The Roll Tack: Keep Speed Through the Wind

If you can already tack a Laser or a 29er without swimming, the next gain is not a tidier tack but a faster one.

Australian Sailing dinghy pathway coaching treats the roll tack as a speed-preserving manoeuvre, not a way to change direction at any cost.

That distinction matters, because a tack that turns beautifully and exits two knots slower has cost you more than it gained.

Preparation: look before you load up

Check your telltales first. Both windward and leeward streaming means you are properly close-hauled, which is the only honest starting point for a timed roll.

Buy yourself space to leeward. Scan for traffic, then confirm nobody is sitting where your bow will swing, because a roll tack commits your weight early and leaves you slow to abort.

Pick flat water for the first hundred attempts. Small chop is acceptable, but a lumpy sea state hides the feel you are trying to learn.

Check the tide before you launch, because an hour either side of slack usually gives the flattest practice water in most Australian estuaries.

Initiation: ease a touch, then roll

Ease the mainsheet a few centimetres. A slightly eased leech lets the boat heel to weather without the rig fighting you, and it keeps flow attached as the bow starts moving.

Roll to weather with your legs, not your shoulders. On a Laser you lean in and up; on a 29er the skipper comes in while the crew keeps the boat loaded.

Then put the helm down, gently. The tiller extension moves maybe 20 to 30 degrees, no more, because the rudder is a brake once it passes that range.

The heel to weather turns the boat for you, which is why your steering input can stay small enough to feel almost lazy.

Commitment: flatten on the backing jib

This is the phase that separates a roll tack from a slow tack with extra theatre.

Michael Blackburn, the Australian Olympic Laser medallist and long-time coach, gives dinghy sailors a cue that most club sailors get wrong by about half a second.

Flatten on the backing jib, not on the new close-hauled course, because by the time the boat is pointing where you want it the drive has already gone.

In a 29er the crew sees the jib load against the new windward side and that backing sail is the trigger to cross and flatten hard.

In a Laser you have no jib, so your trigger is the boom crossing the centreline and the luff starting to fill on the new side.

Rolling after you are already through the wind is a recovery, not a tack, and it loses the drive that should have thrown you out of the manoeuvre.

The flatten accelerates the mast tip to windward, which pushes air across the sail and generates drive at the exact moment the rudder has stopped helping.

Execution: sheet, hike, settle

Sheet in progressively as the boat flattens. On a 29er the crew trims the jib through the backing phase rather than yanking it on once the boat is level.

Get your weight out early. Hike or step onto the wire as the boat comes upright, because arriving late forces you to steer down to stay flat.

Centre the helm before you think about it. Most sailors hold rudder angle a beat too long and scrub the speed the flatten just created.

Recovery: check speed before you look upwind

Your first look should be at the telltales and the water beside the hull, not at the next mark.

If the boat is tracking and both telltales stream within two boatlengths, the tack worked and you can go back to playing the shifts.

Done right it feels like a surge as the mast comes vertical, and you exit at the same speed you entered.

Done wrong you get a brief pause head-to-wind followed by a scramble with sheets, weight and rudder all arriving at once.

Five faults, diagnosed

The boat spins through to a reach. Cause is too much helm; correction is to halve your tiller movement and let the windward heel do the turning.

The roll arrives after the bow is through. Cause is waiting for the new course; correction is to treat the backing jib or crossing boom as your only cue.

The crew flattens late on the 29er. Cause is crossing the boat before loading the new side; correction is to call the backing jib out loud every tack.

The new jib is oversheeted. Cause is trimming for the finished course rather than the accelerating one; correction is to sheet slightly eased and trim on once you are at target speed.

You stand up mid-tack. Cause is treating the move as a walk across the boat; correction is to stay low and transfer weight from the hip, keeping the roll controlled.

Safety and sensible practice

Keep your lifejacket on and look for traffic before every attempt, because a roll tack takes your eyes off the water for longer than a standard tack.

Do not practise these in a crowded start sequence until the timing is automatic, since a half-committed roll in a pack ends badly for several boats.

Use 8 to 14 knots as a coaching band, which gives enough pressure to reward the flatten without punishing a mistimed one.

Does the roll tack work in light air?

Yes, and the gains are larger, but the roll is bigger and slower while the flatten stays decisive.

How many tacks should I practise per session?

Twenty to thirty quality repetitions beat a hundred rushed ones, so stop when the timing starts drifting late.

Should I ease the main on every roll tack?

A small ease helps in flat water, but in chop keep more sheet tension so the rig keeps driving through the turn.

What comes next?

Once the flatten is reliably timed to the backing jib, take the same weight-transfer logic downwind and start building the roll gybe.

Compare notes with other Laser and skiff sailors in the Seabreeze forums and check conditions on Seabreeze before your next practice session.