Missing your Tack!

[Tradewinds Ted]

Just posted this on BoardGameGeek too:

I know there have been some complaints that it is hard to learn to maneuver the ships at first, and there has also been some misunderstanding on how the red bordered "taken aback" maneuvers work, so perhaps a variant that makes this part of the game even harder seems like madness, but please hear me out:

One concern I have is that you never miss your tack. Any ship can turn through the wind, in just a couple of turns, maybe three turns at most, and while it will likely have to drift backwards a bit, the ship facing will still continue toward the desired angle. In addition, at any point after the start of that sequence a ship can use the veer 5 maneuvers to go straight (backwards) and still be able to resume turning in either direction as desired.

I propose limiting that movement. On the first turn in the red "taken aback" zone, play the rules as written. But if on the second or later turn taken aback the wind is coming over the port bow, the ship must use the red 6+ taken aback maneuver, drifting back and turning to starboard. If instead the wind is coming over the starboard bow, then the red 4- taken aback maneuver must be used, and the ship will drift back and turn to port. In the rare circumstance where the ship is headed exactly into the wind, then the 4-, 5, or 6+ taken aback would be applied, based on the maneuver chosen.

This would better simulate missing a tack, where the ship would need to "fall off" the wind a bit, to gather momentum before trying to turn through the wind again.

From what I can see of the A, B, C, D decks out now, any ship still ought to be able to get across the wind successfully past the midpoint if starting from a close-hauled position, and turning smartly. But not if you dawdle and for example choose to try straight (veer 5) somewhere along the way! It also might be more difficult if caught by an unexpected and unfavorable wind shift along the way, but really that should make it difficult to tack successfully, this would improve the simulation!

Please give it a try. if you think it is too harsh, then at least consider imposing this restriction starting with the third turn taken aback.