Sailing upwind is a bit more complicated. From the previous section you’ll know that a boat can’t sail directly into the wind. But quite often (and you’ll  be surprised how often) you’ll want to go somewhere which is upwind from you. i.e. The wind is blowing  directly from where you want to go. How can you get there? You’ll have to sail a zig-zag course :  Each one of these zigs or zags is called a  tack  (see below). The faster and more efficiently you can tack, the  faster you will get to your destination.  “Tack” has a number of meanings :  This makes a kind of sense – e.g. You sail along on a particular port ‘tack’. To change to a starboard ‘tack’  you must ‘tack’ - you turn the front of the boat through the wind. You will then sail on the starboard tack for a  while before you tack again. Clear as mud? Good. Adjusting a sail is called  trimming  it.  Sail trim is a complicated subject and a poorly understood one. Many theories abound and every sailor will  have different advice for you on how you should trim your sails. They will all disagree. This is what makes  sailing fun. A simple rule of thumb is : ease the sheet until it starts to ‘ luff ’ and then pull it in “a little bit”. To luff means to  flap at the front edge (i.e. at the luff). If a sail is too tight it will ‘luff’ and the front edge will become loose and  floppy. A taught, smooth sail that looks like the wing on an aeroplane is probably doing its job. In general, the “closer to the wind” you sail the tighter you will have to sheet in your sails. This means that  when you sail into the wind you will pull the sails in tighter than if you sail with the wind behind you. Adjusting sail Tack, Tack, Tacking! • A boat is on either the “port tack” or “starboard tack” depending on where the wind is coming from. If  the wind is coming from the port side of the boat you are on a port tack. If it is coming from  starboard, you are on a starboard tack • The verb “tacking” or “to tack” is the action of turning the boat so that the front of the boat passes  through the wind, after which the wind will be coming from the other side • A tack is also the time spent on a particular tack of sail (e.g. A short port tack followed by a long  starboard tack)  • Finally, the “tack” is also the bottom edge of a sail (see ‘Parts of the Sail’)  X Wind Figure 6