educational apps Archives - Safe Skipper Boating & Safety Afloat Apps for phones & tablets

Going aground – what to do if it happens to you

by Simon Jollands | Communications, Crewing skills, Emergencies, Navigation, Preparation

It is one of those sailing facts of life that, however hard you try to avoid it, sooner or later you will most likely find yourself aground. It has happened to me twice. Once when I was on a RYA training vessel near the entrance to Beaulieu River in the Western...

Tidal heights and the rule of twelfths

by Simon Jollands | Communications, Crewing skills, Navigation, Preparation

In our previous article we looked at tidal curves and how we can use them to find the time of a specific height of tide. Following on from this we now take a look at how we calculate a height of tide for a specific time. This is not a complex calculation but it helps...

Understanding tide tables and tidal curves

by Simon Jollands | Communications, Crewing skills, Navigation, Preparation

No two coastal places have exactly the same tidal pattern. There are many factors that influence this, from the shape of the coastline, the funnelling effect of channels and estuaries, the depth of the sea and the proximity of oceans. The times and heights of tides...

Tidal terms and definitions

by Simon Jollands | Communications, Crewing skills, Navigation, Preparation

In a previous post, we looked at some of the basic principles involved with understanding tides, including what causes their rise and fall, the resulting tidal streams and the tidal range that varies according to coastal topography. For those who are learning or...

Fixing position at sea using traditional methods

by Simon Jollands | Communications, Crewing skills, Navigation, Preparation

Following on from previous posts concerning traditional navigation methods, this post looks at some traditional methods used for fixing a vessel’s position at sea, within sight of land. Electronic fixes using chart plotters are very straightforward to record,...