Sailing manoeuvres
Once the sails are up, a few tacks will remind the crew which way the sheets go round the winches and the importance of making up the lazy sheet for the new tack. Any mistakes will be obvious. Gybing is more hazardous on a windy day and some coordination is required. Someone at the stern calling the manoeuvre will ensure that sheets are not wrapped around the windlass, the main is pulled in, heads are down and the helm is put over at the right moment for the gybe.
MOORINGS
If you can find a mooring in reasonably clear water there are a number of boat-handling exercises which will help helm and crew work together. First is approaching as if to moor under sail. With wind and tide together this is done with the main up, approaching on a close reach, spilling and filling the main to adjust the speed. Many boats also require the jib to provide enough power if there is a strong tidal stream running. The skill here is judging the start point. In a really strong tide the yacht will be almost abeam of the mooring to counteract the tide and at the moment of pick up the yacht is stationary over the ground but still has boat speed through the water. To save time when practising simply get close enough for the crew on the bow to tap the buoy with the boat hook and hand over to the next helm.
A variation of this when handed the helm is to return to the buoy with one tack and one gybe in either order. This really concentrates the mind on wind awareness and identifying the approach point and gives
plenty of crewing practice. Wind against tide moorings are left and picked up under jib alone into the tide. This is a much easier manoeuvre and a roller furling jib makes speeding up and slowing down very simple. Sometimes even under bare poles the tide is too weak to slow the boat down, so zigzagging towards the buoy will put the keel across the stream and reduce the ground speed.