October 2014

Sailing is a fun past time that can contain elements of relaxation, adrenaline and unfamiliarity. If you have never sailed before, you might find some of the aspects of sailing slightly odd and perhaps a little challenging. A good example is that a sailing boat doesn’t always sail “upright” and can lean to one side (called heeling). It may feel odd, but when you understand the dynamics it makes sense and is somewhat comforting.

A boat uses two opposing forces: the wind (there’s a surprise) and it’s righting movement (normally it the shape of the keel). This opposes the wind pressure and wants to keep the boat upright, so what you get is something in between and the boat moves forward. As the wind increases, the boat leans more. This has the effect of allowing less wind to fill the sails as there is less area for the wind to catch, and the boat naturally tries to balance the conditions using the heeling of the boat. In reality, we don’t want too much, but 20% – 25% is a good value. To maintain this, we can also reduce the sail size with reefing and other controls if the wind picks up. The picture above shows about as much heel as we would want.

At Devon Sailing Experiences, we use all or part of the first day to introduce you to the basic techniques and to get a feel of how the boat moves through the water which allows you to be more accustomed and ultimately to enjoy the experience more. If we have experienced guests, we still go through the same procedure (albeit it a bit quicker) as one boat is different to another. Don’t forget, all our experiences come with a fully qualified skipper / trainer , so you can take part in as much (or as little) sailing as you choose.

OK, it’s day one, you have got on the boat and you’re itching to go. On the way down in the car you discussed various destinations and the plan is to go to Salcombe for the first day. It looks about 20 miles away and shouldn’t take much longer than 4 – 5 hours, as a bonus it will be high tide which means the Salcombe bar can be easily crossed.

The forecast is for a South Westerly Force 5 and the tide in Salcombe looks to be high at about 2 o’clock …

Although this plan is possible there are reasons why you may change your mind.

Unsurprisingly, the weather plays a very large part in your plan. A sailing boat cannot sail directly into the wind – typically 45’ is ok but even this may not be achievable; if the sea has had chance to build a little, you won’t find it very comfortable to sail even at this angle.

Sailing at 45’ to your destination will require a number of tacks and it’s important not to under estimate the number of tacks you’ll need to complete your ‘leg’ to Salcombe. Typically you may need to double your distance to the destination and time taken.

The second issue is that although high water is preferable at Salcombe, when you arrive it means the tide will be against you from Brixham, typically slowing you by a knot or so.

On route to Salcombe is Start Point which is a headland and typically this means a tidal gate (pictured above), where the tide will run strongly against you and you may even go backwards! You can see the tidal race in the picture. This can mean endless beating to get to the destination.

Having explained such a situation to our guests/crew, we would recommend a change of plan – perhaps a halfway house to Dartmouth and up to Dittisham which will be well sheltered and has a great pub!