Comprehensive resources for safe sailing, covering route planning and environmental conditions.
Plotting a Course: Dead Reckoning and Bearings is an independent sailing reference and tools platform for recreational sailors. It focuses on the foundational navigation skills of deduced position and bearing fixes, while also covering boat knowledge, seamanship, and passage planning. The platform is not tied to any boat brand, school, or equipment manufacturer.
Radar is a powerful collision avoidance and navigation tool for sailboats, but it requires proper tuning and interpretation. This guide explains how marine radar works, how to use it for coastal pilotage and target tracking, and the common mistakes that lead to dangerous misjudgments. Learn when radar helps, when it doesn’t, and how to integrate it with visual lookout and AIS.
Understanding Weather Windows: How to Read a Synoptic Chart for Coastal Sailing is an independent sailing reference and tools platform that helps recreational sailors interpret marine weather, read synoptic charts, and make better go/no-go decisions. It consolidates core knowledge on weather windows, forecast interpretation, and passage planning into a practical framework, without being tied to any boat brand, school, or equipment manufacturer.
Leeway is the sideways drift caused by wind acting on a vessel’s hull and rig. This independent reference and tools platform explains how to estimate leeway, apply it to your heading, and combine it with tidal vectors to calculate a reliable course to steer. It consolidates established seamanship methods, interactive calculators, and decision aids for recreational sailors of all levels.
Weather Routing for Sailors: How to Plan Your Route Around Weather is an independent sailing reference and tools platform that helps recreational sailors understand boat capabilities, build seamanship skills, and plan safer passages. It curates practical knowledge on weather routing, passage planning, and decision-making, without being tied to any boat brand, sailing school, or equipment manufacturer. The platform aims to turn complex meteorological data into actionable, structured guidance for sailors of all experience levels.
How to Fix Your Position: Using Bearings and Lines of Position is an independent sailing reference and tools platform that helps recreational sailors understand boats, learn seamanship, plan safer passages, and make better decisions on the water. It focuses on traditional position fixing using compass bearings and lines of position, while also covering broader boat knowledge and decision-support tools.
Waves significantly affect a sailboat’s speed, motion, and safety. The Effect of Waves on Sailboat Performance is an independent reference and tools platform that helps recreational sailors understand added resistance, heave, pitch, and downwind wave forces, and apply that knowledge to passage planning and seamanship. It is not tied to any boat brand, school, or equipment manufacturer. Research from CFD velocity prediction programs and tank tests underpins its practical guidance.
A VHF marine radio is the most important safety communication tool on a sailboat. This guide explains correct channel usage, distress calling procedures, routine call etiquette, and DSC operation. It is part of Velico, an independent sailing reference and tools platform for recreational sailors.
An independent sailing reference and tools platform focused on tidal currents, current table interpretation, and passage planning. It helps recreational sailors distinguish vertical tide heights from horizontal water movement, use official current predictions correctly, and integrate ebb, flood, and slack water timing into safer coastal passages. The platform complements—not replaces—official NOAA data and professional training.
GRIB files pack computer-generated wind, pressure, and precipitation data into a format that can be overlaid on charts, but they only help if you know how to read them. This independent reference and tools platform explains wind barbs, isobars, and pressure gradients, and shows how to use them for safer passage planning. It is not tied to any boat brand, school, or equipment manufacturer, and it emphasises cross-checking with official forecasts.