Many new sailors ask us what “vang sheeting” means. More experienced sailors understand the term, but may not execute it well. We found a video from the International Sailing Academy (ISA) that illustrates the technique on the water. We highly…

We’ve had several newer sailors ask us about sailing by the lee. This is not a well-understood topic, especially for those that haven’t raced seriously in cat-rigged (single sail) boats. For this post, we collected the available wisdom on sailing…

Accelerating Check out this video on accelerating an Opti, with narration and overlays by Shirley Robertson – double Olympic gold medalist. Although this is shown in an Opti, the concepts apply to many other boats. See the links below for…

Here’s a well-done video from the International Sailing Academy showing the importance of shooting up to maintain your gap on the starting line.  This video shows the technique in Lasers, but is applicable to other small  boats. Starting: Shooting Up…

These two videos are about sailing in waves while either pinching or footing.  One would not ordinarily want to pinch in waves, but sometimes you may need to in order to hold a lane or to hedge toward an upcoming…

This video is a good reinforcement of the need to make constant sail trim adjustments and minimize steering.  Many sailors need constant reinforcement on these points.  This video suggests practicing at first by just adjusting your mainsheet without steering much.…