clubhaul

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Nautical, to tack (a ship) when in danger of missing stays and drifting ashore, by letting go the lee anchor as soon as the ship's head comes into the wind, and then causing the vessel to pay off in the right direction by hauling on a hawser previously attached to the anchor and led in on the lee quarter. The hawser is then cut, and, the sails being trimmed, the ship stands off on the new tack.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive, nautical To force a sailing vessel to change tack by dropping the lee-anchor and hauling in the anchor cable to swing the stern to windward.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. (Naut.) To put on the other tack by dropping the lee anchor as soon as the wind is out of the sails (which brings the vessel's head to the wind), and by cutting the cable as soon as she pays off on the other tack. Clubhauling is attempted only in an exigency.