"Board the Tack!"

Two kinds of maneuvers are quite common on the MIR: the tacking and the wearing the ship. Both are complicated affairs on a big square rigger and need solid preparation and a well trained crew - especially when tacking the ship. Let us look at the maneuver with the eyes of the commanding officer from the bridge. For that purpose I describe a routine tack in the way it takes place when the ship is zigzagging against the wind. Normally those maneuvers do not come out of the blue, but are announced in advance. Captain and watch officer have agreed about how long to stay with one course - e.g. until the ship reaches a certain position, a landmark comes in sight or until a certain time like a changing of watches when most of the crew are on deck anyway. Normally an announcement is made to inform the crew about the approximate starting time of the maneuver: "Tonight at 8 we will board a tack with all hands!" For this text I assume that the tack is planned by geographical means (e.g. crossing the 0-meridian). In this case the watch officer regularly checks the position and when the ship comes closer to the turning point a chain of events happens. Immediately before the entire maneuver begins he will call the captain - unless he is not already on the bridge - to hand over the command to him.

1. PREPARATIONS

Before the deck's crew or the free watch even notices that a maneuver is about to start, there are some preparations to be done on the bridge.

• The engine control room gets informed to pump the ballast water to the other side.
• The galley gets informed to give them a chance to secure the pots and pans and other materials.
• The bosuns get called to the bridge to get informed about the way the maneuver is held today in accordance to the weather or other special problems that might influence his work.
• The position of the ship is checked permanently now and is also controlled manually. On the radar and the GPS the positions and courses of the other in this area operating ships get checked  and a peering is made towards other objects and ships in sight.
• Eventually other traffic gets informed by radio that a change of course will take place. This might change the right of way for the other ships and it might be important for them to know that the sailing vessel ahead might become very slow and then suddenly very fast again after the tack. This is especially important for the ships behind us that are faster than MIR. Unfortunately nowadays one cannot assume the watch officers on cargo ships to know what will happen when a sailing ship turns. Good information is a matter of OUR safety...
• If we are near to the shore or in an area of heavy traffic (German Bight, Straight of Dover,...) it might be necessary to inform land based stations as well.
• Now the sailing alarm is given. It is also announced what kind of maneuver will follow. A tack is almost always made with "all hands", for wearing the ship it is sufficient to have two watches on the deck, e.g. during a change of watches. In this case the free watch will not be disturbed in their sleep.
• After the announcement "vsje navjerkh gatovy" everybody on board appears on the deck in weatherproof working gear and if belonging to those who lay aloft also with the safety harnesses already put on. Everybody reports to his station. Exceptions can be the engine staff who is on watch in the engine control room, the cooks if they have the pots on the fire and the bridge staff. Helmsman and lookout stay on their position until they get released by those who will do these jobs during the maneuver.
• All lines needed for the maneuver get thrown off. 

2. THE TACK

As a rule on the MIR a change of direction will be done through tacking the ship. There is a big crew and MIR is a very handy ship that follows rudder and helm even in strong breezes without problems. During a tack the ship goes through the wind with the bow first "overshtag". With a well trained crew the entire maneuver will take about 20 minutes. Every master has got his own way to sail the tack although it is  mainly all the same. In the following the tack is described in the way Captain Antonov sails it.

• The tack is started from a position very high on the wind (30°)
• At first the rudder is laid hard windward (35° rudder position) and at the same time the spanker driven completely to windward.
• By the time when the sails start flapping, the courses and eventually also the royals get clewed up. Now the yards of the mizzen mast are braced around and the sheets of the staysails are eased.
• When the bow goes through the wind, the sheets of the stay sails are thrown off so that they all can fly to the other side on their own.
• When the bow has cut through the wind the helm is laid back into midships position. The ship keeps on turning through the fore sails staying aback in pressure of the wind. Only in case of a complete stop of turning it might be necessary to steer slightly to the other side.
• Now the ship is already on the new tack - has an angle to the wind of approx. 15-20°. The staysails are fastened to the wind again starting from the stern to the bow. 
• The yards of the fore topp are braced together with the turning of the ship so that the sails are all the time flapping but never completely aback. The main topp can be braced either together with the fore topp or with the mizzen or at any time in-between.
• At last the fore sails are taken to the other side they are left aback until the ship has completely gone to the by-the-wind-position on the new tack.
• Then the courses and eventually the royals get set again.
• The sails get trimmed into the new position by the wind.
• The helmsman finds the new zero position of the rudder and steers the new course according to the orders of the captain or commanding officer.

3. WEARING THE SHIP

Certain weather conditions (minor winds or storms), a reduced number of crew members in the early season when there are no cadets on board, or night maneuvers when - as the ship is not in a race - the captain does not want to wake the free watch, or an untrained crew can lead to the decision to wear the ship instead of tacking. This maneuver is easier to do, but needs more time and the ship looses some miles in the needed direction as it is forced to describe a circle. The main difference is that when wearing it is not the bow that goes through the wind but the stern. We turn "fordewind".

• It begins with clewing up the courses.
• Then the rudder is laid to the leeward side.
• The spanker is clewed up and the mizzen gets braced around to be taken out of the wind. So the wind hits only the sails on the fore half of the ship. With these unequal forces the ship turns quickly and the mizzen stays aback.
• During this turning the main and the fore topp get braced lively, what means their sails remain filled.
• The fore topp remains in an square position. At the moment when the mizzen is in the wind again, the main topp gets braced around.
• Staysails and fore sails get hold tight to the wind.
• The fore topp gets braced around.
• The courses and the spanker are set again.
• The ship is steered towards the wind.
• The helmsman finds the new zero position of the rudder and steers the new course according to the orders of the captain or commanding officer.

4. AFTER THE MANEUVER

When the ship is already on the new course there remains some work to be done before the free watch gets released again.

• The deck must be cleared up again. That means that all lines have got to be belayed again and everything has to be returned to it's normal position. Everything must be prepared ready to start a new maneuver immediately. 
• The cadets will hear the "maneuver critics" to learn what they can do better next time.
• The free watch gets released. "Adboy!"
• The watch returns to their duties.
• Cadets (or trainees) take over helm and lookout again.
• The position gets checked again.
• The new course gets announced and noted onto the sea chart.
• The maneuver and possible special entries are noted into the ship's journal (logbook).
• The surrounding traffic gets informed that the maneuver is finished now.
• The engine control room is told to check the trimming ballast again.
• The bosun appears on the bridge and reports about the maneuver, the cadets and other things.
• The captain hands over the command to the watch officer.
• Time for a coffee...