If you didn’t grow up sailing, how long did it take you to figure out what sailors mean when they say “put the bow down?” After hearing from newer sailors that the language of racing is hard to decipher, we…
Sailing Fundamentals
This category includes information about sailing fundamentals, including sailing theory, basic sailing skills, boat types, sailing terms, boat handling, rigging, launching, boat care & maintenance, mooring, anchoring, and trailering.
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Here’s a tip for newer sailors planning to moor a boat or tow a boat on the water. To prevent broken shrouds or forestays, you need to stabilize the rig. Take this simple precaution to save wear and tear. Why…
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In this post, we’ll define leeway, show you how to become aware of your boat’s leeway, and share tips on how to improve your upwind performance by managing and minimizing leeway. You can watch the video or read the summary…
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In this post we introduce the topic of mechanical advantage in sailboats. We’ll show how to determine the mechanical advantage of a block and tackle system and give examples for some of the scow classes. Humans have used pulleys and…
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What are you doing to prep for the season? An easy performance improvement, especially for your mainsheet, is to clean your pulleys. Over the course of a season, lots of dust, dirt, road debris, and who knows what else can…
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In this post we discuss Velocity Made Good or VMG. Many newer sailors are not familiar with this important concept, so we’ll discuss the definition and show some examples. Then we’ll discuss how to use the concept of target boat…
