Sailing Archives

Trim the main sail

September 8, 2009/by Grant Headifen

When learning to sail the main thing we’re excited about doing is getting the boat moving, but as we become more advanced, we really want to understand the different forces on the boat and maximize the efficiency. Proper understanding of sail trim can help us achieve that. This post is a good example of exactly […]

Rrrrrrrripp

August 17, 2009/by Grant Headifen

That’s the last sound you want to hear when sailing. Now you have to pull the sail down, fold it up, carry it up the dock to the car (it’s heavy) wait for a week day to take into the sail maker, beg for them to fix it fast, pick it up on a week […]

What about COB – Captain overboard?

June 9, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Last week we made a pretty good point about using the engine as your first method of pick up when you have a man overboard while under sail. And it was quite well received by followers – thanks. Many sailing schools teach the figure 8 recovery method whilst under sail and this is correct we […]

Preventing an autotack in a sailboat

June 5, 2009/by Grant Headifen

In continuing our learn to sail series of blogs we discuss the annoying problem of autotacking. Scenario – A gust of wind comes ripping through and causes the sailboat to round up and autotack or you’ve given the helm to a novice, they’re not paying attention and sail too close to the wind and they […]

Gybing trick

March 17, 2009/by Grant Headifen

When you’re getting ready to gybe, take the jib lazy sheet and wrap it around its winch and pull quite tight. This will pull the jib towards the windward side of the boat just a little. Now when you gybe, you don’t have to be so busy about pulling the jib sheet across quickly because […]

Weather Helm Versus Lee Helm

March 15, 2009/by Grant Headifen

What are they and what’s the difference? These two terms were established when vessels were fitted with tillers rather than wheels and so the term weather helm refers to having to pull the tiller (helm) “to weather” in order to sail in a straight line. Lee helm is when you need to push the tiller […]

Learning to sail in gusty conditions

March 10, 2009/by Grant Headifen

Yesterday I was out teaching on our new Beneteau 373. The conditions were extremely gusty. Lake Travis in Austin Texas is a great lake for sailing all year round and in the summer the water is so incredibly warm that you can swim while anchored in a cove still at 2am. There are lots of […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]