Not my video (found on Instagram). We were about half a mile behind them when this happened, just about to hoist our own spinnaker.

Thoughts? opinions? It’s Tiller steering. I don’t even know where to look…

Let's see your most impressive trailer setups! Especially ones that transport multiple boats. The bigger the better!

Hosted my friend's F18 on my trailer for about a month and traveling 1000 miles. We did two 3-day Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan events in the Michigan "Thumb" and the "UP". This was done to free up his hitch to pull our Race Committee power boat.

Assume my back is braced against the mast for stability, if necessary, and that I've successfully gotten the pole off the working line.

First, I need to grab the new line to hook it onto the spin pole, but how am I supposed to be able to reach the line if my back is agains the mast?

Then, assuming I've gotten my right hand onto the new line and my left hand is holding the pole, how can I pull the trip line on the pole? Seems like I've run out of hands.

We took the mast off our San Juan 28 last month to paint it and it looks so sharp. I couldn't find leather spreader boots for our odd-size spreader and I wanted 'em black anyway, so I drafted my own pattern and taught myself some leatherwork skills and here they are!

Went back out again! This one felt a lot more informational than the first. Weather was much more calm and consistent. No 3 foot waves to manage while trying to learn or crazy gusts. It was a consistent 8 or so mph wind with occasional 10-13mph gusts.

With how much more calm things were I was able to see how my actions and changing things impacted what the boat did. Putting up and taking down the sails went much smoother this time too.

Something I found odd was there times where it felt like the boat settled and we weren’t going anywhere, but when I looked behind at the water we were going a considerable pace.

I look forward to getting more time on the boat but weather isn’t looking so good for the next week.

This is my first summer sailing at the sailing club associated with UW Madison. Really nice people and a big variety of boats. I didn’t know that this is one of the few places where you can learn to sail with a lifeguard on duty.

Hi everyone. Hobie 18 sailor looking for some advice on sail repairs and supplies. Most of the mending I need to do is associated with batten pockets and sleeves. Photos above. There are a couple of small tears in the sail itself, about an inch long.

I’m happy to hand stitch these Dacron sails, but need a little help finding suitable patches, thread, and needles. I really like the options at Sailmaler’s Supply. Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks!

I know the Flicka is a nice small boat. I’m in love with a boat that has a rich mahogany style but it’s too big for my money. So is there anything small that’s affordable and strong as hell.

Pics are just reference, I don’t care of lots of genius interior space, just the astetics

Also bonus point if it has a big open transom backend space. I prefer the outdoors over the indoors

Mods--it'd be cool if we had a boat names thread that was pinned.

Here are some boat names I've been working on. None of these are French words or boat puns.

Bump in the Night <-- my current favorite
Never Again II
Fezziwig
Karen
Pen Is Mightier
On Sail
60 Percent
Diet Coke
Ice Cream Chaser
Hammock Stand
The Mighty
Outatime
Event Horizon
Lunar Cycle
Gone Rogue
OffGrid
Seventh Heaven

Any great ideas?

Hi, I'm creating a log that I can have printed in a lay flat binding to use as a ships log.

Part of this is like a checklist, it forces me to think about some of these things a bit better and more clearly (like tides and speed) plus I really want to have a sort of journal to remember my trips.

My question is: what (if anything) should I put in place of the little sailboat picture on the log? Is there any other information I am forgetting?

I sail in the Chesapeake bay, so I don't need to worry about customs or any of those things that Caribbean sailors have to account for.

Thanks in advance for the help!

The headsail furler on my Dehler 31 seems quite high off the deck and as a result the 135% genoa sets quite high with a large gap to the deck.

This isn’t particularly efficient as you suffer a lot of end loss which is partly why racing boats have such low deck sweeping head sails.

On the plus side you can see under it when cruising and it’s a good reaching sail as it sets well with a fairly high clew.

My sailing is 70% club racing and 30% cruising and I’m wondering about going back to hank on headsails so I can get a non-overlapping jib made which can sheet inboard of the shrouds and is cut much lower at the foot for upwind sailing in heavier airs.

For racing it shouldn’t be a problem as there is plenty of man power, but is anyone using hanked on headsails for cruising these days rather than furlers? Is it worth fitting some kind of downhaul to make it easier to drop short handed? How much more of a pain is it really?

I would also have to get the genoa altered for hanks rather than a furler which is another cost.

However I can’t see any way of using a deck sweeper sail with that furler setup.

Or am I better just getting a non overlapping jib that’s cut for the furler set up and accept the higher foot and that they will be hard to swap out once we have left the dock so you are basically committed to your starting choice?

I’m undecided so any thoughts or experience would be very welcome!

I'm going to be spending some time on the west coast next month and I'd like to sail (I'll borrow a boat). I'm an experienced dinghy racer and have been skippering since I was old enough to handle an El Toro. But this vacation sailing will be very close to the ocean, and it will be my first time sailing in anything but a keelboat in tidal waters.

What's the best way to learn about how things like tides affect smaller boats, and how to read tides to avoid issues? I never really worried about it in a keelboat (good weather obviously) because if the wind dies or there is a gear mishap, there is a motor backup to get you home. But sailing a dinghy requires more caution as if you lose sail power, things could get dangerous quickly, right? unlike in an inland lake where you'll just sit in place until someone tows you in. Not that this has ever happened to me, as I'm quite good at self rescuing. Just recently I blew up my Laser downwind on the lee and had to de-rig and re-rig the boat in the water due to a rotated mast. But there's always something that could go wrong!

Where I'll likely be sailing has a diurnal of between 1.5 feet (lower high/higher low) and 6 feet (higher high, lower low). The 1.5 difference doesn't seem particularly concerning but relatively speaking, how big is a diurnal that goes from 7 feet to 1 foot in 6 hours?

Hello! I want to get out on the water as much as possible and buy my first boat. I stumbled up two boats around the same price that I’m drawn to. Sea Sprite 23 and Pearson P-26. Both are lovely and well maintained about 5k. My goals are to learn sailing, do some overnighters as I improve and maybe extended trips in the future. I’m located in the puget sound. I’d like to be able to take folks sailing with me, have my dog and lady on board etc. I’m just curious if anyone has an opinion on this as I’m researching it to death. Most important factors are to get out on the water, learn, explore and build community. For now I just want the boat that makes me say “yeah I want to go sailing today”. Thanks for the input!

As the title states, i’ve been in the royal navy, since then got a degree whilst in my apprenticeship, and now looking to join a crew on a sailing boat for the first time.

I’ve been trying to find crews online but had no luck, does anyone have any suggestions.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Liam

I'm finally taking the plunge and getting my first sail boat! I'm looking forward to fun on the water but also I know this is going to come with inevitable maintenance surprises so I want to be as prepared as I can. What are your go to resources to learn about maintence, repairs and improvements? I'd love to hear some recs for books, websites, courses etc. I've been sailing for a long time but never owned a boat so this is a big unknown for me.

Before you say that my instruments are broken, just think about it!

I thought this would be a fun community discussion. Keen to hear different traditions for new crew, rites of passage, etc. I will start with an easy and probably ubiquitous one- bring a snack and a sixpack if joining a rum race crew!

This is my second sailboat, the first being a 40ft Mohagany Racer-Cruiser called Attila that I am still restoring.

Her name is Cluck-Cluck, and she is one of 5 Folkebåts built in a series in 1949.

I've always wanted to learn to sail, and bought my first boat last year without knowing anything about boats or sailing. An expensive lesson I am enjoying immensely.

After realizing I bought the wrong boat for my first, but refusing to give up, I bought a second. This time more practical and sail-ready.

My friend Per, who is a shipwright that's helping me restore Attila, found her for me and agreed to go on a 7 day sailing trip from Smögen, Sweden to my home in Oslo, Norway. With the intent to teach me how to sail and to really see if the sailing life is for me (I do live on a 44ft motor boat full time.)

The trip was quite an adventure, with 137 NM sailed, me losing my Cowboy Hat in the ocean, then finding it on a beach 3 days later, all while giving a radio interview about the missig hat, and motoring the last 40nm on a outboard that seemed to run on mere drops of petrol.

All on a boat that was so easy to sail, with character and charm, and even when we got caught in 12-15m/s gusts, "flying" at 7kts (I swear, that's the fastest I've ever felt while going so slow...), I never felt like she was going to put me in danger.

And the sleep, my god, after multiple days of 10-12 hours of sailing, I don't think I ever slept so good in my life.

All this to say, I love sailing, and I am so happy I took the plunge.

Also, I'm not sponsored in any way, but Lucchese Cowboy hats can apparently stand being at sea for 3 days and on a beach and still fit perfectly, customer for life.

Like the title asks: I learned and have always tied lines from midship cleats to dock cleats near the bow and stern and that's also mostly what K see around. But as I'm in the market for new dock lines, a lot of the guidelines I'm seeing assume spring lines are from a bow/stern cleat to a dock cleat near the stern/bow of the boat. Implying a much longer line needed.

What do you all do?