Boating Knowledge Base
Have a sailing question? Access NauticEd’s sailing and boating knowledge base, and gain in-depth answers to your sailing questions. If you’re interested in powerboating, visit our new powerboating blog.
Boat Safety Sound Signals
Sound signals are defined and prescribed in the Navigation Rules for International and Inland Waters. Sound has an advantage over light signals, in that it can be used when vision fails.
Springing a sailboat On and In
Coming up to a Tee-head is more the situation where you need to spring on. The need for accuracy in your maneuver is heightened when the space is tight.
Why Anchor?
There are many reasons for anchoring your boat...
Vessel Lights and Shapes
Nighttime can be a beautiful time to sail. However, night vision is not the same as day vision and so rules have been established to ensure safety.
Seamanship Nav Rules
Navigation rules refer many times to good seamanship, The best advice we can give here around seamanship is to get experience...
Catamaran vs Monohull: A Real-World Comparison for Cruisers
Comparing catamaran vs monohull for cruising? This guide breaks down comfort, sailing feel, cost, safety, and real-life tradeoffs that matter.
Water and Water Making on Bareboat Charter
Aboard, drinkable water is indeed a limited supply - very limited.
Heads on a Charter Boat
You don’t need trouble with the waste system, especially when on vacation.
Sailboat Maneuvering Topics
With practice, wind direction and current direction are not too much of a problem. But what can get you into trouble is extremely high winds. Be prepared to change...
Bilge Pumps
An emergency bilge pump(s) is a very significant electrical device on any vessel. This pump is used to pump out water that may collect, for whatever reason, in the bilge.
The Types of Sailing Charters
There are two types of sailing charters; captained and bareboat. The captained charters have a professional captain on board to navigate and operate the vessel, and usually...
Sailboat Battery Charging
Like a water bucket, batteries have a specific storage capacity and must be refilled/recharged when their contents of energy are depleted.
Using Prop Walk
You can use prop walk to turn your boat in a tight marina by applying forward and reverse gears at appropriate times, leaving the rudder locked to starboard.
Helpful Hints about Wind
Since the existence of wind is the primary reason we can sail, it is prudent to know all we can about it.
Clothing for Sailing
Dressing appropriately for weather conditions is an important but often overlooked topic. Weather in the marina may be considerably different from weather beyond the marina and conditions can drastically change during your venture.
Navigation Units
Sailors are forever measuring stuff. This brings us to the subject of navigation units. As we all remember from the good ol’ school days, measurement is the process of comparing something with an established standard.
Unfurling or Raising the Sails
You have motored your vessel from the slip into open water and are now ready to either unfurl or raise the sails, depending on your setup.
Deploying the Anchor
It is important that the person deploying the anchor and the helmsperson are in agreement about the anchoring plan first. Discuss the placement, the direction, the depth, the desired scope, and the setting plan.
Wind
Winds can be gentle, hardly felt, like zephyrs flitting about in a local area, or they can be vast movements of air moving swiftly across oceans and continents at low and high altitudes.
Mooring on a Charter
Most developed chartering locations throughout the world have established zones in which mooring balls have been permanently implanted.
Shore Power Connection
One of the more common sources of fire on a boat is a loose connection of the shore power to the receptacle plug on the stern of the boat.
Communications while Underway on a Charter
Contact between vessels, or a boat and a land station, is usually carried out using VHF (Very High Frequency) radios.
Sailboat Solar Power
Solar panels produce DC power and are used to charge the batteries. A relatively small solar panel such as 1 square foot (0.1 m2) can produce about 1½ amps at...
Catamaran Maneuvering Mastery
As now learned, Cats can turn inside their own length, they can vector sideways, and using the bulldozer effect you can instantly rotate the Cat to point in any direction, you can do almost anything.
