enormously important.

---

The Boat Has Not Ignored You

Sailing boats do not always respond instantly.

Make a steering movement and there may be a short delay while the boat changes direction.

A beginner sometimes interprets that delay as:

"Nothing is happening."

So they move the tiller farther.

Still not enough.

Farther again.

Suddenly the boat responds to all those accumulated instructions.

Now it is turning far too quickly.

The beginner then applies an equally dramatic correction in the opposite direction.

And we are zig-zagging again.

The lesson is simple:

make a small movement and give the boat a moment to respond.

Sailing rewards patience.

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Try Not to Stir the Water With the Rudder

There is another reason for using small tiller movements.

The rudder does not only steer the boat.

It also creates drag.

Every time you make a large rudder movement, you are effectively placing a brake in the water.

In racing, experienced sailors try to steer smoothly partly because unnecessary rudder movement costs speed.

You do not need to worry about racing technique during your first lesson.

But developing smooth steering from the beginning is a very good habit.

Think of the rudder as something you use carefully rather than constantly.

---

Now Add the Mainsheet

Once you can roughly steer in a straight line, you have another control to think about.

The mainsheet controls the position of the mainsail.

Pulling the mainsheet in generally brings the sail closer towards the centre of the boat.

Easing it allows the sail farther out.

During your first few minutes, the experienced sailor beside you may help with the sail while you concentrate on steering.

Eventually you will hold:

tiller extension in one hand

and

mainsheet in the other.

Now the boat begins to feel like something you are actually controlling.

---

Don't Cleat Everything and Forget About It

On many training boats the mainsheet can be held in a cleat.

But particularly while learning, it is useful to remain aware of the sheet and what the sail is doing.

The mainsheet is not simply something you adjust once and forget.

Wind strength changes.

Your direction changes.

The relationship between the boat and the wind changes.

The sail may need adjusting.

And, importantly, easing the mainsheet can reduce power if the boat begins feeling uncomfortable.

Your instructor will introduce this gradually.

You do not need to master sail trim in your first ten minutes.

For now, the aim is simply to begin connecting three things:

where the wind is coming from;

where the boat is pointing;

and

where the sail wants to sit.

---

Let the Boat Settle

This is one of those lessons that sounds almost too simple.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing.

A boat often needs a moment to settle after a steering movement, a gust or a change in sail position.

Beginners tend to react to everything.

Boat heels slightly.

Move tiller.

Sail flaps.

Pull mainsheet.

Boat turns.

Move tiller again.

Boat heels the other way.

Move body.

Within seconds six different corrections have been made and nobody is quite sure which one caused what.

Instead, make one sensible adjustment.

Then observe the result.

That is how you begin learning what each control actually does.

---

Use the Boat as Feedback

A dinghy constantly communicates with you.

It just does not use words.

The tiller may become heavier.

The sails may begin flapping.

The boat may heel.

The bow may start turning.

You may feel the boat accelerate.

Water noise may increase.

The pressure in the mainsheet may change.

Initially these sensations mean very little.

After several hours sailing, you begin recognising patterns.

Eventually you can often tell something is wrong before you have consciously identified what it is.

The boat simply feels wrong.

That is one of the most satisfying stages of learning to sail.

---

What Happens When You Start Zig-Zagging?

Imagine your intended course is towards a large tree on the riverbank.

The boat starts drifting left.

You notice late.

You make a large correction.

The boat turns right.

You keep the tiller over for too long.

Now the bow passes your tree.

You make another large correction.

The bow heads back left.

The result looks something like:

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Meanwhile your instructor is probably saying:

"Smaller movements."

They are right.

The cure is normally:

Look farther ahead.

Notice changes earlier.

Use less tiller.

Return the tiller towards the centre.

Give the boat time to respond.

Within a few minutes the zig-zags become smaller.

Then smaller again.

Eventually you realise something rather satisfying.

You are actually sailing in a straight line.

---

Don't Forget Where the Boom Is

There is one other object deserving your attention.

The boom.

You learnt about it when we looked at the parts of a dinghy earlier in this series.

Now it has become rather more personal.

As the boat turns through the wind, the boom can move across the boat.

Sometimes quite quickly.

Your instructor should tell you when to duck.

But begin developing your own awareness.

Do not become so fascinated by the tiller that you forget there is a large aluminium pole approximately head height behind you.

Sailing teaches situational awareness rather effectively.

Occasionally with immediate feedback.

---

Your First Ten-Minute Challenge

If you are learning at a sailing club, ask whether you can try this simple progression with an experienced sailor aboard.

Minutes 1-2: Get Comfortable

Sit correctly.

Hold the tiller extension.

Work out where the mainsheet is.

Look around the boat.

Minutes 3-4: Steering Only

Choose a landmark.

Try to keep the boat pointing towards it.

Concentrate on tiny tiller movements.

Minutes 5-6: Stop Overcorrecting

Notice how long the boat takes to respond.

Make a correction.

Wait.

Observe.

Minutes 7-8: Add the Mainsheet

Begin holding the mainsheet as well as the tiller extension.

Notice how the sail feels.

Minutes 9-10: Look Around

Try maintaining your course while occasionally checking around you.

Look ahead.

Look to the sides.

Notice other boats.

Notice the wind.

Notice what the boat is telling you.

You are beginning to helm rather than simply steer.

---

One of the Great Pleasures of Teaching Sailing

There is often a wonderful moment when somebody first takes the tiller.

Initially there is intense concentration.

The tiller goes the wrong way.

The boat zig-zags.

The mainsheet gets forgotten.

Someone ducks unnecessarily because they think the boom is about to move.

Then, almost without warning, everything becomes calmer.

The movements become smaller.

The boat settles.

And the new helm looks up rather than down at their hands.

That is the moment sailing begins to click.

Not perfectly.

Not completely.

But enough.

The person who ten minutes earlier had never steered a sailing boat is now actually controlling one.

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You Don't Need to Master Everything Today

This entire PMR Sailing series is based around one important idea:

you do not have to know everything before you start sailing.

You do not need your own yacht.

You do not need years of experience.

You do not need to understand every sailing term.

And you certainly do not need perfect steering on your first attempt.

Join a club.

Get into a suitable training boat with someone experienced.

Take the tiller.

Make the inevitable mistakes.

Laugh at the zig-zags.

And keep going.

Because somewhere between:

"Why does the tiller work backwards?"

and

"Look — I'm actually steering this!"

you have crossed one of the most important milestones in learning to sail.

You are no longer merely sitting in a sailing boat.

You are sailing it.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

---

Coming Next in the PMR Sailing Beginner Series

Lesson 10 Making the Boat Go Faster — Your First Lesson in Sail Trim

Pulling the mainsheet harder doesn't necessarily make a sailing boat faster.

Sometimes the fastest thing you can do is ease it.

Beginner's rule:

"Ease the sail until it starts to complain, then pull it in just enough to make it happy."

 

Points of Sail — Your First Sailing Road Map

Once you understand the points of sail, sailing suddenly starts to look less like magic and more like navigation.

One of the first things a new sailor discovers is that a sailing boat cannot simply point in any direction, pull the sails in and expect everything to work.

The direction of the wind matters.

A lot.

Change the angle of the boat to the wind and you also have to change the position of the sails. Some directions make the boat feel fast and lively. Others are calmer and easier to understand. Point too close to the wind and eventually the sails begin flapping and the boat stops.

That relationship between the direction of the boat and the direction of the wind is what sailors mean when they talk about the points of sail.

At first the names can sound like another batch of mysterious sailing terminology:

• close hauled;

• close reach;

• beam reach;

• broad reach;

• run.

But there is a surprisingly simple way of understanding them.

Imagine a clock.

Put the wind at 12 o'clock.

Suddenly the whole thing starts to make sense.

The PMR Sailing Clock Face

Imagine looking down from directly above your sailing dinghy.

The wind is blowing towards you from 12 o'clock.

Your boat can sail around much of the clock face, but there is an important area near 12 o'clock where it cannot sail directly.

If you remember the previous lesson, this is the no-go zone.

A conventional sailing boat cannot simply point straight into the wind and continue sailing forwards. Get too close to the wind and the sails stop producing useful driving force.

But turn the boat slightly away from 12 o'clock and everything changes.

On either side of the no-go zone we begin with close hauled.

Turn further away and we move through:

Close hauled -> close reach -> beam reach -> broad reach -> run

And as we move around that clock face, there is another very useful rule.

The further away from the wind you turn, the further out the sails normally go.

That one idea will take a beginner an extraordinarily long way.

---

1. Close Hauled — Sailing as Close to the Wind as We Can

Imagine the wind is coming from 12 o'clock.

Your boat might be heading approximately towards 1:30 or 10:30.

You are not sailing directly into the wind, but you are sailing as close towards it as the boat can efficiently manage.

This is called close hauled.

The sails are pulled in relatively tightly towards the centreline of the boat.

You will probably hear someone say:

"Sheet in."

That means pulling the sheet so that the sail comes further towards the boat.

On many dinghies, close hauled feels quite purposeful. The boat may heel as the wind loads the sails, and everything suddenly feels much more like what newcomers imagine "proper sailing" to be.

It is also the point of sail that lets us make progress towards somewhere that lies upwind.

Not directly towards it — but gradually, by sailing a zigzag course.

More on that shortly.

What should the sails look like?

On close hauled:

• the mainsail is pulled in relatively tightly;

• the jib is also sheeted in;

• the sails should be reasonably smooth rather than flapping;

• the boat is pointing fairly close towards the wind.

Do not make the common beginner mistake of assuming that "tighter must always be better".

If the sails are pulled in too far, they can become inefficient.

Sailing is often about finding the right position rather than simply pulling harder.

---

2. Close Reach — Turn Away a Little

Now turn the boat slightly further away from the wind.

Perhaps on our imaginary clock the bow is pointing somewhere around 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock.

You are now on a close reach.

The sails need to be eased out a little.

This is an important beginner lesson.

If the boat changes direction but the sailor does nothing with the sheets, the sails may no longer be correctly adjusted.

So as the boat bears away from the wind:

ease the sails.

Not necessarily dramatically.

Just enough to keep them working efficiently.

A close reach is often a comfortable and fairly quick point of sail. The boat still feels positive, but compared with close hauled it may feel slightly less demanding.

---

3. Beam Reach — The Beginner's Best Friend

Now imagine the wind is still coming from 12 o'clock but the boat is pointing towards 3 o'clock.

Or 9 o'clock.

The wind is now coming more or less directly across the side — or beam — of the boat.

This is a beam reach.

For beginners, this is one of the most useful points of sail to learn first.

Why?

Because several things become easier to recognise.

The wind direction is relatively obvious.

The sails are neither pulled in tightly nor completely let out.

The boat normally makes good forward progress.

And if you turn a little towards or away from the wind, you can immediately see how the sail trim needs to change.

That makes the beam reach a wonderful teaching position.

What should the sails look like?

On a beam reach, the sails are normally eased considerably compared with close hauled.

As a very rough beginner's picture, think of the sails as being somewhere around halfway out.

The exact position depends on the boat, the wind and the conditions, so this is not a measurement to be taken literally.

The more useful technique is:

Ease the sail slowly until it just begins to flap at the front edge, then sheet it back in slightly until the flapping stops.

That begins to introduce the real skill of sail trimming.

You are not memorising one fixed rope position.

You are looking at the sail and responding to what it tells you.

---

A Simple Practical Exercise: Start on a Beam Reach

If I were introducing someone to steering and sail control for the first time, I would normally want them to experience a beam reach quite early.

Imagine we are sailing across a fairly open piece of water with plenty of room.

The first exercise might be very simple.

1. Put the boat onto a beam reach.

2. Hold a steady course.

3. Look at where the wind is coming from.

4. Ease the mainsheet slightly.

5. Watch the front of the sail.

6. When it begins to flap, pull the sheet in gently until the flapping disappears.

7. Keep looking ahead rather than staring permanently at the sail.

That small exercise teaches several things simultaneously.

You are steering.

You are feeling the wind.

You are adjusting the sail.

You are seeing the effect of your adjustment.

And, most importantly, you are beginning to understand that sailing is a continual conversation between the boat and the wind.

---

4. Broad Reach — Let the Sails Out Further

Continue turning away from the wind.

Your boat may now be pointing towards roughly 4:30 or 7:30 on our sailing clock.

This is a broad reach.

The wind is now coming from behind the boat, but still from one side.

The sails are eased out further.

Broad reaching can be tremendous fun.

In a decent breeze the boat may accelerate noticeably. In some dinghies it can feel beautifully balanced and fast.

But there is something important happening here.

The boom is now further away from the centreline of the boat.

That means that if the boat changes direction or the wind shifts, the boom can move through a much larger arc.

Beginners therefore need to start developing an awareness of where the boom is.

Sailing instructors develop a remarkable habit of automatically ducking.

There is a reason.

---

5. Run — Sailing Away from the Wind

Finally, turn until the boat is travelling approximately in the same direction as the wind.

On our clock face, with the wind coming from 12 o'clock, the boat is now heading towards 6 o'clock.

This is called a run or sailing downwind.

The sails are eased well out.

It looks as though this should be the easiest possible point of sail.

After all, the wind is simply behind you.

And in some respects it is simple.

But beginners can sometimes find running less comfortable than expected.

Why?

Because when the wind comes directly from behind, small changes in direction can cause the sail and boom to move from one side of the boat to the other.

If that happens unintentionally, the boat may perform an accidental gybe.

That can make the boom cross the boat very quickly.

So although sailing downwind may appear easy, it requires awareness.

For the beginner, a broad reach is often more controlled than sailing dead downwind.

---

The Simple Sail-Position Rule

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this:

Towards the wind: sails in.
Away from the wind: sails out.

Or, using our sailing clock:

Close hauled — sails well in

Close reach — ease slightly

Beam reach — ease further

Broad reach — sails well out

Run — sails almost completely out

That is not a perfect scientific rule.

Sail trim is a much richer subject, and later we can talk about telltales, sail shape, twist and airflow.

But for someone stepping into a dinghy for the first few times, it is an extremely useful mental map.

---

But How Do We Sail Somewhere Upwind?

This is where the points of sail suddenly become much more than vocabulary.

Imagine the place you want to reach lies directly towards 12 o'clock.

Unfortunately, the wind is also coming from 12 o'clock.

You cannot simply point the boat there.

So instead you sail close hauled on one side.

Then you turn the bow through the wind — a manoeuvre called tacking.

You then sail close hauled on the other side.

Your route becomes a zigzag.

You are never sailing directly into the wind, but each leg takes you partly towards your destination.

This is one of those moments when sailing begins to feel slightly miraculous.

You can use wind coming from the direction you want to travel to help you get there.

Not directly.

But very effectively.

---

Heading Up and Bearing Away

There are two more expressions worth learning because instructors use them constantly.

If you turn the bow towards the wind, you are heading up.

If you turn the bow away from the wind, you are bearing away.

These movements immediately affect sail trim.

If you head up:

sheet in.

If you bear away:

ease out.

Again, this is a simplified beginner's rule, but it creates an excellent habit.

Imagine turning gradually around our clock face.

Starting on a run at 6 o'clock and heading towards 3 o'clock:

the sails progressively come in.

Continue towards close hauled:

they come in further.

Turn back towards 6 o'clock:

they progressively go out again.

That connection between steering and sail position is one of the foundations of sailing.

---

Don't Stare at the Ropes

One of the easiest beginner habits to develop is looking down into the boat.

You start thinking:

"Where should this sheet be?"

So you stare at your hands.

Meanwhile the boat gradually turns through 30 degrees.

Now the wind angle has changed.

Which means the sail position you were carefully adjusting is wrong anyway.

Try instead to develop a simple sequence:

Look ahead.

Feel the wind.

Look at the sail.

Adjust the sheet.

Look ahead again.

Eventually the process becomes almost automatic.

---

The Boat Will Tell You When Something Is Wrong

Sailing becomes much easier once you realise that the boat constantly gives you information.

If you turn too close towards the wind:

the sail begins to flap.

If you bear away without easing:

the sails may feel heavily loaded and badly positioned.

If you ease too far:

the front of the sail may begin flapping.

If everything is roughly right:

the sail fills smoothly and the boat accelerates.

Beginners sometimes imagine that experienced sailors somehow know the perfect sail position by calculation.

Usually we are doing something much simpler.

We are constantly observing.

The wind changes.

The boat changes direction.

We adjust.

Then we adjust again.

---

A Useful Exercise: Sail the Clock Face

Once you can steer reasonably confidently, try turning the idea into a practical exercise.

Start on a beam reach.

Then gradually head up towards a close reach.

Sheet in slightly.

Continue towards close hauled.

Sheet in further.

Now bear away again.

Ease the sail.

Return through the beam reach.

Continue to a broad reach.

Ease further.

Eventually approach a run.

Then reverse the exercise.

You are effectively sailing around the PMR Sailing Clock Face.

Do it slowly.

The objective is not speed.

The objective is to make the connection:

Boat direction -> wind angle -> sail position -> boat response.

Once that connection settles into your mind, a great deal of sailing suddenly becomes logical.

---

What Beginners Often Get Wrong

"I've turned the boat, but nothing has happened"

You probably forgot to adjust the sails.

Steering and sail trim work together.

"The sail is flapping"

You may be too close to the wind, or the sheet may be too loose.

Look at the wind direction before simply pulling ropes.

"The boat suddenly slowed down"

Again, check your angle to the wind.

A perfectly good sail setting can become wrong because the boat has changed direction.

"We're going downwind, so surely I pull the sail in to catch more wind?"

Usually the opposite.

As you turn away from the wind, the sails generally need to be eased further out.

"I thought sailing downwind would be easiest"

It can be straightforward, but watch the boom and be aware of accidental gybes.

For early practice, a beam reach is often much easier to understand.

---

Why the Beam Reach Is Such a Good Starting Point

For a beginner, I would much rather establish control on a beam reach than immediately insist on perfect close-hauled sailing.

A beam reach lets someone experience what a working sailing boat feels like.

You can steer.

You can see the effect of the mainsheet.

You can feel acceleration.

You can turn gently towards and away from the wind.

And because you are not right on the edge of the no-go zone, small steering errors are usually more forgiving.

That confidence matters.

There is plenty of time later for precise tacking angles and perfect sail trim.

The first objective is to make the boat respond predictably.

---

Try This Next Time You Are at the Club

Before launching, stand beside the water and work out where the wind is coming from.

Imagine the clock face floating over the sailing area.

Ask yourself:

• Where would 12 o'clock be?

• Where would a beam reach take me?

• Which direction would be close hauled?

• Where is directly downwind?

• Where is the no-go zone?

Then, when you get into the boat, see whether the picture still makes sense.

It probably will.

And that is when sailing starts becoming much less mysterious.

Instead of simply pulling ropes and hoping for the best, you begin to know why the boat is behaving as it does.

---

Your First Sailing Road Map

The points of sail are not merely names to memorise for a sailing course.

They are your first genuine map of how a sailing boat moves through the wind.

With the wind at 12 o'clock:

Close hauled: sail as close towards the wind as the boat allows.

Close reach: turn a little further away and ease the sails slightly.

Beam reach: sail across the wind with the sails further out.

Broad reach: the wind comes increasingly from behind and the sails are eased further.

Run: sail downwind with the sails well out.

And sitting above it all is the no-go zone — the part of the clock where the boat cannot sail directly.

Once that picture is fixed in your mind, many other sailing skills become easier.

Tacking starts to make sense.

Sail trimming starts to make sense.

Planning a route starts to make sense.

Even instructions shouted from another boat begin to sound less mysterious.

"Bear away!"

"Ease the main!"

"Come onto a beam reach!"

You suddenly know what everyone is talking about.

And perhaps that is the real moment when learning to sail begins.

The boat has not changed.

The wind has not changed.

But now you have a road map.

Understand the wind. Understand where the boat sits on the clock face. Adjust the sails to match — and suddenly sailing stops looking like magic.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

Coming up Next Lesson Lesson 9: Your First Ten Minutes at the Helm.
Your first few minutes steering a sailing dinghy can be wonderfully confusing.

Want the boat to go left?

Move the tiller right.

Then overcorrect.

Then correct the correction.

Then discover you've invented sailing in zig-zags.

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How Does a Sailing Boat Actually Sail?

Lesson 7: The First Bit of Sailing Theory You Really Need

The surprising thing about sailing isn't that a boat can sail downwind. It's that it can sail towards the wind at all.

If you have never sailed before, the basic idea seems perfectly reasonable when the wind is behind the boat.

The wind blows.

It pushes the sail.

The boat goes forwards.

Excellent. Sailing explained.

Except that sailing boats can also travel across the wind and, rather remarkably, can make progress towards the direction the wind is coming from.

That seems much less obvious.

If the wind is coming from where you want to go, surely it should simply blow you backwards.

Yet watch a sailing dinghy travelling up a river or across a lake and you may see it zig-zagging steadily towards the wind.

How?

The answer lies in the interaction between two surprisingly simple things:

the sail above the water and the centreboard or keel below it.

Once you understand what those two are doing together, an enormous amount of sailing starts to make sense.

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First: Which Way Is the Wind Actually Going?

Sailors describe the wind by where it is coming from, not where it is going.

So a northerly wind comes from the north and blows towards the south.

That sounds obvious when written down, but it is worth getting right because almost everything else we do in sailing depends upon knowing where the wind is coming from.

When I am introducing someone to sailing, one of the first questions I want them to keep asking is:

"Where is the wind?"

Not:

"Where am I going?"

Not:

"Which rope do I pull?"

But:

"Where is the wind coming from?"

Once you know that, you can begin making sensible decisions about everything else.

There are lots of ways of working it out.

Look at:

• flags and burgees;

• ripples on the water;

• trees and reeds;

• smoke;

• other sailing boats;

• telltales or ribbons on the rigging;

• and, with experience, simply the feeling of the wind on your face.

A useful beginner's trick is to turn your head slowly until you can feel the wind equally on both cheeks.

You are now facing approximately into the wind.

That direction matters enormously.

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A Sail Is Not Simply a Big Wind Catcher

When sailing downwind, the sail can behave rather like a large curved sheet being pushed by the wind.

But when we sail across the wind or towards it, something more interesting happens.

A properly trimmed sail develops a curved shape.

Air flows around that curved sail and the sail behaves, in a simplified sense, rather like an aircraft wing standing vertically.

The airflow around it produces an aerodynamic force.

There is plenty of sophisticated physics behind exactly how that force is generated, involving pressure differences, airflow and the deflection of air.

Fortunately, you do not need to solve the mathematics while sitting in a dinghy.

The important beginner's idea is this:

The wind flowing around the sail produces a force that is not simply pointing straight forwards.

Part of that force is trying to drive the boat forwards.

But another substantial part is trying to push the boat sideways.

And that creates our next problem.

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Why Doesn't the Boat Simply Slide Sideways?

Imagine putting a sailing dinghy on an enormous sheet of ice.

Raise the sails and put the wind on the side.

What would happen?

Without anything providing sideways resistance, the boat could simply skid sideways.

Water gives us the opportunity to prevent that.

Underneath most sailing dinghies is a centreboard or daggerboard.

Larger sailing boats may have a fixed keel.

These underwater surfaces resist the boat's tendency to move sideways through the water.

The hull itself also contributes some resistance, but the centreboard is particularly important.

So we now have two systems working together:

Above the water: the sail interacts with the air.

Below the water: the centreboard interacts with the water.

The sail tries to push the boat partly forwards and partly sideways.

The centreboard strongly resists much of that sideways movement.

What remains is a useful forward component.

And now we have a sailing boat.

---

The Sail and Centreboard Are a Team

This is probably the most useful way for a beginner to think about it.

A sailing boat does not sail upwind because the sail somehow magically pulls it directly towards the wind.

It works because the forces created by the sail and underwater surfaces act together.

Think about squeezing a wet bar of soap between your fingers.

If you squeeze it from opposite sides, it can shoot forwards.

The analogy is far from perfect, but it gives us a useful mental picture.

The boat is effectively working between two moving fluids:

air above and water below.

The sail interacts with one.

The centreboard and rudder interact with the other.

The result can drive the boat forwards even when the wind is coming from somewhere ahead of the boat.

That is the clever part.

---

So Can We Sail Directly Into the Wind?

No.

And this is one of the most important things a new sailor needs to understand.

Point the bow directly towards the wind and the airflow over the sail can no longer maintain the useful aerodynamic force we need.

The sail begins to flap.

Sailors call this luffing.

If you remain pointing directly into the wind, the boat will slow down and may eventually stop.

You are now head to wind.

It is quite a useful position when you deliberately want to reduce the sail's driving force, but it is not a good way of travelling towards somewhere.

If you unintentionally stop there and cannot easily get moving again, sailors may say that the boat is in irons.

That expression sounds rather dramatic.

For a beginner it usually means:

"We've stopped, the sails are flapping and I need to work out which way to turn."

---

Welcome to the No-Go Zone

Imagine looking down from above at your boat.

Draw an arrow showing where the wind is coming from.

Immediately in front of the boat's possible sailing directions is an area into which the boat cannot sail effectively.

This is called the no-go zone.

Its exact size varies according to the boat, sails, conditions and sailing technique, but for beginner purposes imagine a wedge extending perhaps roughly 40 to 50 degrees either side of directly into the wind.

Point the boat inside that zone and the sails will begin losing their ability to drive the boat efficiently.

Point sufficiently far outside it and the sails can begin working again.

That gives us a wonderfully important fact:

We cannot sail directly towards the wind, but we can sail diagonally towards it.

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How Do We Get Somewhere Directly Upwind?

We zig-zag.

More properly, we tack.

Suppose your destination is directly upwind.

You cannot point the bow straight at it.

Instead, you sail towards one side of the wind at the closest practical angle your boat will maintain.

After travelling some distance, you turn the bow through the wind and sail towards the other side.

Then you do it again.

Your actual route looks something like:

left — right — left — right.

But overall you are steadily making progress upwind.

This is known as beating to windward.

It may not be the shortest distance between two points, but it allows a sailing boat to reach a destination that would otherwise appear impossible.

---

Windward and Leeward

This brings us to two sailing words you will hear constantly.

Windward

Windward means the side towards the wind.

If the wind is coming across the boat from your right-hand side, the right-hand side is the windward side.

Leeward

Leeward is the side away from the wind.

In that same example, the left-hand side would be the leeward side.

You will hear these words used in all sorts of situations:

"Sit on the windward side."

"There's another boat to leeward."

"Move your weight to windward."

"The leeward mark is down there."

They can initially sound like unnecessary sailing jargon.

Very quickly, however, they become extremely useful because they describe positions relative to the wind, and the wind is what matters.

---

The Wind Changes the Whole Geometry of the Boat

One of the lovely things about learning to sail is discovering that the same boat behaves completely differently depending upon its angle to the wind.

Point directly into the wind:

The sails flap and you stop.

Turn slightly away:

The sails begin to fill and the boat moves.

Turn further away:

The sails need easing out.

Keep turning until the wind is behind you:

The sails may be well out from the boat and the whole feeling changes again.

The boat has not changed.

The wind has not necessarily changed.

What has changed is simply the angle between the boat and the wind.

That angle is at the heart of sailing.

---

Try This Without Even Leaving the Bank

You can begin understanding all of this before launching.

Stand beside a rigged dinghy on a reasonably breezy day.

First identify where the wind is coming from.

Now imagine the boat travelling directly towards it.

That is the head-to-wind direction.

Imagine the no-go zone spreading out on either side.

Now point towards a direction just outside that zone.

That could become an upwind sailing course.

Turn further round.

You are moving progressively towards sailing across the wind and eventually downwind.

You can even walk around the boat while imagining that the bow is pointing in different directions.

It sounds simple.

It is.

But this simple exercise begins creating something every sailor eventually develops:

a mental map of the wind.

---

Try It Again When You Are Afloat

Once safely afloat with an instructor or experienced sailor, watch what happens as the helm slowly turns the boat towards the wind.

Do not worry initially about steering.

Watch the sail.

As you turn closer towards the wind, eventually the front edge of the sail begins to flutter.

Turn closer still and more of the sail begins flapping.

Now turn away again.

At some point the sail fills.

The boat accelerates.

You have just crossed the boundary between an angle at which the sail cannot work effectively and one at which it can.

That experience teaches more than several pages of aerodynamics.

---

A Common Beginner Mistake: Pulling the Sail Tighter

There is an understandable instinct when a sail begins flapping.

Pull it in harder.

Sometimes that is exactly what is required.

But not always.

If you are pointing too close to the wind, pulling the sheet harder cannot change the laws of physics.

The boat may simply be inside the no-go zone.

The solution may instead be to turn the boat slightly away from the wind.

This is called bearing away.

As the boat comes out of the no-go zone, airflow can become properly established around the sail again and the boat begins moving.

Learning this distinction is important.

A flapping sail does not automatically mean:

"Pull the rope."

Sometimes it means:

"Change the direction of the boat."

---

The Centreboard Matters More Than Beginners Realise

The centreboard can easily look like one of the less exciting parts of a dinghy.

The sail is colourful.

The mast is obvious.

The rudder controls where we go.

The centreboard appears merely to stick down underneath the boat.

Yet remove its sideways resistance and the whole business of sailing efficiently across or towards the wind becomes much more difficult.

You can sometimes feel this very clearly when sailing.

The boat is not travelling precisely in the direction the bow is pointing.

There is usually some sideways movement as well.

This is known as leeway.

A good sailing boat minimises that unwanted sideways slipping while converting as much of the available aerodynamic force as possible into useful progress.

Again, the important beginner's message is wonderfully simple:

The sail needs the centreboard, and the centreboard needs the sail.

They work as a system.

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Sailing Is About Balance, Not Brute Force

There is another lesson hidden inside all this.

Sailing is rarely about forcing the boat to do something.

You cannot make the boat sail directly into the wind simply by pulling the mainsheet harder.

You cannot demand that the wind arrives from somewhere more convenient.

Instead, you work with what is available.

You choose an angle the boat can sail.

You adjust the sail.

You balance the boat.

You observe what happens.

Then you make another adjustment.

That is one reason sailing becomes so satisfying.

You are constantly solving a moving puzzle involving the boat, wind and water.

And every few seconds the puzzle changes slightly.

---

Don't Worry About Understanding All the Physics Yet

If you start reading deeply into sailing aerodynamics you will soon encounter discussions about:

• pressure;

• circulation;

• lift;

• drag;

• flow separation;

• apparent wind;

• angles of attack;

• foil sections;

• induced drag;

• vortices.

All of these have their place.

But none of them needs to be mastered before your first sail.

For now, remember just five things.

1. Always know roughly where the wind is coming from.

2. The sail generates an aerodynamic force.

3. Some of that force tries to push the boat sideways.

4. The centreboard or keel resists much of that sideways movement.

5. The combination allows the boat to move forwards and even make progress towards the wind — but never directly into it.

Understand those five ideas and you already understand something fundamental about sailing.

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Your Practical Challenge

Next time you are beside a sailing boat, do not immediately start worrying about ropes.

Stop for a moment.

Find the wind.

Then identify:

• the windward side;

• the leeward side;

• the head-to-wind direction;

• the approximate no-go zone;

• two directions in which the boat could sail to make progress upwind.

If you are sailing with someone experienced, ask them to point the boat progressively closer to the wind while you watch the sails.

Notice the moment they begin to luff.

Then watch what happens when the helm bears away by just a few degrees.

The sails fill.

The boat begins accelerating.

You have just watched aerodynamic theory turn into sailing.

---

Suddenly the Boat Makes a Little More Sense

When you first stand beside a sailing dinghy, it can appear to be a rather complicated collection of sails, ropes, fittings and strangely named pieces of equipment.

But gradually the logic starts appearing.

The rudder helps determine where we point.

The sail interacts with the wind.

The centreboard resists sideways movement through the water.

And the sailor puts them all together.

Perhaps that is the extraordinary thing about sailing.

We cannot control the wind.

We cannot sail directly into it.

Yet by understanding it, we can use the wind to take us remarkably close to where it came from.

That is not just one of the most important ideas in learning to sail.

It is one of the reasons sailing remains so fascinating.

Next time you see a sailing boat apparently heading towards the wind, look carefully. It isn't defying physics at all. It is using physics beautifully.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

Coming up Next Lesson 8 Sailing feels mysterious until somebody gives you a clock face.

Wind from 12 o'clock.

Close hauled -> close reach -> beam reach -> broad reach -> run.

And one beautifully simple rule:

Towards the wind, sails in.
Away from the wind, sails out.

Once you understand the points of sail, the whole boat starts making sense.

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