Skipper’s tips: holding station

Holding station in a strong breeze, it’s only natural to try to hang in head-to-wind. In fact, most modern yachts don’t like this. Left to themselves they tend to end up with the wind over the quarter. This makes it far less stressful to let the bow blow off the breeze, then hold position by going slow astern every so often to keep her hanging on the wind, right where you want her.