The fast tack (shortboard tack) step by step: timing with the shin trick, two steps around the mast, rig tilted back – and the typical mistakes.
How do you do a fast tack on a shortboard? You head up with speed, place the front foot in front of the mast, switch sides in just two steps while the board is still planing, and bear away on the new side [1][2]. The decisive difference from the basic tack: you switch before the board is fully in the wind [1][2].
The honest answer on difficulty: the smaller the board, the harder the tack [1]. The most critical moment is the step around the front of the mast, where the nose dives or you fall backwards off the board [2]. Good news: the tack is probably the only manoeuvre you keep almost 1:1 for your whole windsurfing life [1]. And it can be practised superbly in light wind [1].
Why tack at all? Because every turn gains you a few metres to windward, instead of wasting about 20 metres of height as in a gybe [1]. At spots with current or if beating is not yet solid it often saves you walking upwind along the beach [1].
Check upwind, especially for sailors gybing ballistically downwind [3]. Then approach with speed. Speed is your friend: speed and momentum keep the board stable, and the shorter the board, the faster it is lost when heading up [3].
You can start the tack with foot steering (loading the windward rail) at full planing. Then you switch sides before your nose points directly to windward, i.e. still on a hard close-hauled course [2]. With sail steering you have to wait much longer: oversheet the sail over the tail and wait until the foot of the sail touches your shin [2].
Milestone: you head up 10 times in a row without the board dropping off the plane.
Immediately before the switch you oversheet the sail back over the tail. When the foot of the sail touches your rear shin, that is the start signal for the switch [1]. If after the foot change the wind hits the sail from the front while bearing away, you were usually too early: the board had not yet turned far enough through the wind [1].
The front foot moves in front of the mast and you steer into the wind. The switch then takes only two steps: a quick step heel to heel in front of the mast, then immediately back to the board centre [1]. The footwork is a shuffle like a fencer's, not a jump; if you freeze while learning, a hop is temporarily allowed [3]. Keep your arms long until you are around the front of the mast [2].
Only on the new sail side do you pull the rig forward in front of your body to start bearing away [2]. If your sail is tilted far back you have room over the board centre and do not have to shift your weight towards the nose [1]. Then find the straps immediately.
Practise the footwork dry, drifting on the shortboard, before you try it planing: heel to heel in front of the mast, back. Count out loud "one, two". If you only have two steps in your head, you do not shuffle.
In the basic tack you head fully into the wind and switch while drifting. In the fast tack you switch while still planing, before the nose points directly into the wind, because the board still has lift [1][2].
With foot steering at full planing even before the wind, with sail steering later: oversheet the sail over the tail until the foot of the sail touches your rear shin [2][1].
Usually your arms are bent too much and there is no room. Keep your arms long until you are around the mast and tilt the rig back [2][1].
Tacking: it gains height to windward, the gybe wastes about 20 metres [1].
The Non-Planing Carve Gybe: Learn Rail Work Before You Plane