Sailing Behind Your Back

There is no option! Don’t even think about it!

You have to pass the tiller behind your back and keep your eyes forward when you tack or jibe. If you have a tricky way of spinning around so you can face rearward as you tack, it’s a good time to exercise your brain and change your habits.

If you want to be competitive and keep the Laser upright, you have to put in the time at some point to learn to pass the tiller behind your back. You have to do it by feel and you have to do it with surety.

If you’ve sailed Lasers for a while you simply know this and may wonder why I’m spending the time to emphasize it. I keep seeing new Laser sailors looking for an alternative or putting off the work to adjust to a new way. There is no alternative!

The difference between passing the tiller behind you with ease and without a thought is practice; lots of tacks and lots of jibes. You will need a quiet day – we learn best when we can go very slowly and not have multiple things to think about. I’ve found it best to sit in the boat in still air and practice the dance steps necessary to get yourself from one side to the other while passing the tiller behind your back.

So, I can see the plan some of you are thinking of, it won’t be so hard because you will cleat the main sheet and that will leave both your hands free. Don’t do it! You might as well start from the beginning to figure out how to work with both at once. There is no other good way to do it!

I think it is a real help to spend some time sailing with the tiller held behind you and controlling the boat with your forward arm. You will begin to develop the eye-hand orientation that will allow you to make the pass behind your back with deliberateness. Hurrying to pass it off and get it around in front of you is a sure track to over-steering, getting the tiller caught in your lifejacket or not looking where you’re going.

Learning to sail behind your back also sets you up for quick tacks; the second tack puts the tiller back in front.