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We can't wait to welcome you aboard!

Thanks for signing up for our sailing lessons- we're excited to get out on the water with you! Please take some time to review the information on this page before your first lessons with us. We'll go over all of this when we're together, but the information on this page is a great primer for your first sailing lesson. Please don't worry if you don't full grasp all of the concepts here- we'll clear it all up in person.  See you soon!

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Safety

We operate on three principles: safety, fun and learning. If you don't feel safe, you certainly won't enjoy yourself. If you aren't enjoying yourself, you probably won't learn much. When you arrive, your instructor will give you a safety briefing. To make sure that your experience is as safe and pleasant as possible, please be sure to bring:

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  • Sunglasses and/or a hat

  • Sunscreen, preferably zinc based. Sunscreens that are not zinc based can stain the boat and harm sea life. Zinc based sunscreens are generally considered more effective and better for your skin (non-chemical). Please do not apply spray sunscreen on board, as it can make the boat slippery and potentially dangerous.

  • A lifejacket, if you have one you like. If you don't, you're more than welcome to borrow one of ours.

  • Close toed shoes that can get wet. Recommended for adults, required for kids.

  • A full bottle of water (Silly Lily has water for sale if you forget).

Wind, Weather & Tide

One of the most important aspects of safety on the water is knowing when it's safe for us to be out sailing and when it's not. Of course, this depends on your skill level and what you're doing on the water. We monitor the weather closely and will inform you if we need to reschedule because of the weather. We'll do our best to give you as much notice as possible if this is the case, but sometimes the weather does change quickly and we need to cancel last minute.

 

If we haven't cancelled because of the weather and we meet you at Silly Lily as planned, then we're pretty confident that it's a good day for your sailing lesson. But we'll still start every lesson with a discussion of wind, weather and tide so that you can decide this for yourself once you're sailing on your own! Weather forecasts are helpful to look at before we go out on the water, but we also want to confirm what the weather is doing visually before we go out. We'll use a combination of the two to get an understanding of how the weather may change during our time on the water.

Weather

While it might be prettier out on the bay during a sunny day, that's not what we're concerned about. We want to know if there is any dangerous weather in the area if we're going to go sailing. Dangerous weather on Long Island in the summers is typically thunderstorms/lightening or fog. Lightening is dangerous because of our tall mast, and fog is dangerous because it makes it easy to get lost and drastically increases the odds of a collision.

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When we go to look at the weather more than an hour or two in advance, we use the Tempest app/website, which is linked to a smart weather station less than a mile away from Silly Lily. We've found that it's the most accurate source of information for chance of rain, and it allows you to see hourly forecasts many days in advance. Generally speaking, we don't start to trust the forecast all too much until it's less than three to five days in advance.

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When there is a chance of thunderstorms, we use MyRadar. Any doppler radar app will give you the ability to see rain and thunderstorms moving through, but be careful to note the difference between the live radar (what's actually happening right now) and the future radar (which is ultimately a model/forecast/guess).

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When you open up MyRadar, there will be an animated image of weather moving through the area. Typically, blue is light or very light rain, green is light to moderate rain, yellow is heavy rain and likely a thunderstorm, and red is very heavy rain and an intense thunderstorm. If there aren't any colors on the map, it means there isn't any weather currently visible on the radar. During the summers on Long Island, it's typical for weather and rain to move from West to East. Thunderstorms typically form in Western Suffolk County or areas further to the West, like NYC or New Jersey, and while they do occasionally form closer to home, this is somewhat rare.

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On MyRadar, the radar is typically animated over the course of about an hour, so you can see how the weather is moving. You don't need to be a meteorologist to understand that you shouldn't be on the water if there's a big yellow red blob moving towards you!

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Let's take a look at an example from my radar from August 2023:

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The screenshots above are just under 50 minutes apart, and you can see that the rain and thunderstorms have moved from Nassau County to very close to East Moriches. If we see that coming, we aren't going sailing! Sometimes these storms will dissipate before reaching us, but we'd rather be safe than sorry.

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We can also use visual clues to know if thunderstorms are in the area. Keep an eye out for low and dark clouds in the area that could be thunderstorms. Since weather typically moves West to East (and North to South, but to a lesser extent) in the summers on Long Island, we are particularly concerned about low and dark clouds to the West or Northwest of us. If there is a low and dark cloud to the South or East, it is likely moving away from us and has already passed. It's a good idea to take a look at MyRadar if you notice low and dark clouds in the area.

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In conclusion, there are a few ways we check to see if the weather is suitable for sailing. First, we look at the forecast on Tempest. If there is any chance of rain, we'll then use MyRadar to take a look at the radar. Finally, we'll look at the sky to see if there are any low and dark clouds around. We'll then use all of this information to make an informed decision as to whether or not the weather is suitable for us to sail! The important rule here? When in doubt, don't go out!

Wind

Wind is, of course, part of weather, but since it's so important to us, we give it its own category. We can describe wind in terms of speed and direction as well as the consistency of that speed and direction. As you'll learn, it's extremely important for us to always know where the wind is coming from while we're sailing. Eventually this will come second nature to you, but while you're learning, it's important for you to ask yourself "where is the wind coming from?" throughout your time on the water. Please note that wind direction is always described as where it is coming from, not where it is going to. For instance, a North wind means that the wind is coming from the North (and going to the South).

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How do we tell where the wind is coming from? Since we can't actually see wind, we need to rely on visual clues. Some of the best indicators of wind direction are:

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  • Flags 

  • The wind indicator (or "windex") on the top of our mast

  • Moored boats, which will generally point into the wind, unless the wind is extremely light or there is current. Since there isn't any significant current at Silly Lily, the boats on moorings there are usually good indicators of wind direction, unless they're all pointing in different directions! If that's the case, the wind is likely very, very light.

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Other indicators that can be helpful, but are less reliable are:

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  • How trees and bushes are moving

  • Dropping a leaf, grass, etc from your hand and see which way it goes

  • The direction of the waves on the bay 

  • Birds sitting down (they generally face into the wind so their feathers don't get ruffled)

  • Feeling the wind on your face

  • Looking straight into the wind so you can hear it on both ears

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Many of the things that we look at to give us an indication of the wind direction will also give us an idea of the wind speed. The waves on the bay are mostly wind-generated, so the rougher the bay looks, the windier it is. If we can see "white caps" on the bay (breaking waves) then we know it's a heavy wind day. How are the flags flying? Are they drooping down or flying straight back in the wind? Does it feel windy? Does it sound windy?

 

Just like the weather, we'll use a forecast to get an idea of what the wind is meant to do, then we'll confirm this visually before we go out. SailFlow is our preferred wind forecast app. Let's take a look at a SailFlow forecast.

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The image above shows a 7 day forecast, but you can also view a more detailed daily forecast. SailFlow also allows you to choose between different weather models, and we've chosen the Hi Res Rapid Refresh (HRRR) for this forecast. You don't need to use SailFlow, but if you are using something that allows you to choose between weather models, we find that the HRRR is often the most accurate for forecasts <48 hrs in advance.

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The numbers on top of the colorful bars are forecasted average wind speeds, which is 9mph for Wednesday at 10am. The arrow within the column shows the direction that the wind is blowing. We can see that the wind is from the North at 10am but will then switch to Southeast at 1pm. Overall, it looks like the wind will be light or moderate on Wednesday and Thursday and then quite strong on Friday and Saturday. We can also use SailFlow to see live wind at certain places, including the East Moriches Coast Guard Station.

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At the time we took the screenshot above, the wind was blowing 7mph from the North. Before the discuss the graph, first we need to define gusts, lulls, and average wind speed. Average wind speed is just what is sounds like; this is what we're talking about when we are typically describing wind speed. Gusts are when the wind speed temporarily increases, and lulls are when the average wind speed temporarily decreases. You may hear people describe the wind as "gusty" if the wind speed is more variable than normal. Getting back to the graph, the blue line shows the average wind speed, the red line shows the gusts, and the green line shows the lulls.

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For our purposes, we'll typically describe wind speed qualitatively using words like light, moderate, and heavy. These words mean different things to different people, but when we are using them together, we consider light wind less than about 7 mph, moderate wind as about 7 to 15mph, and heavy wind as over 15mph. When we're learning how to sail, it's best to avoid sailing in heavy wind, because windier conditions usually make learning more challenging. Although once your a pro, you might only want to sail when the wind is heavy!

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A few other points on wind:

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  • The wind direction has an impact on how consistent or variable the wind speed and direction is. On the South shore of Long Island, Northerly winds are much less consistent than Southerly winds. When the wind is from the North, it's passing over land, around and over trees, houses, hills, etc, all of which create turbulent wind and cause frequent changes in speed and direction. The wind might be 5mph one minute and 12mph the next. Or we may have a Northeast wind one minute, and then a wind shift, where the direction swings more towards the North for a few minutes. Southerly winds are more consistent because the wind is coming over the ocean before it reaches us, and the ocean is much smoother than the land, so the wind is less turbulent.

  • It's always windier out on the bay than it is on land. When we are on the shore, trees and houses block the wind to a certain extent. Out in the middle of the bay, we don't have anything to protect us from the wind. This is especially true in the cove at Silly Lily, where we have land to the North, West and East of us. We only get close to feeling the true wind speed at Silly Lily when the wind is blowing directly into the cove, which doesn't happen very often. 

  • Sailing upwind, or towards where the wind is coming from, is more difficult than sailing downwind, or with the wind. If we have a choice, we always want to sail upwind first so it's easier to get home. This is especially important while we're still learning how to sail, but even once you're an experienced sailor, it's still a good idea. If our boat has any breakdowns- say our mail halyard breaks, the main sail falls down, and we only have our jib- it's much easier to get back home if you're sailing downwind.

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In conclusion, we always want to have an idea of the wind speed and direction before we go out, and how the wind might change while we're on the water. This means we'll look at a forecast and a live wind reading before we leave home. Then, when we get to our boat, we'll take a few minutes to see, feel, and hear what the wind is doing. Finally, we'll decide if it will be safe and fun to go out sailing in the present wind conditions. And remember, when in doubt, don't go out!

Tide

Tide is the vertical rise and fall of the water level. As the moon moves around the earth, water gets pulled to different parts of the globe, causing the water levels to rise in some places and fall in others. The range of the tide is the difference in feet between high water (maximum high tide) and low water (maximum low tide). On Moriches Bay, our tidal range is usually about 2-3ft, depending on the phase of the moon. Spring Tides occur during new moons and full moons and cause our tides to be more extreme, with higher high tides and lower low tides. Neap Tides occur during quarter and three quarter moons and cause our tides to be less extreme, with lowers high tides and higher low tides. 

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Tide is important to us for two reasons. Primarily, tide affects the depth of our already very shallow bay. At high tide, we can sail pretty much anywhere we'd like in Moriches Bay. During low tide, there are many areas where it's too shallow for us to sail, and plenty of sandbars that we need to avoid. More often than not, we'd rather go sailing during high tide. Low tide won't keep us off of the water, but we do need to be a bit more careful about where we're going during low tide.

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The image above is a nautical chart of Moriches Bay, the body of water where we sail. The chart shows the depth of the water in feet at mean low water (average low tide) throughout the bay. Silly Lily Fishing Station is the red dot. This chart is not very accurate (none of them are for Moriches Bay) but it does give us an idea of just how shallow the bay is- and it's even shallower now! The good news is that our Flying Scot needs very little water underneath her in order to sail. The depth of the bay is the reason that we don't have a bigger boat, since bigger boats need deeper water.

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Tide is also important to us because it creates current, which can be significant or insignificant to us depending on where we are in the bay and the height of the tide. As the tide is rising, water is flowing from the ocean, through Moriches Inlet (where the bay and the ocean meet) and into the bay. As the tide is falling, the opposite is true. When the tide reaches high water or low water, it typically "slacks" off and doesn't create much current for about an hour, although the duration of slack tide varies significantly depending on where we are in the bay. Generally speaking, slack tide is shorter in areas close to the inlet and longer in areas further away from the inlet. The current is strongest when the tide is about halfway between high and low. Current is stronger in narrower areas of the bay because a lot of water is being forced to flow through a relatively small area; Moriches Inlet is a great example of that. So the closer we are to the inlet and the closer we are to the mid point of the tide, the stronger the current will be.

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In the image above from Predict Current, you can see how the current is flowing in Moriches Bay during an outgoing tide, moving from the bay and into the ocean (so the water level in the bay is falling).  The colors indicate the speed of the current in knots. Knots is a nautical unit of measure and often how we describe the speed of the current or wind. One knot is equal to 1.15 mph. You can see how the strongest current in dark red is within Moriches Inlet (the gap in the land in Dune Road/Fire Island) or close to it. You can also see that there is less current as we get further away from Moriches Inlet or to wider areas of the bay, and that there's very little current in the coves- Silly Lily Fishing Station, where we sail from, is the green dot in Tuthill Cove. Check out the video below, which shows how the current changes over the course of a day.

As you can see, the direction and intensity of the current changes throughout the day. On the South Shore of Long Island and in many areas along the East coast of the US, we have semidiurnal tides, which means we have two high tides and two low tides every lunar day. A lunar day is 50 minutes longer than a solar (regular) day, so it takes about 6 hours and 12.5 minutes to change from high tide or low tide, or from low to high. Put a different way, there is about 12 hours and 25 minutes between high tides (the same goes for low tides). Since two of these full cycles occur every 24 hours and 50 minutes, the time of high tide and low tide changes by about 50 minutes each day. For example, if high tide is at 1:06pm today, it will be at about 1:56pm tomorrow. We're getting a bit technical here, but the important thing to remember is that the time of high and low tide moves forward by about an hour every day and that it takes about six hours to change from high tide or low tide or vise versa.

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From a safety perspective, there are two important takeaways. 

  1.  Avoid sailing near Moriches Inlet during an outgoing tide, especially if the wind is light. If the speed of the current is greater than the speed the boat can sail, the boat could potentially get "sucked out" into the ocean.

  2. Sail into the current first. If we can, we'd like to sail into the current (and wind) first, that way it's easier and faster for us to get back to where we left from. That being said, sometimes it's not practical, and sometimes the wind and current aren't going the same direction. If that's the case, we'll need to make a compromise.

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Before we go sailing, we want to know what the height of the tide is at that time and if the tide is rising or falling. We use SailFlow for tides, but there are many apps or paper tide charts that will tell you the tide- you can google "Moriches Coast Guard Tides." One important thing to consider is where you are looking at the tide for, as the time of high and low tide varies depending on where you are in the bay. For instance, high tide at Moriches Inlet is about 45 minutes before high tide at the East Moriches Coast Guard Station. Fortunately for us, Silly Lily Fishing Station is very close to the East Moriches Coast Guard Station, so we don't have to do any math when we're checking our tides. Let's take a look at the tide chart below.

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Let's imagine that we're going sailing at 12:30pm today. We can see that high tide was at 9am and low tide is at 4:23pm, so we are at about mid-tide, and the tide is falling, or going out. With that in mind, we'll be careful of sandbars and depth since we'll be sailing during the lower half of the tide, and we won't get close to Moriches Inlet since the current is flowing from the bay and out into the ocean. 

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We also want to confirm what the tide is doing visually. Since there is no significant current at Silly Lily, we aren't able to tell if the tide is rising or falling by looking at anything; we need to rely on a tide chart. But there are visual cues that will tell us the height of the tide. We can look at fixed docks and pilings or eelgrass and bog to give us a clue here. We'll talk more about this during our first lesson.

Parts of the Boat

There is a lot of sailing terminology- at first it might sound like sailors are speaking another language! Don't get too held up on the jargon. You instructor will explain things in both normal and nautical terminology while you get the hang of it all!

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Starting from the mast and going clockwise, some of the parts of the boat are:

  • The mast is the vertical aluminum pole that supports our sails. All sailboats have one!

  • The main sail is the larger of the two sails on a Flying Scot (and most boats with two sails). 

  • The boom is the aluminum pole that is perpendicular to the mast and has the bottom edge of the mainsail running through it. The boom moves around while you're sailing, and it's important to duck under it at times so that it doesn't hit your head.

  • The tiller extension is a black metal stick that is attached to the tiller. The tiller is attached to the tiller extension on one end and the rudder on the other. We can hold the tiller or the tiller extension to move the rudder, which is what steers our boat! Larger boats typically have a steering wheel instead of a tiller. The rudder extends down into the water, which we can't see in this photo since it's under water. Only the white rudder head is visibile.

  • The stern is the back of the boat.

  • The main sheet is the rope (although as sailors we call ropes lines) that runs through the boom, down to the boat, then to the sailor's hand. We use the main sheet to adjust our main sail by pulling it in or letting it out.

  • The hull is the main part or the body of the boat. This boat has a white hull, and the bottom of the hull is painted dark blue and black.

  • The bow is the front of the boat.

  • The jib sheets are the lines that we use to control the jib, which is the smaller sail in the front (bow) of the boat. While the jib is a sail, we don't call it the jib sail, we just call it the jib. The jib can also be referred to as a headsail. We have two jib sheets, but we only use one at a time, depending on which side of the boat the wind is pushing the jib to.​

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In this image, we can get a better view of a few other parts of the boat:​

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  • The wires that hold up the mast on a boat are collectively called the shrouds or stays. On the Flying Scot, there are three in total.

  • The forestay is the wire that connects the mast to the tip of the bow (front) of the boat, and runs right next to the leading edge of the jib.

  • The sidestays are the wires that attach the mast to the sides of the boat. 

  • The centerboard (or daggerboard) is a large piece of fiberglass that we can lower down into the water (as pictured) or raise up into the boat. When it's all the way down, we need the water to be about four feet deep so that we don't hit the bottom of the bay. When it's all the way up, we only need about a foot of water. The centerboard is important because it is what allows us to sail upwind, or towards where the wind is coming from. The centerboard in contained by the center board trunk, which we often need to step over when we switch sides. Larger boats typically have a keel instead of a centerboard. Keels are very heavy and typically cannot be raised and lowered like centerboards, although some boats do have adjustable swing keels.

  • The rudder goes down into the water and allows us to steer with the tiller or tiller extension. We can raise and lower the rudder on a Flying Scot, but while we're sailing we want to have our rudder all the way down, like it is in the image above. We may raise it up slightly in shallow water, and we always raise it out of the water when we're done sailing.

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There are a few other important parts of the boat that are not pictured:

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  • The port side of the boat is the left hand side of the boat if you're looking forwards. The starboard side of the boat is the right hand side of the boat if you're looking forwards. We use port and starboard to differentiate between the sides of the boat (and certain things on each side) instead of left and right because the left and right side of the boat changes depending on if we're looking forwards or backwards.

  • The halyards are lines or wires that are used to raise and lower the sails. The main halyard raises and lowers the main sail and the jib halyard raises and lowers the jib. On any sailboat, lines or wires that we use to raise and lower our sails are called halyards and lines that we use to adjust our sails (pull them in or let them out) while we're sailing are called sheets.

  • The wind indicator (or windex) is a small instrument at the very top of the mast that we can use to determine the wind direction while we are sailing.

  • Blocks are the pulleys that our lines run through. The individual name of each block depends on the line that runs through it. For instance, the main sheet block is the block that the main sheet runs through.

  • Cleats are things that hold our lines so that we don't have or so that we don't need to constantly fight the pull of the line with our muscles. There are a number of different types of cleats, and you've probably seen horn cleats on docks. We have many cam cleats on our Flying Scot and a few clam cleats as well.

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There are even more parts of the boat, but that's plenty to get started with! We'll review all of these during your first lesson with us.

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Sailing Terminology 

We've discussed parts of the boat, but now let's talk about other some sailing terminology.

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  • Upwind and windward are two words that aren't quite synonymous but mean pretty much the same thing- towards the direction that the wind is coming from, or where the wind hits first.

  • Conversely, downwind and leeward mean away from the direction that the wind is coming from, or where the wind gets to after it passes something that is upwind or to windward.

  • These words helps us describe where things are relative to the wind. You'll appreciate the importance of this more and more as you learn how to sail!

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This graphic is simple, but it shows the basic idea. We'll discuss this more in the Points of Sail section below.

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Other sailing terminology includes:

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  • Sail trim, or trimming your sails means adjusting your sails by pulling them in or letting them out.

  • Heel or heeling is when the boat leans over to one side, usually because of the force of the wind hitting the sail. We usually sit on the windward side of the boat in order to minimize the amount of heel and keep the boat flat.

  • If the boat heels over too much, it can capsize, or flip over on to its side. We can right the boat or flip it back over by swimming around to the centerboard and putting our weight on to it. It is very unlikely that we will capsize when you are sailing with us in our Flying Scot. 

  • Tack: This word has two distinct meanings, both of which are important. As a verb, to tack (or tacking) is to change direction by turning the bow of the boat through the direction that the wind is coming from. This causes the sails to switch sides, and typically, so do you.  As a noun, your tack is the direction you are going relative to the direction of the wind. For example, if the wind is blowing over the port side (so the port side is the windward side of the boat), you are on a port tack. If it’s blowing over the starboard side, you’re on starboard tack.

  • Jibing (or gybing) is similar to tacking, but it occurs when we are sailing downwind and the stern (back) of the boat crosses through the direction of the wind. Just like during a tack, the sails switch sides and usually we do as well. The sails typically switch sides more quickly during a jibe than a tack, and jibing accidentally can be dangerous. We'll talk about why this happens and how to avoid accidental gybes more during our lessons.

  • The skipper is the person steering the boat. The skipper typically controls the tiller and the mainsheet.

  • The crew are the people in the boat who are not steering. The crew usually controls the jib and takes care of all the other little things on the boat so that the skipper is free to focus on steering and trimming the mainsail.

The Points of Sail: Basic Sail Theory

The points of sail help us understand how far in or out our sails should be (our sail trim) depending on which way we are going relative to the direction of the wind. Please watch the video below:

We'll spend plenty of time on the points of sail during our first lesson(s). There's no need to memorize them right away- soon enough, you'll know them naturally! Here is an image of the points of sail:

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Please don't be concerned if you don't have a complete understanding of this right now. We'll go over the points of sail in detail during our first lesson and then touch on it again each time we sail, until you've got it down!  There are a few key takeaways from the points of sail:​

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  • Our sails can either be described as full or luffing. A sail that is luffing is behind hit by the wind on both sides (just like a flag) and isn't doing anything to move our boat forwards. In the diagram above, the only boat with luffing sails is the boat in irons. When our sails are full, it means that they are catching the wind, or that the wind is only hitting one side of the sail. When this happens, the wind is helping move our boat forwards. Every boat in the diagram has full sails except the boat that is in irons.

  • We cannot sail directly into the wind. If our boat is pointing anywhere within the "no go zone" (the red area) our sails will be luffing. 

  • If we are sailing more towards the wind direction than away from it, we are sailing upwind. Boats sailing close hauled or on a close reach are both sailing upwind. If we are sailing more away from the wind direction than towards it, we are sailing downwind. Boats sailing on a broad reach or run are sailing downwind. Sailing on a beam reach means that we are sailing in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of the wind, so technically we are not sailing upwind or downwind. But, in reality, we are likely going slightly upwind or slightly downwind.

  • If we are sailing upwind, then our sails are pulled in relatively tight. If we are sailing downwind, then our sails are relatively out. If our sails are all the way in, the boom is close to the center of the boat. If our sails are all the way out, the boom is perpendicular or almost perpendicular to the boat. Another way of thinking about this is that as we turn our boat towards the direction that the wind is coming from, we need to pull our sails in. As we turn our boat away from where the wind is coming from, we need to let our sails out. Our sail trim (how far in or out our sails are) on various points of sail is:

    • Close Hauled: All the way in ​

    • Close Reach: 1/4 of the way out

    • Beam Reach: 1/2 way out

    • Broad Reach: 3/4 of the way out

    • Run: All the way out

  •  If the wind is coming across the starboard side of our boat (the right hand side if we are looking forwards) then we are sailing on starboard tack. All of the boats on the left hand side of the diagram are on starboard tack.

  • If the wind is coming across the port side of our boat (the left hand side if we are looking forwards) then are are on port tack. All of the boats on the right hand side of the diagram are on port tack. 

  • If we want to go from sailing on port tack to starboard tack, or vise versa, we need to tack or gybe. During a tack or a gybe, we turn the boat through the direction that the wind is coming from, which causes the sails to switch sides (and so do we)! The differences is that we tack while we are sailing upwind and we gybe while we are sailing downwind. During a tack, the bow of the boat crosses the wind and passes through the no go zone. When we tack, typically we tack from close hauled on one side of the wind to close hauled on the other side of the wind. When we gybe, the stern of the board crosses through the direction that the wind is coming from.

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The image above should help you visualize a tack. If we want to sail somewhere that is directly upwind of us (or somewhere straight towards the no go zone) we cannot sail straight there, as pointing our boat in that direction would put us in the no go zone and cause our sails to luff. Instead, we need to sail close hauled in one direction for a while, then tack, sail the other direction for a while, tack again, and so on, sailing on a zig-zag course until we reach our destination. 

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In Conclusion

While you can't learn to sail by reading or watching videos, the information on this page should help prime you for your first lesson so that you have some familiarity with basic sailing vocabulary and theory. Please don't get hung up on anything or feel like you need to write down any questions you may have. They'll be answered as we go through this material together during our lessons.

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We hope this has been helpful and we can't wait to sail with you soon!

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All the best,

Luke & Moriches Island Sailing

Our Location

Silly Lily Fishing Station

99 Adelaide Ave

East Moriches, NY 11940

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