Originally posted by ling.speed:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

In low wind conditions the karve paddles faster than it tacks but at half wind speed and higher it tacks faster than it paddles.

Actually just tested just that out of curiosity, Krave is much slower tacking at half wind speed. I think either wiki numbers are too optimistic or tack angle before speed loss is a little more than 45degrees.
I would not be surprised if Krave was slower tacking even at max wind...

Longboat is still good but might be clsoer than it reads from wiki / feels too.

As Averest says, for all ships, as you begin the tack raise the sails to maintain speed until the wind is on the other side of the boat and then raise the sail again.

If you are sailing at a 45 degree angle to the wind and you turn 90 degrees you are making right triangles out of your turns. With that in mind Pythagoras gives you your distance per unit time. If the wiki is right about sailing speed, you get the knack of maintaining your momentum in your turns, and you make the fewest possible tacking turns to reach your destination, tacking becomes faster than paddling the majority of the time (always for the long boat).