Your First Sailing Knots — Only Learn the Ones You Actually Need

You don't need to become a Victorian deckhand before you're allowed to sail.

Mention sailing to somebody who has never been in a dinghy and one of the things they often imagine is a bewildering collection of ropes, knots and mysterious nautical terminology.

They picture an experienced sailor producing an elaborate knot with one hand while casually saying something incomprehensible about a halyard, a shackle and the leeward runner.

It can make sailing appear much more complicated than it really is.

The good news is that when you first start sailing, you do not need to learn twenty knots.

You certainly do not need to sit at home memorising decorative knots from a book.

You need a handful of useful knots that solve real problems.

Start with these five:

• figure-eight;

• bowline;

• sheet bend;

• round turn and two half hitches;

• cleat hitch.

Learn what each one is for, practise each until your hands begin to remember it, and you will have covered a surprisingly large proportion of the knot-tying that a beginner actually needs.

First: A Rope Is Not Just a Rope

Before looking at the knots, there is one piece of sailing language worth understanding.

On a boat, ropes are usually named according to the job they are doing.

A rope used to control a sail may be called a sheet.

A rope used to raise a sail is generally a halyard.

There may also be control lines adjusting sail shape, centreboards, kickers, cunninghams and many other things as you move into more sophisticated boats.

But don't let the vocabulary put you off.

At the beginning, think:

What am I trying to achieve with this piece of rope?

Do I want to stop the end disappearing through a fitting?

Do I want a secure loop?

Do I want to join two ropes?

Do I want to attach a rope to something?

Do I want to secure it to a cleat?

Once you think about knots in terms of jobs rather than names, the whole subject becomes much easier.

1. The Figure-Eight — The Knot That Stops the Rope Disappearing

The figure-eight is probably one of the simplest useful knots you can learn.

Its main job is to act as a stopper knot.

Imagine a sheet running through a fairlead or block. If the end of that sheet is pulled all the way through, retrieving it may become inconvenient — particularly when you are already sailing.

Put a figure-eight in the end and the knot is too large to pass through.

That is its job.

Simple.

Where Might You Use It?

A common beginner example is the end of a jib sheet.

You do not necessarily want the sheet escaping completely through its fittings when somebody lets go of it.

A stopper knot can prevent that.

It is also useful on many control lines where there is a danger of the free end vanishing through a hole, block or fairlead.

Why a Figure-Eight Rather Than Just Any Knot?

You could tie an ordinary overhand knot.

But a figure-eight produces a larger stopper and is normally easier to untie afterwards, particularly if the rope has been loaded.

That is an important principle in sailing knots.

A good knot is not simply one that stays tied.

Often it must also be possible to untie it later.

Beginner Practice

Take a short piece of rope.

Tie ten figure-eights.

Untie them.

Then try again without looking at your hands all the time.

The aim is not speed.

The aim is familiarity.

Eventually your fingers begin to recognise the movement.

2. The Bowline — A Fixed Loop That Doesn't Tighten Around the Object

If there is one sailing knot almost everybody has heard of, it is probably the bowline.

Its purpose is to make a fixed loop in the end of a rope.

The important word is fixed.

Pull on the rope and the loop should not simply close tighter and tighter like a noose.

That makes the bowline enormously useful.

The Famous Rabbit Story

Many people learn the bowline with some variation of:

The rabbit comes out of the hole, goes around the tree and goes back down the hole.

The "rabbit" is the working end.

The "hole" is the small loop you form.

The "tree" is the standing part of the rope.

It sounds slightly childish.

It also works remarkably well as a memory aid.

Eventually you stop thinking about rabbits altogether and simply tie the knot.

Where Might You Use a Bowline?

A bowline can be useful whenever you need a secure loop around something.

For example, you might need to attach a line to a fitting, create a loop for temporary use, or secure something without the loop continually tightening.

Exactly how it is used depends upon the boat.

The important beginner lesson is to recognise the problem:

I need a loop that stays approximately the same size.

That should make you think:

Bowline.

The Beginner's Bowline Problem

One of the great things about a bowline is that, once understood, it becomes remarkably easy to tie.

Before that point it can seem completely baffling.

The most common problem is constructing the first small loop incorrectly.

Make the initial loop the wrong way round and everything that follows looks almost right — but isn't.

This is where learning from another sailor is much better than simply looking at a diagram.

Ask somebody at the club to show you.

Then immediately tie it yourself.

Then undo it and tie it again.

Watching somebody tie ten bowlines will not teach your fingers how to tie one.

3. The Sheet Bend — Joining Two Ropes Together

Sometimes the problem is not attaching a rope to a boat.

It is attaching one rope to another rope.

That is where the sheet bend becomes useful.

It is particularly valuable when the ropes are not exactly the same diameter.

Why Not Simply Tie Any Two Knots Together?

Because different knots behave differently when loaded.

Some jam.

Some slip.

Some are much less secure when the ropes are of different thicknesses.

The sheet bend is designed for joining two lines.

The name is another reminder that knots developed because sailors repeatedly encountered particular practical problems.

A Useful Way to Recognise It

One rope forms a bight — essentially a U-shaped bend.

The other rope comes through the bight, around the back and then tucks beneath itself.

When finished correctly, the two short ends should normally emerge on the same side of the knot.

That final check is useful when learning.

A Practical Example

Suppose you have a short line that does not quite reach where you need it.

You have another length of rope available, but it is slightly thinner.

Joining them with a sheet bend may solve the immediate problem.

You may not use a sheet bend every five minutes when dinghy sailing.

That does not make it obscure.

It is one of those knots worth knowing because, when you need to join two lines, you immediately have the correct tool available.

4. Round Turn and Two Half Hitches — Securing a Boat to Something Solid

Now imagine coming alongside a pontoon or needing to secure a line around a post, ring or similar fixed object.

A very useful knot for this job is the round turn and two half hitches.

The name also describes what you do.

First make a round turn around the object.

Then secure the line with two half hitches.

Why the Round Turn Matters

The round turn is doing more than simply going around the object.

It helps take some of the load.

That can make the remaining part of the knot easier to control and secure.

This becomes particularly obvious when there is already some tension on the rope.

Instead of trying to tie a knot while fighting the entire pull of the boat, the turn around the post helps you manage that force.

Where Might You Use It?

It can be useful when attaching a line to:

• a post;

• a ring;

• a rail;

• a mooring point;

• another suitable fixed object.

It is straightforward, strong for many everyday sailing jobs and relatively easy to understand.

A Very Good Practice Exercise

You do not need a boat.

Use:

• a chair leg;

• a railing;

• a broom handle held securely;

• a suitable post in the garden.

Tie the knot.

Undo it.

Tie it again.

Then imagine there is tension on the rope and notice how the round turn helps you control it.

That little experiment teaches more than simply memorising the pattern.

5. The Cleat Hitch — One You Will Use Again and Again

If you are going sailing, learn how to use a cleat properly.

Cleats appear everywhere on boats and pontoons.

They are designed to allow a line to be secured quickly and released again relatively easily.

But there is a correct way of doing it.

The Basic Pattern

Bring the rope around the base of the cleat.

Cross diagonally over it.

Continue around to form the familiar figure-of-eight pattern.

Finish with a locking turn.

The exact appearance becomes obvious once somebody demonstrates it on a real cleat.

The Mountain of Rope Problem

One beginner reaction to a cleat is understandable:

More turns must make it more secure.

So they wrap the rope around it.

Then around it again.

Then again.

Eventually the cleat disappears beneath a small mountain of rope.

This is not better.

A properly tied cleat hitch needs relatively few turns.

The aim is secure, neat and easy to release.

Not sculpture.

Practise on a Real Cleat

This is one knot where having an actual cleat makes learning much easier.

If your sailing club has training boats, practise tying and releasing the line while the boat is stationary.

Notice how quickly an experienced sailor does it.

There is no frantic knot tying.

The rope simply follows the correct path.

That fluency comes from repetition.

Don't Try to Learn Them All in One Sitting

This is perhaps the most important lesson.

You don't need to learn five knots on Monday and be examined on them on Tuesday.

Learn them as you encounter the need for them.

A useful progression might be:

Figure-eight → cleat hitch → bowline → round turn and two half hitches → sheet bend

The exact order does not matter very much.

What matters is connecting the knot to a real purpose.

If somebody simply tells you:

"Learn a bowline."

you are trying to remember a collection of movements.

If somebody says:

"We need a fixed loop here, so we're going to use a bowline."

you are learning both the knot and the reason it exists.

That knowledge tends to stick.

Learn the Shape of a Correct Knot

Beginners quite reasonably concentrate on the sequence of movements.

But there is another skill worth developing:

Learn what the finished knot should look like.

Then inspect it.

Does your bowline actually resemble the bowline you were shown?

Are both parts of the sheet bend sitting correctly?

Is the cleat hitch neat?

Is the figure-eight properly formed?

Experienced sailors often recognise an incorrectly tied knot at a glance.

That visual checking is worth developing from the beginning.

Practise with Proper Rope

You can practise with almost anything, but a short length of reasonably soft rope makes the process far more pleasant.

Keep perhaps a metre or two somewhere convenient.

While watching television, having a cup of tea or sitting at a desk, practise one knot several times.

You do not need a complicated training board.

Although, if you enjoy making things, a small board with a cleat, ring and short post makes an excellent home knot-practice station.

The important thing is repetition.

Don't Worry About Speed

There is no prize for producing the world's fastest bowline during your first sailing lesson.

Tie it slowly.

Understand where the rope goes.

Check the finished knot.

Then do it again.

Speed appears naturally.

The real breakthrough occurs when you stop thinking:

"Now I make this loop, then put this through here..."

and simply tie the knot.

Your hands have begun to learn it.

Knots Make Much More Sense on a Real Boat

I think this is one reason newcomers are sometimes unnecessarily intimidated by knots.

Taken out of context, knot tying can look like a collection of puzzles.

Put the same knot onto a sailing boat and suddenly there is a reason for it.

The sheet must not disappear through the fairlead.

Figure-eight.

You need a fixed loop.

Bowline.

Two pieces of rope need joining.

Sheet bend.

The boat needs securing to a suitable post or ring.

Round turn and two half hitches.

A line needs securing to a cleat.

Cleat hitch.

The mystery disappears.

You are simply choosing the right tool for the job.

Ask Sailors to Show You

One of the advantages of learning through a sailing club is that you are surrounded by people who already know these things.

If you forget a bowline, ask somebody.

If your cleat hitch looks suspicious, ask somebody to check it.

Nobody started sailing already knowing how to do this.

And most experienced sailors would much rather have a beginner say:

"Can you check this knot?"

than quietly hope that an incorrectly tied knot holds.

That is part of learning to sail.

Five Knots Are Enough to Get Started

There are hundreds of knots.

There are entire books devoted to them.

You may eventually enjoy learning rolling hitches, reef knots, clove hitches, anchor bends, splices and all sorts of other ropework.

Some sailors become genuinely fascinated by it.

But that comes later.

For your first sailing adventures, concentrate on five:

Figure-eight — stops the end of the rope disappearing.

Bowline — creates a fixed loop.

Sheet bend — joins two ropes.

Round turn and two half hitches — secures a rope around something.

Cleat hitch — secures a rope to a cleat.

More importantly, learn why you are using each one.

That is the difference between memorising knots and becoming a sailor.

You don't need to become a Victorian deckhand before you're allowed to sail.

You just need enough ropework to solve the problems immediately in front of you.

And, like almost everything else in sailing, the best way to learn is not to read about it endlessly.

Get hold of a piece of rope.

Find somebody who knows what they are doing.

And start tying.

Five useful knots. Five simple jobs. That's more than enough to begin.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

---

Coming Next in the Beginner Sailing Series

Beginners often assume the person holding the tiller is "the captain".

But the crew may be trimming the jib, balancing the boat, spotting gusts, watching traffic, calling tactics — and later controlling the spinnaker.

Some of the most skilled sailors aboard aren't holding the tiller.

Return to https://pmrsailing.uk/Lessons.html

 

From First Sail to First Race — What Happens Next?

Finishing last in your first race can teach you more than another afternoon reading a sailing manual.

If you have followed this series from the beginning, you have travelled quite a long way.

We started with the idea that sailing does not have to be an expensive sport reserved for people with yachts, marina berths and a lifetime of experience.

You can join a sailing club.

You can borrow or hire a boat.

You can learn from people around you.

You can discover what all those ropes are called, learn how to rig a dinghy, understand why a sailing boat can travel towards the wind, take the helm for the first time, trim the sails, tack, gybe, sail upwind and eventually bring the boat back to where you intended.

You have also discovered something equally important:

Things sometimes go wrong, and that is perfectly normal.

So what happens next?

The wonderful thing about sailing is that there isn't one answer.

For one person, the next step might be spending peaceful summer afternoons sailing up and down the river.

For another, it might be their first club race.

Someone else may discover spinnakers, trapezes, keelboats, yachts or offshore sailing.

And another sailor might eventually find themselves sailing something as wonderfully traditional and specialised as an A-Rater.

There is no compulsory destination.

There is simply a pathway of possibilities.

The Sailing Pathway Is Not Really a Straight Line

We can imagine a beginner's progress looking something like this:

First sail → regular crewing → club coaching → independent sailing → learning more boats → club racing → specialist sailing

But real sailing seldom follows such a neat progression.

Someone might begin as a crew and discover that they absolutely love crewing.

Another sailor may desperately want to take the helm.

Someone may become fascinated by racing.

Someone else may decide racing really isn't for them at all.

A teenager might become interested in fast trapeze boats.

Another sailor may prefer traditional river sailing.

Someone who begins in a dinghy could eventually move into keelboats or yachts.

And somebody who starts sailing purely for relaxation might, several years later, discover that they have become one of the people helping the next generation of beginners.

That is one of the pleasures of sailing.

There is always another direction available.

---

Step One: Keep Sailing

The most important thing after your first few lessons is surprisingly simple:

Go sailing again.

And again.

And again.

Like driving a car, riding a bicycle or playing a musical instrument, sailing becomes easier when many of the basic actions stop requiring conscious thought.

During your first sail, your mind may be full of instructions:

Where do I put the tiller?

Which way do I move it?

What do I do with the mainsheet?

Where is the wind coming from?

Why is the sail flapping?

Should I move across the boat now?

Why is the boom suddenly heading towards me?

With experience, those individual questions gradually disappear.

You begin looking outside the boat instead.

You notice the wind on the water.

You anticipate the gust approaching you.

You notice another boat.

You start planning your next tack.

You realise that the boat feels slightly underpowered and ease your course a fraction.

That transition is important.

You stop merely operating the boat and begin sailing it.

---

Crewing — Possibly the Best Way to Learn

One of the easiest ways to gain experience is to crew for somebody more experienced.

Do not underestimate the importance of crewing.

A good crew isn't simply a passenger who occasionally pulls a rope.

Depending upon the boat, the crew may be responsible for:

• trimming the jib;
• adjusting boat balance;
• watching other boats;
• calling gusts;
• preparing for tacks and gybes;
• handling a spinnaker;
• helping with tactical decisions;
• watching the course;
• communicating constantly with the helm.

For a beginner, however, there is another enormous advantage.

You can observe.

While somebody else worries about steering the boat, you can watch what happens.

You begin noticing things such as:

Why did the helm tack there?

Why did we sail towards that side of the river?

Why was the mainsail eased before the gust arrived?

Why did that boat overtake us even though it seemed to be sailing in the wrong direction?

Every experienced sailor you sail with will probably do things slightly differently.

That is useful.

You gradually collect techniques, ideas and habits and begin deciding which work best for you.

---

Then Take the Helm

Eventually, of course, you need time steering the boat yourself.

There is a considerable difference between understanding what somebody else is doing and doing it yourself.

At first, helming requires concentration.

Then something changes.

You stop thinking:

"I must move the tiller slightly towards me."

You simply steer.

That frees your mind to think about more interesting questions.

Where should I go?

What is the wind doing?

Where should I tack?

Am I sailing efficiently?

What are the other boats doing?

That is when sailing begins moving from a purely physical activity into a tactical one.

---

Club Coaching Can Accelerate Everything

This is one reason sailing clubs can be such good places to learn.

Formal lessons are enormously valuable, particularly when learning the fundamental skills correctly.

But learning does not stop when the course certificate is handed over.

Many clubs run coaching sessions where sailors can practise particular skills with experienced instructors or club sailors nearby.

The difference can be remarkable.

Imagine spending an afternoon deliberately practising tacking.

Not racing.

Not travelling anywhere.

Just:

Tack.

Settle the boat.

Sail for thirty seconds.

Tack again.

After perhaps twenty tacks, something which initially felt complicated begins feeling natural.

The same can be done with:

• gybing;
• stopping;
• coming alongside;
• sailing upwind;
• sail trim;
• boat handling;
• starting;
• mark rounding.

Focused practice turns knowledge into instinct.

---

What About Formal Training Courses?

There is also nothing wrong with formal training.

In Britain, many sailors follow RYA courses which provide a structured way of developing skills and gaining experience.

Courses can introduce or develop areas such as:

• dinghy sailing;
• powerboating;
• safety boat handling;
• seamanship;
• racing;
• navigation;
• keelboat sailing;
• yacht sailing.

But qualifications should not become the objective in themselves.

A certificate tells you that you demonstrated certain abilities during a course.

Experience comes from actually going sailing.

The two complement each other.

---

Try Different Boats

One of the great surprises for beginners is discovering how different two sailing boats can feel.

The fundamental principles are the same.

The wind still acts on the sails.

The centreboard or keel still resists sideways movement.

The rudder still steers the boat.

But the experience can be completely different.

A stable training dinghy may forgive almost everything.

Move into a lighter racing dinghy and suddenly every movement matters.

Sail a traditional boat and you may discover an entirely different style of sailing.

Move into a keelboat and the boat feels heavier and more deliberate.

Step aboard a yacht and suddenly you may have winches, navigation equipment, engines, cabins and considerably more momentum to think about.

Trying different boats teaches you that sailing is not one sport.

It is a family of related activities.

---

Then Somebody Will Probably Suggest Racing

This moment arrives at many sailing clubs.

You may be happily sailing around when somebody says:

"Why don't you join the race this afternoon?"

The immediate reaction is often:

"I couldn't possibly race. I have only just learnt to sail."

My suggestion would usually be:

Have a go.

You do not have to win.

You do not even need to be particularly competitive.

Your first objective might simply be:

Start the race, sail around the course and finish.

If everybody else finishes ten minutes ahead of you, that doesn't matter.

You have completed your first sailing race.

And during that hour you may have learnt more than during several hours of simply sailing backwards and forwards.

---

Why Racing Improves Your Sailing So Quickly

Club racing gives every decision a purpose.

Suppose you are simply sailing for pleasure.

You make a rather poor tack.

No problem.

Carry on sailing.

During a race, however, you immediately notice the consequences.

Another boat gains twenty metres.

Perhaps you turned too slowly.

Perhaps you lost too much speed.

Perhaps your sails were not adjusted quickly enough afterwards.

That gives you something specific to improve next time.

Racing constantly asks small questions:

Should I tack now?

Which side of the course has more wind?

Am I pointing too high?

Should I sail slightly faster but slightly further?

Who has right of way?

Can I reach that mark without another tack?

Where should I position the boat before the start?

Suddenly all those separate sailing skills start joining together.

---

Finishing Last Can Be Extremely Educational

There is a peculiar fear surrounding racing.

People imagine that if they enter a race and finish last, everybody will notice.

At most friendly sailing clubs, that really isn't the atmosphere.

Experienced sailors know exactly what being a beginner feels like because every one of them was once one.

Someone who finishes well behind the fleet but completes the course may have achieved far more personally than the sailor who wins their hundredth race.

Your first race gives you a baseline.

Perhaps you discover that your boat speed is reasonably good but your tacking loses enormous amounts of ground.

Excellent.

Now you know what to practise.

Perhaps your tacks are good but you sail much further than everybody else.

That suggests tactics and course planning.

Perhaps you keep pointing too high and slowing down.

Now you can work on sail trim and boat speed.

A race gives you feedback.

---

But You Absolutely Do Not Have to Race

This is important.

There can sometimes be a tendency within sailing clubs to assume that everybody eventually wants to race.

They don't.

And that is perfectly fine.

Some people simply enjoy sailing.

They enjoy the quiet.

They enjoy the feeling of the boat moving through the water.

They enjoy spending an afternoon outside.

They enjoy exploring.

They enjoy sailing with friends or family.

There is no requirement to turn every hobby into a competition.

Sailing for the pleasure of sailing is reason enough to sail.

But even sailors who have little interest in racing may occasionally benefit from joining a club race simply because it provides structured practice.

---

Spinnakers — Suddenly There Is Another Sail

Once you become comfortable with mainsail and jib, somebody may introduce you to a spinnaker.

This can initially appear to be an enormous piece of brightly coloured cloth specifically designed to become tangled around everything on the boat.

Sometimes it succeeds.

But once understood, spinnaker sailing adds an entirely new dimension.

You begin learning:

• hoists;
• drops;
• spinnaker sheets;
• poles;
• gybing the spinnaker;
• apparent wind;
• reaching angles;
• downwind tactics.

In modern asymmetric boats, the technique is different again.

Suddenly sailing downwind becomes every bit as interesting as sailing upwind.

---

Trapezes — Why Is the Crew Standing Outside the Boat?

Progress into faster dinghies and you may encounter the trapeze.

The first time you see somebody standing almost horizontally over the side of a sailing dinghy, supported by a wire attached to the mast, it can look slightly ridiculous.

There is, however, an excellent reason.

The sailor's weight creates a turning effect that opposes the force trying to heel the boat.

Moving bodyweight further out increases that effect.

The result is a flatter, faster boat.

For sailors who enjoy athletic sailing, trapeze boats open another branch of the sport entirely.

---

And Then There Is Foiling

Modern sailing has pushed this principle even further.

Some boats can now rise almost completely clear of the water on hydrofoils.

Reduce the hull's contact with the water and drag can fall dramatically.

The result can be extraordinary speed.

Foiling requires a different level of balance, control and anticipation, but it demonstrates something wonderful about sailing:

This ancient activity is still developing.

We can sail traditional wooden boats whose designs are generations old and, on the same stretch of water, watch boats using technology that would have seemed almost impossible only a few decades ago.

---

Keelboats and Yachts Open Another World

Dinghy sailing may eventually lead some sailors towards larger boats.

Keelboats introduce different handling characteristics.

Yachts introduce another world again.

Now sailing might include:

• navigation;
• tides;
• anchoring;
• engines;
• weather forecasting;
• longer passages;
• living aboard;
• coastal sailing;
• offshore sailing.

The afternoon sail around the local club can eventually become a weekend voyage.

For some sailors, that might become a Channel crossing.

For others, perhaps something considerably further.

But every one of those sailors still depends upon the same fundamentals they learnt at the beginning.

Where is the wind?

How should the sails be set?

How do I steer efficiently?

What is the boat telling me?

---

Traditional Sailing Can Be Just as Exciting

Progress does not always mean newer, faster and more technologically advanced.

Sometimes it means looking backwards.

Traditional sailing classes can provide some of the most fascinating sailing available.

They may have unusual rigs.

They may require large crews.

They may demand techniques that have been passed between generations of sailors.

They may also have histories stretching back more than a century.

There is something rather special about sailing a boat whose design connects you directly with people who raced on the same river many decades ago.

Modern sailing and traditional sailing are not opposites.

They are different branches of the same extraordinary sport.

---

And Perhaps One Day an A-Rater...

My own sailing has certainly demonstrated how the journey can keep developing.

You might begin with modern training boats and gradually discover other classes.

Then one day you find yourself looking at something considerably more specialised.

An A-Rater is hardly the obvious beginner's boat.

Long, narrow and carrying a remarkable amount of sail, these Thames racing boats belong to a tradition stretching back well over a century.

They require teamwork.

They require understanding.

They reward good boat handling.

And they remind us that learning to sail is never really finished.

That is perhaps the most important lesson of this entire series.

---

Eventually You Become the Experienced Sailor

There is one final stage in the sailing pathway which is rarely shown on diagrams.

It looks something like this:

Beginner → sailor → experienced sailor → person helping another beginner

One afternoon at your club, somebody new will arrive.

They will look at the boats and the ropes and the sails and feel slightly bewildered.

They may ask:

"Which rope do I pull?"

"How do I know where the wind is coming from?"

"What happens if I capsize?"

And you may suddenly realise something.

You know the answer.

So you take them sailing.

You explain the mainsheet.

You let them hold the tiller.

You reassure them when the boat heels.

And perhaps ten minutes later they feel the boat accelerate under sail for the first time.

That is how sailing clubs continue.

---

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Learn to Sail

At the beginning of this series I argued that sailing does not have to be an expensive or inaccessible sport.

I still believe that.

You don't need to begin with a yacht.

You don't need to buy a boat.

You don't need every piece of sailing clothing in the catalogue.

You certainly don't need to know everything before you arrive.

Find a welcoming sailing club.

Talk to people.

Have a go.

Crew for somebody.

Take the helm.

Make mistakes.

Ask questions.

Try another boat.

Join a coaching session.

Perhaps enter a race.

Perhaps don't.

Then see where sailing takes you.

Your journey might eventually lead to racing, cruising, yachts, foiling, traditional boats or something you haven't yet imagined.

Or perhaps you will simply spend many happy afternoons sailing around your local stretch of water.

Both are perfectly good outcomes.

Because the real destination was never the race course, the yacht marina or the championship trophy.

It was becoming someone who can look across a stretch of water, feel the wind on their face and think:

I could sail that.

And if you have reached that point, your first sailing lessons haven't really ended.

They have opened the door to everything that comes next.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

---

Coming Next in the Beginner Sailing Series

Your First Sailing Knots — Only Learn the Ones You Actually Need

Start with:

• figure-eight;
• bowline;
• reef knot;
• round turn and two half hitches;
• cleat hitch.

Return to https://pmrsailing.uk/Lessons.html

 

From Steering the Boat to Sailing the Boat — Your First Lesson in Tactics

Once you stop worrying about every little mistake, you finally have enough spare brainpower to ask the question that really matters: where am I actually trying to go?

In the early stages of learning to sail, almost all your concentration is occupied by the boat itself.

Where should I sit?

Which way do I move the tiller?

Is the sail too tight?

Why has it started flapping?

Am I about to hit the boom?

Have I turned too far?

Why has the boat stopped?

And perhaps most importantly:

What am I supposed to do now?

That is perfectly normal.

When you first learn to drive a car, you are thinking about pedals, gears, mirrors and steering. Eventually those individual actions become automatic enough that you can start thinking about the road ahead.

Sailing is much the same.

Once you realise that getting stuck head-to-wind, allowing the sails to flap or making a slightly untidy tack are all recoverable, something rather interesting happens.

You begin to look beyond the boat.

You stop concentrating entirely on keeping it moving and begin thinking about where you actually want to sail.

That is the point at which sailing starts becoming not just a physical skill, but a tactical one.

And this is where it becomes really interesting.

Sailing Is a Continuous Series of Decisions

A sailing boat rarely follows a simple straight line from A to B.

You are constantly making small decisions.

Should I sail a little higher?

Should I bear away?

Should I tack now or continue for another thirty seconds?

Is there stronger wind over there?

Am I sailing into another boat's path?

Would I be better on the other side of the river?

Can I reach my destination on this course?

Some of those decisions matter enormously in racing.

But even if you never intend to race, tactical thinking makes ordinary sailing easier, safer and much more satisfying.

The important change is this:

Instead of reacting to what the boat does, you begin anticipating what is likely to happen next.

That is a major step in becoming a sailor.

Start by Choosing a Destination

One of the best exercises for a beginner is surprisingly simple.

Pick somewhere you want to sail towards.

It might be:

• a buoy;

• a tree on the bank;

• a moored boat;

• a clubhouse;

• a bridge;

• or another obvious landmark.

You are not necessarily trying to arrive exactly alongside it.

You are simply giving yourself a target.

Without a target, beginners often sail wherever the boat happens to be pointing.

The boat is moving.

The sails are full.

Everything seems successful.

But there is no particular plan.

Once you choose a destination, the whole exercise changes.

You now have to ask:

Can I sail directly towards it?

Sometimes the answer is yes.

Sometimes it is definitely no.

The Wind Decides Which Routes Are Available

A sailing boat cannot simply point anywhere and keep sailing.

If your destination lies directly downwind or across the wind, you may be able to head towards it fairly easily.

If it lies upwind, you cannot sail directly there.

You already know from our previous lesson on sailing upwind that the solution is to tack.

So your route might look something like:

Start → sail on one tack → tack → sail on the other tack → destination.

This introduces one of the most important ideas in sailing:

The shortest geographical route is not always the fastest sailing route.

A beginner may look at a buoy and think:

"It is over there. I should point the boat straight at it."

But the wind may have other ideas.

The experienced sailor looks at the same buoy and thinks:

"I can't sail directly there, so which route gives me the best approach?"

That is tactics in its simplest form.

Look Up, Not Down

Beginners understandably spend a lot of time looking inside the boat.

They watch the tiller.

They watch the mainsheet.

They look at their hands.

They look at the sails.

All of those things matter.

But eventually you must start looking much further ahead.

Where are the other boats?

Where is the bank?

Where is your next mark?

What is the wind doing ahead of you?

Is there room to tack?

Are you sailing towards shallow water?

Is someone approaching who may force you to change course?

A useful rule is:

Sail the boat you are in, but think about the water you are about to enter.

That change in viewpoint makes a considerable difference.

Do Not Sail Right Up to the Problem

This is something beginners often learn the hard way.

Suppose you are sailing towards the riverbank.

You know you need to tack eventually.

So you keep going.

And going.

And going.

The bank gets closer.

You think:

"I can go a little further."

Then suddenly there is very little room left.

Now the tack has to work perfectly.

If the boat gets stuck head-to-wind, you may find yourself drifting towards the bank while trying to recover.

It is much easier to tack while you still have plenty of space.

The same principle applies to moored boats, pontoons, shallow water and other sailors.

Give yourself options before you need them.

Experienced sailors often appear calm because they make decisions early.

Beginners sometimes appear extremely busy because they make the same decisions ten seconds later.

A Practical Exercise: Sail Around Three Marks

A very useful coaching exercise is to choose three obvious points on the water and sail between them.

They do not necessarily need to be racing marks.

Imagine three buoys making a rough triangle.

Your task is simply:

Buoy A → Buoy B → Buoy C → Buoy A.

At each stage, ask yourself four questions.

Where is the wind coming from?

What point of sail am I likely to use?

Will I need to tack or gybe?

Where should I make that manoeuvre?

Do not wait until you arrive at the buoy to start thinking about the next leg.

While you are approaching Buoy B, you should already be thinking about Buoy C.

That is an important habit.

Good sailors are rarely thinking only about where they are now.

They are thinking about what happens next.

Wind Is Not Quite as Constant as the Diagram Suggests

When we learn sailing theory, the wind is usually drawn as a nice straight arrow.

Real wind is less cooperative.

It changes direction.

It changes strength.

It becomes disturbed by trees, buildings and other boats.

On a river, particularly, the wind can sometimes appear to come from slightly different directions within a surprisingly short distance.

You may be sailing nicely on a reach and suddenly find the sail beginning to flap.

Has anything gone wrong?

Not necessarily.

The wind may simply have shifted.

Instead of immediately pulling harder on the mainsheet, look around.

Ask whether the boat needs to change direction.

This is one of the points at which sailing becomes much more than following fixed instructions.

You start observing.

You start interpreting.

And eventually you begin predicting.

Look for Clues on the Water

You can often see changes in the wind before they reach you.

A darker patch of rippled water may indicate stronger wind.

A smoother patch may indicate less.

Flags and burgees tell you something.

So do trees, reeds and other boats.

Watch what happens to a boat fifty metres ahead.

If it suddenly heels and accelerates, there may be a gust coming towards you.

If several boats ahead slow down, perhaps the wind has weakened.

If they all begin altering course, perhaps the wind has shifted.

This is one reason sailing can become so absorbing.

The water is constantly giving you information.

You simply have to learn how to read it.

The Fastest Boat Is Not Always the One Pointing Closest to the Destination

There is a temptation, particularly when sailing upwind, to point the boat as high into the wind as possible.

After all, if the destination is upwind, surely pointing closer to it must be better.

Not necessarily.

Point too high and the sails lose power.

The boat slows.

The centreboard and rudder become less effective.

Eventually you may stop altogether.

Another sailor may be pointing five or ten degrees further away from the destination but travelling much faster.

They can therefore arrive first.

This is an important lesson because it challenges the instinctive idea that:

more direct = more efficient.

In sailing, the better question is:

Which course gives the boat the best combination of direction and speed?

That is the beginning of tactical thinking.

Sometimes You Should Sail Away from Your Destination

This can feel very strange.

Imagine that your destination lies upwind and slightly to your right.

You are currently sailing on a tack taking you slightly to the left.

Every second, it appears that you are sailing further away from where you actually want to go.

The beginner's instinct is often to tack immediately.

But that may be the wrong decision.

Continuing for another minute might put you in a much better position for the final approach.

This is one of the reasons sailing rewards patience.

You do not always steer towards your destination.

Sometimes you position the boat so that the next part of the journey becomes easier.

That idea becomes enormously important in racing.

But it is just as useful when cruising around the river.

Think About Space, Not Just Direction

When deciding where to sail, beginners often think only about the direction they want to travel.

Experienced sailors also think about the space around them.

Imagine three possible routes.

Route one takes you close to several moored boats.

Route two takes you towards the bank where the wind may become disturbed.

Route three is slightly longer but leaves plenty of open water.

For a beginner, route three may be by far the best choice.

Why?

Because it gives you room.

Room to tack.

Room to correct mistakes.

Room to slow down.

Room to avoid another boat.

Room to think.

There is rarely a prize for squeezing through the smallest available gap.

Keep an Escape Route

This is particularly useful when learning.

Whenever you sail into a confined area, ask:

What will I do if the manoeuvre does not go perfectly?

Suppose you are planning to tack between two moored boats.

If the boat fails to complete the tack, what happens?

If the answer is:

"I drift harmlessly into open water and try again,"

that is a fairly forgiving situation.

If the answer is:

"I hit the pontoon,"

you might want to choose another place to tack.

Good tactics often involve arranging things so that small mistakes have small consequences.

River Sailing Adds Another Ingredient

On a river such as the Thames, tactical sailing can be particularly interesting.

The river is comparatively narrow.

Trees and buildings affect the wind.

There are moored boats.

There may be motorboats.

There may be current.

There are bends in the river.

One side may have better wind than the other.

That means sailing fifty metres to the left rather than fifty metres to the right can sometimes make a surprisingly large difference.

You begin to notice places where the wind is often stronger.

You learn where it tends to become disturbed.

You discover that one apparently attractive route repeatedly leaves you sitting in almost no wind.

Local knowledge gradually builds.

And that is another part of becoming a sailor.

You do not just learn how boats behave.

You begin to learn how your stretch of water behaves.

Current Can Change the Picture

When sailing on tidal or flowing water, the water itself may also be moving.

That matters because the boat is moving through the water while the water is moving relative to the land.

You can therefore point the boat towards something on the bank and still find yourself moving sideways relative to it.

A simple way to experience this is to choose a fixed object ashore and watch whether its position changes relative to the boat.

If you are being carried sideways by current, you may need to aim slightly away from your true destination to compensate.

The exact amount will depend on wind strength, boat speed and current.

At beginner level, the important idea is simply:

The direction the bow is pointing and the direction the boat travels over the ground are not always exactly the same.

Other Boats Are Moving Problems

Of course, there is another complication.

Other sailors.

They rarely remain conveniently stationary while you make your plan.

You may decide on the perfect course towards a buoy only for another boat to appear in the way.

You therefore need to keep looking around.

Not once every five minutes.

Frequently.

Good situational awareness is one of the most valuable habits you can develop.

Do not become so absorbed in trimming the mainsail that you forget there is another dinghy approaching from behind.

Do not stare at the buoy while ignoring the boat crossing ahead.

And remember that avoiding a collision matters far more than proving who technically had right of way.

The formal rules of sailing are important and deserve their own lesson.

But the first rule for a beginner is much simpler:

Keep looking around and do not create situations that require last-second action.

Begin to Notice What Other Sailors Are Doing

One of the best ways to learn tactics is to watch experienced sailors.

Suppose you are sailing along one side of the river and somebody else repeatedly chooses the opposite side.

Why?

Perhaps they know there is more wind there.

Perhaps they are avoiding current.

Perhaps they want a better angle towards the next mark.

Perhaps they are simply making a mistake.

Do not automatically copy them.

But do ask the question.

Why did they choose that route?

This habit becomes particularly useful when you start racing.

You can learn an enormous amount simply by observing where the better sailors go and then trying to understand why.

Racing Begins Long Before the Starting Gun

You do not need to become a racing sailor to enjoy tactical sailing.

But racing makes these decisions much more obvious.

Suddenly it matters whether you tack now or ten seconds later.

It matters which side of the course has stronger wind.

It matters whether another boat will block your route.

It matters whether you are sailing quickly in the wrong direction.

That is why club racing can be such a useful part of learning.

You do not have to be good enough to win.

In fact, at first you almost certainly will not.

The value is that racing gives every sailing decision a purpose.

There is a start.

There are marks.

There is a defined route.

And there are plenty of other sailors making slightly different decisions from you.

That turns an ordinary afternoon on the water into a fascinating practical lesson.

My Own Experience — The Moment Sailing Becomes Much Bigger

There is a stage in learning where you feel as though you are simply trying to keep the boat under control.

The tiller needs attention.

The sail needs attention.

The wind appears to keep changing.

Every tack seems like a major event.

Then, almost without noticing, some of those things begin to become automatic.

You stop thinking:

"Move the tiller this way."

You simply turn.

You stop thinking:

"The sail is flapping, therefore I need to pull it in."

You simply trim it.

That releases your attention for something much more interesting.

You begin looking further ahead.

You notice the next gust.

You start planning the next tack.

You wonder whether the other side of the river might be faster.

You position yourself before arriving at the next mark.

That is when you realise that sailing has several layers.

The boat-handling is only the beginning.

A Simple Beginner Tactical Routine

The next time you sail, try repeating this little sequence in your head:

Where am I going?

Choose a destination.

Where is the wind?

Work out the likely point of sail.

What happens next?

Think about the next turn, tack or gybe.

What is around me?

Check boats, bank, shallows and obstructions.

Do I have room?

Avoid creating unnecessary pressure.

Has anything changed?

Keep watching the wind and the water.

Then repeat.

You do not have to calculate everything perfectly.

The purpose is simply to develop the habit of looking ahead.

From Reacting to Anticipating

This may be the biggest change in the whole beginner sailing journey.

At first, sailing is reactive.

The sail flaps — you respond.

The boat turns — you respond.

The wind increases — you respond.

You get too close to the bank — you respond.

Gradually, sailing becomes anticipatory.

You see the gust approaching and prepare.

You tack before you run out of water.

You ease the sail before the boat becomes overpowered.

You position yourself correctly before reaching the mark.

You choose a route that gives you room if something goes wrong.

That transition from reacting to anticipating is one of the clearest signs that you are becoming more confident.

You Are No Longer Just a Passenger

There is a lovely moment in learning to sail when the boat stops feeling like something that is happening to you.

You begin to feel responsible for where it goes.

You are not simply steering.

You are choosing.

You are reading the wind.

You are planning.

You are changing your plan when circumstances change.

And occasionally you will make the wrong choice.

You will tack too early.

You will sail into a patch with no wind.

You will follow somebody who turns out not to know where they are going.

You will find yourself on completely the wrong side of the river.

That is fine.

Because just as we discovered in the previous lesson, mistakes are recoverable.

And tactical mistakes are often among the most useful ones.

They teach you to ask:

What could I have seen earlier?

The Beginning of Real Sailing

Learning to pull a sail in is useful.

Learning to steer is essential.

Learning to tack and gybe gives you control.

But eventually all of those skills become tools for something larger.

You begin using them to solve a constantly changing problem:

How do I get this boat from here to there, efficiently, safely and enjoyably, using the wind that I actually have rather than the wind I wish I had?

That is the beginning of tactics.

It is also one of the reasons sailing never really stops being interesting.

You can spend a lifetime becoming better at it.

The wind will change.

The current will change.

The boats around you will change.

Your decisions will change.

And even on a stretch of water you have sailed hundreds of times before, no two journeys are ever quite identical.

Once you stop merely trying to keep the boat moving, you discover something important.

You are no longer just learning how to control a sailing boat.

You are learning how to sail.

My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65. 

I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require. 

So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.

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Coming Next in the Beginner Sailing Series

From First Sail to First Race — What Happens Next?

First sail → crewing → coaching → independent sailing → racing → spinnakers, trapezes, yachts, traditional boats… perhaps even an A-Rater.

Return to https://pmrsailing.uk/Lessons.html