How to Tie a Figure Eight Knot
The figure eight knot is a simple knot that is easy to tie. It’s incredibly useful at the same time. This is a knot that I use to prevent losing the end of halyards ort other lines through blocks or clutches. I also use it to tie my harness on when I go up the mast. But then, I trace the tail back through a second time. I’m going to show you the simple figure eight here. If you want […]
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How to Tie a Bowline
The bowline is one of the most used knots in the time I’ve spent on the water. On many racing boats, it is ued to attach halyards (the lines that raise the sail) and sheets (the lines that trim the sails) to the sails. Often, it’s just assumed the people know how to tie this knot (read as – tie it quickly and confidently in a fast moving race situation). When I started racing, I had tied bowlines many times – […]
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Watch Your Hands! …Winch & Line Control
One of the first things I was taught when I stepped onto a race boat was to protect my hands — especially when trimming sails and working around winches. From my experience, effective trimming and sail control is dependent on knowing how to quickly and strongly handle the lines and winches. The picture below shows a sailor getting leverage by standing over a winch. Trimming Sails at Winch I’m a 5’6″ tall sailor with pretty wimpy arms. However, one of the […]
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Points of Sail
If you’re new to sailing, some of the words used to describe wind can be a bit confusing at first. Hopefully, this will help. True Wind – This is just what it sounds like. True wind is the actual wind in the direction that it is coming from. Apparent Wind — This is the wind that’s apparent to you. It’s the combination of the true wind with the boat’s velocity. That results in what the wind feels like on […]
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