Some laws of nature seem to get you every time. I remember, as a teenager, asking an old salt what direction the prevailing wind blew from on his particular bit of coast. He fixed me with his gimlet eye, and mumbled: “Whichever direction you're planning on sailing, boy.”
It's true. Why does the wind always seem to be on the nose when you want to get somewhere? Leaving Cherbourg a couple of years ago to return to Portsmouth, we had a forecast of south westerlies at about force four. Ideal. But as soon as we passed through the outer breakwater, the wind veered around to the north, increased to force five or six, and stayed there. We had been well and truly headed.
The yacht in question was a 40ft catamaran, and the crew were its owner and a friend, both trying to learn how to manage the yacht. I don't like sailing too close to the wind in a catamaran because it often increases the corkscrew effect of two parallel hulls on a beat, and turns the crew green more quickly. We only had two options: take a big tack to port, or a big tack to starboard. I asked the owner which way he would turn, and he was about to flip a coin.
But there's a better way of sorting it all out than chance, and one that gets you there a lot quicker. I suggested he find out which direction the tide was running, and when it would change. He reappeared from the chart table five minutes later to tell me that the tide would run westerly for another five hours, and then change to easterly.
That was all I needed to know. I asked the helm to steer 'best to windward' and we set off on port tack for the next few hours, then changed to starboard tack when the tide began to turn. Every half hour we monitored our ground track to see how near to north we were running.
It's called lee-bowing, and we had an excellent sail home. One thing a catamaran does well is sail fast on anything between a beam and a close reach, and I think we were averaging between eight and nine knots that day. Putting the tide on the lee bow gave us a significant amount of lift, and as soon as the tide changed, we changed tack to continue the lee bowing effect. If I remember right, our ground track was pretty near north, but we were able to sail far enough off the wind to avoid too many unsettled stomachs.
I've sailed with a good few people who get puzzled by my desire to put the tide on the lee bow whenever possible. Coming out of Cherbourg, the wind was blowing from the north, so to head north in a neutral sea we could have sailed 'best to windward' on either tack.
With the tide running westerly, a starboard tack would mean that both wind and tide would push us to the west, and we'd probably end up nearer Poole than Portsmouth! Take the port tack, and the tide would put a considerable westerly component into our easterly track, and the combination would push us north, rather than west. And when the tide changed, a change of tack would sort it out once again.
In other words, by lee bowing the tide, instead of grumbling about being headed, we gained a fair amount of lift in the right direction.
If you're close hauled on a channel crossing, it's probable that you're having to bash into a fairly steep chop. This can slow the yacht considerably, especially if you try to pinch too close to the wind. Try steering five or ten degrees further off the wind, ease the mainsheet traveller a bit, and check the headsail trim.
You'll find that the yacht will sail more upright, won't slow down so much when she bashes into each wave, and although the ground track may not look so good on the GPS, you'll find that your speed increases enough to make up for it.
The example I've given, sailing north against a northerly wind with a westerly tide, is a very obvious one to demonstrate the benefits of lee bowing, but even if the conditions are less than ideal, putting the tide on the lee bow if you possibly can will almost always give you significant lift.
So if you find yourself yet again stuffed by the laws of nature, and have to counter the prevailing wind blowing from precisely the destination you have chosen, don't just think 'wind'. Think 'tide' as well. If you can put it on the lee bow, you could get there a lot quicker.
Richard Thomas holds a Commercially Endorsed RYA Yachtmaster and Cruising Instructor (Sail) certificate. He runs his own delivery business, www.yachtmovers.co.uk
and is available for deliveries, assisted passages, own-yacht tuition, and yacht management.
