Neptune Sail and Power Squadron

USPS and US POWERBOATING Videos

The key to holding position is to anticipate boat drift and make small, gentle corrections early rather than large powerful corrections late. There are two methods for holding position: Bow into Waves, and Stern into Waves. Since the bow will usually have a tendency to turn away from the wind, you will have to compensate for this by periodically shifting into forward gear and making slight steering corrections to bring the bow back into the wind. Because the bow wants to turn downwind, it is usually easier to hold position with the stern into the wind, provided the waves don't come over the transom.