Lesson 1 - lets start sailing!

 
Selecting Your Sails Find out how to select your sails for the day, learn how to attach them and hoist them up the mast. We look at the different sails we have for varying strengths of wind.

Our yacht has a fractional rig installed. There are different types of mast and sail combination depending on the yacht design.

We have hank on Jibs.  Hanks are clips that attach the sail to the fore-stay. Click here for more details on the different types of Jibs with pictures.

Lets look at a typical marine forecast summary:
     Saturday: Northerly 20 knots developing. Mainly fine.

For this we would use the full mainsail and a Jib No.3. We may consider reefing the mainsail, this would balance the power between the large mainsail and small jib better and make the handling of the vessel more manageable. Its also not advisable to gybe (or jibe)a full mainsail is a strong breeze. The spinnaker is used only on the advanced sailing course.