EXPERT TIPS
In the second of this two-part series, Rachael Sprot explains her golden rules
When you see someone handling a boat crisply under power it’s an undeniably impressive skill. After I became an instructor, I realised this black art could be broken down into a few key concepts, and I called them ‘The 10 Golden Rules of Boat Handling’.
In the first part of this series last month, I looked at the importance of five factors: maintaining steerage, going ahead and astern, the effects of prop walk (and how to use it to best effect), and using a boat’s pivot point. To read the first five tips visit yachtingworld.com
As we all know, manoeuvres don’t happen in a vacuum so we need to be able to consider environmental variations, and turn them to our advantage. In this feature, we look at five rules that address external factors which affect our manoeuvres, such as wind, tide and line handling by crew.
Yacht design has moved on considerably since I first drafted my rules, and to update them I, a Hanse 418 kindly lent to me by Flexisail. Here I also look at how to apply or adapt them for different yacht characteristics and behaviours.
