SAIL.SailMagazine

When anchoring in a river, take note of the prevailing and forecast wind directions. Will the wind at any time oppose the current (A)? If it does, the boat will not lie well to its anchor. It may even sail around enough to pluck the hook out of the bottom. If at all possible, choose a section of the river where the prevailing wind is blowing across the current (B). The boat will tend to lie with
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If you need to tie up to a short pontoon, you’ll have to rethink your usual arrangement of dock lines. You’ll have to lead the stern line forward—which is far from ideal—and take a short spring line from a midships cleat to the same dock cleat as the stern line (as shown above). Use two bow lines, if possible, to keep yawing to a minimum. If your boat doesn’t have a midships cleat, resist the
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How do you get a man-overboard out of the water and back on the boat without special equipment?By John Conolly

If your boat doesn’t have dedicated equipment for getting a person in the water back on board with a minimum of effort—this includes a boarding ladder or a sugar-scoop transom—you’ll have to improvise. In the course of many MOB location and retrieval exercises

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Simple strength training for sailingBy Michael Blackburn

Being strong makes racing more enjoyable, but many strength-training programs are complicated to follow and necessitate gym access and ample free time. Luckily, you don’t need a gym to improve your sailing-specific strength. You can do this short workout anywhere.

Allow three weekly sessions (20 to 30

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Most embarrassing situations on the water happen because someone hasn’t bothered to think out the maneuver ahead of time. Athletes in all sports train themselves to imagine the steps they need to take to achieve success. A downhill racer, for example, will run a course in her imagination as many times as it takes train the muscles involved in each turn to react subconsciously and produce the

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