Coastal Navigation Archives

Boating’s Deadly Dozen – The Top Causes of Accidents on the Water

June 18, 2024/by Grant Headifen

Discover the most common causes of accidents on the water and learn how to prevent them. Stay safe while enjoying your time on the water.

NauticEd uses the SailTies GPS Tracking App

March 29, 2024/by Grant Headifen

The strengthened partnership between NauticEd and SailTies is a testament to their commitment to advancing sailing education and experience tracking. By focusing on what each does best—NauticEd in creating competent sailors through education and SailTies in tracking and sharing sailing adventures—this collaboration is setting new standards in the sailing community. Sailors can now enjoy the best of both worlds: an educational platform that builds competence and a tracking app that validates and shares their seafaring experiences with the world.

Polar Plots and True vs Apparent Wind Triangle – all explained

December 30, 2023/by Grant Headifen

Learn to use polar plot diagrams to generate a true wind / apparent wind/ boat speed triangle. Understand how a decrease in true wind velocity is not a knock and an increase is not a permanent lift with our simple explanation.

How to and Why Authenticate a Boating Logbook

August 31, 2023/by Grant Headifen

Whenever you are out on the water sailing, the SailTies app will create a GPS real-time track of your every movement and display it on a map. You can see every tack, gybe, knock, and lift. The guys at SailTies did such an amazing job of creating a user-friendly app for GPS tracking that we decided to hook up with them and allow their data to directly feed right into the student NauticEd logbook.

NauticEd and SailTies Partner to Authenticate Sailing Logbooks with GPS Tracking and Sharing

February 28, 2023/by Grant Headifen

NauticEd and SailTies Partner to Authenticate Sailing Logbooks with GPS Tracking and Sharing, a powerful integration for users and charterer companies.

Learn Lateral Marks in Virtual Reality

January 27, 2023/by Grant Headifen

Learn Lateral Marks in virtual reality. Grant gives an example of the lateral marks combined with Cardinal Marks in VR.

How do Polar Plots Work on a Sailboat?

November 23, 2022/by Grant Headifen

The polar plot on a sailboat shows the speed the sailboat goes at a specific angle to the wind at a specific wind speed. Read this article to understand how they work and how to read a polar plot.

Navigation Practice Exercise

March 10, 2022/by Grant Headifen

Here is a simple navigation practice exercise to practice sailing (navigating) to a waypoint. The exercise is for you to plan to sailing upwind and to a waypoint with 2 tacks.

NauticEd talks to hot new sailing app savvy navvy

May 3, 2019/by Grant Headifen

Talk about NauticEd disrupting the Sailing Education industry, here is a new navigation app that’s making similar waves and it’s very cool. Introducing savvy navvy, the startup working to build the best navigation solution for sailors worldwide. Their mission? To make navigation safer, easier and more convenient for sailors around the globe, making sailing more […]

Navigation: Rate and Direction (Set and Drift) exercises

April 10, 2019/by Grant Headifen

Here are some Navigation rate and drift with leeway exercises that you can practice on for your SLC Mediterranean sailing license on-the-water, on-the-day exam. The assessor will give you some problem navigation exercises and you will need to nail them quickly and accurately to prove your competence. Or, just practice them anyway for a greater understanding and […]