Tacking a Square-Rigged Vessel

Do you absolutely know this to be true? Got a knowlegable reference??

I also wonder how quickly she can rotate those mast? ...they are pretty heavily geared.

BTW: I am not trying to be combative with this question about MF,....just trying to weed out rumors which seem to proliferate these days

 

Source is "Mine's Bigger" by David A. Kaplan.

Pg. 168 "If the winds were light - if the boat was moving only a few knots - then it was possible the falcon wouldn't make it through the tack. That wasn't a calamity - it just meant the yacht wasn't going to be able to sail in light air and instead would have to rely on its engines"

Pg. 231 "A complete tack took fewer than two minutes, with much of that interval devoted to refilling the sails with wind. That was almost ten minutes faster than Joe Vittoria's Mirabella V"

Pg. 244 "...rotating the masts during a tack only after the rudder had been turned and the bow had moved through the wind onto the opposite point of sail. The last trick was counterintuitive because the back-winding on the sail briefly slowed the boat down. But is also got the bow around more quickly, which more than made up for the loss in speed."

 

Thanks for that Tiouth7,...reputable source