Effective and rapid knot tying as part of your sailboat voyage planning is a very important skill set to learn and to practice continually until it becomes automatic – which knot to select for any given task and then be able to tie it quickly. It is a fascinating subject and you will find that you will become obsessed with being able to tie all kinds of nautical knots easily and fast.

As suggested in a previous blog I recommend that you purchase a suitable length (say 1.5metres) of soft braided rope, 6 to 8mm. diameter and set it up on the back rail of a chair, towel rail or bed end so it is in position permanently. Every time you go past, grab the rope and tie a knot or two. This way, you will soon find you can tie several basic knots very quickly.

The other day I came across this informative little kit on knot tying. It consists of a manual and a dvd showing how to tie a wide range of knots. The clarity is excellent and the step by step process on the dvd makes it very simple to follow.

The 180 minute dvd takes it all to a higher level again with visual step by step demonstrations in slow motion, so you can easily follow and have time to make adjustments as you go. A simple click on your mouse stops the frame whilst you check you are tying correctly before proceeding to the next step.  The bowline, which is the knot you are just about most likely to use more than any other knot is shown very simply. This knot you need to practice from all angles as you need to be able to tie it quickly, sometimes in pressure situations, for example throwing a line around a pile or cleat on a wharf/jetty/marina berth as you are approaching, especially in a breeze or wind. Your window of opportunity in these situations may be only a few seconds, particularly if there is no one on the dock to help you. So you need to be able to throw the line around smartly and secure your vessel immediately.

Once your yacht is secure fore and aft, then you can go about confidently and comfortably adjusting all of your lines to make your boat snug and secure.

With practice, from this manual, you will be able to carry out this procedure in ten seconds flat or even less! don’t believe me? then set up your line on the back of a chair and practice till you can. You will find you can get to twenty seconds quite easily, then fifteen seconds. It will take a little longer to pare off that last five seconds to get down to ten, but with a little time and patience, you will.

The kit goes on showing you how to tie the Fisherman’s Bend, Clove Hitch, Rolling Hitch and Sheet Bend. Many other knots are included and then it moves onto lashings, whippings and splicing

Once you have caught the bug, you will want to go on and learn all of these knots. The author, Egmont Friedl has been tying knots since he was a lad and runs many seminars on this subject. You can visit him on his website http://www.emf-marine.de and learn much more on this fascinating and essential subject for cruising sailboat sailors.

When you have really caught the bug you can scout around for the all time doyen book of knot tying ‘Ashley’s Book of Knots’. This is a six hundred page volume first published way back in 1944. I have a wonderful mint 1957 edition at home which sits in pride of place amongst my sailing books. A search over time in Old and Antique bookstores should eventually unearth one.

You can read much more about tying up to strange jetties and poles whilst cruising in far away places in my ebook ‘Voyage of the Little Ship ‘Tere Moana’downloadable from my website http://www.sailboat2adventure.com

Vincent Bossley is a sailor and publisher living on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. He has his own www.sailboat2adventure.com website for cruising sailors, sailors planning their lifetime adventure, armchair sailors, virtual sailors and indeed anyone who has ever dreamt about sailing off into the oceans of this beautiful planet of ours. He offers an extremely useful package of ‘101 Dollar Saving Tips for Sailors’ gleaned from his experiences that could save the voyager many hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars during their voyage. Included is his 135 page download illustrated ebook ‘Voyage of the Little Ship ‘Tere Moana’ of his own four year sailing adventure to many of these tropical paradises. Also FREE is the ‘Ten Top Tips’ to look for when purchasing your dream sailboat by internationally renowned marine surveyor Mark Clarke. Vincent is passionate about getting budding sailors started on planning their own odyssey. You can visit him anytime on his www.sailboat2adventure.com website

Rope wire sailboat halyard 3/16 x 44 wire 1/2 x 80 line US $27.00 (2 Bids) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:03:45 PDT   | Watch this Item

3/4" X250' Nylon Anchor Rope Line Boat Sailboat Mooring US $135.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 13:35:37 PDT   | Watch this Item

5/8" X 200' Nylon Anchor Rope Line / Boat / Sailboat US $79.95 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 13:35:46 PDT   | Watch this Item

Nautical 9 Rope Knots Sailboat Lighthouse Wall Plaque US $3.99 (2 Bids) Auction Ends: Friday Jul-30-2010 12:27:21 PDT   | Watch this Item

1/2" X250' Nylon Anchor Rope Line Boat Sailboat Mooring US $61.95 Auction Ends: Friday Jul-30-2010 14:11:50 PDT   | Watch this Item

5/8" X300' Nylon Anchor Rope Line Boat Sailboat Mooring US $112.00 Auction Ends: Friday Jul-30-2010 14:12:24 PDT   | Watch this Item

Sailboat Boat Line Rope Jam Clutch US $9.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Friday Jul-30-2010 15:57:05 PDT   | Watch this Item

75' 3/8" Polyester halyard Sail boat rope line Dacron US $44.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Saturday Jul-31-2010 18:13:45 PDT   | Watch this Item

New 300' 1/4" COATED SS Rope Cable Life Line Sail Boat US $69.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Saturday Jul-31-2010 18:14:48 PDT   | Watch this Item

New150' 1/4" COATED SS Rope Cable Life Line Sail Boat US $34.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Saturday Jul-31-2010 18:16:37 PDT   | Watch this Item

Unlike sailing classes, sailing instructions do not come from a qualified sailing instructor. On a cruise ship, it is the Captain’s orders received from the owner of the ship. In the case of yachting “sailing instructions” is the term used to define a set of rules governing the conditions for competition in a sailing competition or Regatta. It gives the crew of the yacht precise instructions of where and when to go somewhere, the insignias and flags that will be used, how to register for the competition, and even where and how to protest a ruling by the governing body.

Sailing instructions usually come in printed form so that the content cannot be edited without the knowledge of all the competitors. Once it is printed and distributed, it will take a committee meeting or competitors’ meeting to decide and announce any changes to be made. Even the process of changing or editing the contents of the sailing instructions have to be included in the sailing instructions itself. Everything that will affect the competition must be included in there from disposing of trash in the ocean to the use of radios and safety regulations and even how violators will be sanctioned.

A sailing instruction has to be precise in order for the race to be a success. Competitors are under strict instructions to follow these rules and there can only be one interpretation. If there are several ways to interpret a ruling on a sailing instruction chaos will follow and there will also be several winners following several disqualifications and different rulings.

NAVIS GORETEX PERFORMAN OFFSHORE SAILING TROUSERS PANTS US $67.09 (14 Bids) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:07:21 PDT   | Watch this Item

NAVIS GORETEX PERFORMAN OFFSHORE SAILING TROUSERS PANTS US $34.37 (9 Bids) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:07:34 PDT   | Watch this Item

~ VINTAGE BLUE SAILING SHIP SAFE HARBOUR COVERED BOWL US $6.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:11:05 PDT   | Watch this Item

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum US $5.98 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:17:01 PDT   | Watch this Item

VINTAGE STERLING SILVER SAILING YACHT BOAT CHARM US $4.66 (3 Bids) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:18:35 PDT   | Watch this Item

Sailing School (A Queen Anne Press By Doug Schryver US $2.99 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:18:56 PDT   | Watch this Item

Dinghy Sailing (Pelham practical sp By Bob Bond,Steve S US $2.99 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:19:46 PDT   | Watch this Item

The Crazy World of Sailing (Crazy W By Peter Rigby US $2.99 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:24:17 PDT   | Watch this Item

Complete Book of Sailing By Martin Hedges US $4.95 Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:27:32 PDT   | Watch this Item

Vintage Brass Sailing Ship Door Knocker HMS Revenge US $20.29 (2 Bids) Auction Ends: Thursday Jul-29-2010 6:32:15 PDT   | Watch this Item

Are you searching for the best step by step sailing instructions ? Visit http://sailingaweigh.com/ today for more information!

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/water-sports-articles/sailing-instructions-in-a-regatta-1523722.html

Choose According To Your Physique
For younger people that include children and teenagers, the ideal size of a boat should be 2.3 m and weight of hull should be 35 Kg. Grown up people who are not able to reach the ideal weight of 75 Kg and length of 4.7 m have to content themselves with a 45 Kg boat that has a length of 3,6m. Asian sailors prefer sailing in boats of this size because of their smaller physique as compared to the Caucasian sailors.

What Should You Have For Cruising?
A day cruiser that has the length of 20 to 30 feet is also a boat of choice for sailing for many people. Especially for those who wish to merely enjoy the cruising and are not interested in racing, then this may be the ideal travel vessel. However, there are some factors that need to be considered while cruising. Many places require a license to operate a cruise vessel. Good knowledge and experience of handling the cruise boat is also essential. To get the required experience you may join a sailing club and learn the skills from other experienced sailors.

Sailing Is Not AT All Complicated
Many misconceptions prevail about sailing among people. Some people feel that the art of sailing is very complicated and their reason for thinking so are the number of ropes that have to operated while sailing. However, the truth could not have been more different. At the time of sailing you do not need to handle all the ropes. Unless you are an intense racer there is no need to handle anything other than the main sheet.

The best moments of enjoyment during sailing are those when the weather is suitable for it. For example, when the winds are not blowing fast and the water is not choppy; then it is time to drift in water and come closer to nature with a leisurely sail.

Yes, we all love sailing. However, how many of you actually know a great deal about sailboats? No, I am not talking about the engineering principles behind the sailboats. But it is better if you have enough knowledge about each type of boat so that you can divulge into the type of sailing that you like the most. There are yachts, skiffs and catamarans to choose from. Depending on the function of the boat, there are three main types of sailboats available today. They are day sailing boats, cruising boats and racing boats.

Day Sailing Boats
You can do everything with say sailing boats. Right from enjoying a calm day on a lake to having an activity-filled thrilling day on a river. There are boats of all kinds of shapes and sizes in day time sailboats. However, as their name suggests, these boats are designed primarily for daytime use. There are no facilities for nighttime or overnight accommodation in these boats. So all you can do is enjoy a day and then you have to make sure that you are back in time. The chief types of day sailing boats include dinghies, catamarans, windsurfers etc.

Cruising Boats
However, spending a weekend out on the sea is the ultimate experience that many people dream about. But you can never do that without proper accommodation and amenities. Well, a boat that has facilities for all these is called a cruising boat. Cruising boats are available in a variety of sizes but are usually can be operated by just two people. Cruising boats have all the amenities like a kitchen, a dining space, a bedroom and of course a bathroom. You and your family can be accommodated as cruising boats come in a variety of capacities.

Sailboat Racing
Sailboat racing is the ultimately thrilling sport that can be enjoyed alone or in the company of family and friends. Any type of sailboat can be used for racing. However there are two main types of sailboat racing that is prevalent. The first one is called one-design racing. In this form of sailboat racing, all the boats have to have the same design. This is more of a test for the skill and technique of the racer. On the other hand, the other type of racing called Handicap racing features different types of boats vying for the top spot. This is more of a fun game and the boats can be of varying sizes, speeds etc. So select the type of sail boat that you love and go out there to experience the wind, the sun and the sea gulls.