Posted by Grant Headifen on July 13, 2010 under About NauticEd, Bareboat Charter, Crew, Skipper | 
Rolex Regatta St. Thomas
Join us on an 80 ft Maxi Yacht in the Rolex Regatta.
In the movie “Hunt for Red October” the XO came to Sean Connery and said: “Captain, it is time”. It was the time to make the decision to go for it – or not. And it is now one of those classic movie lines you just can’t forget.
Well everyone, that time for you is now!
Join us on Kialoa a 80 ft maxi yacht
NauticEd along with sailing adventure partner, Safe Passage Sailing, are chartering Kialoa V, an 80 ft (25m) Maxi yacht to participate in the Rolex Regatta (the “Crown Jewel of Caribbean Racing”) in St. Thomas in March next year.
On board will be world-class sailing and winning professionals Rich Stearns and Brian Thompson along with NauticEd’s Educational Director, Grant Headifen to lead us through the weeklong event and … hopefully win.
The event consists of 2 training and preparedness days followed by 3 race days out and around the various island of St. Thomas and St. Johns.
Because of the reasonably serious nature of operations on such a large yacht, we will be requiring a certain level of sailing experience to sail on this Maxi yacht so you’ll need to ensure you fill out your NauticEd Sailing logbook under your login account.
See our successful Antigua Sailing Week Video.
We have space for 10 more crewmembers only on this 80 ft yacht so in order to participate you must register your interest with us NOW. Accommodation in local rental Villas is available but these will disappear fast after that the hotels can get quite pricey so contact us now to get moving on this opportunity.
Accomodation can take place in several rental villas that we have identified – BUT … these will go fast so you really should contact us fast.
Send us an email to: info@nauticed.org / subject line: Rolex Regatta Interest
See our brochure on the Rolex Regatta which contains the itinerary, costs, professional hired crew resumes, etc.
Discounted rates for 4 or more so update your facebook page, send out a tweet and bring a few friends!
Back to NauticEd Sailing School
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 June 5, 2009 under Bareboat Charter, Crew, Sail Trim, Skipper |
In continuing our learn to sail series of blogs we discuss the annoying problem of autotacking.
Scenario – A gust of wind comes ripping through and causes the sailboat to round up and autotack or you’ve given the helm to a novice, they’re not paying attention and sail too close to the wind and they autotack. How annoying now you’re heading in a direction you don’t want to and have to re-tack the sailboat back. Worse yet – if you’re in a race you’ve probably lost 200 ft. And in other circumstances it can be dangerous because you have essentially lost control of the boat and especially if there is high traffic, you might tack right into another boat.
To explain, an autotack is the process when the sailboat tacks over with out your permission. Most often caused from a severe roundup.
Here’s a cool little trick whereby you can prevent most of them.
Once the sailboat’s center line has crossed the line between it and the point where the wind is coming from, your head sail is going to back wind and begin to really push your sailboat further around to the other side. Thus you now have a huge force at the front of the boat pushing it right around to the other side. Once this happens, it’s all over – you’re going to autotack.
Preventing an autotack of a sailboat
So … here is your prevention technique. As the boat comes up to the line of wind or even if it is through the line of wind, no problem, simply release the head sail sheet. This prevents the wind from back winding your head sail. Since all forces to round the boat up or to push the sailboat around to the other side have now disappeared, there is only one force left on the boat and that is your rudder going through the water. Since you have head way you can just steer the boat back to it’s original position. As the wind come back to the original side, just tighten up the head sail and go on your merry way.
Sounds all good in theory but does it really work? Yes as long as you are quick with the release, it works almost every time.
The NauticEd online sailing school is full of tips like this. And once you’ve registered for a sailing course you can always comeback to retake any sailing lesson with out cost. Learn to sail with 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.
Posted by Grant Headifen on March 3, 2009 under Bareboat Charter, Crew, Maneuvering Under Power, Skipper |
In the previous blog we dealt with end ties. Now we get onto the more common configurations of boats in a slip.
SLIPS
(5) Wind coming into the slip channel. Your boat is stern to.
Wind from behind
This is best handled by steering out of the slip and then immediately down wind. Back out of the slip channel and well into the main channel before engaging forward.
(6) Wind blowing into the slip channel. Your boat is bow to.
wind from behind
Simply back out of the slip into the slip channel and then into the main channel. You may need a bow line to the windward dock to prevent the bow blowing downwind as you engage reverse.
(7) Wind blowing out of the slip channel. Your boat is bow to.
wind from ahead
Back out into the wind and then engage forward. Watch for traffic as you enter the main channel.
(8) Wind blowing out of the slip channel and your boat is stern to.
wind from behind
Simply drive the boat out to the main channel.
(9) Wind blows across the docks and your boat is stern to.
wind from a beam
Again, simply drive the boat out to the main channel.
(10) Wind blows across the dock and your boat is bow to.
wind from abeam
Simply reverse the boat out of the slip, into the slip channel and then into the main channel. If the wind is light you may elect to turn the boat in the slip channel and come out in forward. However if the wind is strong, it’s safer to follow the above diagram.
Other wind/current configurations are solved using variations of the above techniques.
Other Considerations
Most wheels have a center marker such as decorative knot or tape that indicates the centered position.
Post a lookout to make certain there are no other boats either in front or to your sides that may pose a potential collision condition. Courtesy and patience are always signs of a skilled and thoughtful helms person.
Controlling departure speed is important, you must have enough speed to steer, but no more than necessary in case you need to stop and/or maneuver in order to negotiate a turn.
Once in an open area of water you can proceed to start, unfurling sails. See NauticEd’s Module 7 in the Skipper Course or Register for the Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power Clinic.
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Posted by Grant Headifen on December 15, 2008 under Sail Trim |
After a cold front came through last week we decided to go out sailing – hey it’s Texas we can still sail this time of the year. The wind was up 20-25 knots. The not so great thing about sailing on Lake Travis in Austin however is the high hills and valleys surrounding it tend to create pretty severe gusts. So when the wind is up that high, it’s pretty interesting sailing. But you can see the ripples from the gust across the water so you know when each gust is coming.
Knowing the wind speed from the anemometer we prepared the boat as we motored out of the harbor by reefing the sails. Turns out not enough however. When we go out to the main basin the boat would constantly round up in the winds. That’s pretty frustrating so we reefed again. But the trick is to know in the first place why the boat rounds up.
If you imagine a coke bottle in the water.
Representation of a sailboat in the water
The arrow represents the action of the wind pushing on the sailboat. You can see that the neck of the coke bottle will round up into the wind. Similarly on a sail boat. If the combined action of the wind is towards the rear of the boat then the boat will round up.
To lessen the effect – you simply move the combined action of the wind forward. Do this by reefing the main sail. You can effectively test this by releasing the mainsail sheet and the boom vang to spill the wind out of the sail.
So we reefed the main sail some more and then as a gust would approach we’d simply let out on the traveller to spill out wind from the main sheet. Then tighten it back up again as the gust passed.
We’re not sure if the boat that was in front of us was racing but they do say two sailboats heading in the same direction = a race. So in using this technique we quickly passed the other boat.
Hope that little tip helped. Contribute to this blog if you’ve got other trimming techniques.
