Judging Distance at Sea!

Lt. Angelina Hildago, commanding officer of the 

CGC Kingfisher, views a vessel spotted by her 

crew through binoculars. USCG photo by PA3 

Beth Reynolds.

Photo by: Courtesy of the United States Coast Guard

By Mario Vittone

When standing at the wheel of your boat, do you know the height of your eye off the water? You should.

I once sailed with a quartermaster who had two uncanny talents that were perfect for his particular line of work: spotting things in the water and judging their distance. Both are quite useful skills on the bridge of a Coast Guard patrol boat, and to date I’ve never met or heard of anyone better at those two things than Will Absher. Will’s ability to see things on a vast expanse of blue was impressive enough, but what was remarkable was his ability to tell you exactly how far away something was just by looking at it.

Heavy weather sailing

By Bob Pingel

Practice heaving-to and forereaching before the storm clouds gather

A strong line of thunderstorms will reach you just after dark,” is exactly what you don’t want to hear as you are preparing to round Cape Hatteras. A few years back I was delivering a Beneteau 461 from Connecticut to Tortola, a classic fall milk run. Insurance required that we use a weather router and we chose longtime routers Dane and Jenifer Clark. The Clarks gave us updates every day via satellite phone and things were good until that storm came up.

Learn to Read the Water

By Connie McBride

Reading the water is an important skill you should practice often to ensure there’s always water under your keel.

Sailing through the tea-colored water of the ICW, it’s hard to imagine ever being able to read water depth visually. If you’ve never actually experienced being able to spot coral heads on the bottom, 80 feet down, such stories seem like fairy tales.

But it’s true. In fact, in the Bahamas and much of the Caribbean, even along parts of the U.S. East Coast (especially in the Florida Keys), it can sometimes be difficult to accurately judge the water depth simply because you can see so far down—to a point where it’s hard to believe the water is truly as deep as your chart and depthsounder say it is.

Tablet vs Plotter

Is a tablet PC as good as a dedicated chart plotter for on board navigation? Duncan Kent looks at the pros and cons of tablet navigation and tries out four of the most popular apps

An increasing number of boat owners are using touchscreen tablets with marine charting apps as a backup for their normal means of navigation. Indeed, for some smaller boat skippers it has become their only means of navigation on board. Should we be worried that the latter are placing themselves and other water users in danger, or are these devices and apps now good enough to be a legitimate form of electronic navigation in this digital age?

Begginer's guide to Sailing!

By Paula Irish

Sailing is one of the most accessible sports in the country, whether you live by the sea or inland, and it’s among the most rewarding. Paula Irish looks at how to get started

Helming your own boat or crewing for someone else might seem like a daunting prospect for a beginner, but it doesn’t have to be. There are sailing clubs and training centres across the UK offering taster sessions and courses catering for all ages and abilities. Wherever you live, there will be a sailing club nearby, be it next to the sea or an estuary, a river or lake. And if the risk of the British weather being unkind puts you off, there are plenty of specialist holiday operators offering sailing tuition abroad.