Tom Cunliffe
Tom Cunliffe
A
s a young sailor I’d never heard of ‘tactical navigation’. When the issue first came to my notice I set it aside as being downright esoteric, yet all it often means is travelling a little further in order to arrive a lot quicker. Here in home waters north of 50 degrees latitude, it doesn’t take more than an awkward turn in the weather, coupled with a spring tide, to encourage thoughtful
22
OCTOBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
mariners to educate themselves, but many of us don’t give the question much consideration until supper starts jumping off the table. Strategic tacking was a shut book to me as I hacked out of Cherbourg one long-ago Easter to face a 60-mile beat home. My boat was a 22-foot centreboarder whose pointing ability in a big sea was lamentable. The track to the Needles and home lay due North and a solid 25 knots of breeze was blowing from 20
PODCAST Catch up with Tom’s columns now and in the future at sailingtoday.co.uk
degrees west of the desired course. ‘Aha,’ I said to my wife, ‘Let’s stand to the westwards on starboard and get the losing tack out of the way while we’re fresh. Then we’ll flop over and make it back in a single long board.’ Sounds almost rational, doesn’t it? But that’s not what happened. Modern oilskins were a dream as remote as manned flights to Mars, and after we had hammered upwind for six hours we were wet through
ILLUSTRATION: CLAIRE WOOD, PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE
Tom contrasts two passages he made many years apart to illustrate how basic seamanship and planning make all the difference
