[quote=clymbon]I got an H16 this summer, and I've been experimenting with tacking technique. I'm no racer, by any means, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it...
First, start the tack gradually. Head up more and more into the wind, making good to windward while you're at it, until the sails are totally luffing and you're starting to lose way, THEN shove the tiller over hard. At that point, the jib will fill on the back side. Leave it that way, just for a moment. It will help to push the bows around. The instant the main fills and the battens "pop" over to the other side, pop the jib sheet free on the upwind side, and sheet in on the lee side. The jib fills, and you're off and running.
So, yes, as I've described it you are backwinding the jib, but hopefully only for an instant, and it's not really slowing you down so much as helping push the bow around so you can get the main filled and pick up speed again on the new tack.
Another trick I've tried in light air is, as the bow comes around, right after I duck under the boom I grab it and give it a hard yank to "pop" the battens over the other way manually. (That's a trick I used to use on an old windsurfer with a floppy battened sail.)
Going into the tack gradually seems to help, because if you try to shove the tiller over hard right away you just lose a bunch of speed.
When the wind is blowing hard it's tricky, because, if you're like me you've got the sail out a bit to de-power before you start the tack. The trick is to keep pulling in the main sheet as you smooothly go closer and closer hauled, "pinching" the wind as needed to prevent from being overpowered. Then, as the bow comes around, and the jib fills and backwinds, you have to be really quick to unsheet it, otherwise in a stiff wind you risk getting brought to a stop and flipped over backwards. If the main is sheeted in tight it should fill and gain power quickly on the new tack, and the instant it starts to fill, you can pop the jib free and sheet it in on the other side.
In big wind, especially when sailing solo, it can be difficult to get it right, especially when you factor in coming in from the trapeze, unhooking, then getting hooked back in and out on the other side. But if it was easy it wouldn't be fun![/quote]
