Introduction 

One of the great pleasures that comes from working with a boat is the feeling of a job well done. This applies to a maneuver as simple as an up-wind docking, or as complex as backing out of an anchorage under sail--and no matter how well you and your crew pull off the maneuver in question it can always be done a little bit better the next time.

Regardless of how much experience one acquires, there is always something new to learn. The mix of wind, wave, boat design, and crew is always changing. Rarely will you find two situations that are exactly alike. Every time you head out, whether for a day sail or a long passage, you will be gathering new data, and improving your techniques of seamanship along the way.

This creative mix is really a form of art, and you are the artist. As your own skills and knowledge increase you will find ever-increasing pleasure in this practice of seamanship.

Our goal in this volume is to lay out for you the basic tenets of Practical Seamanship, as we and other experienced sailors have learned them over the years, so that you may enjoy seamanship as an end in itself--and reap the rewards of safety, comfort, and peace of mind which come from this knowledge.

We'll then go into a range of specialized knowledge and skills which will provide you with additional tools should they ever be required.

This book is designed so that you can use this knowledge as a foundation to build on with your own experience.

Prioritize Your Time

Whether you are getting ready for a long-term cruise or a summer vacation, with the hours required for preparing the yacht and putting personal business in order, not to mention holding down a job, most people find little time for actually sailing, let alone practice, before the day arrives to shove off.

You are forced to prioritize your time. The key is what goes at the top of the list. Having been through this process ourselves we feel strongly that you will get the best return on time invested by using the boat--getting to know how to handle it in all sorts of situations as well as testing the gear and systems--as opposed to working on it. Yes, this will cut into the gear you buy and add on, but it's better to put off those decisions until you've been out there cruising awhile, anyway.

Defensive Seamanship

Throughout this book you will find us referring to the concept of "Defensive Seamanship". This is much the same as the practice of defensive driving you probably learned in driver's education years ago. At sea it manifests itself by constantly being aware of the weather, the sea state, boat, and crew.

Check lists: It has been over 50 years now since we first learned the rules for converting a true course to a magnetic heading and visa versa. After doing this thousands of times we cannot remember from one passage to the next how it goes--so we have a little card with the basic data on it which we put next to the radar as a reminder. If any of you are pilots you know that much of flying is based on check lists--before a flight, during, and when landing check lists are the norm for commercial and private pilots. If it works for flying it ought to work in sailing. We have taken this approach to the most important data in this book. You will find a check list for many of the situations. Once you have the book learning out of the way, we hope these will serve as a helpful reminder when required. This data is also available on the CD-ROM and you are, of course, free to print this out and use it in the most efficient manner for your personal needs.

When something doesn't seem right, the time to act is now, without delay. This applies to leaving an exposed anchorage at the first hint of trouble, reefing early if the weather is unstable, or changing the V-belts on the engine because they are a little worn.

The key to defensive seamanship is staying alert and acting early, before a situation can deteriorate to where your options are limited.

Staying Current

One of the problems we all have is staying current in our thinking and skills. We learn a subject backwards and forwards, put the knowledge to good use on a passage or summer vacation, and then you shift gears sitting at anchor for a period of time or return to a land-based existence. That knowledge, so sharp a few months before, recedes to the background. The next time we go out it may take awhile before things spring back into focus. If there's some adrenaline thrown into the pot it may be even more difficult to remember what it was you learned.

From our perspective it always takes a day or two aboard before we settle into the well-worn routine that the two of us are used to. To aid ourselves in this process we have a notebook we keep with a series of check lists to get us up to speed. Throughout this book you will find many check lists and/or executive summaries designed to help you do the same.

Crew Size

The two of us have spent almost all of our time at sea sailing as a couple (with the kids when they still lived with us). Some people would call this short-handed, and it does mean longer watches offshore. But when we are in port we have the boat completely to ourselves, and are totally on our own schedule. We each know that we can rely on the other to adhere to the basic rules of seamanship that we've always sailed by. There is a significant amount of comfort to be taken from that.

As a result of this the techniques we've developed for all aspects of seamanship are based on a single person being on watch most of the time, with the ability to call on a second set of hands if the situation requires.

It is this same approach which we bring to this text.

Cutting the Dock Lines

In the end, it is the ultimate goal of this book, as well as the rest the books in our "Cruising Tools" series to help you cut the dock lines and go--whether it is for a day sail, a weekend cruise, or a trip around the world. If you have questions or find information missing, drop us an email to beowulf@setsail.com.

Linda and Steve Dashew