Leeway and a Bottle of Rum

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Leeway is just one of those things that is a law of the universe that we have to put up with. It’s just like gravity. Still with gravity – the advantage is that it’s highly predictable. And so then is leeway. Leeway is the sideways slip motion of our sailboat downwind from the pressure of […]

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Stopping Rounding Up Dead in it’s Tracks

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Rounding up is caused by many factors. One is too much wind and force aloft which tends to heel the boat over. This reduces the amount of rudder in the water and thus the rudder’s effectiveness. Another factor in rounding up is the center of pressure of wind on the sails is too far aft […]

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Sailing Certification Question

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Here is a question posted by one of our students today with our response following. On 6/4/10 1:54 PM, “Ted” wrote:   I have recently started through your courses in the hope of chartering next winter. My own boat is a 25′ Catalina. From your information it appears that I will not receive credit for […]

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Life Saving Tip for downwind sailing

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Some tips are long and some are short – This short one will save your life or one of your crew. As you know – sailing downwind has the dangerous potential of the accidental gybe. This can be quite a common occurrence if you have an inexperienced crew at the helm or perhaps with a […]

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Emergency navigation lights on board

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Got a request from a student to point out more through out our courses the need to have on board emergency portable battery powered navigation lights in case of electrical failure – and we couldn’t agree more. An acquaintance of mine was nearly run down by a high speed ferry in the middle of the […]

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True Wind versus Apparent Wind

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We took this from a section in the Crew and Skipper Courses to easily explain the difference between true wind and apparent wind. >>>>>> Section 7.2 – True Wind versus Apparent Wind – Explained Put you hand outside the window of your car traveling at 60 miles per hour on a still day and your […]

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Answer to a Student’s Question About Documentation

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Here is an email we received from a NauticEd student >>>>>>>> On 4/1/10 8:31 AM, “Michael” Wrote: Hello, I reviewed your website and am interested in taking your courses. The courses are the background to actual on-water experience. I live in Northern California and sail with a friend quite often. There are also several sailing […]

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