Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Before You Get Your Feet Wet 5 Chapter 1: Ready, Set, Go: Time to Start Sailing 7 What You Need to Start Sailing 8 Taking lessons 8 Location, location, location 9 Feeling the wind 9 Considering safety 10 Looking at a Sailboat 10 All sailboats have a hull 10 All sailboats have an underwater fin 12 All sailboats have a mast 14 All sailboats have sails 16 All sailboats have lots of rope 16 Tackling Some Basic Sailing Maneuvers 17 Coasting to a stop 18 Sailing into the wind 18 Chapter 2: Where You Can Learn: Classes and Sailing Schools 21 Resources for Learning 22 What Kind of Boat You Should Learn On 22 Dinghies 23 Keelboats 24 Keeping It Easy the First Time 26 Choosing a Sailing School 27 Exploring your options 27 Taking lessons while on vacation 28 Looking outside the United States 29 Interviewing a potential school 29 Finding the right sailing instructor 30 Picking a sailing school for the kids 31 Practicing: The More, the Better 32 Taking Advanced Classes 33 Chapter 3: Planning Ahead: What to Wear and What to Bring 35 Staying Safe with Life Jackets 36 Choosing the right jacket 36 Using life jackets correctly 37 Children and life jackets 38 Staying Warm + Dry = Having Fun 38 Sizing up your sailing wardrobe 38 Layering 39 Staying dry on top 40 Preparing Yourself for Getting Wet 40 Choosing Foul-Weather Gear 41 Picking the Right Shoes 42 Packing What You Need 42 Knowing what to leave on shore 43 Stowing your stuff 43 Checking Your Safety List 44 Chapter 4: Before You Leave the Dock 47 Dissecting a Sailboat: This Part and That Part 48 Climbing Aboard 51 Climbing aboard a dinghy 51 Climbing onto a keelboat 52 Rigging the Boat 53 Preparing the sails 53 Double-checking before hoisting the sails 61 Raising the Sails 62 Hoisting the mainsail 62 Hoisting the jib 66 Cleaning up all that rope 67 Sitting at the Dock on the Bay 69 Steering (And Riding in) the Boat 69 Tiller or wheel? 69 Knowing where to sit when you drive 71 Knowing where the crew should sit 72 Avoiding danger areas 72 Avoiding Collisions: Rules of the Road 73 Part 2: Casting Off and Sailing Away 75 Chapter 5: Going Sailing: Just the Basics, Please 77 Finding the Wind''s Direction 78 Feeling the wind 78 Using other clues to find the wind 79 Identifying the Points of Sail 79 More about that darn no-sail zone 80 Sailing in the zone 82 Pointing Out the Basic Sailing Terms 87 Heading up and bearing away 88 Port and starboard tack 88 Windward and leeward 89 Making the Basic Sailing Maneuvers 90 Tacking: Turning toward the wind 90 Ironing out those irons 92 Jibing: Turning away from the wind 94 Pulling In Lines 97 Using blocks 98 Using winches 100 Chapter 6: Leaving the Dock (And Coming Back) 105 Leaving the Mooring or Dock 106 Using an engine 106 Leaving the mooring under sail 106 Leaving the dock under sail 107 Getting Back to the Dock or Mooring 109 Coming back to the mooring 110 Coming back to the dock 111 Docking under power 112 Docking between pilings 113 Throwing a Line 114 Tying Up a Boat: Leaving It Secure 115 Spring lines 115 Watch out for that tide! 116 Getting Your Boat into the Water 116 Launching a trailerable sailboat 117 Launching without a trailer 120 Sliding a dinghy off a dock 121 Starting from the beach 122 Returning to the beach 123 Putting up a mast 124 Chapter 7: Safety: One Hand for the Boat, One Hand for Yourself 127 Preparing for Heavy Weather 128 Preparing for a blow 128 Preparing when you''re already at sea 129 Reducing your sail power 132 Recovering from a Capsize on a Dinghy 138 The anatomy of a capsize 138 Righting the boat 139 Rescuing a swamped dinghy 141 Rescuing a Man Overboard 143 Step 1: Alert everyone, and keep the swimmer in sight 143 Step 2: Throw stuff that floats to the swimmer 144 Step 3: Slow the boat 144 Step 4: Get the swimmer back on board 147 Staying Calm If You Fall Overboard 148 Conserve energy 148 Maximize buoyancy 149 Conserve body heat 149 Make yourself visible 150 Catching a Tow 150 Communicating and Calling for Help 151 Using your VHF radio 152 Using the VHF radio in emergencies 153 Using satellite communications 154 Chapter 8: All about Weather: Red Sky at Night 157 Figuring Out How Windy It Is 158 The small picture (using your eyes) 160 More than cloud gazing 161 Getting the Scoop on the Weather 161 The big picture 162 The human touch 163 Official marine forecasts 163 Observations 163 The digital domain 164 Whither the Weather 166 The big picture: Temperature and pressure differences 166 Low-pressure areas and fronts 168 Squalls 169 Facing Up to Fog 171 Going with the Tide and the Current 171 Understanding Sea Breezes 173 Recognizing Wind Shifts 174 Using Your Weather Knowledge 175 Chapter 9: Navigation: Holding Your Course 177 Using Common-Sense Navigation 178 Judging laylines 179 Holding a steady course 179 Avoiding shallow water 180 Relying on Buoys: Aids to Navigation 181 Knowing your colors 182 Identifying the types of buoys 183 Nautical Charts: A Sailor''s Road Map 184 Lining up your latitudes and longitudes 185 Deciphering a chart 186 Measuring the course and distance of a route 189 Using a Compass 190 Accounting for deviation 190 Reading a compass 191 Steering a compass course 191 Basic Navigation: Piloting 192 Using a speedometer and a depth sounder 192 Taking a bearing 193 Fixing your position without a navigation app 195 Dead reckoning 195 Figuring in current and leeway 196 Keeping a log 197 Special Piloting Techniques 198 Danger bearing 198 Distance off 198 Navigating in Fog or Reduced Visibility 200 Navigating at Night 201 Lighting up the nighttime sky 201 Recognizing other boats at night 202 Electronic Navigation: GPS, Navigation Apps, and Chart Plotters 203 How accurate is GPS? 203 Getting the most out of your navigation app 203 Wishing on a Star: Celestial Navigation 206 Chapter 10: Anchors Away: Anchoring Your Boat 209 Looking at a Basic Anchor 210 Adding chain: Why it helps 211 Getting the scoop on scope 211 Picking a Good Place to Anchor 212 Finding the lee 213 Avoiding underwater hazards 213 Keeping an eye on depth and current 214 Staying away from crowds 215 Getting Ready to Anchor 215 Dropping the Anchor 217 Digging In for a While 218 Retrieving Your Anchor 220 Anchoring under Sail 221 Tackling Anchoring Problems 222 Choosing the Right Anchor 224 What Size is your anchor? 225 Securing the anchor and rode 225 Choosing chain 226 Choosing the right anchor line 226 Maintaining the anchor and rode 227 Anchoring with all chain 227 Looking at Advanced Techniques 228 Doubling up: Two anchors 228 Doing it Mediterranean style 229 Part 3: Sailing Fast: Taking Your Sailing to the Next Level 231 Chapter 11: The Need for Speed: Sailing Fast 233 Understanding Apparent Wind 234 Sailing Faster: Go-Fast Tips 235 Steering Faster: Driving Tips 236 Sailing Flat Is Fast: Ease, Hike, and Trim 239 Hiking out 239 Trapezing for speed 240 Positioning for Proper Fore-and-Aft Trim 242 Rockin'' and Rollin'' the Boat 242 Roll tack 243 Roll jibe 245 S-turning in heavy air 245 You''ve gotta rock it 246 Planing and Surfing the Waves 247 Sailing on a Catamaran 249 Making your own wind 249 Flying a hull 250 Trimming your fully battened sails 251 Tacking made easy 251 Recovering from a capsize 252 Foiling above the Water 253 Chapter 12: Trimming Your Sails for Speed 255 When in Doubt, Let It Out 256 Relying on Telltales 257 Shaping Your Sails 258 Pull That Line -- No, THAT Line 260 Powering Up Your Sails 262 Controlling the power 263 Reducing the power 264 Trimming the jib 265 Sailing Fast Downwind 266 Setting a symmetrical spinnaker 267 Setting an asymmetrical spinnaker 276 Losing Control in Strong Winds 277 Rounding up 277 Rounding down 278 Chapter 13: Kiteboarding and Windsurfing 279 Swimming, Anyone? 280 Parts are parts 282 The ideal setup 285 Kiteboarding 285 Rigging up 286 Making a not-so-dr.