Usually, this act is called Beating or sailing Close-hauled.
...is called close-hauled.
The expression sailing close to the wind is often used as a metaphor for taking a risk or testing the limits of whatever it is that you are doing.For example, someone who regularly drinks too much alcohol and then drives a car immediately afterwards can be said to be sailing close to the wind.But if that person drinks even more than the usual amount one time - thus greatly increasing the risk of causing a car accident - then that behavior can be said to be sailing closer to the wind.And, if an accident then actually happens, that person can be said to have been sailing too close to the wind!A sailing boat cannot sail directly into the wind, the more nearly it can get to this is its closest point of sailing. Hence closer to the wind
Beating.
Cross sailing is sailing towards the wind.
Sailing down wind with the sails fully open or 'gull winged'.
sailing, wind power, wind chimes
Most larger sailing vessels have an auxiliary engine for maneuvering and berthing. But sailing is mainly accomplished with wind power
This 40 foot ketch is fitted with a twizzle rig for down wind sailing.
The closest point of sailing is a "Close reach".Having to sail a sailing vessel into the wind to reach your desired destination requires different skills to what you would use when sailing with the wind: you have to learn how to tack.Tacking is a skill which has to be learned because, if done carelessly, your boat could easily be capsized if a sudden surge of wind catches the sail and drives it in the wrong direction.Most sailors learn about tacking the hard way by finding out for themselves what happens if they sail too close to the wind... Fine judgment of how close to the wind it is safe to sail is soon developed after you have been thrown into the water - and then have to bail out your sailing boat - a couple of times!So the expression sailing close to the wind is often used as a metaphor for taking a risk or testing the limitsof whatever it is that you are doing. For example, someone who regularly drinks too much alcohol and then drives a car immediately afterwards can be said to be sailing close to the wind. But if that person drinks even more than the usual amount one time - thus greatly increasing the risk of causing a car accident - then that behavior can be said to be sailing closer to the wind. And, if an accident then actually happens, that person can be said to have been sailing too close to the wind!
You may mean "By and Large" - meaning steering a course as far downwind as possible, keeping the sails full and the boat speed up. The answer above is completely wrong. One cannot sail both by and large at the same time since they mean opposite things. Sailing by the wind (i.e., sailing by) means sailing as close to the wind as possible. In other words, sailing into the wind. Sailing large means sailing before the wind. That is, sailing with the wind blowing from the aft quarter. So it is impossible to sail both by and large at the same time since that would require sailing in two opposite directions at once.
Tack. The verb is to "tack." When you sail a sail boat - or a "sailing boat" in British English parlance - towards or "into" the wind, that action is called "tacking".