How does a massive sailing ship “tack” in the same way a dinghy does? Especially those with big rectangular sails like a galleon
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A square rigged ship can angle those sails 45 degrees or more off the ships long axis. And the sail hangs on the boom ahead of the mast. The last is one of the advantages of square rigged ships vs say, lanteen sails. Lanteen ships (dhows and similar) hung the sail from a boom, but the triangular tail was anchored on either side aft of the mast. Great as long as you didn’t want to turn much, which would require hauling the “tail” around the front of the mast to a new anchor on the other side of the ship. A full rigged ship could simply change the boom angle as needed.
Running before the wind would have a rigged ship sails across the beam. Running at full tack into the wind would have the sails mostly fore-and-aft aligned, so you’ve got the equivalent of the dinghy’s sail position working tack into the wind. The tack angle into the wind might not be much (15-20 degrees, sometimes better) but it adds up. And the sails could easily be adjusted for the counter tack to repeat the process, if you call hauling the lines on 12 or more full sails easy!
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