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Knots Made Easy

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Bowline - One of the most beautiful and useful sailing knots is the bowline, (pronounced "BO'lin"). The bowline forms a temporary eye, or loop, in the end of a line and is commonly used to attach a jib sheet to the clew of the jib.

Cleat Hitch - Every sailor needs to know the cleat hitch. It is essential for docking. Many do it incorrectly - watch this video and learn it the right way.

Clove Hitch - The Clove Hitch is usually employed for temporary needs. Using the Clove Hitch you can quickly tie a line to a pole, a ring, or the standing part of another line. It's secure, as long as it's under a constant load, but will work loose when subjected to on and off loads and can be difficult to untie under pressure.

Coiling A Line - Lines on a sailboat need to be kept neatly. Most lines that are not in active use are stowed in a neat coil, and active lines often need to be coiled as well. Check out this video to see how it's done!

Figure Eight - This knot is fun to tie and can save you a lot of hassle. It's commonly tied at the bitter end of halyards and sheets to prevent them from getting inadvertently pulled out of the block, fairleads, and jammers they've been led through.

Rolling Hitch - This valuable hitch can be used to tie a line to the standing part of another line or to a spar. It's especially useful when you need to transfer the load from one line to another - remember that winch override? It's similar to the clove hitch but with an extra turn on the side that's in the direction the load will be applied.

Round Turn Two Half Hitches - This may be the most underrated knot. It's fast to tie under load and applicable all around the boat. It's much more reliable and certainly easier to untie than its cousin the clove hitch. This knot is secure, does not allow the line to chafe, and is easily undone. Use this hitch to tie a dock line to a mooring.

Square Knot - The Square Knot, also called the Reef Knot, is well known to school children who have given up on trying to tie their shoe laces. On a boat it is used primarily for tying a rope to itself. Like when you are securing an item to the boat or a spar.

Fast Bowline -- If you want to impress your friends here's a trick for tying a quick bowline. With a bit of practice this method can be lightning fast.

Bite-Sized Lessons

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In this lesson we take a look at aids to navigation. We explain the basic rules and talk about their colors, shapes and numbers.

We know that learning to sail can be overwhelming and there is a lot to take in. In an effort to help we've created a series of "Bite Sized Lessons" taken straight out or our textbooks - Sailing Made Easy and Coastal Cruising Made Easy. In this lesson we take a look at anchoring and the meaning of the terms "rode" and "scope".

We know that learning to sail can be overwhelming and there is a lot to take in. In an effort to help we've created a series of "Bite Sized Lessons" taken straight out or our textbooks - Sailing Made Easy and Coastal Cruising Made Easy. In this lesson we take a look at common VHF channels and what they are used for.

We know that learning to sail can be overwhelming and there is a lot to take in. In an effort to help we've created a series of "Bite Sized Lessons" taken straight out or our textbooks - Sailing Made Easy and Coastal Cruising Made Easy. In this lesson we take a look at the effect of prop wash and prop walk when using the engine on a sailboat.

We know that learning to sail can be overwhelming and there is a lot to take in. In an effort to help we've created a series of "Bite Sized Lessons" taken straight out or our textbooks - Sailing Made Easy and Coastal Cruising Made Easy.

We know that learning to sail can be overwhelming and there is a lot to take in. In an effort to help we've created a series of "Bite Sized Lessons" taken straight out or our textbooks - Sailing Made Easy and Coastal Cruising Made Easy.

Veterans Program

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The ASA Certified Outbound Sailing School in Austin, TX is teaching veterans to sail. Spectrum News Austin has the full story and video...

Bill Brooker from the ASA Certified Sara Bay Sailing School in Sarasota, FL is teaching veterans to sail. WTSP has the full story and video...

Evan Macaluso from the ASA Certified SailTime Houston School is teaching veterans to sail. CW39 has the full story and video...

Learn more about ASA's Veterans Program with Bay Area Sailing School in Kemah, Texas thanks to the coverage from KRIV.

Learn more about ASA's Veteran Program with North Star Sailing Charters in Gulfport, Mississippi thanks to the coverage from WXXV.

Learn more about ASA's Veterans Program with Myrtle Beach Sailing School in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina thanks to the coverage from WMBF.

Sailing Made Easy

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Plastic Pollution Purge

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Over 81 million people have been exposed to ASA’s Plastic Pollution Purge Program. Never before have we had exposure on this scale. This is truly big! Huge even! Local news stations in the following cities have all produced pieces on the Plastic Pollution Purge Program, each one featuring an on-air local ASA Affiliate representative.

Augusta, GA | Boston, MA | Brunswick, GA | Charleston, SC | Charlotte, NC | Chicago, IL | Columbia, SC | Danbury, CT | Denver, CO | Detroit, MI | Naples/Ft. Myers, FL | Helena, MT | Jackson, MS | Jacksonville, FL | Little Rock, AR | Los Angeles, CA | Macon, GA | Milwaukee, WI | New York City, NY | Norwalk, CT | Phoenix, AZ | Reno, NV | Sacramento, CA | San Diego, CA | San Francisco, CA | St. Louis, MO | Tampa, FL | Washington, DC | Wheeling, WV

Clips of some of these new pieces are available to watch below.

KSDK (NBC 5) with Bob Weber from Odyssey Sailing School in St. Louis, Missouri

KPIX (CBS 5) with Leigh Hunt from Modern Sailing School in San Francisco, California

WLS (ABC 7) with Ryan Remsing from SailTime Chicago in Chicago, Illinois

WPIX (PIX 11) with Dave Jenkins from SOUL Sailing in Bronx, New York

WCBS (CBS 2) with Kate Smith from SOUL Sailing in Bronx, New York

WINK (CBS 11) with Chet Shubert from Gulf Coast Sailing in Charlotte Harbor, Florida

WACH (FOX 57) with Brian Adams from Lanier Sailing Academy at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina

KECI (NBC 13) with Genevieve Evans from Flathead Lake Sailing School in Dayton, Montana

KARK 4 with Roger Nesuda from Jolly Roger’s Marina in Roland, Arkansas

WJAX (CBS 47) with Don Stokes from The Sailboat Club in Jacksonville, Florida

KOLO (ABC 8) with Michelle Dawn from Sailing Ventures in Lake Tahoe, California

WRC (NBC 4) with Cameron Sarik from Northern Virginia Sailing School in Woodbridge, Virginia

06/21/2018 - KNXV (ABC 15) with Clint Sutter from Go Sail Arizona in Lake Pleasant, AZ

06/17/2018 - KMGH (ABC 7) with Jim Cook from Victoria Sailing School in Denver, CO

07/05/2018 - KTTV (FOX 11) with Elbert “Ash” Ashbaugh from the American Sailing Association

07/17/2018 - WDJT (CBS 58) with Brian Earl from Sea Safari Sailing School

WECT with Kevin Hennessey from Cape Fear Sailing Academy

WFTS-TV ABC Action News - Tampa Bay, FL

WFTX-TV Fox 4 - Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral And South West Florida

Docking Made Easy

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