1. Jive With Your Jibing
The first method of turning a sailboat that beginner sailors learn is the tack. The alternative turn, called a jibe, directs the boat's nose away from the wind rather than through it. Because the boat's sails stay filled with wind and the boat stays powered, the jibe is a faster and, with the swinging boom, more dangerous movement than the tack. In many cases, however, the jibe is essential so sailors must know how to handle the turn in a variety of sailing and weather conditions to maximize boat safety.
2. Prep the Boat for a Jibe
Your first job as a skipper is to inform the crew (and passengers) of the upcoming jibe and assign each person a task or position. If you're a crew member, then you should know what your task is well before the jibe. Everyone on board should be looking around to make sure there are no vessels approaching and that you have plenty of unobstructed and deep water on the new course. Someone with a good eye should also check the water to see if there are any patches of gusty wind that could disturb the sail or create confusion on board.
3. Do You Have Sail Control?
Keeping control of your boat through the jibe is a matter of planning the jibe and maintaining control over the mainsail. You can power the boat down a little before the jibe by spilling wind out of the sail, if you're sailing upwind or with the wind over the beam. As you fall off the wind (direct the sailboat so that the stern faces the wind), you can sheet in the mainsail so it doesn't fill and over power the boat. Try to make the transition smooth so that the farther downwind you head the more the sail is pulled in. As your stern is about to cross through the wind, release the traveler and pull the sail across the centerline of the boat, and then keep turning through the wind.
4. Attention to Detail
As you take care of the major parts of the jibe such as finding your new course and setting the mainsail, you also need to be mindful of what's happening on the rest of the boat. Your jib trimmer should have eased the sail during your turn downwind. As the stern turned through the wind, someone should have released the jib, and then changed it onto the other side of the boat, so the boat is on the new tack. You should also do a quick head count, especially if the jibe is in heavy wind or seas, to make sure no one got tossed overboard during the jibe.
5. Practice Makes Almost Perfect
It's easy to dismiss the jibe as an unnecessary and risky sailing turn. However, the jibe is an essential part of sailing. You should practice the jibe so that you can execute it smoothly in a variety of situations, including sudden situations like a man overboard or violent situations such as a storm, in which turning away from the wind is safer than turning through it.
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