Getting started
How to start sailing: learning, courses, age, clothing, the general costs, and whether to begin in a dinghy or a keelboat.
- How long does it take to learn to sail?
- Is sailing hard to learn?
- What age can you learn to sail?
- How do I learn to sail?
- What should I wear sailing?
- Should I learn to sail in a dinghy or a keelboat?
- How can I crew on someone else’s boat?
- Is sailing expensive?
- Do you need to be able to swim to go sailing?
- Do you need a licence to sail a boat?
The boat and its parts
The names of the parts of a sailing boat, its sides and its ropes, and what each one does.
- What do port and starboard mean?
- What are the bow and stern of a boat?
- What do windward and leeward mean?
- What is the difference between a sheet and a halyard?
- What are ropes called on a sailboat?
- What is the boom on a sailboat?
- What does the keel do on a sailboat?
- What is the difference between a tiller and a wheel on a sailboat?
- What is a sloop?
- What is the difference between standing and running rigging?
How sails work
How sails produce power, how a boat sails towards the wind, apparent wind, and how to trim the sails using the telltales.
- How can a sailboat sail into the wind?
- How does a sail work?
- What is apparent wind in sailing?
- What are telltales on a sail?
- How do you trim a jib using the telltales?
- What does luffing mean in sailing?
- How do you trim sails on a sailboat?
- What does it mean when a sail stalls?
- What is leeway in sailing?
- How do you flatten a sail?
Points of sail and steering
The points of sail from close-hauled to running, the no-go zone, steering, and the two ways of turning a sailing boat: tacking and gybing.
- What are the points of sail?
- What is the no-go zone in sailing?
- What does close-hauled mean in sailing?
- What is the difference between a close reach, a beam reach and a broad reach?
- What is running in sailing?
- What does heading up and bearing away mean?
- How do you steer a sailboat with a tiller?
- How do you tack a sailboat?
- How do you gybe a sailboat?
- What does it mean to be in irons, and how do you get out?
Wind and weather
How to read the wind on the water, deal with gusts, judge when it is too windy, reef, and make sense of a marine forecast.
- How do you read the wind on the water when sailing?
- What should you do when a gust hits a sailing boat?
- How windy is too windy to go sailing?
- What is the Beaufort scale and how are wind speeds measured?
- When should you reef the sails?
- How do you reef the mainsail on a yacht?
- How much should a sailboat heel?
- What is a sea breeze and when does it blow?
- How do you read a marine weather forecast for sailing?
Boat handling under power and at the dock
How to handle a yacht under engine, in and out of a marina berth, on a mooring and at anchor, and how to stop under sail by heaving-to.
- What is prop walk on a boat?
- How do you steer a sailboat in reverse?
- What should you check before starting a boat engine?
- How do you berth a sailboat in a marina?
- How do you leave a berth when the wind is blowing you onto the pontoon?
- What are spring lines on a boat?
- How do you pick up a mooring buoy?
- How much anchor chain or rope should you let out?
- How do you anchor a sailboat?
- What is heaving-to in sailing and how do you do it?
Safety
Staying safe on a sailing boat: lifejackets, man overboard, capsize, calling for help, cold water, seasickness and the checks to make before you go.
- Do you have to wear a lifejacket when sailing?
- What type of lifejacket is best for sailing?
- What should you do if someone falls overboard from a sailboat?
- Can a keelboat or yacht capsize?
- How do you make a Mayday call on a VHF radio?
- What is the difference between a Mayday and a Pan-Pan call?
- Why should you tell someone your plans before going sailing?
- How dangerous is falling into cold water?
- How do you avoid seasickness on a sailboat?
- What safety equipment should a sailing yacht carry?
Rules of the road
Who gives way to whom on the water under the collision regulations (COLREGs), how to keep clear of ships, and what navigation lights and sound signals mean.
- Does a sailboat have right of way over a powerboat?
- Is a sailboat with its engine running a power-driven vessel?
- Which sailing boat gives way, port tack or starboard tack?
- What is the windward boat rule in sailing?
- Who gives way when one boat overtakes another?
- What is a give-way vessel and a stand-on vessel?
- How do you tell if you are on a collision course with another boat?
- Do sailing boats have to give way to ships in a channel?
- What navigation lights does a sailboat need?
- What do horn signals mean on a boat?
Racing
How a sailing race is run, from the start sequence and flags to the main Racing Rules of Sailing, penalty turns, courses and handicaps.
- How does a yacht race work?
- How does the start sequence work in a sailing race?
- How do you find the favoured end of a start line?
- How do you get a good start in a sailing race?
- What happens if you are over the line at the start of a sailing race?
- What are the basic racing rules of sailing?
- What is mark-room in sailboat racing?
- How do you do a penalty turn in sailing?
- What is a windward-leeward course in sailing?
- How does handicap racing work in sailing?
Sailing in Auckland
The Waitematā Harbour and Hauraki Gulf as a sailing area: winds, tides, ships and ferries, local rules, good first destinations and learning to sail there.
- Is Auckland a good place to learn to sail?
- What is the wind like for sailing in Auckland?
- What is the best time of year to sail in Auckland?
- How big are the tides in Auckland?
- How do you deal with ferries and ships when sailing in Auckland Harbour?
- Where can you sail to on a first trip in Auckland?
- Can you sail to Rangitoto Island?
- What is the Hauraki Gulf like for sailing?
- What is the 5 knot rule for boats in Auckland and New Zealand?
- Do you need a licence to sail a boat in New Zealand?