Entering a port you will see green buoys on the right of the channel and red buoys on the left of the channel.


Entering and leaving port you should pass on the right hand side of the channel – by the green buoys on the way in and by the red buoys on the way out.

Looking at the chart will tell you the depth of the water inside and to either side of the channel. Channels may be for big ships only or for everyone. In a tiny sailing port the channel will be for everyone, and may indicate that you will run aground outside it.


CHARTS
If you have no idea about using a chart for navigation, do a course before you go sailing in real life. Understanding what is going on on a chart is as essential as knowing how to put on a lifejacket,

Here are some basics:

Blue / yellow
Yellow areas on the chart is the land. Blue is the sea.
The darker blue the area the shallower the water. Generally there will be lines around the different contours of depth. There are rocks in funny places – don’t ignore them.

The depths are in numbers on the chart and are measured in metres.

WRECKS AND ROCKS
Occasionally there will be a shipwreck that is partially exposed. That’s a little safer than where one isn’t and is under water. There will be a dotted line around the wreck and a depth to the top of that wreck. That will be similar to a rock or shoal where the measured depth will be circled.

Rocks are marked by "+" on the eSail charts, but not all are charted.

LIGHTHOUSES
On the land and on some exposed rocks there will be a lighthouse. This is denoted on the chart with a dot, a red cone and some shorthand that will dictate what you see:

For example: F(3)W

F means flashing

(3) flashing three times

W means that the light is white.

Every lighthouse in a locality will have different day markings and night flashing patterns.

NOTE: on the eSail charts ALL lights are indicated by a purple cone above a dot.

CHANNEL MARKERS
Broadly, a solid red buoy should be left to port entering port. (Port wine is red.)
The green buoy should be left to starboard entering port. On the chart the red channel marker will be a square with a circle in the bottom of the line. The green buoy will be a cone with a circle along the line on the bottom.

NOTE: In US and Canadian waters this is reversed. The green bouy should be to port and the red bouy to starbord. (Red right returning.)

DANGER MARKS
Danger marks are there to prevent people from hitting something on the bottom. This might be a shoal, rocks, a sand bar or a wreck.

Cardinal Marks are painted white, black and yellow. On the chart as well as the buoy you will see shapes:

Pass to the North: Two black cones pointing upward

Pass to the South: Two black cones pointing downward

Pass to the East: Top cone upwards, bottom downwards (you can imagine you can draw an E in them)

Pass to the West: Both cones pointing to the middle. (You can imagine a W in them)


NIGHT NAVIGATION
Night navigation requires study and experience – at least 2-3 times under someone else’s supervision. Sailing in the dark is many times more complicated than during the day. It is a discipline in its own right, and you really need to know what you are doing.

Make sure you have done a navigation course – and passed the exam -- before you venture out at night in real life. Even then, all the lights that appear so easy to identify on the chart are easily confused in the midst of shore lights and/or the lights on large ships.

Channel Markers
Channel marking buoys in larger ports will have lights on them. If it is a green light, leave it to starboard and red to port.

DANGER LIGHTS
If you see a flashing yellow light that is an isolated danger mark – it could be a new wreck. Avoid it.

Leave to the North: White light very quick flashing
Leave to the South: White light 6 quick flashes and a long flash every 10 or normal flashes every 15 seconds.
Leave to the East: White light 3 quick flashes every 5 seconds or 3 normal flashes every 10 seconds
Leave to the West: White light 9 quick flashes every 10 seconds or normal flashes every 15.

OTHER VESSELS
All vessels have to show prominent navigation lights.
If you see red lights on a vessel you are looking at its port side. If you see green lights you are looking at its starboard side.

If you see red and green with a white light above, it is a motor vessel coming toward you. If you only see a white light it is going away from you – the odds are you will see a port or starboard light as you pass by.

If you only see green or red but no white masthead light it is a sailing vessel.

If you are coming into an anchorage or port and see a white light on the mast, it is a vessel at anchor.

Rules of the Road/Steering and Sailing Rules (International)

Rules of the Road are a bit more complicated for sailors than for powerboat skippers, because the sailor has two sets of rules to learn: those which apply to a boat under sail alone and those which apply when the engine is on --even if the sails are up at the same time.

When two vessels are approaching each other in a way that threatens collision, one of the two is normally the Stand-on craft and the other is the Give-way. The rules have one purpose -- to prevent collisions. Achiving that objective requires the cooperation of all skippers. Both craft have obligations as well as rights.

SAILBOATS

When two sailboats encounter each other Stand-on and Give-way status applies according to their positions relative to the wind and to each other.

1) When two boats are on different tacks -- the boat on a starboard tack (wind coming from starboard, sails on port side) is the Stand-on craft

2) When both are on the same tack -- the windward (closest to the wind) boat gives way.


Generally, sailboats are the Stand-on vessel with respect to powerboats. BUT: a sailboat is only a sailboat when propelled by wind alone. If the engine is running and in gear, she is a powerboat.

Three exceptions to the above rule.

1)When a sailboat is overtaking another craft, the sailboat is the Give-way vessel, no matter how the other craft is propelled.

2)Commercial fishing vessels engaged in fishing must not be interfered with.

3) Stay clear of large vessels at all times. In a narrow channel, no smaller vessel has the right to force a larger one out of the way. (Besides, do you really want to try?)

POWERBOATS

Three basic right-of-way situations for powerboats:

1. Meeting head-on or nearly so

2. Crossing

3. Overtaking

When two powerboats approach head-on, each should swing to starboard so the boats pass port side to port side. There should be no hesitation in making this maneuver and no exception unless moving right will endanger the boat.

When two powerboats are crossing at right angles, the Stand-on boat is on the right of the two craft.

When one powerboat is overtaking another, the overtaken boat is ALWAYS the Stand-on vessel. The overtaking vessel should pass to port.




NOTE: in eSail don't expect those little tugboats or even computer-generated race entrants to obey rules of the road. It's more like dodgems.

MOTORSAILING

When your destination is directly into the wind it might be time to turn on the engine rather than make multiple time-consuming tacks.

Once the engine is running, rather than dropping both sails and steering directly where you want to go keep at least the mainsail up and MOTORSAIL into the wind at an angle. You may still have to tack a few times but it will be fewer than under sail alone.

You're now getting most of your drive from the engine, so you can use a very flat sail shape.
Flatten the main by tightening the halyard, outhaul and kicking strap (boomvang) and easing off the topping lift.

Once flattened you should be able to maintain a tight wind angle of less than 20 degrees and still keep the sail filled. This will stabilize the boat and also add some speed.

If you do not need to maintain a tight angle, bear off a bit, put more shape in the sail, and perhaps unfurl the jib to gain even more speed.

Once the wind is abaft the beam motorsail is not often productive. At wider sailing angles, the speed generated by the engine decreases apparant wind speed and makes it difficult to keep sails working efficiently.

Generally, if there is enough wind to fill the sails while traveling downwind you may as well use only the sails.

On the other hand, if there's not enough wind to fill the sails and they're flapping about, take them down and proceed under power alone.

Metric Measure (approx.) U.S.

1000 Meters (M) ..............................................3280.8 ft.
500 M...............................................................1640.4 ft.
200 M.................................................................656.2 ft.
150 M.................................................................492.1 ft.
100 M.................................................................328.1 ft.
75 M...................................................................246.1 ft.
60 M...................................................................196.8 ft.
50 M...................................................................164.0 ft.
25 M.....................................................................82.0 ft.
20 M.....................................................................65.6 ft.
12 M.....................................................................39.4 ft.
10 M.....................................................................32.8 ft.
8 M.........................................................................6.2 ft.
7 M.......................................................................23.0 ft.
6 M.......................................................................19.7 ft.
5 M.........................................................................6.4 ft.
4.5 M....................................................................14.8 ft.
4.0 M....................................................................13.1 ft.
3.5 M....................................................................11.5 ft.
2.5 M......................................................................8.2 ft.
2.0 M......................................................................6.6 ft.
1.5 M......................................................................4.9 ft.
1 M.........................................................................3.3 ft.
.9 M......................................................................35.4 in.
.6 M......................................................................23.6 in.
.5 M......................................................................19.7 in.
300 Millimeters (mm)...........................................11.8 in.
200 mm..................................................................7.9 in.

In progess


NATO Phonetic Alphabet

In sailing, the phonetic alphabet is an important thing to know and know well. Since so much communication is heard through the poor fidelity of small radio speakers and takes place in sometimes loud windy conditions, it’s vital to have a means to communicate clearly and precisely. These specifically chosen words used to represent the alphabet’s letters service that goal. In the maritime world the NATO phonetic alphabet is most often used.

A
ALPHA
AL fah

B
BRAVO
BRAH voh

C
CHARLIE
CHAR lee

D
DELTA
DEL tah

E
ECHO
EKK oh

F
FOXTROT
FOKS trot

G
GOLF
GOLF

H
HOTEL
HO tell

I
INDIA
IN dee ah

J
JULIET
JEW lee ett

K
KILO
KEY loh

L
LIMA
LEE mah

M
MIKE
MIKE

N
NOVEMBER
NOH vem ber

O
OSCAR
OSS car

P
PAPA
PAH pah

Q
QUEBEC
keh BECK

R
ROMEO
ROW me oh

S
SIERRA
see AIR ah

T
TANGO
TANG go

U
UNIFORM
YOU nee form

V
VICTOR
VIK ter

W
WHISKEY
WISS key

X
XRAY
EKS ray

Y
YANKEE
YANG kee

Z
ZULU
ZOO luu

While the vhf communictions in eSail are currently in text format, you may wish to practice using the phonetic alphabet and


THE PHONETIC (NUMERIC) ALPHABET

Figures must be spoken slowly and with the correct pronunciation.

All figures, with the exception of exact multiples, e.g. One hundred or one thousand must be spoken separately (i.e. wun-zero = 10, thuh-ree-zero = 30).

Map Grid References should be sent numeral by numeral preceded by the Pro-word GRID.

Always pause between “eastings” and “northings” or “latitude” and “longitude” when sending Map Grid References.


O
Zero
ZEE - row

1
One
WUN

2
Two
TOO

3
Three
Thuh - REE

4
Four
FOW - er

5
Five
FIFE

6
Six
SIX

7
Seven
SEV - en

8
Eight
AIT

9
Nine
NINE - er

10
Ten
WUN - ZEE - row

.
Decimal Point
Day - see - mal

,
Comma
COMMA

.
Full Stop (Period in US)
FULL - STOP

-
Hypen
HY - PHEN