Green Wyvern Yachting Club
Many have tried it. Some have achieved it whilst, for others, it simply doesn't work. Tony explains the art of tacking backwards.
Forty years ago, Cecil taught me how to tack backwards on the mudweight:
1 Well before the mooring, send the mate forward to attach the weight on a line preferable just long enough to halt the yacht in the tide.
2 In midstream, drop the sails and tell the mate to drop the weight. The yacht will swing round (which way doesn't matter) and hang bows into the tide.
3 Tell the mate to lift the weight so that it just drags and push the tiller away from the desired bank. The tide will cause the yacht to follow the direction of the rudder and slew towards the said bank.
4 At a safe distance from the bank, tell the mate to drop the weight. The yacht will stop and again hang bows to tide.
5 Push the tiller towards the destination bank and, as before, tell the mate to lift the weight just to drag. The yacht will now move backwards away from the bank.
6 Repeat 3, 4, and 5 until the desired mooring is adjacent. This will be after 3, so the stern will be pointing towards the bank prior to the last dropping of the weight. Send a crew member ashore off the stern, preferably without a stern-line in case they try to pull the stern in with it. Drop the weight, tell the crew member to walk forward, and fling a line to him.
This is called 'tacking' because it resembles the zig-zag stitch from which normal tacking derives its name. May it also be given the other name of 'beating'? Yes and no. 'Beating' is short for 'beating' the wind; the wind wants to blow you backwards and you beat it by close-hauling first one way then another. Similarly, in one sense, tacking on the weight beats the tide's attempt to deposit you in the North Sea. But in another sense, you are not beating the tide by making progress against it. When there is no wind not even Cecil could do that without extraneous mechanical means, and if he couldn't do it, what chance have the rest of us?
ART