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 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 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 24, 2009 under Maneuvering Under Power, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
Sailboats are much more maneuverable than power boats – but don’t spread the word because all the powerboaters will run to their congressmen to get the rules of right of way changed. Currently power boats give way to sailboats and we want to keep it that way – right?
Now of course, just to clarify regarding the rules of right or way – when a sailboat has it’s engines on – it is classified as a powerboat.
This blog topic came up as I was teaching a practical session of the Maneuvering Under Power Clinic. The student was amazed at the turning radius of the Beneteau 373 “Siyagruva” that I was teaching on. We were following the curriculum laid out in the Maneuvering Under Power Clinic. One of the first maneuvers is to put the boat through it’s paces – wheel hard over to port and engine set high at 2500 rpm. The Beneteau instantly responds with an extremely tight turn to port and heel to starboard due to the centrifugal force and the rig aloft. Then hard over to starboard. The student could not believe how tight the turns were and the speed at which the boat reacted. We had picked a no wake marker buoy at the exit of the cove to do our maneuvers around. And of course being a sailboat we also produced – no wake. This was amazing to the student. We used the buoy marker to get a reference point to see the tight turn radius. We then did several figure 8s in forward and reverse.
The crux of the turning is that sailboats have a giant board under the water called the rudder. This board has soooo much area to it that the boat can’t help but submit to the forces imparted to it via the turned rudder. And especially when the propeller is shooting water over it. Conversely, power boats have very little rudder surface and rely on the speed of water from the prop over the small surface to provide the turning moment – or they turn the engine in the case of IPS’s or inboard/outboards or outboards. None of these can beat out the giant 4 foot (1.3m) long board of the rudder.
Maneuverability of a sailboat under power
Under sail, the effect is the same. A giant rudder under the water produces a huge turning force that can instantly turn the boat. Also remember that the force produced goes up with the square of the water velocity over the rudder. So at 4 knots you have 4 times the turning force at 2 knots or at 8 knots you have 16 times the turning force at two knots. This is almost by immaculate design because the faster you go the more damage you’ll cause if you hit something but at the same time you have the advantage of being able to turn faster.
And the cool thing is that us sailboaters hide this rudder below the water line where the power boaters can’t see it. So they still think that the right of way rules are fair because – we’re handicapped right? With only the wind to propel us. Poor sailors! Joking aside – the rules are just and fair as they are, but the point is that next time you’re out get a real feel for your boat’s maneuverability. Put her through the paces under power and sail – you’ll be thankful you understand your boats turning limits next time you need them.
And … the result of the teaching lesson with the student Patrick? Well he was backing the boat into the slip with a high cross wind with full confidence at the end of the lesson. Take the Maneuvering Under Power Clinic.
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 January 25, 2009 under Rules of Right of Way, Skipper |
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 some where – some time.
The rules of right of way can be a bit daunting so that’s why we created the FREE rules of right of way clinic for all. Below however, is a graphic that anyone can use for learning the ATONS (aids to navigation). But the point to be careful of is that for the America’s it’s backwards from the rest of the world or is the rest of the world backwards? I Guess it’s 250 million against the rest right? Actually a few more vote on the American side. Here’s the map.
IALA-B and IALA-A system for ATONS
The IALA-B system is used by North-Central and South America and Japan and Philippines. The rest of the world uses the IALA-A system.
IALA stands for the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities. There are just two systems IALA-A and IALA-B which operate in different parts of the world.This should be of particular note to those going chartering in various parts of the world. The essential difference is that the colors (colours) are swapped for entrances into harbors. The reason is said to be that the Americans during the war for independence wanted to confuse the British ships and so swapped the colors.
But you absolutely must learn these when learning to sail. But don’t worry they are easy. All you have to do is remember this “Red, Right, Returning” under the IALA-B system (North-central and South America and Japan and Philippines). That’s it! IE when you are returning from sea into the channel (or going upstream) keep the red markers on your right. In the case of the preferred channel take notice of what ever color is on top, that is, if red is on top then keep the marker on your right for the preferred channel. Red Right Returning! Right?
Confused? Well count yourself lucky living in today’s times – there used to be some 30+ systems until the IALA group was formed.
IALA-B and IALA-A system
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Posted by Brenton Lochridge on January 14, 2009 under Rules of Right of Way |
This was fantastic. As a sailing instructor and professional sailor, I would like to commend you. The lesson had a nice flow, the graphics are fantastic, and the exam is very user friendly – I love the instant feedback and progress bar. I did notice a few typos early on in the lesson that need editing, but overall, this was a very pleasant surprise. I am interested in learning more about how we might be able to adopt NauticEd into our “continueing ed” program at my Boston-based sailing school. www.BlackRockSailingSchool.com
Posted by jes1 on January 4, 2009 under Rules of Right of Way |
I just completed the Rules of Right of Way course as a refresher to the ASA courses that I completed years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that NauticEd doesn’t just list the rules and expect you to remember them. The illustrations help you visualize real-life scenarios where you’ll apply each rule and the plain-speak explanations walk you through the reasons for the rule. This time around I understand the rules AND the logic behind them. Now everything makes more sense and will be easier to remember. I’ll admit the word Test was intimidating up front, but by the time I got to that section I was feeling well prepared and the test was actually fun, especially the parts where you apply the rules in different scenarios. The reinforcement provided by the visuals really helped. Great job, NauticEd! I’m giving you all high marks. I’m looking forward to taking my next course.
Posted by admin on December 29, 2008 under Rules of Right of Way |
Since we have just launched this new FREE rules of right of way for sailing vessels course, this is the first blog. The free online sailing course has many visuals of right of way situations as depicted here. There is a lot of thought out there that sailboats have right of way when in actual fact there are many instances when they must give way. So hopefully this course can dispel those safety hazards in discussing the rules of the road for vessels. The free online sailing course for rules of right of way for sailboats is at http://www.nauticed.org/courses/view/rules-of-right-of-way
In this situation the blue boat must give way as it is on port whereas the red boat is on starboard.
