Tack (sailing)

In sailing, the word tack has several meanings:

Sail

The tack is the lower corner of the sail's leading edge. On a sloop rigged sailboat, the mainsail tack is connected to the mast and the boom at the gooseneck. On the same boat, a foresail tack is clipped to the deck and forestay.

Position

Tack is the alignment of a sailing vessel with respect to the wind when moving upwind: that is, when the vessel's bow is pointed within 90 degrees of the wind. If the wind is from starboard, the vessel is on "starboard tack", and if from port, on "port tack".

However, a better rule to use is to look at what side of the boat the sail is on. If the sail is on the port side of the boat you are on starboard tack and vice versa. For example, in smaller boats you will often let your sail past 90 degrees on a downwind leg and reverse the flow on the sail. This is called running by the lee. In this case the wind is coming over the port side of the boat but you are still on starboard tack because the sail is on the port side. Therefore this method of determining your tack overrules the first method described.

Sailing

Sailing comprises wind propulsion of a craft by means of sails and steering it over water, ice or land, depending on the type of craft. A sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails by adjusting their angle with respect to the moving sailing craft and sometimes by adjusting the sail area. The force transmitted from the sails is resisted by forces from the hull, keel, and rudder of a sailing craft, by forces from skate runners for an iceboat, and by forces from wheels for a land sailing craft to allow steering a course on a point of sail with respect to the true wind.

While there are still some places in the world where sail-powered passenger, fishing and trading vessels are used, these craft have become rarer as internal combustion engines have become economically viable in even the poorest and most remote areas. In most countries sailing is enjoyed as a recreational activity or as a sport. Recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, and daysailing.

Sailing (sport)

Sailing refers to using sailboats for sporting purposes. It can be recreational or competitive.

Sailing is the main variety of yachting, and competitive sailing the main variety of yacht racing. A sailing competition is known as a regatta, usually consists of multiple individual races, where the boat that performs best in each race is the overall winner. There is a broad variety of kinds of races and sailboats used for racing from large yacht to dinghy racing. Much racing is done around buoys or similar marks in protected waters, while some longer offshore races cross open water. All kinds of boats are used for racing, including small dinghies, catamarans, boats designed primarily for cruising, and purpose-built raceboats. The Racing Rules of Sailing govern the conduct of yacht racing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, model boat racing, dinghy racing and virtually any other form of racing around a course with more than one vessel while powered by the wind.

Membership

International federation

Sailing (Sutherland Brothers song)

"Sailing" is a song written and recorded by The Sutherland Bros. Band (featuring the Sutherland Brothers Gavin and Iain). Released in June 1972, it can be found on their album Lifeboat released in the same year.

Rod Stewart recorded the song at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama, for his 1975 album Atlantic Crossing, and it was subsequently a number 1 hit in the UK in September 1975 for four weeks. The single returned to the UK top 10 a year later when used as the theme music for the BBC documentary series Sailor, about HMS Ark Royal. Having been a hit twice, it remains Stewart's biggest-selling single in the UK, with sales of over a million copies.

The music video was shot in New York Harbor in 1975 and credited with a 1978 completion date. It also was one of the first to be aired on MTV when it launched on 1 August 1981. Despite Stewart's great popularity in the United States, the song never climbed higher than number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.