Posted by Grant Headifen on July 6, 2010 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Skipper, Storm Tactics | 
As you learn to sail, you should be also learning about anchoring. There is more to tossing the hook so to speak.
After doing some research on the internet and looking at some of the tests performed on holding power, I’ve made a quick summary of what I learned.
Anchor types are selected based on the bottom conditions. These are rock, mud, clay, sand, grass, coral and shoal.
Charts will usually tell you what the bottom conditions are, as will local sailors from whom you should never be afraid to ask.
The following shows the type of anchor and the associated bottom that the anchor is best suited for.
Danforth: Works best in sand and mud
Danforth Anchor
Hinged Plough CQR: Works Best in sand, rock and mud.
Hinged Plough CQR Anchor
Non Hinged Plough Delta Anchor: Works best in sand rock clay and mud.
Delta plough anchor
Non Hinged Plough Roll bar anchor: Best for all types of bottoms – sand, rock, mud,clay, grass
Rollbar plough anchor
Bruce Anchor: Best for sand, rock, mud.
Bruce anchor
The Roll Bar Plough type anchor is a new type of anchor and therefore is not that common yet. However, tests show that it is certainly one of the winners when it comes to selecting an anchor.
Posted by admin on July 3, 2010 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Skipper, weather |
As a new sailor, just learning to sail, the thought of figuring out tides can be quite intimidating. We know that even some seasoned sailors tend to just wing it – a dangerous concern. This learn to sail series article will dispelled any concerns about understanding, reading and predicting tides.
Gravitational Pull
Tides took a lot of figuring out by some very smart people over the ages including Galileo.
But now that the principle causes of tides are understood and quite well mathematically modeled, they are pretty easy to understand by the average Joe when explained properly.
Tides exist solely because of the celestial bodies the moon and the sun. The moon is relatively close but comparatively small. The sun is far away but a giant when it comes to mass. Gravitational pull increases linearly with mass but decreases inversely with the square of the distance. So when you balance these out and do the calculations, the sun’s effect is 46% that of the moon.
So the moon has the dominant and most noticeable effect on the earth’s tides. However the Sun still has a significant effect.
There are a couple of tricks to understanding the tides that took the physicists quite a while to figure out in the old days. The moon circles the earth about every 24 hours and 50.4 minutes. But for most of us it seems that the tide takes about 6 and a bit hours to go out and 6 and a bit hours to come back in. That’s a frequency of 12 and a half hours not 24:50 hours. What’s up with that?
Tide is actually a gravitational concept rather than specifically related to the movement of our oceans. All celestial objects are susceptible to tidal effects from other “relatively close” bodies. Consequently a planet with in gravitational range of another body will experience pull leading to stresses acting to deform the shape of the planet.
That means that as the moon circles the earth, the earth is deformed by the moon. Similarly, the moon also experiences deformation by the earth and thus is suffers a tide effect. The effect is called tidal force. Fortunately for life on earth, the deformation is small but it does lead to the rising water that we experience. Therefore, with out the moon, life on earth would be vastly different.
As non celestial body and gravitational experts we’ll probably struggle to understand the resultant effect because it happens in a way that we might not initially expect.
Double Bulge Phenomenom
It is suffice for this description of tides to state that the planet doesn’t just bulge towards the distant body but actually bulges on both sides in a line between the center of the two bodies because of the volumetric stress imparted upon the planet. Various arguments still exist on why, some are flat out wrong and some are right. As sailors we really don’t care too much other than knowing the resultant.
To gain a visual appreciation for this, although not in anyway accurate in science, take a calamari ring and hold in two points opposite each other. Now hold one side still and pull the other side. You’ll see the ring bulge on both sides in a line of the direction of pull.
That is a similar resultant action to what the earth is experiencing. The bulge occurs on both sides of the planet diametrically opposite each other and in the plane of a line between the moon and the earth. So following this, we have a high tide on the same side of the planet as the moon and simultaneously on the opposite side. Thus leading to a theoretical tidal period twice for every rotation of the moon about the earth.
The double bulge concept has nothing to do with the spin and inertia of water on the earth, although you will find some arguments and textbooks reporting this as a contributing factor to the opposite bulge. Not so! In any case, again as sailors we don’t necessarily care too much. We just need to know and realize that the double bulge occurs to explain two tides in a day rather than matching the periodicity of one moon rotation per day.
The exact same concept is valid for the sun. A solar high tide exists on the same side of earth as the sun and simultaneously on the opposite side of the sun.
Theoretical Tide Heights
Now let’s look at a few theoretical mathematical numbers for comparison. If the earth’s oceans were uniform in depth and no landmasses existed and just considering the moon and if the moon was rotating around the earth every 24 hours, plus a few other ands and ifs, then the theoretical rise of the water at high tide would be 54 cm (21 inches). Now consider the suns effect in the same way. This would lead to a theoretical tide rise of 25 cm (9.8 inches). If the moon and the sun aligned or were directly opposite (from the bulge theory above) then we could add these heights together and get 79 cm (31 inches). If the moon and sun were acting against each other by being 90 degrees apart, then we would subtract the numbers and be left with a tidal height of 29 cm (11 inches).
The phenomenon then of a spring tide has thus been explained. Spring tide is when the sun and moon align or are diametrically opposite. The word spring does not come from a relationship to the season but from the concept of “force”. Meaning there is more force during this period of alignment, which occurs about every 14 days – full moon and new moon.
Consequently, a neap tide is the minimal tide effect from the action of the sun and moon opposing each other. When they are at 90 degrees from each other – not diametrically opposite each other due to the double bulge effect. Again, this occurs at a period of every 14 days.
In addition to the above, the sun and moon operate in elliptical orbits relative to the earth. You can then imagine as the sun and moon become at their closest points to the earth that a greater effect would take place. The effect is increased 18% for the moon and 5% for the sun. Since the earth rotates about the sun once per year, at a certain times of the year then you would expect all these phenomena to exist simultaneously and create a theoretical tidal height of 93 cm (37 inches).
You can also imagine a common high high tide condition existing when the moon is closest to the earth with the moon and sun aligned (or diametrically opposite). This is called a perigee spring tide and occurs every 7.5 moon cycles.
This can be further expanded to include the sun being at its closest point along with the moon and in a spring tide situation. This occurs every 18.6 years. For this reason tidal high high and low low measurements are recorded and reported over periods of 19 years by statistical governmental recording agencies.
There is one last effect to discuss and that is that the sun and moons orbits are not directly aligned with the pole of the earth. Both the sun and moon’s orbits are not in unison and change day by day. For this reason the height of each high tide will vary day by day.
And just in case you’re wondering, Venus provides the next greatest tidal effect on the earth. But it is less than 0.001% of the magnitude of the Sun’s effect.
We’ve added a rudimentary animation of the Moon’s and the Sun’s tidal forces on the Earth at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZNnb9YP1xg. The animation shows the Moon’s larger tidal force in blue and the Sun’s smaller tidal force in yellow turning relative to the Earth with different frequencies. You’ll need to view it several times through to see that when the bodies are aligned either on the same side or diametrically opposite, that the tidal forces align creating a spring tide. You’ll see Neap tide occur when they are 90 degrees apart. Of course in reality, the earth rotates about the sun but for relativistic purposes of an observer standing on the Earth, this demonstrates the effect. Additionally we did not simulate the 7.5 lunar periods before the cycle repeats nor did we show differing declination of the orbits or the elliptical shape of the orbits … and a few other things.
How the Tides Work
In Reality
So now let’s take out some of the theoretical arguments and start adding back in landmasses and differing ocean depths. The effect is called Bathymetry. These affects greatly affect the timing, tidal heights and periodic frequency of the tides at different places on the earth. Regardless of this, the tides still occur with periodic consistency in each location according to the above discussion of the moon and sun movements. This last sentence, matched with empirical data over time, means that tidal predictions are very accurate, both height wise and time wise.
Lets say that again; Tides heights and times are highly predictable!
Most places on the planet experience two high tides every 24 hours and 50 minutes as discussed above. This is called a semidiurnal tide. However due to bathymetry, some places experience one high tide every 24 hours and 50 minutes. This is called a diurnal tide and is experienced in the South China Sea, the Gulf of Mexico along with a few other places. Another significant departure from the theory is the experiencing of two differing height of tides. This is called a mixed tide and is experienced in quite a few places including the west coast of the United States.
Keep in mind that 100% of the reason for departure from a semidiurnal tide in these locations is solely due to Bathymetry. Bathymetry is also the reason for departure from the high tide being at exactly the same time as the moon at its highest apex in the sky overhead (or diametrically opposite the planet). As an example, in Norfolk Virginia USA, high tide is approximately 2 ½ hours before the moon passes overhead. Typically on the planet, a spring tide occurs 2 days after a full or new moon.
Bathymetry also explains why tidal height in some places is far greater than the theoretical predictions above. As water moves and slushes around the planet it does so with lunar (and semi lunar) frequency setting up a crowding effect of the water in certain places.
Regarding all the above discussion about high tides, for every high tide there is a corresponding low tide. As sailors, we’re pretty concerned about low tides and low low tides due to grounding issues. For mixed semidiurnal and semidiurnal tides, low tides occur every 12 hours and 25.2 minutes. Low low tides occur at spring tide every 14 days about 2 days after a full moon or new moon. And lowest low tides occur every 7.5 lunar cycles when there is a perigee spring tide situation.
The Tidal Map
Putting it all together, and considering the periodic consistency, bathymetry and real empirical data, NASA has developed a tidal map of the planet. The map is quite revelational and will help you understand tides even further.
Tidal Map of the Earth
Grey parts are landmasses. The colors on the map represent the amplitude (height) of the tide. Note the locations marked in red. These are well known really-really high tide areas. Some in excess of 40 feet (11m). Also if you’ve ever sailed in the Caribbean or Mediterranean, you’ll have noticed a distinct lack of any tide. These are marked in Blue.
Of particular interest for me is the west coast of my home country, New Zealand. Near Auckland, two estuaries, one from the west coast and one from the east coast are separated by about 500 meters of land only. Yet the tidal difference is hours apart and the two tide heights are vastly different. Similarly take a look at the area around Panama. Extreme high tides exist on the west coast and almost none on the east coast. The UK also has some very interesting tidal results particularly in the Solent area.
The highest tides in the world can be found in Canada at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia. At some times of the year the difference between high and low tide in this Bay is 16.3 meters (53.5 feet), taller than a three-story building. Anchorage, Alaska, comes in at a close second with tidal ranges up to 12.2 meters (40 feet).
The white lines on the NASA map above represent one hour difference in time for a high (or low) tide. Note how the lines appear to be randomly placed around the planet with out any particular reason for their placement. Again this is due to bathymetry. Of note however is that over time, the lines are don’t move. For example the blue region in the middle of the south pacific where the white lines converge always experiences little to no tide. The high tide travels around this point in a clockwise direction. The amphidromic point where the lines meet defines the meeting point of high and low tide giving rise to a consistent zero tide effect. In fact, at most amphidromic points as such in the southern hemisphere, the tide turns clockwise due to the coriolis effect of the earth spinning. In the northern hemisphere at most amphidromic points the tide turns anticlockwise (counterclockwise).
What does this really mean? It means that if you consider the amphidromic point near Hawaii and the radical lines from it incident on the west coast of the USA, then the high tide must move north along the coast over time. IE the high tide in Los Angeles will be after the high tide in San Diego (San Diego being south of Los Angeles). Of significant value when understanding this is that if you can read a table showing the high tide in one place you can predict the time of the high tide in another location. Look at the southern part of the south east coast of South America. The high tide occurs all along that region at almost the same time but over approximately the same distance along the east coast of New Zealand, that experiences 5 hours of high tide time difference. Interesting!
It is doubtful that even the most complex mathematical models could predict all this. However combining the empirical data with the periodic frequency of the two celestial bodies gives us every thing we need.
Practical Application of Reading And Understanding Tides
Whether we’re experienced sailors or just starting out in our learn to sail quest, chances are you’ll be sailing in an area where tides are happening.
One of the greatest reasons you need to understand and deal with tide heights is when you are anchoring. Anchor at high tide and you might find your self stuck tipped sideways on the ocean floor a few hours later. Anchor at low tide and with a lee shore and you might be blown onto the rocks when your anchor scope becomes less than sufficient to allow the anchor to hold.
Tides are also significant when dealing with bridges. Cleverly, charts list bridge heights as height above high tide not low tide.
There is some language around the practical application of tides that we now need to learn.
- Ebb tide: Water going down towards low tide
- Flood Tide: Water coming up towards high tide
- Slack Water: Times when the water movement due to tidal effects are minimal. Note that because of the time it takes for bays and estuaries to drain out, slack water is not necessarily at high tide and low tide. Consult current tables to learn slack water times.
- MHHW: Mean higher high water level. Average height of high tides at spring high tide
- MLLW: Mean Lower low water level. Average height of low tides at spring low tide
- Chart Datum: Reports of water depth on charts are taken at MLLW
- Bridge Heights: Reported on charts as the height above MHHW
- Tide Current: Flow of water due to tides
Below is a tidal prediction chart for a buoy position in La Jolla, San Diego, California. Note a few things: (1) The prediction is extremely close to the observed. (2) That it occurs twice per day – Semi diurnal (3) The heights are different with in the same day – Mixed Semidiurnal. (4) The low tide drops below the MLLW.
Tide Data in San Diego
Rather than carry around masses of graphs as above, convenient tide tables have been produced by the maritime agency in almost every country that borders an ocean. Visit you local chandlery and they’re bound to have a copy of the local tide table. Or search on the Internet. In the USA go to http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tidesXX – where XX represents the last two digits of the year you want to explore. Tide table are abundantly available to us.
So whenever we want to know the time and height of the tide we can just consult the tide tables. And from the above, we now know and are very confident that, they will give us a very accurate prediction. Tables are arranged to give us tidal heights and times at most well known ports called Reference Stations. Time and height adjustments are then provided to get predictions for lesser known ports that are called Subordinate Stations.
To predict your tidal information from written tables find the closest Reference Station, then make the time and height adjustment from that Reference Station to your closest Subordinate Station. Because of the power of computing, on the Internet, many Subordinate Station calculations are already done for you. In this case you can just look up the tide heights and times directly at your location. Most of us don’t carry Internet connected laptops on our boats so the ability to read and understand the table is paramount.
For example, from a table you might read the time and height of the low tide on the afternoon of January 15th 2010 in Los Angeles. But if you are further north in El Segundo in Santa Monica Bay, the tide will be slightly different. From the NASA developed tide map above you at least know that high tide will occur later because of the anticlockwise turn of the amphridomic point near Hawaii, but by how much time and by how much amplitude? Thus we consult an adjustment table.
Below is a typical tide table for Los Angeles. Click the image to go to this page on the tidesandcurrnet.nooa.gov website.
Tide in Los Angeles
You can read (probably with glasses) that the afternoon low tide occurs in Los Angeles port at 3:46pm and is 0.7 feet below the MLLW chart datum.
Correction tables will show that for the Subordinate Station of El Segundo, the correction from the Reference Station of Los Angeles will be to add 13 minutes for low tides and to add 13 minutes for high tides. And to multiply the low tide reported in Los Angels by 0.96 and the high tide by 0.96.
Correction of Tide for El Segundo
Thus the afternoon low tide in El Segundo will be at 3:59pm and will be 0.67 feet below MLLW.
The below table confirms that result. Click the image to go to this page on the tidesandcurrnet.nooa.gov website.
So there you have it. You completely understand tides and can now use the table to predict tide times and heights.
Of considerable further interest is the currents produced from tides. These must also be understood, especially as sailors, because in many cases your sailboat can not sail as fast as the tidal current. San Francisco Bay is a good example of this. Module 1 of the NauticEd Skipper Course (http://www.nauticed.org/courses/view/skipper) discusses Tidal Currents and their prediction.
This article was written by Grant Headifen, Educational Director of NauticEd. NauticEd is an online sailing school providing sailing courses and sailing certifications for beginner to advanced sailors.
For more info see http://www.nauticed.org
Posted by admin on June 22, 2010 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Sail Trim, Skipper |
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 down wind from the pressure of wind against our boat and sails. It results in a course that is less than desirable.
Leeway Slips Your Boat Side Ways Down Wind
Airplanes suffer from the same issue. When flying in a cross wind, the plane crabs (slide slips) downwind. The course becomes different from the heading.
Not accounting for leeway will have you sailing (or flying) in a fairly unnoticeable arc to get to the mark. To represent an example with a mark to the north and a westerly crosswind, here’s what happens; you aim for the mark at 000, your boat slips sideways to the west. Now your mark is at 359 but you don’t really notice it. After a few minutes your mark is at 358 still in noticed. Minutes later your heading is 355 then 350 etc. All because you keep aiming at the mark but you’re being pushed to the east by the wind. Your course over ground becomes an arc and is the long way around.
The prudent sailor will account for the leeway and sail a constant heading depending on their known leeway of say 350 for the example above. The sideways slip motion will deliver them to the mark in a straight and shortest line.
Now that we’re in the electronic age, navigators will plug in the destination to the gps. The autopilot which is cross talking to the gps takes care of the rest. The gps analyses the cross track (the boat’s distance away from a straight line to the mark) and feeds back to the autopilot the proper heading to minimize this in real time. Thus resulting in a straight course to the mark.
I’m doubt that during the Wednesday/Friday night beer can race such electronic methods are utilized. So I’m suggesting that to take line honors and win the bottle of rum at your club race by taking account of leeway.
Leeway is particularly more prevalent when you are sailing on a close haul or close reach and can be as much as 20 degrees depending on the wind conditions, water conditions, your sailboat design, your apparent angle with the wind and how your sails are set.
However, other than buying a new boat, the only thing that you have control over is the trim of your boat and sails.
Here’s a couple of general rules to follow:
- Over sheeted sails cause more sideways force and thus sideways slip (leeway). Fly the telltales diligently.
- Aim for a position to windward of the mark you’re trying to go around. The more you are sailing on an upwind course, the more the degrees upwind you should aim.
- The higher the wind speed, the higher above the mark you should aim.
- In general, on a close haul, allow 10-15 degrees. Adjust this less if the wind is light, more if the wind is strong. Reduce this amount linearly as you bare away from the wind.
When doing serious navigation we absolutely must account for leeway and an excellent understanding of how your boat performs leeway wise is essential and how to solve for it once you know it. NauticEd developed an educational navigation video solving a leeway and current exercise at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQcFOGSJQs
Using a gps and a nice steady windy day, you can do a simple determination of your sailboat’s typical leeway.
(1) Begin sailing on an angle slightly off a close haul direction and with a recognizable land marker dead ahead.
(2) Measure your speed
(3) Douse the sails and begin motoring at the same speed in exactly the same direction.
(4) Take note of your gps course.
(5) Deploy the sails and turn off the engine.
(6) Continue to aim for the same point on land.
(7) Now read out your gps course.
(8) The difference in course angles will be your leeway
(9) Repeat for different points of sail
(10) Repeat for the opposite tack.
(11) Repeat on different days with different wind strengths
Note that:
(a) this method is relatively immune from current because you have normalized it out by performing the motoring task.
(b) this method will not account for the leeway due to the hull of your boat presented to the wind.
We hope you enjoy your bottle of Rum!
Posted by Grant Headifen on May 15, 2010 under About NauticEd, Bareboat Charter, Celestial Navigation, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Maneuvering Under Power, Rules of Right of Way, Sail Trim, Skipper, Storm Tactics, weather |
This is day 4 of 6 in your introduction to NauticEd
Today we’re discussing the list of courses and clinics that NauticEd offers for your education.
One of the first course we believe that all sailors should complete no mater what their experience level is the FREE NauticEd Rules of Right of Way Clinic.
If you’re an experienced sailor you’ll see the value in a quick refresher course.
If you’re new to sailing then you’ll learn some vital nautical rules.
In either case – this course is free and thus you’ll be able to see how taking a NauticEd clinic and the associated test will work. This is a graphical and fun 20 minute course.
Take the Rules of Right of Way Clinic now!
For your convenience, we’ve created a chart of recommended courses depending on your skill level.
Go to http://www.nauticed.org/recommended_sailing_lessons
Ranks and courses
In email #2 we discussed the ranks Skipper, Bareboat Charter Master and Captain
Gaining the Skipper Rank
The first lessons to begin your sailing certification is the Skipper course and the Maneuvering Under Power clinic.;
The SKIPPER SAILING COURSE is a beginner to intermediate sailing course. It is a prerequisite to any certification and covers the fundamentals that every one must know. The total time needed to complete this course will be about 20 hours. Cost $67.00
The MANEUVERING UNDER POWER CLINIC: This is our most popular course. An absolutely essential maneuvering and docking course that will save you thousands in dents, bumps and scratches at the marina. Want to dock your boat like a pro every time? Want to impress? Take the most popular NauticEd Sailing School Course now. Estimated time: 3 hours total. Cost: $39.
Gaining the Bareboat Charter Master Rank
BAREBOAT CHARTER CLINIC: Taking a sailing vacation? All hands on deck – this is the yacht charter sailing course for you and ALL of your crew. Make your charter sailing trip more enjoyable by getting ALL the bareboat charter tips you’ll need. Estimated time: 5 hours total. Cost: $39.
COASTAL NAVIGATION CLINIC: Learn to navigate your sailboat. If you plan on sailing away from your home base or are taking a sailing vacation, you need this course. NauticEd Sailing School makes navigating a sailboat – a breeze. Estimated time: 10 hours total. Cost: $39.
Gaining the Captain’s Rank
WEATHER CLINIC: If you’re a real sailor then you need to understand and read the weather. It’s as simple as that! Written by the professionals at Clear Point Weather, this is the best weather sailing course available. Estimated time: 7 hours total. Cost: $39.
SAIL TRIM CLINIC: Learn the true art and finesse of trimming the sails. When to adjust the fairleads, the traveler, the downhaul, the outhaul, the Cunningham, the boom vang. When leaning to sail properly, you should know what all these fine adjustments do. Estimated time: 4 hours total. Cost: $39.
STORM TACTICS CLINIC: Even when day sailing, a storm can be upon us in minutes. Are you prepared with the knowledge now? This storm tactics sailing course will teach the essentials to keep you and your crew alive. Estimated time: 4 hours total. Cost: $39.
SAFETY AT SEA CLINIC: This course is still under construction by Captain Ed Mapes. Captain Mapes has logged tens of thousands of miles on the sailboats around the world. He knows how to be safe and is passing on his hard learned information to you. Coming soon.
In addition to the above courses and clinics, we offer the following:
CATAMARAN SAILING CONFIDENCE CLINIC: Converting over to a catamaran or chartering a catamaran for the first/second time? Learn the essential differences between sailing a monohull and a catamaran. This clinic will give you the confidence. It includes an interactive experiential online game to practice maneuvering in a marina. Estimated time: 3 hours total. Cost: $39.
INTRODUCTORY CELESTIAL NAVIGATION CLINIC: If you’re in any way intrigued with Celestial Navigation, this is the best and simplest celestial sailing course available. You’ll be able to do an actual noon shot and determine your position. Estimated time: 5 hours total. Cost: $39.
QUALIFIED CREW MEMBER COURSE: Learn to sail and contribute as a crew member on a modern cruising sailboat. Learn the lines, sailing terminology, sail trim and rules of the road. Estimated time: 7 hours total. Cost: $37.50.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss practical sailing schools and how you can get a verified proficiency stamp added to your sailing certificate.
Until then – fair winds,
Grant Headifen
Educational Director
NauticEd
Posted by Grant Headifen on May 10, 2010 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Sail Trim, Skipper, Storm Tactics |
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 major wind shift when sailing close to an island and … well… with the added distractions of being on a sailing vacation, an accidental gybe is probably going to happen.
Please teach your crew to only walk to the front of the boat on the boom side of the boat when sailing down wind. In this manner, the boom is only traveling at a bruising 20 miles per hour when slamming across instead of the fatal 100 miles per hour when it reaches the other side.
Could be dangerous
It’s particularly important to emphasize this when heading out on a bareboat charter vacation where you’re often taking along some land lubbers. So, NauticEd has put together a quick briefing list for the crew prior to departure which includes tips like this.
Download the PDF at the bottom of the page at http://www.nauticed.org/courses/view/bareboat-charter
Posted by Grant Headifen on April 7, 2010 under Coastal Navigation, Crew, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
Got a request from a student to point out more through out our courses the need to have on board emergency portable battery powered navigation lights in case of electrical failure – and we couldn’t agree more.
An acquaintance of mine was nearly run down by a high speed ferry in the middle of the night in the cold waters of the Solent in the south of England. He had an electrical fire and had to shut down the breakers AT NIGHT.
Emergency portable white, red and green navigation lights are an essential safety item needed on board. If you own a boat then these should be on and checked for operation before the next time you go out. If you don’t own a boat, forward this blog post to friends that do.
Portable Navigation Lights
They are relatively inexpensive and a quick search on Google for portable navigation light will locate them or just visit to your local chandlery who are more than likely to have them in stock. Some have suction mounts, some have c-clamps and some mount on the pulpit railing.
This is just one of those durh things that we all tend to not think about, but the chances of being hit at night with out lights WHEN you have a electrical failure are so high it’s a shudderer to contemplate the consequences.
Happy sailing!
Posted by Grant Headifen on February 8, 2010 under About NauticEd, Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Maneuvering Under Power, Skipper |
While I’m waiting for the America’s cup race to start and twittering the updates to the delayed start – I thought I’d add a blog update about our upcoming Tonga Sailing flotilla.
The site with all the details is at http://www.nauticed.org/postgraduatesailingflotilla
The dates will be August 30th to September 7th 2010.
Sailing in Tonga
Come join us in one of the most tropical sailing locations in the world. Only seven boats will be in the flotilla so contact NauticEd now at info@nauticed.org
Requirements are that the skipper must have reached the Bareboat Charter Master Rank – see the video about how to get to this rank at NauticEd Certification on youtube.
Essentially you must have passed the following sailing courses: Skipper, Maneuvering Under Power, Coastal Navigation, Bareboat Charter plus have documented a minimum of 50 qualifying days on a sailboat.
This will be one of the most fun sailing vacations you could have. We’ve got loads of fun activities planned every day including a mini regatta. Tonga is known for its whale watching, pure white sandy beaches, the friendliest people and tropical fruit like you’ve never tasted. Come on!
Posted by Grant Headifen on January 12, 2010 under Coastal Navigation, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
Along with NauticEd’s iphone app to help sailors keep their logbook current, we’ve discovered a new iphone app which helps sailors identify boats at night from their lights they exhibit. It serves as an excellent and handy vessel light identification chart for sailing at night.
Identify boats at night
The aqualights iphone app is very simple to use. It is in a one page presentation where you just click on the arrangement of vessel lights that you see at the top of the application and Aqua lights presents to you a visual arrangement from which you can select the best fit.
I see this as an excellent tool to use and have with you while sailing at night. No more diving down below to get out the light lookup tables and killing your night vision at the same time. Just pull out your iphone and tap.
NauticEd is not affiliated with Aqua lights. We just find it as a useful application. Visit their website at http://www.aquaous.com or see them on the itunes app store when you search for aqualights. Keep an eye on them as they are also coming out with one for sounds.
Posted by Grant Headifen on May 15, 2009 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
[Not a spelling mistake - Harbor in Australia, New Zealand, England etc is spelled Harbour, along with colour, neighbour etc]
Sailing in Sydney Harbour
Thanks go out to Matt Hayes with Sydney by Sail who provided a sailboat for my wife, 8 month old daughter and myself to have a grand sailing tour of the Sydney harbor this past week. Sydney by sail is a very successful charter fleet out of Darling harbour in downtown Sydney. Their specialty is corporate day charters and corporate regatta races, but they also charter out to individuals wanting to soak up the sites of Sydney from the water.
I think she
The experience of sailing on the Sydney Harbour is not to be missed by anyone. Sailing under the Sydney harbor bridge and then right past the Sydney Opera house is one of those events that everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. The Opera house deserves every bit of awe that has been bestowed upon it and throughout the harbour the familiar sight of the shell design of the opera house can be seen.
The grand Sydney Opera House. View from the water.
What we also where able to obtain on this 8-12 knot breeze and cloudless day was an extensive photo shoot of the ATONS (Aids to Navigation) used by the IALA-A system.
The International Association of Lighthouse Authorities– A system is used in all parts of the world except the American Continent and Japan who use the IALA-B system. Under the IALA-B system most are familiar with the phrase RED – RIGHT- RETURNING.
Well RED- RIGHT – RETURNING doesn’t apply in the IALA-A system. As one leaves Darling Harbour and begins to follow the channel out towards the sea Red ATONS are kept on the right and Green on the left. (Opposite of IALA-B). It’s not confusing, it’s just opposite, right? Or is it left?
Green on the left when going out of the harbour
We also photographed some stunning lighthouse ATONS seen here below. And we even saw two cardinal marks – one telling us to stay south of it and the other to stay west.
A south Cardinal mark. Stay south for safe water.
On top of all that was an excellent opportunity to photo the rich and perhaps famous homes right on the waters edge in the harbour.
The Sydney harbour side houses. Lovely!
These homes where magnificent. Many were obviously built in the 60’s and 70’s and most have been recently renovated. These homes command a stunning view of the happenings in the harbour.
Home views of Sydney Harbour. Want one?
Sydney harbour is a very busy harbour with ferry boats constantly crossing our paths. Cruise ships often visit and there is literally thousands of sailboats moored up in coves all over.
On a busy Friday afternnon, (as I experienced on my last sailing visit to Sydney a few years ago) you literally have to dodge other sailboats every couple of hundred feet. A friend once racing in the Harbour had 3 collisions on he same day. Here is a pic of even a seaplane taking off in the harbour. Do you remember who has right of way over a seaplane?
So you’ve got to have your wits about you and you’d better be versed up on lights and rules of right of way. See the FREE NauticEd rules of right of way clinic.
Thanks again Matt Hayes and Sydney by Sail for an excellent sailing experience on the Sydney Harbour.
Matt Hayes, Sydney by Sail and Grant Headifen, NauticEd
Posted by Grant Headifen on April 15, 2009 under Coastal Navigation |
Yesterday we launched our most requested clinic. Coastal Navigation! We’re very excited to have this course completed and up. It was written by our resident faculty member Captain Ed Mapes with Offshore Voyages. Ed has taught navigation courses with thousands of students on board his ocean learning passages.
The Coastal Sailing Navigation course incorporates most all the elements required by the United States Coast Guard Captain’s License Navigation section. Some of the topics covered are Coastal Sailing Navigation tricks and techniques using lines of position, gps, running fix, bearing fixes, true versus magnetic bearings, using navigation tools, calculate set and drift from tides and current, determine your heading with a known set and drift etc. In addition there is a review of the ATONs (aids to navigation) during the day and at night which was presented in the NauticEd skipper course.
The course is presented with lots of graphics and video’s explaining the navigation techniques from very basic terms to ensure everyone grasps the navigational concepts.
Watch a NauticEd Coastal Naviation video
If you’re taking your boat out beyond the harbor, then you’ll enjoy the NauticEd Coastal Navigation course.
