Sailing Education Archives

Further elaboration of true vs apparent wind

February 7, 2009/by Grant Headifen

There has been a request for further elaboration of the wind vectors as to why the true wind is always behind the apparent wind. Previously we used this diagram and the confusion is that the true wind vector is in front of the apparent wind vector. The following diagram explains the vectors better perhaps. The […]

Learning to hold a straight course

February 6, 2009/by Grant Headifen

One issue that appears most often with new sailors learning to sail is focusing too much attention on the electronic wind meter or the wind direction indicator (the pointy arrow thing at the top of the mast). The windmeter above which is installed on most modern sailboats shows that the wind is coming from 60 […]

Understanding true vs apparent wind

February 4, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Here is an easy description of true wind and apparent wind. Put you hand outside the window of your car traveling at 60 miles per hour on a still day and your hand will feel a 60 mile per hour wind. That’s apparent wind yet the true wind is zero. What if the car was […]

Sailing Schools and Sailing Experience.

January 26, 2009/by Grant Headifen

What do you do when you have finished with the NauticEd online sailing classes? Well, we recommend that you get with one of our practical hands on sailing schools as soon as possible to burn in your new theory knowledge with practical sailing skills. Sailing schools typically have a selection of sailboats for you to […]

A few rules and signs and lights to learn when sailing

January 25, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Once you’ve decided that you like it and you now want to learn to sail for yourself, there are just a few things to learn, actually quite a lot but don’t be intimidated – we all started sailing somewhere – sometime. The rules of right of way can be a bit daunting so that’s why […]

Sailboat Rigging and Some Nomenclature

January 24, 2009/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

Learn to Sail

January 23, 2009/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

Where is the storm center?

January 16, 2009/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

Cirrus clouds

January 11, 2009/by Grant Headifen

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.

Moving the car forward under tension

January 6, 2009/by Grant Headifen

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 […]