Sailboat Rigging and Some Nomenclature

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Learning to sail can be a bit overwhelming at the start because of the nomenclature. But don’t worry it’s just a matter of learning a few at the start then adding to them as you progress in your sailing education. The following illustration shows the parts of the sail and associated control lines. Of note […]

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Learn to Sail

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Just how hard is it to learn to sail. I meet people on airplanes all the time and their comment is many times “sailing? Isn’t that hard”. Well, was it hard learning to ride a bike? Kinda. Is it easy riding a bike now? well … yes. So learning to sail is similar. There are […]

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Where is the storm center?

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We’ve received a few questions on clarification of the mechanics of determining the direction of the center of a weather system either a high or a low. So we added it to Module 4 of the weather course and we’re also describing it here. The graphic below shows a weather map in the northern pacific […]

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Cirrus clouds

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Perfect example of cirrus clouds this morning in Austin Texas. Cirrus clouds typically mean that weather is changing in about 2 – 3 days. Many times it can mean the approach of a warm front – but not necessarily.

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Moving the car forward under tension

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Moving the jib sheet car forward when the jib sheet is under tension presents a bit of a problem and many times you’ll just wait until you tack to the other side to move it. Or more dangerously, you can release the tension a little then put your foot on the jibsheet forward of the […]

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Reef un reef reef unreef

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When you’re racing you need to get the most out of your rig and that’s exactly what we had to do in the Austin Yacht Club Red Eye January 1st Race event. While one weather channel was predicting 6-8 knots another was saying 15-20. In the last sailing blog I’d mentioned that we were going […]

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Happy New Year – learn to sail in light winds

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What better way for NauticEd online sailing classes to start off the year by going sailing. The NauticEd crew will be racing their Beneteau 373 on lake Travis in the Red eye regatta today. Winds are predicted to be light at 6-10mph. So it’s going to be a light wind sailing day. Light wind sailing […]

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FREE Rules of Right of Way Course for Sailboats

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Since we have just launched this new FREE rules of right of way for sailing vessels course, this is the first blog. The free online sailing course has many visuals of right of way situations as depicted here. There is a lot of thought out there that sailboats have right of way when in actual […]

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USCG Captain’s Course

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I recently finished my Coast Guard Captain’s license and then further completed my Master Mariner license with a sailing endorsement. I took the course through the Mariners School (www.marinersschool.com). The experience was good. The requirements to get your USCG Captain’s license are extensive so here’s a quick list. About 3 full weekends in class Very […]

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Docking a boat

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Docking, maneuvering, handling, parking a boat while under power is an easy skill to learn. Many people are intimidated when entering the marina and with good cause – that is where 99% of damage to boats occur. But with some practiced skills, the intimidation changes from fear to excitement to see how close to perfect […]

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