Stress-Free Sailing

Duncan Wells is an RYA instructor and sailing school principal. He has written for many leading boating magazines in the UK and US. He is also the author of Stress-Free Navigation, Stress-Free Motorboating and Stress-Free Mooring (Adlard Coles Nautical), which have helped countless sailors and motorboaters learn helpful boat handling and berthing techniques. He lives in Buckinghamshire.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Preface

1 INTRODUCTION
PHILOSOPHY
Why learn single-handed techniques?
Test boats

2 SKILLS & DISCIPLINES
Rope
Attaching to the dock
Mooring lines
Knots
Boathook
Sharing a cleat
Shore lines
Shoes
Keep a clean head
Glossary

3 GETTING OFF THE BERTH
Conditions: wind and tide
Prop walk
Fendering
Back-up plan
Grip
Finger berth, bows in
Finger berth, stern in
Along a long pontoon, with boats ahead and astern

4 GETTING ONTO THE BERTH
The approach
Approaching bows first
Approaching stern first
Tricky berths, bows first
Tricky berths, stern first
Strong wind blowing you off a stretch of pontoon
Box mooring
Rafting up
Mediterranean mooring
French fingers and hooped cleats

5 SAILING, HEAVING TO & REEFING
Sail trim and handling
Sailing in a circle on the spot
Heaving to
Reefing

6 MOORING BUOYS
Approach and control of the boat
Mooring buoy with pendant and pick-up float
Mooring buoy with no pendant

7 ANCHORING
Coding the cable
Quick tips for anchoring success
Using a kedge anchor
Bahamian moor
A line ashore
Grounding the bows on the beach
Anchor stuck?

8 WEATHER
Frontal systems
Wind on land and sea

9 HEAVY WEATHER SAILING STRATEGY
Using the right sails
Centring the effort
Balancing the sails
Weather helm
Setting the boat up for heavy weather
Very heavy weather
When to heave to

10 NAVIGATION
Measure with your body
Distances
Lee bowing
Moon phases
Tablet navigation

11 MAN OVERBOARD STRATEGY
Getting back to the MOB
Getting an able MOB back on board
Getting an unconscious MOB back on board

Glossary
Epilogue
Index