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.
True Wind vs. Apparent Wind
Learn the basic difference between True Wind and Apparent Wind...
Advanced Catamaran Maneuvering – Using the Rudders
There are some other cool things you can do when you consider the propeller thrust over a Catamaran's rudders.
Air Flow over the Sails
Similar to steady flight, we've got to keep the air flowing over the sails smoothly...
Marine Batteries
The source of DC power is usually one or more marine-grade batteries, normally 12 volts each. They are similar to automobile batteries, except sturdier—and of course more expensive.
The Job of a Sail Trimmer
Sail trimmers in world-class regattas spend years reading and understanding the wind relative to the sails. Sometimes they trim the sheets only a few inches/cm...
The Deck – Getting Familiar with a Charter Boat
Gaining knowledge about the boat, its systems, and its equipment is a great starting point for any sailing adventure.
Global Positioning System
GPS stands for global positioning system. It uses a network of satellites in orbit. Although the GPS is used as a navigation device, it is also a form of communication to the vessel.
Crossing Situations Nav Rules
The Rule 15 (a) when two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel...
How to Book a Sailing Charter
There are a few things you need to know about booking a charter.
Anchoring with Propwalk on a Sailboat
Without proper knowledge of how the boat reacts to the wind and propwalk, anchoring can be a real challenge.
Getting Familiar with the Charter Boat
Prior to releasing the boat to you, the charter company will give you a reasonably extensive walk through the boat.
Crew Overboard
Crew ("Man") Overboard (MOB) is fortunately relatively rare, but chances are that in your sailing career it will happen.
Sailboat Wind Power Generators
Wind-power generators are typically installed only on ocean-crossing vessels, where the vessel is away from the marina for extended periods of time and where there is a need for conserving onboard fuel.
Mediterranean Mooring with an Anchor
Another factor when Mediterranean Mooring with an anchor is that the wind direction determines who is in control...
Mediterranean Mooring – Long Line Ashore
The long-line-ashore is a useful Mediterranean mooring method. It is mostly used in the Mediterranean as a customary way of mooring a lot of boats along a shoreline.
Leaving the Slip with a Sailboat
Wind coming into the slip channel and your boat is stern-to. This is best handled by steering out of the slip and then immediately downwind. Back out of the slip channel and well into the main channel before engaging forward.
Dinghy on a Bareboat Charter
Several things to note about the dinghy on a Bareboat Charter.
Rigging
At boat shows, we see folks huddled down in the vessel’s salon oohing and aahing at the leather cushions to sit on, and at the electronic gadgets for navigation and entertainment.
Crew Briefing Video
It is important to know how much experience your crew has before you embark on any sailing adventure. For our boat, we created a video walkaround introduction to the boat covering safety items and also just general items on how we want our boat looked after.
Sails
Sails are sophisticated objects. It is not only the materials they are made from that are important, but also, the way they are cut and sewn.
Basic Sail Telltale Control
Controlling the Telltales by Trimming the Sail. The concept here is actually pretty simple. The golden rule is, when...
Risk of Collision when Sailing
The Rule of Risk of Collision is that every vessel shall use all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances...
NED Sailing Simulator
Before you play with NED, the sailing simulator, read this first. The graphic below is representative of a real wind meter on...
Navigation Introduction
The history of navigation is fascinating and dates back to as many centuries as we can imagine.
