Lesson 1 You Can Sail — So What Makes Someone a Good Sailor?
You can tack. You can gybe. You can trim the sails. So what turns someone who can sail into a good sailor? Often it begins when you stop staring at the boat and start watching the water, the wind and what is about to happen next.
Lesson 2 Why Does the Wind Sometimes Disappear When It Rains?
Why does the wind sometimes seem to vanish just as the rain starts? On inland water it often isn't coincidence. Cloud, cooling and weaker atmospheric mixing can rob the sails of pressure remarkably quickly. But sometimes rain brings a sudden gust instead. Why?
Lesson 3 Lifted or Headed? Learning to Recognise a Wind Shift
A ten-degree wind shift can be worth tens of metres — without your boat travelling any faster. Why does the same wind shift lift one boat but head another, and what do sailors mean by “tack on a header”? Learning to read the wind is the next step beyond simply sailing the boat.
Lesson 4 Stop Staring at Your Sails — Learn to Read the Water
The next gust may already be visible fifty metres ahead of you. Dark patches. Ripples. Glassy water. Gust lines. Your sails tell you what the wind is doing now. The water can tell you what it may do next.
New on pmrsailing.uk: Stop Staring at Your Sails — Learn to Read the Water
