Jibing can be easy, can be dangerous!

Tacking heads you into the wind, jibing turns you away from it. To Jibe, you bear away from the wind until the stern of the boat passes through the wind. Now the wind has passes from one side of the boat to the other. The challenge is that your sails are full when you jibe! Can this be dangerous? You bet!

Small boats have small sails and they don't hold much wind. Large boat's sails hold a tremendous amount of wind. It is not wise to jibe boats 35 feet and larger unless there is very little wind. When sailing downwind an 'accidental jibe' can be very dangerous. All of a sudden the boom swings across the wind resulting in a loud bang, perhaps breaking some rigging, or breaking someone's head that just happened to be standing in the way of the boom.

It is wise to practice jibing everytime you get the chance so you are familiar with the procedure. Come and take our sailing classes and learn to jibe!

www.sailnw.com/school.html

Let's talk about tacking and jibing! 'Tack' comes from the Old Spanish taco, meaning 'plug'. In olden days the windward corner of a course or square sail was also called the tack. When a shop passed through the wind she was changing tacks.

Nowdays, tack describes a boat's relatinship to the wind. When wind comes over the starboard side of your sailboat, you are on a starboard tack. When the wind comes over the port side of the boat you are on a port tack.

Tacking describes the act of tacking or 'coming about', by making your boat's bow go from one side of the wind to the other side.

The forward corner of the sail where it is attached to a stable fitting is called the tack. It is tacked down to a permanent position.

Jibing... next blog!

www.sailnw.com/school.html

Getting ready for a new season! I am excited to teach all the new classes and there are a lot signed up for the coming year. Captain Nate and I will be getting sailing students up to speed so they can learn to be 'captain's of their own ships'. Yippee! If you have always wanted to learn to sail, come and join us!
www.sailnw.com/school.html

Look What We Learned!

The following was written to us by a couple that took one of our private couples ASA classes this summer. It is always fun to hear sailing adventures from our students. This was written after they saw photos of our class boat's keel damage after a class hit the rocks.

"Was so sorry to see the photos of Spotlight Gal, and hear of her mishap.  Will she be okay to sail for next season?  Your advice about depth finder, GPS and charts is sound - and we've decided to use Navionics for next sailing season. On our anniversary, we got ourselves a chart book and tools. Been enjoying learning how that works.

We took Strathspey out of moorage for the winter today - got in one last sail before she sits on the trailer all winter. We hope to do lots more cruising in her next year; glad for the opportunity to learn from you guys - we're better, safer sailors, and I am much less of a chicken because I understand all the factors better.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks again, and hope Spotlight Gal will come through okay - we enjoyed our time on her a lot!"

 

BTW... Spotlight Gal is fixed good as new and aback in the water!

Baby Orcas join our crewed charter!

Have you ever wanted to go sailing but don't know how to sail? Come and share in the fun aboard Hopscotch, our 50' Beneteau as we sail through the beautiful San Juan Islands. Sea life abounds, you may catch a glimpse of the majestic eagles, share in the romp of the Orcas at play, or watch the curious seals follow us. Enjoy great food and fun co-captains, Judy and Griff.

http://www.sailnw.com/crewedvacation.html

Join us for a fun filled week aboard Hopscotch!

Have you ever wanted to go sailing but don't know how to sail? Come and share in the fun aboard Hopscotch, our 50' Beneteau as we sail through the beautiful San Juan Islands. Sea life abounds, you may catch a glimpse of the majestic eagles, share in the romp of the Orcas at play, or watch the curious seals follow us. Enjoy great food and fun co-captains, Judy and Griff.

CHEERS from crewed charter guests

http://www.sailnw.com/crewedvacation.html

How Did You Start Sailing?

I am asked this question over and over and it is good one. How many sailors can say that one of their kids got them into it? Usually it is Mom an Dad that get you into sailing lessons and you go from there. Well, my oldest son Bill, took me for a sail from Seattle to Victoria, BC on his new 40' sailboat. He taught me how to read a chart and how to do dead reckoning while we were underway. I loved learning some navigation and have never forgotten it. We sailed all night with the tide and arrived at our destination early in the morning to the dawn of a beautiful day in a very charming city. I had so much fun that I joined a sailing club and my sailing life has grown from that first experience to achieving my sailing instructor certification and a USCG Masters license. It goes to show that what we make out of life starts with baby steps!