Basic Sailing Maneuvers

Alex Schulte: Hi, I am Alex Schulte with the Washington Sailing Marina's Summer Sailing School. Today, I am showing you how to sail and this is basic maneuvering. On a basic sailboat, there are two main things that you use to maneuver your sailboat. The first is your tiller; you use the tiller to go straight and to help yourself to turn. In order to steer your boat to the right you put the tiller to the left and in order to steer your boat to the left you put your tiller to the right. Keeping a boat going straight is actually fairly difficult for beginning sailors because the wind, the current, the tide and waves and other such factors can keep your boat from going straight.

The best way to do this is to pick a point on land in front of you and keep heading towards it. You can use a tree or a building anything that's not moving. You use your main sheet to power and de-power your sails. You can let out your sail by letting out your main sheet and you can pull in your sail by pulling in your main sheet. When you're sitting on your boat, you want to be sure to sit not on the back of the boat, you want to sit on the side of your boat facing your main sail perpendicular to the boat. That was basic maneuvering. Next is wind direction, points of sail, and sail trim.

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