Sailing Archives

Sailing A Catamaran

June 1, 2011/by Grant Headifen

In this article, we’re talking about bareboat chartering of a Catamaran sailing boat on a sailing vacation.

Yesterday we were out racing in our local sailing regatta. At the end of any regatta race we always have a debriefing on what we could have done better. Turns out this one works especially well in our work lives as well and so that was the topic of conversation over a few beers afterward. […]

Sailboat Mast Height

March 9, 2011/by Grant Headifen

Know your sailboat mast height! Some lessons learned from encountering over-water power lines during a bareboat sailing trip.

Heaving To And Something About It That You Might Not Know

July 23, 2010/by Grant Headifen

Most sailors already know how to heave to so I’ll give the quick part of this tip up front. The Quick Bit When heaving to, and if you have the choice, do it so that your boat is on a starboard tack. This way you are the “Stand-on” vessel in an approaching situation with other […]

Leeway and a Bottle of Rum

June 22, 2010/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

Weather Helm Vs Lee Helm – What is it? How to use it?

June 16, 2010/by Grant Headifen

Most of us sort of understand the concept of weather and lee helm, but few explanations go into how it gives your boat a sailing advantage.

Stopping Rounding Up Dead in it’s Tracks

June 8, 2010/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

Life Saving Tip for downwind sailing

May 10, 2010/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

True Wind versus Apparent Wind

April 3, 2010/by Grant Headifen

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 […]

NED the world’s coolest sailing instructor – teaching people to learn to sail

February 14, 2010/by Grant Headifen

This is a FREE learn to sail application which the NauticEd team developed. We’ve made it so that anyone can have access to it for free. The application is called NED. When you’re first getting started in sailing, trying to figure out how the sails should be set according to the wind angle can be […]