Sailing For Dummies

Buoy your sailing knowhow with advice from two US sailing champions

Nothing can beat the feel of the warm sun on your back, the gentle wind in your hair, and a swaying deck under your feet. If you long to take to the open water and sail wherever the wind takes you, you’ll find everything you need to know in Sailing For Dummies. This friendly guide offers information for beginning and intermediate captains. Discover everything you need to know to confidently navigate your vessel through whatever waters—rough or smooth—you may encounter. Whether your goal is to explore a nearby lake, sail down the Mighty Mississippi, or take to the open sea, Sailing For Dummies explains how to launch your vessel, tie knots, turn sails, read the water, and more.

• Figure out how to work with the wind using sails to reach your destination
• Find out how the latest technology makes sailing easier and more enjoyable
• Master the essential skills of docking, tying knots, and dropping anchor
• Learn how to read the wind, sea, and sky to know what the weather is up to
• Choose the boat that’s right for you, complete with bells and whistles
• Discover the basics of windsurfing and kiteboarding
• Satisfy your need to go farther and faster in your craft
• Know how to sail safely in tricky situations

Whether you’re dipping your toe in the water or knee deep in your pursuit of sailing excellence, this reference will come in handy as you set your sights on sailing. After spending some time with Sailing For Dummies—and even more time on the water—you’ll know the ropes!

JJ Fetter is a two-time Olympic medalist (1992 & 2000) and multiple world and national champion in sailing. She has been inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame and is a four-time U.S. Sailing Yachtswoman of the Year.

Peter Isler is a world-renowned sailor, sports commentator, and writer. He has sailed and won races all over the world and continues to enjoy sharing his knowledge of this diverse sport.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Before You Get Your Feet Wet 5

Chapter 1: Ready, Set, Go: Time to Start Sailing 7

What You Need to Start Sailing 8

Taking lessons 8

Location, location, location 9

Feeling the wind 9

Considering safety 10

Looking at a Sailboat 10

All sailboats have a hull 10

All sailboats have an underwater fin 12

All sailboats have a mast 14

All sailboats have sails 16

All sailboats have lots of rope 16

Tackling Some Basic Sailing Maneuvers 17

Coasting to a stop 18

Sailing into the wind 18

Chapter 2: Where You Can Learn: Classes and Sailing Schools 21

Resources for Learning 22

What Kind of Boat You Should Learn On 22

Dinghies 23

Keelboats 24

Keeping It Easy the First Time 26

Choosing a Sailing School 27

Exploring your options 27

Taking lessons while on vacation 28

Looking outside the United States 29

Interviewing a potential school 29

Finding the right sailing instructor 30

Picking a sailing school for the kids 31

Practicing: The More, the Better 32

Taking Advanced Classes 33

Chapter 3: Planning Ahead: What to Wear and What to Bring 35

Staying Safe with Life Jackets 36

Choosing the right jacket 36

Using life jackets correctly 37

Children and life jackets 38

Staying Warm + Dry = Having Fun 38

Sizing up your sailing wardrobe 38

Layering 39

Staying dry on top 40

Preparing Yourself for Getting Wet 40

Choosing Foul-Weather Gear 41

Picking the Right Shoes 42

Packing What You Need 42

Knowing what to leave on shore 43

Stowing your stuff 43

Checking Your Safety List 44

Chapter 4: Before You Leave the Dock 47

Dissecting a Sailboat: This Part and That Part 48

Climbing Aboard 51

Climbing aboard a dinghy 51

Climbing onto a keelboat 52

Rigging the Boat 53

Preparing the sails 53

Double-checking before hoisting the sails 61

Raising the Sails 62

Hoisting the mainsail 62

Hoisting the jib 66

Cleaning up all that rope 67

Sitting at the Dock on the Bay 69

Steering (And Riding in) the Boat 69

Tiller or wheel? 69

Knowing where to sit when you drive 71

Knowing where the crew should sit 72

Avoiding danger areas 72

Avoiding Collisions: Rules of the Road 73

Part 2: Casting Off and Sailing Away 75

Chapter 5: Going Sailing: Just the Basics, Please 77

Finding the Wind’s Direction 78

Feeling the wind 78

Using other clues to find the wind 79

Identifying the Points of Sail 79

More about that darn no-sail zone 80

Sailing in the zone 82

Pointing Out the Basic Sailing Terms 87

Heading up and bearing away 88

Port and starboard tack 88

Windward and leeward 89

Making the Basic Sailing Maneuvers 90

Tacking: Turning toward the wind 90

Ironing out those irons 92

Jibing: Turning away from the wind 94

Pulling In Lines 97

Using blocks 98

Using winches 100

Chapter 6: Leaving the Dock (And Coming Back) 105

Leaving the Mooring or Dock 106

Using an engine 106

Leaving the mooring under sail 106

Leaving the dock under sail 107

Getting Back to the Dock or Mooring 109

Coming back to the mooring 110

Coming back to the dock 111

Docking under power 112

Docking between pilings 113

Throwing a Line 114

Tying Up a Boat: Leaving It Secure 115

Spring lines 115

Watch out for that tide! 116

Getting Your Boat into the Water 116

Launching a trailerable sailboat 117

Launching without a trailer 120

Sliding a dinghy off a dock 121

Starting from the beach 122

Returning to the beach 123

Putting up a mast 124

Chapter 7: Safety: One Hand for the Boat, One Hand for Yourself 127

Preparing for Heavy Weather 128

Preparing for a blow 128

Preparing when you’re already at sea 129

Reducing your sail power 132

Recovering from a Capsize on a Dinghy 138

The anatomy of a capsize 138

Righting the boat 139

Rescuing a swamped dinghy 141

Rescuing a Man Overboard 143

Step 1: Alert everyone, and keep the swimmer in sight 143

Step 2: Throw stuff that floats to the swimmer 144

Step 3: Slow the boat 144

Step 4: Get the swimmer back on board 147

Staying Calm If You Fall Overboard 148

Conserve energy 148

Maximize buoyancy 149

Conserve body heat 149

Make yourself visible 150

Catching a Tow 150

Communicating and Calling for Help 151

Using your VHF radio 152

Using the VHF radio in emergencies 153

Using satellite communications 154

Chapter 8: All about Weather: Red Sky at Night 157

Figuring Out How Windy It Is 158

The small picture (using your eyes) 160

More than cloud gazing 161

Getting the Scoop on the Weather 161

The big picture 162

The human touch 163

Official marine forecasts 163

Observations 163

The digital domain 164

Whither the Weather 166

The big picture: Temperature and pressure differences 166

Low-pressure areas and fronts 168

Squalls 169

Facing Up to Fog 171

Going with the Tide and the Current 171

Understanding Sea Breezes 173

Recognizing Wind Shifts 174

Using Your Weather Knowledge 175

Chapter 9: Navigation: Holding Your Course 177

Using Common-Sense Navigation 178

Judging laylines 179

Holding a steady course 179

Avoiding shallow water 180

Relying on Buoys: Aids to Navigation 181

Knowing your colors 182

Identifying the types of buoys 183

Nautical Charts: A Sailor’s Road Map 184

Lining up your latitudes and longitudes 185

Deciphering a chart 186

Measuring the course and distance of a route 189

Using a Compass 190

Accounting for deviation 190

Reading a compass 191

Steering a compass course 191

Basic Navigation: Piloting 192

Using a speedometer and a depth sounder 192

Taking a bearing 193

Fixing your position without a navigation app 195

Dead reckoning 195

Figuring in current and leeway 196

Keeping a log 197

Special Piloting Techniques 198

Danger bearing 198

Distance off 198

Navigating in Fog or Reduced Visibility 200

Navigating at Night 201

Lighting up the nighttime sky 201

Recognizing other boats at night 202

Electronic Navigation: GPS, Navigation Apps, and Chart Plotters 203

How accurate is GPS? 203

Getting the most out of your navigation app 203

Wishing on a Star: Celestial Navigation 206

Chapter 10: Anchors Away: Anchoring Your Boat 209

Looking at a Basic Anchor 210

Adding chain: Why it helps 211

Getting the scoop on scope 211

Picking a Good Place to Anchor 212

Finding the lee 213

Avoiding underwater hazards 213

Keeping an eye on depth and current 214

Staying away from crowds 215

Getting Ready to Anchor 215

Dropping the Anchor 217

Digging In for a While 218

Retrieving Your Anchor 220

Anchoring under Sail 221

Tackling Anchoring Problems 222

Choosing the Right Anchor 224

What Size is your anchor? 225

Securing the anchor and rode 225

Choosing chain 226

Choosing the right anchor line 226

Maintaining the anchor and rode 227

Anchoring with all chain 227

Looking at Advanced Techniques 228

Doubling up: Two anchors 228

Doing it Mediterranean style 229

Part 3: Sailing Fast: Taking Your Sailing to the Next Level 231

Chapter 11: The Need for Speed: Sailing Fast 233

Understanding Apparent Wind 234

Sailing Faster: Go-Fast Tips 235

Steering Faster: Driving Tips 236

Sailing Flat Is Fast: Ease, Hike, and Trim 239

Hiking out 239

Trapezing for speed 240

Positioning for Proper Fore-and-Aft Trim 242

Rockin’ and Rollin’ the Boat 242

Roll tack 243

Roll jibe 245

S-turning in heavy air 245

You’ve gotta rock it 246

Planing and Surfing the Waves 247

Sailing on a Catamaran 249

Making your own wind 249

Flying a hull 250

Trimming your fully battened sails 251

Tacking made easy 251

Recovering from a capsize 252

Foiling above the Water 253

Chapter 12: Trimming Your Sails for Speed 255

When in Doubt, Let It Out 256

Relying on Telltales 257

Shaping Your Sails 258

Pull That Line — No, THAT Line 260

Powering Up Your Sails 262

Controlling the power 263

Reducing the power 264

Trimming the jib 265

Sailing Fast Downwind 266

Setting a symmetrical spinnaker 267

Setting an asymmetrical spinnaker 276

Losing Control in Strong Winds 277

Rounding up 277

Rounding down 278

Chapter 13: Kiteboarding and Windsurfing 279

Swimming, Anyone? 280

Parts are parts 282

The ideal setup 285

Kiteboarding 285

Rigging up 286

Making a not-so-dry run 287

Getting your feet (and the rest of you) wet 288

Changing direction and going upwind 289

Transitioning or tacking/gybing 290

Windsurfing 290

Rigging up 291

Getting used to the board 291

Getting used to the sail 291

Getting your feet (and the rest of you) wet 292

Steering the board 294

Tacking 295

Sailing downwind 296

Jibing 297

Keeping in balance 297

Kiteboarding and Windsurfing Safely 298

Chapter 14: Racing Sailboats: Going for the Gold 299

Winning the Top Trophies in Sailing 300

The America’s Cup 300

The Olympics 301

Racing Sailboats All Over the World 302

Fleet racing: All together now 303

Distance racing: Point to point 304

Understanding a Sailboat Race 305

Preparing the boat 305

Preparing the crew 305

Entering the race 305

Getting a good start 307

Against the wind: The first leg 308

Around the mark 308

With the wind: The downwind leg 308

The finish gun 309

Knowing the Rules of the Game 309

How to Win — or at Least Get Started 311

Part 4: Sailing Away for a Year and a Day 313

Chapter 15: Encountering Sailing Emergencies (And Handling Them) 315

Running Aground 316

Prevent those groundings 316

When you go aground 317

Jury-Rigging Out of a Bind 320

Overcoming Sail Problems 321

Furling blues 322

Trouble getting your sail down 322

Fouling the Prop 323

Surviving a Storm 324

Wearing a safety harness 325

Heaving-to and running before it 326

Avoiding thunder and lightning 327

Breaking the Mast 328

Halting Hull Damage 329

Abandoning Ship 331

Chapter 16: Caring for Your Craft 333

Rapping about Running Rigging 334

A few lines about line 334

Sailing gear 337

Inspecting the Mast 340

Maintaining Your Sails 342

Folding sails 342

Storing sails 344

Caring for your sails 344

Caring for the Hull 345

Looking Under Your Boat 346

Keeping an Eye on the Engine 347

Using the engine 347

Caring for the engine 348

Leaving Your Boat 348

Short-term 349

Long-term 349

Chapter 17: Cruising with Children 351

Preparing Your Family Crew 352

Picking the Right Boat and Trip 352

Choosing a keelboat 352

Selecting a dinghy 354

Practicing Safety on the Water 354

Wearing the right life jackets and safety harnesses 355

Keeping tabs on the kids 355

Childproofing a cruising boat 356

Enjoying a Longer Trip 357

Having Fun at Anchor 357

Earning the right to go on their own 357

Packing the right gear for a fun day on the water 358

Chapter 18: Chartering: Changes in Latitude 359

What to Expect When You Charter a Boat 360

Going bareboat cruising 360

Cruising with a skipper 363

Important Chartering Skills 364

Using Your Dinghy 365

Eyeing Popular Cruising Grounds 366

Part 5: The Part of Tens 369

Chapter 19: Ten Nautical Knots and How to Tie Them 371

Overhand Knot 372

Figure-Eight Knot 372

Bowline Knot 373

Square Knot 374

Cleat Knot 375

Two Half Hitches 376

Clove Hitch 377

Fisherman’s Bend 377

Rolling Hitch 378

Trucker’s Hitch 379

Chapter 20: Ten Questions to Ask Yourself When Buying a Sailboat 381

What Do You Plan to Use the Boat For? 382

Who Do You Want to Bring Along? 382

Where Do You Plan to Use the Boat? 382

Where Should You Buy a Boat? 383

Where Do You Plan to Keep the Boat? 384

How Much Can You Afford to Spend? 384

Are You Getting a Good Value? 385

Is the Boat Seaworthy? 386

What Equipment Do You Need? 386

What Kind of Keelboat Do You Want? 386

Part 6: Appendixes 389

Appendix A: Glossary 391

Appendix B: First Aid Afloat 399

Index 405

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