Posted by admin on January 8, 2012 under Bareboat Charter, Crew, Rules of Right of Way, Sail Trim, Skipper | 
This is the 2012 New Years Resolution Sailing Tip
This issue’s sailing tip is a pretty simple one. It will lead to you having more valuable practical sailing experience than you’d ever imagine. And it fits nicely in with any new years resolutions you might be considering.
When I lived in Austin Texas, I raced a lot with the local sailing club there on Lake Travis, an inland small lake. And I have to admit that much of my finer technical sailing knowledge came from those many regatta races.
When a sailboat racing next to you is inching ahead moment by moment you learn quickly the importance of accurate sail trim. And talk about drilling the rules of the nautical road – wow when you’re on collision course with dozens of yachts you’ve got to know the rules.
Here’s the tip: Join a local yacht club this year.
At NauticEd we REALLY believe that practical sailing experience is one of the keys to becoming an excellent sailor (of course we’re making a big assumption that you don’t have a goal to be a crappy sailor).
A bit of History: When we designed the NauticEd sailing certifications, we consulted with dozens of sailing instructors and many of the world’s largest charter companies. With out any hesitation, they all rated practical sailing experience as a must have to becoming a competent sailor (durh). When we looked at every other global sailing certification, none required practical sailing experience as a prerequisite to gaining the certification. That’s a bit strange we thought because in this digital age, it’s easy to write an algorithm that can combine theory knowledge and practical experience (well not that easy but you get the point).
Then we looked at the scuba diving industry and the scuba certifications. We found that the theory education was excellent but practically – if you can barely swim, you’ll still end up with a certification. Still strange! The scuba magazine editorials are full of complaints about new divers banging into the protected reefs because they can’t do the most basic buoyancy control.
When it comes down to it I guess, most certifying companies are more interested in the $ than the true competency of the student. Thus we decided to set the competency bar high so that the charter companies could truly trust a experience and theory based certification.
So here’s the big “but” that people ask us all the time then.
“But … how do I get sailing experience when I don’t own a boat”.
Well… in virtually every city with a sailing waterway there is a yacht club.
- Joining a yacht club is pretty simple and relatively inexpensive for the return you’ll get. Costs range from $40 to $80 per month. And if you own a boat, many times the marina fees are less expensive than a regular marina.
- Some clubs are very racing focused some are not. I’ll maintain however that even if you’re not a racing type person, racing experience will improve your cruising sailing skills vastly. Racing is like learning a language by immersion.
- Yacht clubs are highly social and so you’re going to meet a lot of very cool and interesting people who will become your friends. Throw away the preconceived notions of the stereotype snooty stuffy yacht club and just join one and find out for yourself.
- Yacht clubs many times have a nice pool for the kids to hang out in and they will get to hang out with other yachting type kids. A vast improvement from learning life skills at the mall.
- Yacht clubs organize weekend sailing trips away. These are usually very fun flotilla events. Here you can learn a lot of overnighting and anchoring skills.
- Occasionally yacht clubs will also organize a bareboat charter sailing holiday to places like the Caribbean, Mediterranean or the pacific islands. This is a great opportunity to join in on the safety of a flotilla.
Some people think that if you don’t own a boat, then what’s the point of joining a yacht club. However, if you don’t own a boat, then you should definitely join a yacht club. Here’s a big fact. Virtually all boat owners are desperate for crew for either racing or cruising events. This is proven by the dozens of post-its on the yacht club notice board from skippers looking for crew.
Typical Yacht Club Notice Board
So – this year, join your local yacht club. Put your name up on the notice board that you’re willing to crew. Commit to some regatta race series. Do some boat jumping to find the boat/crew/skipper that you like. Make some friends. Get lots of sailing experience and most importantly, fill out your free NauticEd electronic sailing logbook. As with above, your logbook is the single most important thing that the charter companies look at when you are trying to charter a boat.
And one more comment – years ago when I ran a large yachting membership program, the biggest reason that people dropped out was that they did not have friends to go sailing with them. A mistake that I made was that we should have promoted our boat owning members to also join a yacht club. There, they would have found plenty of new friends to go sailing with, from the exact same notice board mentioned above. If you own a boat – join your local yacht club this year.
Happy Sailing Experience!
Posted by admin on January 6, 2012 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
Where were you over the holidays? Sailing?
If you tried to email us over the holidays, you would have gotten a polite “out of the office notice”. We were busy catching up with our Canadian friends who have been sailing the world with their three kids for the past four years on a 42 ft PDQ Antares Catamaran. Early last year we meet up with them in New Zealand in the Tasman Bay (see the video in New Zealand). This year we meet with them in the inland water ways around Brisbane and the Gold Coast of Australia. Sailing with the Ellsay’s on Stray Kitty is a real insight to the lifestyle of world cruisers. They’ve certainly got it down and watching the kids in action with the lines and fenders was pretty impressive. This adventure was particularly interesting because of the intercoastal navigation issues in and around all the waterways. So here, I thought I’d relate a few stories as highlights of the issues and proof that both theory and practical knowledge is king.
Waterways south of Brisbane
One beautiful sunny afternoon we were anchored at a place called Jumpingpin. We went for a walk along the beach and came across a uniquely Australian experience by encountering a group of wallabies hoping across the sand.
Jumpingpin - A popular day stop (so long as you anchor properly)
After a nice stretch along the beach we returned to the boat just in time to beat an approaching thunderstorm. And in Ausy fashion, this one turned out to be a real beaut. About the time winds reached a peak of 40 knots we realized the washing was still on the lifelines and my bald head got a real pelting with the huge sideways rain drops as I brought in the now drenched washing. All the while that I was doing this, Chis, the skipper was pulling out fenders ready to fend off any of the at least ten yachts that were now dragging anchor.
To make matters worse, the tidal range in the area is around five feet. This creates particularly strong tidal currents in the narrow waterways. As the thunderstorm pelted us, the tidal current had risen to about 5 knots and was flowing in the same direction as the wind. This put huge forces on the anchors and it was pretty hair raising to see how fast the boats that had drug anchor were flying by. As an observation, almost all of the boats that had drug anchor and were now trying to reset them were using CQR plough type anchors.
The Dreaded CQR Anchor. Leave it at home.
Stray Kitty uses a Rocna roll type anchor and it held fast. Of course, in typical style of many boaters, the scope used was also way to low on boats that were dragging. And so we were able to watch the comedy of anchoring errors unfold in front of us. In reality there was no comedy. Some of the dragging boats were coming way too close, way too fast.
Boats anchored at Jumpingpin. Anchor scope too small and CQR Anchors caused dragging.
Next, one of the boats that re anchored abeam of us did it a bit too close and so as the current reversed later that night we began to come dangerously close. We elected to raise anchor and reset further out into the channel. However this presented quite a challenge with site selection. The wind was flowing in one direction whilst the current was in the other, and, we knew the current would again reverse before we awoke. Couple this with the difficulty in determining distance at night from other boats made us both glad of our previous anchoring experiences and knowledge. The worse scenario consequence of dragging anchor in the night and being washed out of the protected albeit high current waterway into the huge breakers coming in thought the cut was not one I wanted to spend to much time thinking about.
Another challenge was the markers. First off, Australia abides by IALA-A system which is opposite to the America’s IALA-B system of navigational marks. I.E. red right returning doesn’t work – it’s green on your right when returning. And in the USA the intercoastal water way fairly consistently uses green to seaward along the full length of a waterway with specially marked intercoastal day marks. IE heading from New Jersey past Florida and onto Texas you would keep green intercoastal daymarks on your left. In Queensland, they don’t seem do that and so the green and red swap inconsistently up and down the waterway.
Red Day Marker
Sometimes the red and green swap sides, some times they don’t. They seemed to use the yellow special purpose marks to designate a channel intersection rather than a preferred channel marker with red over green or green over red that is used in the USA.
Special Purpose Marks designating a channel intersection
Twice we were caught out nearly heading onto a sand bar because the day mark swapped over. The Australian navigation system also uses cardinal marks. Being able to read these quickly kept us out of trouble when it came to isolated dangers.
East Cardinal Mark (Safe Water to the East of this mark)
On top of all that, sand bars move and so your highly relied upon GPS map showing the exact position of the day marks can’t be trusted. When sand bars move the local coast guard move the day marks to remark the proper deep channel. So you can be looking at your GPS telling you that the channel is in one place when the marks tell you some thing else. Which do you trust? You have to trust the day marks.
Waterway Chart. Even with GPS don't rely on the chart. Follow the day markers.
Twice we had to turn right angles to follow a day mark went the GPS was telling us that the depth was one foot. Of course a slow and easy pace combined with the depth sounder readings is essential. Still, when you have only two feet to play with below the keel, sometimes it’s not the greatest comfort.
We tried our best to time our sailings each day with the changing tidal current so that it would help our speed. On the day that we approached Surfers Paradise this was not the case however and our 7 knot though the water speed only gave us a three knot SOG (speed over ground) due to current. On one particular day we had to ensure that we crossed under powerlines at half tide or lower due to the height of Stray Kitty’s mast.
Under Sail (actually me just posing for the shot)
As hairy as I seem to have made the above sound, we definitely had a spectacular time visiting this area. It’s off the beaten track when it comes to top charter locations around the world and probably for good reason due to the complexity and also due to the spectacular and more popular Whitsundays area to the North.
There are two highly relevant NauticEd sailing courses to this article. The first is the NauticEd Anchoring a Sailboat Sailing Course. I’d venture to say that none of the power boats that drug anchor that day would have done so if they’d taken this course. First thing they’d have done was to leave the CQR in the garden at home and secondly they’d have understood scope a little better. Surely those people are embarrassed that they drug so badly.
The second course that would really help someone enjoy our intercoastal venture as much as we did would be the Coastal Navigation Sailing Course. This course teaches in depth the navigation marks of both IALA-A and IALA-B systems including cardinal marks.
The other comfort to the whole trip was having very experienced world cruisers on board. After a hard day of tidal currents, thunderstorms, crazy reversing navigation day marks and shallow waters we were rewarded with gourmet type dinners under the southern sky. The crew of Stray Kitty, after living on their cat every day for the past four years, did not sacrifice food quality one bit and were even able to whip up a birthday cake for me on the 31st.
The Crew of Stray Kitty (next to their Christmas Tree)
Other tasty delights on the menu were kangaroo, pork roast, shrimp pasta, steaks, roast turkey, gammon (cooked in the oven on board), plenty of salads and cookies. Some great Australian and new Zealand wines were poured on top of the above in the warm southern hemisphere summer over the Christmas and 2011/2012 new year.
Christmas Dinner Table Setting Aboard Stray Kitty
Thanks to Stray Kitty and her Crew!!!!!!!!!!!
Christmas Dinner with Alexandra, Andrea, Grant, Ryan, Christine, Cari, Chris, (Vanessa photographer - Nikon D3100) on Stray Kitty - a 42 ft PDQ Antares Catamaran
Posted by admin on December 7, 2011 under Crew, Sail Trim, Skipper, Storm Tactics |
While all sailboat designs are different and will sail optimally at different heel angles and reef points, there are a few generalities that we’ll cover in this sailing blog.
General reefing point number 1 through infinity: Don’t scare the beegeebees out of those on board by heeling the boat over too much. While you may be singing and enjoying yourself, others may be frozen solid.
One time sailing off Corsica (lovely sailing destination btw) we encountered a 40 knot Mistral breeze. We were sailing a Beneteau 50 and what a delight it was. The waves were about 8 feet and consistently washing over the deck. It was a beautiful day and we all had a blast – EXCEPT one person on board who had not been sailing much before. When we reached the marina in Bonifacio he jumped off the sailboat and lay flat on the dock kissing the dock boards. I learned that he had been so terrified that he could not speak and was looking between each wave where to jump clear of the boat it in case we went over. Lesson learned for me! That’s not a good thing to do to your guests and not a good way to keep the sport of sailing growing.
Funny as it is (sort of), now I make sure that everyone new on the boat knows to look first into my face when they start to get scared. I tell them that if I’m smiling then it’s all ok and that they are only allowed to get scarred if they see worry and fear on my face. Now the thing to do is to not show fear through facial expressions or through my voice. This keeps the crew thinking straight and following instructions instead of worrying about jumping clear of the boat.
Ok back on topic to heel angle and reefing. We’ll cover non-spinnaker/genaker operations here because broaching (getting knocked down) with those sails is a different topic.
Certainly in light winds, some heel angle will ensure your sails have some airfoil shape to them so position your crew to leeward to create at least about 5 degrees of heel angle. As the winds pick up you can begin to move your self moving ballast (crew) to the windward side to balance the wind force aloft in the sails.
In general, for most cruising sailboats, once you reach about 25 degrees or so the sailboat hull design and sail rig design will begin to reduce the ability of the boat to increase in speed in an efficient manner. OK wow that’s a very general statement but it’s a statement that will allow you to watch, learn and experiment with your own particular boat.
A weighed keelboat typically is not in danger of capsizing for three main reasons:
- As the boat heels over the distance aloft to the center of pressure of the wind is lowered and thus the heeling moment is reduced. As an example, lets say the boat leaned all the way over. This heeling moment then is reduced to zero. So theoretically the wind can’t heel you all the way over anyway.
- As the boat heels over the vertical area of the sails presented to the wind is reduced which reduces the actual heeling force.
- As the boat heels over the weighted keel is lifted to windward thus creating a righting moment. The more the keel is lifted to windward the more the righting moment.
Heeling Moment vs Righting Moment
From above then, the more the boat heels over, the less the “heeling” moment from the sails and the more the “righting” moment from the keel. Or again in very not tech speak: in a full laydown situation there is no more tipping over force left and only straightening up force remaining. It might not feel like that when your hanging onto the rails for dear life but it’s pretty much the reality of the nature of forces and moments.
What is “moment”? Moment is the ability to use a screw driver to open a paint can. Imagine a very stubborn paint can and a very short screw driver. Now use a longer screw driver you can imagine the force needed becomes much less. That’s moment. It’s not the force that opens the can but the moment. Moment is mathematically force x distance. In the same manner it’s not the force that heels the sailboat over it’s the height of the wind times the force of the wind.
Wind force on sails
Mathematically, when you apply wind pressure to a triangle (sail) the center of force can be equated to be at the position of 1/3rd of the way up the triangle/sail.
Here’s a few more equations. Lets assume a right angle triangle.
- Force = pressure x sail area presented vertically to the wind = pressure x foot length x sail height x (cosine (heel angle))/2
- Pressure = ½ (density of air) x (wind velocity)Squared
- Height of force above the sail foot = 1/3 rig height * cosine (heel angle)
- Moment = force x height
Or to wrap it up into easy terms:
Moment is proportional to the following:
- wind velocity squared
- the cosine of the heel angle squared
- the rig height
- the foot length.
In practical terms if the heel angle is 30 degrees the heeling moment is reduced to 75% or if the heel angle is 90 degrees (laying down flat) the heeling moment is zero zip nada.
Also note that in the above, if you go from 5 knots to 20 knots the heeling moment goes up 16 times. In most sailboats you should be looking at reefing anywhere from 12-15 knots. The other thought process to use is when you are starting to think about reefing, you probably should have reefed ½ an hour ago.
What effectively is reefing the sails doing? Well, it’s just reducing the sail area and the height of the position that the wind force acts upon the sails. As an example if the sail was reefed down 15% of its height the area is reduced by 0.85 squared = to 72% of it’s original but the heeling moment is reduced even further because the center of pressure on the sail is lowered . IE reefing has a cubic effect on reducing the heeling moment. Wow that’s pretty enlightening.
Another consideration regarding reefing and heeling is that the more you heel over the less effective is the rudder because you’ve reduced the vertical presentation of the rudder to the horizontally flowing water. IE at a 45 degree heel, you’ve lost 30% of your rudder area which gives you less ability to handle the weather helm from a gust. This can put you into a dangerous rounding up position. And believe me rounding up can be VERY dangerous. One time when sailing along I saw two things about to happen – a gust was on its way across the water towards us and a boat was heading towards us to pass to windward. A rounding up in this gust would drive us right into the oncoming boat. I reached over and let out the mainsheet. This twisted out the top of the sail and effectively lowered the heeling moment but keeping the bottom of the sail powered. The gust passed with out a round up. Just think what if I’d been below and a rookie was helming the boat? No, don’t think!
A sailboat Captain friend of mine who would sail regularly from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean on a 150 fter would always say, if you’re thinking about reefing, you should have yesterday. If you’re thinking about shaking out the reef, wait until tomorrow.
Heeling Over
So when should you reef?
- So as you’re not scaring the crew
- At about 25 degrees of heel angle
- At about 12-15 knots of breeze
If you enjoyed this sailing article blog, consider taking the NauticEd Skipper and Sail Trim sailing courses. NauticEd also provides a free sailing course describing the basics of sail trim.
This article was written by Grant Headifen, Director of Education for NauticEd Online Sailing School. NauticEd provides basic to advanced multimedia online sailing courses and a globally accepted sailing certification by most all yacht charter companies.
Posted by admin on November 24, 2011 under About NauticEd |
At NauticEd Sailing School we’ve been collecting student reviews on our sailing courses few quite some time now and we’ve got to say a big thank-you to our students for submitting them all. It’s been awesome to see all the NauticEd reviews come in.
By and large most all of the NauticEd reviews on our courses have been extremely positive and we’ll list some of them below. We’ve also had a few NauticEd Reviews that were constructive criticism which we value very much. Those ones were almost all related to spelling or typo issues. And just being honest here, a while back we did have one person even ask for their money back because of a number of typos that were found. Fortunately, not long after that one of our valued students who is a professional editor offered to review all the courses for those errors. We promptly accepted and he went through all of the courses to remove as many as he could find. Thanks Jim!
Still every now and then we get a student point another out and we promptly fix those. We encourage this feedback but those are very few now. Quite honestly I’m a better sailor than speller but we agree that that should not detract from the professionalism of the site.
Please note that we value every one of our NauticEd reviews by our students and act accordingly.
We did have two other students ask for their money back based on the courses that they took were too basic for them. However, one student then went on to purchase a more advanced course. We stand by our money back guarantee. It just makes sense to do this especially in this digital world where NauticEd reviews can appear anywhere on the internet and like any business we only want good ones.
Now to the good stuff – each of our sailing courses has embedded into it a third party piece of software from rating-system.com that allows our students to make comments and give a NauticEd review after they’ve completed the sailing course. These reviews and comments are then posted automatically to the specific sailing course page. For example to see the NauticEd Reviews of our skipper sailing course go directly to the skipper sailing course page. There you’ll see the NauticEd reviews.
Here are some of the NauticEd reviews on the skipper sailing course page.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
| Clarity |
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3 |
| Informative |
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4 |
| Quality |
|
4 |
| Recommend |
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4 |
13 August 2011
NauticEd Review:
To aid in remembering the different configurations for entering/leaving the slip, it would be good to say why the various approaches are recommended rather than just what to do in each situation.
| Clarity |
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5 |
| Informative |
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5 |
| Quality |
|
5 |
| Recommend |
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5 |
13 August 2011
NauticEd Review:
In fog, I think Id motor for more control. But Im an amateur.
| Informative |
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5 |
| Clarity |
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4 |
| Quality |
|
5 |
| Recommend |
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5 |
8 August 2011
NauticEd Review:
A nice course with a wide range of information. I would prefer printable PDF but Youtube movie would be impossible then.
(An example of how we listen to our NauticEd reviews is we have since gone through and added PDF downloads to most of our courses)
| Clarity |
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4 |
| Informative |
|
4 |
| Quality |
|
4 |
| Recommend |
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4 |
8 August 2011
NauticEd Review:
great intro
| Clarity |
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5 |
| Quality |
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5 |
19 July 2011
NauticEd Review:
You should periodically check your links to outside resources to see if they are broken. Otherwise, this is a very helpful module.
| Clarity |
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5 |
| Quality |
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5 |
5 July 2011
Review:I thought this course would be just a review of things I had learned while taking ASA 101,103 and 104. I was sooo wrong! This course adds a great deal of information to what I had already learned. I was very impressed with how up to date and in depth that information is. It was well worth taking.
| Clarity |
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4 |
| Quality |
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3 |
5 July 2011
NauticEd Review:
Worthwhile.
| Clarity |
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4 |
9 June 2011
Review:maybe more detail will come in future units
| Clarity |
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3 |
| Quality |
|
3 |
4 June 2011
NauticEd Review:
The tides and currents information, especially the charts and graphs are a bit overwhelming to a beginner. Obviously very important though, so would have liked to be more carefully immersed into it.
>>>>>>>>>>
You’ll also notice the Star ratings. on our sailing courses page, a summary of those stars is listed next to each sailing course and you’ll notice that there are no stars less than 4/5. We think thats pretty impressive and we hope you do to.
Our most popular sailing course is the NauticEd Maneuvering and docking a sailboat under power Sailing Course
This course receives dozens and dozens of excellent NauticEd reviews and we’re very proud of this sailing course.
NauticEd Reviews Summary
In summary, we encourage NauticEd reviews of our courses, we listen to our students and we’re very excited to have received all the positive feedback.
If you join NauticEd Sailing School we encourage you to give us your feedback and NauticEd Reviews when ever you can.
Thanks to all those who have
Sincerely
Grant Headifen
Director of Education
NauticEd
Posted by admin on October 31, 2011 under Bareboat Charter, Crew, Maneuvering Under Power, Skipper, Storm Tactics |
Docking a boat on to an end-tie or tee head with a strong wind blowing you off requires some knowledge on how to do it and it’s one of those things that you SHOULD practice for WHEN the time comes.
Trying to just sidle up along side like you might do in a no wind condition or where wind is blowing you on to the dock is just not going to work.
Fortunately, there are some simple ways of doing it.
(1) Motoring forward up to the tee head directly into the wind.
Have dock lines prepared and cleated to the forward and aft dock side of the boat.
NOTE: Make sure that the dock lines are run outwards underneath the life lines first then back onboard over the top of the line lines. This ensures that when the line is deployed, it will be clear of the life lines. Since this is usually a crew member doing this, it pays to physically show the crew member when you are out away from the marina if you’re not sure they will do it correctly. Running them inboard and over the lifelines can create a huge havoc at the wrong and crucial time.
Approach the tee head near perpendicular but at an angle so that it makes it as simple as possible for the crew member to step off the boat as far forward as possible. As you reach the tee head the crew member will have to step off the boat and onto the dock. This requires a little dexterity on the crew member’s behalf and good throttle work on your behalf to not hit the dock yet get the crew member close enough with out jumping. Since you’re headed directly almost into wind, you’ll have afforded some time with the bow at the dock so that the crew member can take their time carefully stepping off the boat and onto the dock.
The crew member now cleats the dock line to the dock cleat in the direction of where the aft of the boat will sit using about ¼ of the boat length of line between the two cleats.
Now comes your part. Turn the wheel all the way to the stops to the non-dockside side of the boat (tiller to dockside side) and engage forward gear. This creates a sideways force on the rudder and will push the stern of the boat to the dock. Adjust the throttle to over come the windage force on the boat.
DOCKING A SAILBOAT INTO THE WIND
(2) Motoring in reverse up to the tee head directly into the wind.
This method works especially well when the boat has a swim platform and walk through transom.
As above, have dock lines prepared. Then back up to the tee head.
NOTE: You’ll learn in the NauticEd Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power online sailing course that a boat’s stern facing the wind is an extremely stable position and you will not get bullied around by the wind. You’ll also learn that backing into the wind is extremely easy. If you haven’t already, take the NauticEd Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power online sailing course.
The crew member steps off the boat holding the aft dock line when the stern is close enough and cleats the dock line to a dock cleat that lies in a direction more aft of the boat in its final resting position. Again about ¼ of the boat length of dock line should be allowed between the aft cleat and dock cleat.
Turn the wheel all the way to the stops towards the dock (tiller pointing away) and engage forward. This will swing the bow of the boat in towards the dock against the wind. Another crew member can toss the forward dock line to the crew member on the dock to aid. Or if the 1st crew member is able they should take a long forward dock line with them when they stepped off the boat originally.
DOCKING A SAILBOAT INTO THE WIND
Either of these methods can get you docked safely. And, practiced, a skipper could do all the above solo.
Practice both of these a few times and when the real moment comes, you’ll be looking like a pro. Rather than a…
This docking a sailing boat tip was written by Grant Headifen , Director of NauticEd. NauticEd offers an excellent Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power online sailing course as well as many other online sailing courses.
Posted by admin on October 3, 2011 under About NauticEd, Bareboat Charter, Celestial Navigation, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Skipper |
The posting here is not a course in celestial navigation by any means. However it’s meant to simplify a few principles for you so that you’ll at least have some sort of celestial orientation. And… perhaps it’ll inspire you to learn the aging art.
This was written by Grant Headifen, Educational Director of NauticEd. NauticEd provides online sailing courses and Sailing Certifications accepted by charter companies worldwide.
Latitude: In the northern hemisphere, finding latitude is simple using one of the greatest gifts to human kind – The North Star. What ever angle the northern star is at from the horizon, that’s your latitude.
Imagine you’re an ant sitting on the top of an apple looking at a spot directly above you on the ceiling then the spot is 90 degrees from the surface you’re standing on. If you’re standing half way around the apple then you’d barely see the spot but it would be horizontal to the surface you’re standing on and so the spot would be at zero degrees. And if you were ¼ of the way down the apple then the spot would be at 45 degrees etc. ie the northern star is the spot on the ceiling to us.
You can also find latitude using other celestial sightings but they involve table lookups and are slightly more complicated. Not meant for this post and also note that there are a few more complicated variables not taken into account during this simplistic explanation like the height of your eyeballs above the earths surface etc etc. But at least you’ve now got the principle.
Longitude: Now this is a fun one and in an incredibly easy principle. But years ago (early 1700′s) while the principle was easy then the execution was difficult. Read on to see why.
The earth rotates through 360 degrees in 24 hours. That’s 15 degrees per hour. By convention, when the sun is at it’s highest point in Greenwich, it is noon in Greenwich. That means that at a place that is 15 degrees to the West of Greenwich the sun will be at it’s highest point one hour later. Six hours after Greenwich the sun will be at it’s highest point somewhere in over the USA and 12 hours later the sun will be at it’s highest point in New Zealand.
Animation of time zones
So if we know the time in Greenwich and sun just reached its highest point where we are then we can calculate our longitude.
Lets do a few examples. If it is 6 pm in Greenwich and the sun just peaked overhead here, then I am 6 x15 degrees to the west of Greenwich which is 90 degrees West which is right near St Louis Mo.
If the sun peaked overhead in Los Angeles what time would it be in London.?Well LA is 118.15 degrees West (from Google earth). Divide that by 15 degrees per hour and we get 7 hrs 53 minutes. Now since the times zones are created in bands this would round up to 8 hours. Thus it would be 8pm in London.
You’re sailing in the Greek islands in the Mediterranean and a little bird just told you your latitude is 34 deg 54 minutes north but failed to tell you the longitude. Fortunately you have your handy sextant and just as you take a shot, the sun just reached its apex overhead. You look at your watch and the local time is 12:10:48 pm. Where are you?
Since you’re in time zone B you are 2 hours ahead of Greenwich. Thus the time in Greenwich is 10:10:48 am. And since the sun peaked just now (=noon) then you are 12:00:00 minus 10:10:48 = 1 hour 49 minutes and 12 seconds from Greenwich. Putting this into decimal time this is 1.82 hours. Multiply this by 15 degrees per hour and we have 27.3 degrees East or 27 degrees, 18 minutes East.
You’re in the harbor north of the town of Kos on the Island of Kos.
That was incredibly easy, so why all the hoopla back in the 1700′s? The King of England even offered up a ₤10,000 reward to anyone who could solve the issue of Longitude. The above math was well known but the issue was telling the time. No one could accurately keep time at sea. After 27 years of work on the project, John Harrison, finally invented the Chronometer more commonly known as the watch. The watch was not susceptible to the sudden crashes of waves at sea and thus kept proper time.
James Cook on his second trip around the world in 1772 sailing on Rendezvous, took Harrison’s watch with initially much skepticism. Stating that he’d give it a try. After six months at sea, Cook stated that the Chronometer would almost certainly become the way of the future for Navigators. Cook then went on to reposition many of the Islands in the Pacific including Tahiti, his favorite island. His map of New Zealand astounds people even today with its accuracy.
Again there were a few simplistic assumptions taken in that explanation. But now, at least you understand the principle of longitude determination from a noon shot of the sun. You can also determine your latitude from a noon shot of the sun as well using tables and a bit of math. Again beyond this posting.
If you’d like to delve deeper into these topics, NauticEd provides an Introductory Celestial Navigation Sailing Course, or maybe you’re just happy with your handy boring ol GPS.
Posted by admin on September 14, 2011 under Crew, Sail Trim, Skipper, Storm Tactics |
Here is a question from a student regarding letting out the main traveller in a gust.
I referred them to this post
http://www.nauticed.org/blog/sailtrim/stopping-rounding-up-dead-in-it’s-tracks/
which talks about moving the traveller upwind and letting out onthe mainsheet to increase twist at the top of the sail and thus reducing the forces aloft.
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Greetings from Northern Michigan and the Great Lakes-
I have enrolled in your Catamaran Sailing Confidence Course in preparation for my first bareboat charter in the BVI’s on a 47ft Cat. In the section on sailing you state:
When sailing closed hauled on a catamaran in heavier air, move the traveler up wind (on the opposite side of the sail) and let off on the main sheet. This will allow the boom to rise a little and “twist out” the top of the sail. Twisting the sail allows you to let some of the top part of the sail “deflate” in case of slightly stronger winds. In light air, make sure that the top of the mainsail is not “loosing air” meaning, keep the traveler close to the center and tighten the mainsheet pretty good to make sure the main cannot open up at the top.
I am a crew on a 26ft monohull that races and when trying to go upwind we move the traveler to a windward position and try to keep the boom centered with the mainsheet (we also tension the outhaul and backstay). During heavy or gusty winds when weather helm and heel require us to depower the sails we will move the traveler down to center or leeward (rather than simply letting out the mainsheet and having the main luff) and this serves to “spill some air” and depower the mainsail. It certainly has worked to decrease the heel of the boat. This would be followed by reefing as winds increase.
So I have learned that in a close haul to move the traveler down to depower, but your statement is to move it upwind and I am therefore confused. What am I missing?
Thanks for your wisdom-
Josh
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Posted by admin on under Bareboat Charter, Crew, Maneuvering Under Power, Skipper |
Here’s a question from a student regarding docking a sailboat after they took the Maneuvering Under Power Sailing Course
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Hello Grant,
I have a question in reference to the maneuvering under power:
Under the excersice end ties #3, wind from behind, once you have backed the boat to the dock and secured the stern spring line, should the wheel be turned toward the dock and throttle into forward to bring the bow to the dock?
Thanks,
Excellent course!!!
Jose
Happy Sailing.
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Jose,
You’re absolutely correct.
Here is a vector force diagram to match. Actually, as you can see, you could do it with out turning the wheel to the dock but the resultant torque (turning moment) would be reduced. Turning the rudder creates extra turning moment. It doesn’t really matter which direction the wind is coming from with this method. Altho if the wind was high and blowing you off the dock. I would do the front spring first, then drive forward with the wheel turned away from the dock.
Cheers
Grant
Docking a Sailboat
Posted by admin on September 10, 2011 under Skipper |
Here’s a question from a student.
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Grant,
I would like some clarification on the steps taken to reef a main sail on a cat. I’m going out on a 48ft cat and prob want to reef the sail before i go out….
Do i reef it while at the dock or in the water while heading into the wind?
it is best to reef the sail once its all the way up through the lazy jacks and then lower it?
Ben
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Ben,
Reefing a catamaran main sail is exactly the same as reefing a monosail main sail. At the dock, if you can get access to the reefing points, you can tie the forward reefing gromet down and secure the leech reefing lines. However this is sometimes a bit difficult.
So you can also do this as the sail raises up when you’re out on the water, or you can get the sail all the way up and then lower it to the reefing points.
When you’ve got lazy jacks involved, its still not that difficult, but you just have to ensure the battens are not getting caught up in the lazy jack lines. To do this just make sure that the boat is held directly into wind and the main sheet is slightly loose so that the sail blows downwind and in between the lazy jacks – hopefully. It’s not completely easy and you have to keep an eagle eye on the battens – but also don’t forget to maintain lookout ahead.
Thanks for the question – happy to help.
Grant
Posted by admin on August 29, 2011 under Crew, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
This is a real story with some details left out to protect the not so innocent. But it serves as a great sailing lesson to all of us and could save your boat from sinking. Read on!
A sinking boat taking down another
It was a regular weekend yacht club regatta – that turned out to be not so regular. One of the J22′s collided with another boat. The hole that was created was big enough to cause the boat to start taking on water. The club bought over their committee boat to tow the sinking sailboat back to the club house. The sailboat, instead of using a dock line for towing, gave the tow boat the anchor rode chain. Both boats cleated the chain part of the anchor rode to their boats and began the tow. The towed sailboat began taking on more and more water until it began to slowly slip under. Neither of the captains could untie the chain due to the tension and certainly did not have a set of bolt cutters onboard. The weight of the sailboat pulled the tow boat stern under the water and down they both went.
The ultimate irony was that upon diving the wreckage, the sailboat actually was sitting on top of the tow boat.
A few lessons to be heeded:
(1) Don’t tow a sinking boat
(2) Never use the chain
(3) In all circumstances make sure there is a knife readily available on both boats
(4) Don’t have a collision in the first place.
These kinds of tips are loaded through out the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course. Just one tip like the above could save your boat, save a life, or spare some serious embarrassment.
Take the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course today! And now, as of today, the Skipper Sailing Course is available in a PDF downloadable format.
NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course Now Available in PDF format
