Explanation of Dipping: On square riggers, whenever the sails are drawing, the yards are on the downwind side of the masts. With Xebecs, this is not always the case. If the yard is on the downwind side, the sail billows in the traditional, dramatic way. But, a xebec can use its sails with the yard on the windward side. The sail then presses against the mast yielding a less than perfect result, but still functional (the disadvantaged tack).

When tacking, a xebec crew may choose to keep the yard on the downwind side, but to do so requires the forward tip of the yard to be moved behind the mast. This is dipping.

A gaff sail (the sails on schooners) is like a lateen without the portion sticking past the mast and therefore is much faster to tack. It just happens, no dipping required.