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.
Sailing and Wind Forces
A sailboat moves in upwind and downwind directions. Downwind is intuitive; it just gets blown downwind. But just how does a sailboat move into the wind?
Charter Provisioning
Many charter companies can stock and provision your boat before you arrive. This is a good idea for the basics but there is usually little imagination in the food that is supplied.
Anchoring Rode and Scope
To hold a sailboat, the anchor must naturally be attached to the vessel. This is accomplished by using “rode,” which is either all chain or a combination of rope (nylon line) and chain. Learn from this interactive animation.
Planning to use springlines when docking
Like a work of fine engineering, a spring maneuver requires a design. The key is to plan the maneuver by considering the wind, current, and other obstacles, then design the placement and directions of the forces and moments.
Mast Head pull heeling versus wind heeling
Takeaways: Standing rigging isn’t the place to economize—it’s a load-management system. Use stretchy docklines for masthead pulls, avoid shock loads, and apply smooth, steady pressure. Snatch loads break rigs.
Luffing and Backwinding Sails
Luffing is when the sail is flapping in the wind. Back winding happens usually right before luffing occurs.
Leaving the Dock – End Ties
Wind pushing you away from the dock - This is the simplest scenario. Once you are confident of your plan, release and stow dock lines, then allow the wind to push the boat clear of other obstacles.
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.
Seacocks – Getting Familiar with a Charter Boat
Seacocks are designed to let water flow out of the hull safely. They are not one-way valves so any loose clamps around the seacock itself create leaks around the hoses and can allow water to enter into the boat. This is usually bad – right?
Sail Trim
While setting the sails to general rules of thumb will get you really close to a good sail set,
Keeping the Telltales Flying Steady
As a sailor we are doing one of two things when it comes to sail trim, either holding a course or trimming to our sails...
Electricity and Charging Your Devices on a Charter
It’s a given, we can’t live without electricity. At home, we have all the conveniences and all the chargers we need. But what about on a boat on a sailing vacation? What can I charge and what voltage is available?
Electronic Communications
Nowadays, gigabytes of data can be sent in a second as a digital signal. It is all a complete Wow!
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.
Latitude and Longitude
The latitude and longitude coordinate system is the key navigational concept for sailing. It is the mariner’s coordinate system.
The Nautical Chart
Safely maneuvering a vessel while using positions derived from various coastal and near coastal sources is called coastal navigation.
Mediterranean Mooring Techniques
Mediterranean Mooring Techniques is where the rubber meets the road—or, in this case, where the gel coat does not touch the big bad hard concrete wall.
Head-on Nav Rules Situation
The Rule (a) Unless otherwise agreed when two power-driven vessels are meeting on reciprocal or nearly reciprocal...
More Basic Sail Twist
The wind at the top of the mast has more heeling leverage on the boat than the wind lower...
Sailboat Balance
Below is an animation that shows the balance of forces: actually it is technically the balance of a concept called “moments.”
Dinghy Safety!
When it comes to dinghy operations, the following is a dangerous attitude: “It’s only a short distance ashore—jump in...
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.
True Wind vs. Apparent Wind
Learn the basic difference between True Wind and Apparent Wind...
Sailboat Generator or Large Battery Bank?
Dedicated electric generators on board sailboats are usually only reserved for large sailboats because of their weight and size. Unless there is a desire for large amounts of electricity...
