Seamanship
Seamanship is the art and science of operating a boat. Seamanship encompasses navigation, radio communications, boat handling, watch-standing, anchoring, docking, engine and equipment maintenance, towing, weather forecasting, search-and-rescue techniques, and more. These skills are attained over time, but there are many books, videos, and courses available to acquaint you fully with the wide range of subjects.
Seamanship: Time and Tide, Part One
A look at the physics behind our tides and why it matters for the everyday seafarer.
How to Maneuver Your Boat in Close Quarters
The expertise you employ maneuvering in close quarters has as much to do with skill as it does with proper planning.
Seamanship: Narrow Straits
Understanding our responsibilities for operating in narrow channels with large ships
Night Shift: Seamanship Skills For Cruising Past Daylight
Distant harbors beckon the power cruising boater, but distant harbors take time to reach, which means you may need to use that second set of 12 hours we get each day—you know, the ones in the dark.
The Importance Of Rule 5 And Situational Awareness
An important Seamanship article from our friends at Soundings Magazine regarding COLREGS Rule 5.
Just Another Day on the Outer Banks (Video)
Check out this video from a day of surf drills in 10 to 12 foot seas
A Lesson in Strong Current Maneuvering (Video)
These Galician fishermen handle a boat through five-knot current.
Junk Under the Bunk: Boat Repairs MacGyver Style
Stop! Don't throw that away? Capt. Billy Rawson makes the nautical case for hoarding.
Bye Bye Birdie: Why it's Time to Learn Satellite-Independent Navigation
For a quarter of a century, GPS (Global Positioning System) and other GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) have steadfastly provided excellent time and positioning information to mariners of vessels great and small, across oceans and ponds, in all seasons and in all weathers.
Docklines: preparing for winter storms
For those of us whose boats winter over in the water, one thing we must always be prepared for is the arrival of winter storms.
Hitting the Bricks: finding the right balance between the traditional and high-tech when it comes to safe navigation
It’s a dark and squally night in November 2014. Vestas Wind, one of the boats participating in the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, is romping along at 16 knots in the Indian Ocean.
The Need For Less Speed: Storm Drogues And Sea Anchors
Storm drogues and sea anchors can vastly improve your comfort level at sea. Often confused as the same piece of equipment, a speed-limiting storm drogue and a sea anchor serve two very different purposes.
Lessons Learned from the Rescue of Four Kayak Anglers
A coastal Florida Rescue highlights several safe practices to use on the water when in the face of an oncoming thunderstorm.
Seamanship Tips To Make Living Aboard Easier
Trawler gurus, Rudy & Jill Sechez share some of the best utilitarian, amd largely DIY, solutions they employ or have seen other cruisers use to make everyday-cruising life more manageable.
Tips For Electronic-less Weather Forecasting
We, and I speak for all skippers, have been lectured ad infinitum about how to prepare and what to do when the electronics go zap. But the one thing that seems to be overlooked is weather. When the black boxes literally go black, so does our connection with weather prediction.
On The Hook: Anchor Math and Management Part 2
Dive deeper into the science of properly setting you anchor. After all, when it comes to staying in place on the water, only one piece of gear is touching the earth. Make sure it stays that way.
On The Hook: Anchor Math and Management Part 1
Believe it or not, there is much more to simply tossing your anchor overboard. Check in with cruising contributors, Rudy and Jill Sechez and discover part 1 of the anchor math equation.
Banishing Your Fears: Tips For Proper Docking
I watched a fairly new-to-boating couple bring their mid-sized boat in to tie up. Difficulties ensued and the docking procedure disintegrated into chaos.