Tack on open ocean/longer distances; row if im close to shore and having to be mindful of those shallow rocks. Rowing does seem faster when the wind is low/against me.

I do both. Situational

tacking in real life sailboat is a must. In this game, not so much.

Long distances I tack. Otherwise, I row.
I looked into videos and tutos: Some ppl experimented but not much and the experiments
were on short distances, where rowing bit tacking.

I have done both, usually for me I just paddle.

Tacking works better with sprawling ocean, but if you have to go up narrow rivers and waterways, you are just sort of forced to row it.

depends on my target - using both

So in the real world Tacking is often done (in larger boats) where you can go miles in each tack.

In this game most of the time the tacking needs to be done in fairly narrow channels all things considered... or force you into ocean biome where you can get a sea serpent attack before you may want one... which of course is going to slow you down anyway.

Also I have spent hours sailing and it is remarkable how often the wind is a head wind... I mean literally the other day I sailed up found a new swamp... realized I forgot some of the mats for a portal so I turned around an headed home.

I had a good wind for the first 1/4 of the trip and then a head win the whole way to finding the swamp.
I turned around wind should be at my back... nope I didn't even make it 1/4 of the way and there is that head wind again... Real wind doesn't change direction like that.

So since my options are...tack and crash into rock, or get attack by sea serpents or paddle and actually get where I'm going without a loss of ammo and wasting time... I usually choose paddling.

If I'm sailing in blue water anyway I will tack as it is always faster.

Neither, I just changed the direction of the wind and increase it to max strength. Why? Because it is fun as hell!

I row in a river and tack back and forth on open water.

I'll tack if I know I have a long way to go, and am not in a river or channel, but if I'm nearing my destination, I row

both
wind changes frequently
row if going directly into the wind
tack if its >45º from head on

Both. tacking works best at higher speeds with lots of space. Honestly I rarely sail farther than moder can push me, though, so I largely don't need either.

Me, I just row.

Yeah I just row, f it.