Grant Headifen

About Grant Headifen

Grant Headifen is a USCG-certified Master Mariner (50-Ton), founder of NauticEd, and one of the sailing world's most recognized educators. With 46 years on the water, charters across 40+ global destinations, 5 sailing books, 30+ online courses, and 300,000+ students worldwide, Grant brings real-world expertise to every article. He pioneered fractional boat ownership through SailTime and serves on the Texas Boater Safety Advisory Board. NauticEd is the only U.S. sailing education body recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard under American National Standards.

Entries by Grant Headifen

NED – Interactive Sailing Instructor

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NED is an interactive online sailing instructor developed by NauticEd – The World’s Most Advanced Online Sailing School. The educational sailing training tool uses interactive flash technology to show novice sailors how to set the sail trim according to the wind direction which maximizes the efficiency of the sails. The tool teaches in about 5 […]

Starting out in reverse has its issues

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A recent discussion with a student regarding Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power is repeated here. On 7/2/09 11:55 AM, matthew k….     wrote: Hi Grant I do have a question about the Maneuvering Under Power course – the course is set up for a vessel with a wheel-I have a tiller on my little full keel […]

NauticEd Unveils High-Tech Teaching Tool

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PRESS RELEASE Today, NauticEd again lived up to its tag line of being “The World’s Most Advanced Online Sailing Education” by unveiling it’s latest teaching tool – NED. NED is a very high tech interactive online sailing instructor whereby new and novice sailors can learn how the sails should be positioned for any wind direction. […]

Cruising Friends

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This is an email to me from some friends, Chris and Chris and their kids, who took the plunge and went off cruising in their Catamaran – Stray Kitty. Cool name for a Catamaran by the way. It’s posted here with their permission. We thought that is was such an inspiring story that we wanted […]

What about COB – Captain overboard?

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Last week we made a pretty good point about using the engine as your first method of pick up when you have a man overboard while under sail. And it was quite well received by followers – thanks. Many sailing schools teach the figure 8 recovery method whilst under sail and this is correct we […]

Sailing Experience Required by Charter Companies

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What to Include in Your Sailing Resume:

Good:
– Over 25 outings as master of a 28ft+ vessel
– Anchoring, yacht ownership, blue water, and crew experience
– Recent 5-year sailing history
– Mediterranean mooring skills (if applicable)
– Previous charter experience

Better:
– All above plus documented education

Best:
– All above plus verified practical competence

Preventing an autotack in a sailboat

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In continuing our learn to sail series of blogs we discuss the annoying problem of autotacking. Scenario – A gust of wind comes ripping through and causes the sailboat to round up and autotack or you’ve given the helm to a novice, they’re not paying attention and sail too close to the wind and they […]

Man Over Board discussion

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Last evening we were sailing our Beneteau 373 under a pleasant Texas sky with 10 knots of wind. A very experienced sailor was on board with us albeit he had not sailed for about 15 years. His past experience was impressive with 10’s of thousands of miles in his logbook – mostly racing. One cringing […]