Category: Seamanship
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How Eric Tabarly drowned on his way to the Fife Regatta
A wild night and a kicking gaff caused the loss of France’s greatest sailor, on his way to the first Fife Regatta – in 1998 It’s 20 years ago since France’s greatest sailor Eric Tabarly… […]
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Leading Lights
Navigation Basics Many harbours have entrances which are difficult to find at night and leading lights are used as a way of helping sailors to find a clear channel into port. Leading lights, like their… […]
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Night sailing – a few tips
As the skipper of a boat it’s up to you to decide on safety matters for yourself and your crew. Thus many skippers insist on everyone on deck wearing harnesses, but some eschew them, saying… […]
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Shooting a bridge – Boating Skills
Shooting – dropping the mast without stopping – is the smart way to go through a bridge. By William Loram The bridges at Acle and Potter Heigham are the big obstacle parts of the Three… […]
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Sailing skills: launching and recovering the Jib
In our experience of teaching folks to sail, both on our own Traditional Boat Skills courses aboard Amelie Rose and through the RYA YachtmasterTM scheme we’ve come across many “methods” for doing everything from making… […]
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Using Wykeham Martin furling gear
The Wykeham Martin furling gear is often viewed as a tricky piece of kit, but there are ways to get the best out of it. To begin with put plenty of furling line… […]
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Making and throwing a heaving line
Dan Houston shows how to use a heaving line – and relays how to make a Monkey’s Fist or a quick knot to go on the end of it A typical heaving line is a… […]
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Navigation Basics: Course to Steer
You know what point to aim for, the wind is free so you can go straight there. Except that you need to take into account the speed and direction of the tide to determine your… […]
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Heaving the lead
As soon as a vessel came near land her crew would begin “sounding” the depth of water using a line marked with depths and a length of lead. The word sounding is dervived from the… […]
