USEFUL SAILING HINTS, TIPS, METHODS, GADGETS & DODGES

These have been culled from various sources over many years and are listed here in no particular order and may prove useful to YOSC Members. Some are from that delightful old book "The Yachtsman's Weekend Book" by John Irving and Douglas Service, some from the Internet with kind permission from Lou Lancaster and others from miscellaneous sources including YOSC Members. I am sure that our Members will be able to add to these, so let me have them for inclusion in the next edition.

Take the waterline length in feet, double it and take the square root. The result will be the maximum hull speed in knots. E.g. Waterline length = 24ft 6in doubled to 49 - the square root is 7 . So maximum hull speed is 7 knots.

Another method reckons maximum hull speed in knots to be 1.6 times the square root of the waterline length in feet which gives a slightly higher figure. Stick to the lower one and you will be less likely to delude yourself about your speed.

According to YOSC Sailing Guru - Keith Watts, you should always try to make landfall on Starboard tack as the wind will free as you approach. I have tested this on several occasions and it seems to work - something to do with the wind sheer at the land/sea interface.

The distance in feet (between two marks on the vessel) times three and divided by five times the number of seconds (of floating object between marks) equals knots of speed. Best to use a small plastic bottle partly filled with water so that it just floats and attached to a small line for retrieval. Throw it forward and wait for it to come alongside the first mark, start stopwatch (or count one, one thousand..two, one thousand..) and turn off watch when object comes alongside second mark. The distance between objects should be as much as possible on any particular boat.

• When sailing to windward, either close reaching or tacking, try to put any tidal current on the lee bow. This is called "lee bowing the tide" and will get you to windward much more efficiently than will having the current on the weather hand. In other words, always try to have the current push you toward your course line.
• Fall off in the lulls and round up in the puffs is the golden rule of working to windward. I've heard that easing the main sheet and falling off to leeward is more efficient than rounding up or luffing in the puffs (try this out).
• Try the Uffa Fox jibing technique of sailing more and more by the lee until the boom blows over, the sail will be empty of wind and safer to jibe, then bring the boat back on course. Of course, both the boom vang and jibe preventer must be released before the maneuver.
• Black wool tell tales on both shrouds and mainsail are more visible than any other at night and in daylight there is never a problem anyway.

Give yourself searoom and wait to enter port after making a landfall if night has fallen or entering a strange harbour or port. Come in the daytime when all marks have been identified, try to have the sun behind you to prevent glare on the sea and to identify underwater objects. Don't relax at this point. Most shipwrecks are because of celebrating, sleeping and not keeping watch after the landfall.

Stream an anchor to maximum depth if you're alone and absolutely know you will fall asleep. Then the anchor will hopefully take a bite in the bottom when you drift toward that reef...it just might keep you off the hard bits.

Anne Hammick, RYA Ocean Yachtmaster who has crossed the Atlantic eight times, said in "Ocean Cruising on a Budget", "Remember that at no time during a sea crossing is a seaworthy yacht so vulnerable to human error as when the sharp bits are close by, so don't relax the watch system or be tempted to break out the bubbly until you are safely tied up".

Tristan Jones recommends leaving and entering port at right angles to the shore and get as much offing (sea room or distance from shore) as possible as soon as possible. Leave on an easterly course in the evening to have the sun at your stern. Enter on a westerly course at sunrise with the sun at your stern. Never enter at night.

Port bearings always decrease going in any direction. Starboard bearings always increase going in any direction. If you're taking an RDF reading off the starboard beam and it keeps decreasing..…then you're really aimed at a station on the port side and you're taking a back bearing off the null.

Sailing by oneself for longer than you can easily stay awake is bad seamanship. A proper watch cannot be kept and this alone is reason enough not to do it - also it's illegal! See International Rules for Prevention of Collision At Sea. Captain Bob Griffith on "Awahnee" said, "…but if you contemplate sailing alone, my advice is, don't. A single-handed voyage is often lonely and joyless; you will be without any reserve of ability, strength, or watchfulness. A single-hander must be ready to die, scared or not, each time he lays down his head to sleep. Self-steering rigs keep no lookout."

These are from "The Yachtsman's Weekend Book" by John Irving and Douglas Service. Although it was written in the Thirties when yachts were made of wood, sails of canvas and fittings of brass, the fundamental principles still hold good. Here are just a few snippets that have appealed to me:-

• The best cruising yacht is a conglomeration of compromise. So is cruising - and sailing, too.
• Four things shalt thou not see aboard a yacht for its comfort, a cow, a wheelbarrow, an umbrella and a naval officer.
• As to the size of a boat - some say there is no fixed rule but there is - a foot of waterline for every year of a man's age.
• If you already have got a boat and she seems to be almost what you want - keep her. There may be a better boat; there is certainly a worse one. Better a sea-cow you know than one you don't.

• The more gadgets you accumulate, the less sea-time you put in. The less gadgets you adopt the less there is to think about. And the less there is to think and worry about, the freer you are and the happier.
• The essentials of a good ship are a tight hull, good gear, a reliable engine and a sane cabin. As for the sane cabin: size doesn't matter, what does is a dry bunk and a tight deckhead.

• The golden rule when buying a boat is the same as for anything else - caveat emptor. Always get a second, if not a surveyor's opinion before purchasing.
• Beware of the seller who shuns a survey: it may be pride - and it may not. When buying: trust all men, yea, even princes - and cut the cards yourself.
• Don't try to varnish after tea - unless you want a milk-white bloom over-all.
• Nothing causes ropes' ends to unwhip and unlay themselves so miraculously as a spell of wind and sea. Whip all ends twice: at the end with a sailmaker's whipping and six inches from the end with an ordinary whipping.
• Remember always that the modern cruising yacht will stand far more weather than her crew can drive her through. But only if hull fabric, gear and equipment are sound and efficient to the last splice, to the last fastening, to the last coat of varnish.
• In general, when preparing for the cruise, hope for the best and be ready for the worst - and then, probably there will be no worst.
• Don't live on cold food all the time - you can do that anywhere, why come to sea to do it. When the weather sets in cold and wet, and the glass is on the downward run, nothing is more valuable than hot food and drink. And plenty of it.
• When the day planned for the start arrives - START, even if you have to put back again. The ice must be broken. Nelson said, "Harbour rots good ships and good men."
• Don't be deterred by the wind in the harbour. It is seldom as bad outside as it sounds inside, and often there is a slant in the offing. At least go out and look at it.
• Never put a chart away with day's pencilled courses left on its fair surface. The record of one's "tryings" is often as sad as the counterfoils of youthful indiscretion.
• Chain up at least one pencil in a ship. And a sealed box of matches.
• When in doubt reef - it is easier to shake a reef out than to put one in a hurry.
• If you should happen to sight another craft apparently pointing higher than your own - let it. You are not sailing her, you have your own ship to look after.
• The safest rule for work in fog is to get out of the way of the big ships by manoevering into water which is too shallow for them.
• In a happy ship the Master is Master not so much by the Grace of God but by the Grace of the Master. Confidence in himself is the key to his success, for thereby he imparts confidence in the rest of the company.
• There were Three Graces and Three Muses - and there were Three L's for the Offshore Sailor. Lead, Log and Look-out. These still hold good and, in addition, the small ship man must have Three C's - Chart, Compass and Confidence. And the greatest of these is Confidence.

Last update 30 June 2002