Learn heading up and bearing away: tiller, sheet and weight together, telltale checks and the mistake almost every beginner makes. With milestones.
The honest answer upfront: heading up means turning the bow towards the wind, bearing away means turning it away from the wind. You have learned it when your hands work tiller and sheet as a pair: towards the wind sheet in, away from the wind ease out [1]. Sounds trivial – but it is the basis for everything that follows: tacking, gybing, shooting up, docking. And the RYA's Learn to Sail programme lists exactly this as one of the most common beginner faults: not easing the sheet when bearing away [2].
You do not need strength for this, but feel. Every rudder movement slows the boat a little [2]. Someone who jiggles the tiller nervously is slower than someone who steers calmly and early.
Heading up and bearing away are small, deliberate corrections – not cranking the wheel.
The skill is one of the tested tasks in the practical part of the German licence under sail [4]. Anyone who can do it safely also has the foundation for every manoeuvre where accuracy matters.
Sit on the dock or in the boat on its trolley. Tiller to leeward (towards the sail) pushes the stern to leeward and turns the bow towards the wind – that is heading up. Tiller to windward (towards you) turns the bow away – that is bearing away. This is the standard assignment on tiller-steered boats. Milestone: with your eyes closed you say where the bow turns when you move the tiller.
Sail a beam reach. Push the tiller gently to leeward and pull the sheet in slowly at the same time. The jib helps you: when its front edge flaps, head up no further [1][2]. Milestone: you head up by 20 to 30 degrees without the sail flapping.
Same course, other direction: tiller to windward, ease the sheet at the same time. The sails should be "just not flapping" [2]. Milestone: you bear away from a beam reach to a broad reach without the boat heeling strongly.
The boat also turns without the tiller when it heels: heeled to leeward it heads up, heeled to windward it bears away [2]. If you use that, you need less rudder angle and brake less [2]. Milestone: you keep the boat flat with your weight while you head up.
With telltales you read the trim: if the windward thread flutters, sheet in or bear away; if the leeward thread flutters, ease out or head up until the flow is smooth again [3]. Milestone: you correct by the pattern of the threads, not by gut feeling.
Place three buoys in a row across the wind. Sail figures of eight: alternately heading up and bearing away, adjusting the sheet each time. Milestone: three figures of eight in a row without a flapping sail.
When bearing away onto a downwind course the boom can swing across uncontrolled if the sail catches wind from the other side – the so-called accidental gybe. The danger is a head injury or being knocked overboard. Practise bearing away only as far as your instructor specifies, and stay in beginner wind.
Falls and impacts from boat parts are the most common cause of acute sailing injuries; high wind and lack of experience are among the main factors [5]. Always wear a lifejacket. This guide explains and motivates but does not replace a supervised course with an instructor.
Try rudderless sailing: raise the rudder or lay the tiller loosely on an elastic loop and steer only with sail trim and heel. The RYA uses exactly this exercise to connect sails, weight and boat [2]. In this set-up: jib in and main out makes the bow turn away from the wind; main in makes the bow turn towards the wind [2]. Afterwards you steer more finely with the tiller.
Heading up means turning the bow towards the wind, bearing away means turning it away from the wind. When heading up you pull the sails in, when bearing away you ease them out [1]. Both change your course relative to the wind.
Steering towards the wind: sheet in. Steering away from the wind: ease out [1]. The sail should be just not flapping [2]. If you change course without adjusting the sheet, you lose speed and control.
On tiller-steered boats you push the tiller to leeward, towards the sail, to head up, and to windward, towards you, to bear away. Small movements are enough. If you are unsure, practise the assignment on land first.
Yes. In the practical part of the German licence under sail, heading up/bearing away is one of the possible further manoeuvres [4]. Three of five tasks are set, and two must be passed.
Shooting Up: Turning Into the Wind and Stopping the Boat Under Control