What command is given to the crew just before tacking?

What command is given to the crew just before tacking?

• A. Hard alee
• B. Hard a-lee
• C. Ease sheets
• D. Prepare to tack

Answer: (B)

Before tacking, you want the boat to bear away so the sails stay filled as the bow passes through the wind. The command to the crew that accomplishes this is to push the helm toward the lee side, which tells everyone to steer the boat hard a-lee. This maneuver sets up the turn, keeping the sails from luffing and letting the boat swing through the wind smoothly into the new tack. Ease sheets and preparing to tack are related steps, but they happen at different moments in the sequence. Easing sheets is done to trim the sails once their new sides are catching wind, and “prepare to tack” is a general prep cue, not the immediate steering instruction used to initiate the maneuver.

Before tacking, you want the boat to bear away so the sails stay filled as the bow passes through the wind. The command to the crew that accomplishes this is to push the helm toward the lee side, which tells everyone to steer the boat hard a-lee. This maneuver sets up the turn, keeping the sails from luffing and letting the boat swing through the wind smoothly into the new tack.

Ease sheets and preparing to tack are related steps, but they happen at different moments in the sequence. Easing sheets is done to trim the sails once their new sides are catching wind, and “prepare to tack” is a general prep cue, not the immediate steering instruction used to initiate the maneuver.