How to Take a Two-Turns Penalty (and Make It Cheap)

The short version

Which penalty: Broke a right-of-way rule (Part 2, rules 10–24): a Two-Turns Penalty. Only touched a mark (rule 31): a One-Turn Penalty. Unless the sailing instructions say otherwise.
What a turn is: One tack and one gybe. Two turns means two of each, both turns in the same direction. It doesn't have to be an exact 360.
When: Get well clear of other boats as soon as you can after the incident, then do the turns promptly. Not at the next convenient moment.
Doing it cheaply: Keep the boat moving: one continuous, fairly tight circle with the sails working, then accelerate out on your course.

When you can take a penalty

Rule 44 (Penalties at the Time of an Incident) lets you clear yourself on the water instead of in a protest hearing. If you think you may have broken a rule, you can take the penalty straight away. You don't need to agree that you were wrong, and nobody needs to have protested you.

Two-Turns Penalty: when you may have broken one or more rules of Part 2 in an incident while racing. Part 2 is where the right-of-way rules live: port-starboard, windward-leeward, mark-room, avoiding contact and the rest.
One-Turn Penalty: when you may have broken rule 31, Touching a Mark. That covers a starting mark before you start, any mark of the leg you're sailing, and a finishing mark after you finish, while you're still racing.
Both in one incident: if you broke a Part 2 rule and touched the mark in the same incident, you take the Two-Turns Penalty only. You don't add a turn for the mark.

Two exceptions. If the sailing instructions or notice of race specify a different penalty, such as the Scoring Penalty (points added to your score instead of turns), that replaces the turns. And if you caused injury or serious damage, or gained a significant advantage in the race or series despite taking the penalty, turns aren't enough: you must retire.

What the rules require

Rule 44.2 sets out how to take a One-Turn or Two-Turns Penalty. In plain words:

Get well clear of other boats, as soon after the incident as possible. You can't sail on for half the leg looking for a quiet patch of water or a convenient shift.
Then promptly make the turns, all in the same direction.
Each turn includes one tack and one gybe. The order doesn't matter, and the turn doesn't need to come back to exactly the heading you started on. Once you've done the tack and the gybe, that turn is done.

While you're taking a penalty you must keep clear of boats that aren't (rule 21). You have no rights while you're turning, and when you finish and become a right-of-way boat again, rule 15 means you must give others room to keep clear at first.

Near the finish, there's one more requirement: if you take the penalty at or near the finishing line, you have to sail completely back to the course side of the line before you finish.

	One-Turn Penalty	Two-Turns Penalty
For	Touching a mark (rule 31)	A Part 2 rule, e.g. port-starboard
Turns	One	Two, same direction
Each turn	One tack and one gybe	One tack and one gybe
When	Well clear, as soon as possible after the incident, then promptly
While turning	Keep clear of every boat that isn't taking a penalty

The sailing instructions can replace both with a different penalty. Always check.

A Two-Turns Penalty: clear first, then two continuous turns the same way, each with one tack and one gybe.

This is a plain-English guide, not the rulebook. The Racing Rules of Sailing (World Sailing, 2025–2028) are the authority, and the sailing instructions for your event can replace the turns with a different penalty. Read rule 44 and the instructions before you rely on any summary, including this one.

How to do your turns cheaply

The rules decide what you have to do. How much it costs is up to you. A penalty sailed as one smooth, continuous circle costs far less than one sailed as a tack, a stop, a think and a gybe.

Before you start

Decide immediately. If you know you fouled someone, say so and start getting clear. Hesitating costs the same distance as the turns, and you'll have to do them anyway.
Pick the direction that's clear. Look around first: you'll have no rights while you turn, and a boat sailing into your circle is your problem, not theirs.
Have speed. Like any tack, a penalty turn from a slow boat stalls. If you've just hit something and stopped, build a little speed before you start the circle.

Through the turns

Upwind, many sailors tack first, then bear away through the run and gybe, then head back up to close-hauled. You use your speed for the tack while you still have it, and you finish heading upwind. Downwind, many gybe first for the same reason.
Keep the turn going. Don't stop between the tack and the gybe, or between the two turns. The momentum of the first carries you into the second.
Keep the sails working. Trim the main in as you come round onto the run and gybe it under control, then sheet in as you head back up. Sails flapping for the whole circle means the boat is slowing down for the whole circle.
Use weight to steer. In a dinghy, heeling the boat helps it turn with less rudder, and less rudder means less braking. Heel to leeward to help it head up and to windward to help it bear away.
Tight, but not stalled. A smaller circle sails less distance, but a turn so tight it stops the boat costs more than it saves. Aim for the tightest circle you can sail without losing all your speed.

After

Come out of the last turn already on your course and trimmed for it, and accelerate as you would off a start. The penalty isn't over until you're back up to speed.

Mistakes that make it cost more

Stopping mid-circle to look around or reset. The sails go slack and the second half of the turn starts from nothing.
Waiting too long. Sailing on to find clear water or a better moment is exactly what the rules forbid, and a protest committee can decide your penalty didn't count.
Turning in the wrong direction for the second turn, or doing the tack twice and forgetting the gybe. Both turns must be the same direction and each must include a tack and a gybe.
Turning into traffic. Taking your penalty in the middle of the fleet near a mark risks a second incident, this time with no rights at all.
Doing a penalty you didn't need to. If you're sure the other boat was wrong, you don't have to turn. But the honest test is "did I break a rule?", not "will they protest?".

If you think the other boat broke a rule

If another boat fouls you and doesn't take a penalty, you can protest. Under the 2025–2028 rules you hail "Protest" at the first reasonable opportunity and, if your boat is 6 m (about 20 ft) or longer, show a red flag; then deliver a written protest after the race within the time limit, identifying your boat, the other boat and the incident. If the other boat wasn't within hailing distance, you need only tell it you intend to protest at the first reasonable opportunity. The details of protests, hearings and time limits are in Part 5 of the rules and your sailing instructions; read them before your first protest, not during it.

Doing it with Sail Tactician

Sail Tactician for this skill

On the water: The app doesn't know you're taking a penalty. It keeps recording, so the circles land in your track like any other turn.
After the race: The session map shows the size of each circle, and the speed chart shows the dip it cost you and how long it took to get back up to speed. Replay plays the turns back, so you can see where you stalled.
Practice: Add a Penalty Turns drill to a workout (it's also in Start-Line Boat Control and Heavy-Air Confidence) and tap +1 after each rep, because the app doesn't detect penalty turns automatically. Tap the drill's name to read its guide: one continuous circle, no pause between the tack and the gybe, and an exit speed close to your entry speed. Try a few at different turn rates and compare them on the speed chart: the one that feels slowest isn't always the one that cost the most.

A guided drill on iPhone: one call at a time, with a strip counting your reps.

Questions

What is a 720 in sailing?

The everyday name for a Two-Turns Penalty: two turns in the same direction, each with one tack and one gybe. The rules don't require exactly 720 degrees of turning, only the two tacks and two gybes.

What's the penalty for hitting a mark?

A One-Turn Penalty, one tack and one gybe, after getting well clear of other boats. If you also broke a right-of-way rule in the same incident, you take only the Two-Turns Penalty.

Do both penalty turns have to be in the same direction?

Yes. The turns must be made in the same direction, promptly, after getting well clear.

Can I take my penalty later in the leg?

No. You must get well clear as soon after the incident as possible and then make the turns promptly. Waiting for a convenient moment risks the penalty not counting.

Is taking a penalty an admission of guilt?

You take it when you may have broken a rule. It clears you on the water so that the incident doesn't go to a hearing, unless you caused injury or serious damage or gained a significant advantage.

Sources

The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025–2028 (World Sailing): rules 21, 31, 44 and 60.2, described here in our own words. Interpretation of a turn (a tack and a gybe in either order, not necessarily a full 360°) from Dave Perry's Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing through 2028 (US Sailing), citing World Sailing Case 108. Turning technique from Sail Tactician's in-app training guide and standard club-racing practice.

What changed

2026-10-16First published.

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Taking a penalty: how to do your turns