Tack

Tack means two related things. As a verb, it’s the upwind turn: nose into the wind, sail or wing crosses the front of the board, you swap stance and exit on the new heading. Slower and more technique-dependent than a jibe, especially in light wind.

As a noun, it tells you which way the wind hits the board. Wind on your right side = starboard tack; wind on your left = port tack. Right-of-way at sea uses tacks: on starboard tack you have priority over a port-tack rider in a crossing.

Beginners learn jibing first (turn with the wind, easier) and tack later (turn into the wind, harder). On a foil, a tack is the harder of the two upwind moves — losing speed mid-tack means falling off the foil.