Home ⁄ Sailing Tips ⁄ Page 2

Articles in the category "Sailing Tips"

View All Articles

Understanding a Lee Shore

Captain Cam Seamus from Harbor Sailboats in San Diego California shares a few tips about handling and understanding a Lee Shore. Understanding a lee shore, the possible consequences, and how to avoid them is a necessity for anyone, anywhere, who is behind the helm of a boat. It’s an important and yet often overlooked concept. In fact, as I started compiling my

Do You Use Your VHF Radio?

VHF radio is the primary means of urgent communication between boats, shore facilities, and emergency services. VHF Signals travel line-of-sight with typical ranges of 20 to 30 nautical miles. Recreational boats under 65 feet are not required to have a VHF radio but most sailboats and powerboats carry one aboard because of its simplicity, convenience, reliability, and, above all, it

Plastic-Free Provisioning

Over the years American Sailing has promoted our Plastic Pollution Purge campaign. We have asked our fellow sailors to “bring back more plastic than you take to your boat”, and to have fun practicing your crew overboard drills as you recover trash on the water. But to break the vicious cycle of plastic pollution in the water we must prevent

How A Boat Sails Upwind

A sailor’s life revolves around the wind. Its direction and its strength govern where he can sail, with what degree of difficulty or comfort, and how quickly. Naturally, the language of sailing reflects how sailors orient themselves and everything around them with reference to the wind. Upwind and Downwind The sailor’s world is roughly divided into two hemispheres: upwind and

Safety Equipment Required on a Boat

The USCG requires certain safety equipment on a boat and it is imperative that you make sure that your vessel is properly outfitted with this equipment. These minimum standards require U.S Coast Guard “approved” or “certified” equipment. This equipment includes: Life Jackets All recreational vessels must carry one wearable life jacket for each person on board. Any boat 16 feet

Planning a Daysail

As you embark on a daysail you might need a checklist of the things that you must have to make the day more enjoyable. First, you have the knowledge that you have already garnered from ASA 101, so you would have decided where to go, how to get there and when the optimal time to sail is. Sailing is about

Tips From 106: Handling An Emergency

Thes tips are excerpts from ASA Advanced Cruising & Seamanship book. The textbook is the official manual for ASA 106 Advanced Cruising. The textbook was produced as a collaboration between the American Sailing Association and North U. A central facet of risk management is prevention. As the old navy expression states so well, “The price of safety is eternal vigilance.”

ASA Way to Foretell a Lowering Sky

“When in evening, say ye, ‘Fair weather, for the heaven is red’. And if in morning, say, ‘Today will storm, for the sky is red and lowering’.” – The Book of Matthew 16:2-3 In late winter and spring precipitation begins its transition from snow to rain. As rain clouds form, they become thicker and lower in the sky, usually as

The Benefits Of Sailing For Kids

As a kid, I never sailed. I lived close enough to the ocean that people I knew would go there, but my working-class father never really saw it fit to head to the shore for a day at the beach. He certainly did not need to be on a boat. “I have legs that work perfectly fine on land. I

What to Expect When You Go Sailing With Friends

This Multi-Part Series will focus on what to expect when going out for a leisure sail with friends. This is different from what you might expect when taking your first sailing lesson or sailing with an instructor. Part #1 Getting To The Boat You arrive at the sailboat with excitement for your first day of sailing. You’ve listened to Jimmy

The Solo Sailing Vacation

Let me quickly explain, this is not about sailing single-handed across a large body of water. This is about venturing out alone and sailing with new people. It is about the solo traveler looking for some adventure and finding it while sailing. These days plenty of people are going at it alone and there is something to be said about

What Flag Are You Flying?

Do you know your code flags? International Nautical flags are used for communication at sea.

5 Spots To Use Your ASA 101 Certification

Not long ago I watched as a pair of newlyweds hired my 12-year-old to teach them how to sail. We were on vacation and my two boys had been zipping across the horizon for over an hour and as they sailed the Hobie Cat back onto the sand the newly married couple negotiated a chartered cruise right on the spot.

Captain’s Tip: Have You Checked Your Rigging?

Captain Dan Ryder of Sail Channel Islands shares a story with ASA about the importance of keeping your boat rigging in good shape. Captain Dan Ryder is one of our featured Instructors, you can read all about him here. https://asa.com/news/2019/03/25/dan-ryder-sail-channel-islands/ We had a bit of drama the other day when we picked up a distress call while we were

Are You A Cat Person

Why Sail a Catamaran? The wind was blowing well over 20 and the swells were coming across the beam both in rapid succession and with great fury. This was not a typical sail day. If I was sailing a monohull I would most likely be tied to the dock having a drink. Instead, the 48-foot catamaran eased across the space

Should ASA Instructors (and Skippers in General) Be Good Swimmers?

Should You Know How to Swim to Learn to Sail? For sailors who grew up perpetually wet from ages 5 to 25, having fun righting capsized dinghies, less fun while righting turtled ones, and trapeze sailing small boats competitively in school and college, this question might seem to be axiomatic. Yet, there have been some very accomplished sailing skippers who

Should You Be Sailing During The Coronavirus

Before you decide to go sailing you should check with your local county, city or municipality to understand what they are recommending.