Self tacking jibs are great, especially when tacking upwind aka beating to windward, aka sailing close hauled. If you are tacking (changing from starboard tack, to port tack and vice versa) up wind in a channel you may have to tack as often as every 2-4 minutes depending on how wide the channel is. To go up wind you must sail as close to the wind as you can (usually around 45% to the wind) on a zig zag course, tacking every time you get near the edge of the channel (assuming the water is too shallow outside the channel).
When you go from starboard tack (wind coming over right side of the boat) to port tack (wind coming over the left side of the boat) or vice versa, the bow of the boat must pass through the eye of the wind, which requires at least a 90 degree turn, see diagram, which causes the jib and main sail to move from one side of the boat to the other side. If you don’t have a self tacking jib, the crew must release the jib sheet on one side of the boat and pull the jib sheet in on the other side of the boat, as the bow goes through the eye of the wind. The boat in the diagram does not have a self tacking jib.
If your boat has a self tacking jib, you don't need to touch the jib sheet (Jib sheet is the line that controls the angle of the jib sail to the wind), you only have to adjust the main sheet ( line that controls the angle of the main sail to the wind) when you go from Starboard tack to Port tack and vice versa. When going up wind your sails should be sheeted in as close to the center line of the boat as possible (close hauled). When not sailing up wind you just use the rudder to aim the boat where you want to go and let the sail out, and you don't have to tack unless you start to get too close to land and or shallow water, or you want to head back to where you came from.
So the self tacking jib is most useful if you are tacking frequently, which most often the case when trying to go up wind. Going up wind is more labor intensive than sailing on a Close reach or Beam Reach (side ways to the wind) sails out half way (see diagram) or on a Broad Reach ( going down wind at an angle) sails ¾ of the out, or a Run (going straight down wind) sails all the way out. This sounds more complicated reading this than in actual practice.
Remember that if you buy a boat from Rick’s Small Sailboats LLC, included in the price of the boat is a full day of instruction: including launching the boat at a boat ramp or the beach, sailing on the different points of sail, navigation, chart reading, getting the boat back out of the water and on to the trailer and road ready for the trip home.
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