- Which meteorological phenomenon almost always guarantees bad weather?
- Where should you hide your handheld VHF or GPS when lightning threatens?
- What's the best way to berth in an offshore gale?
- What household item can help prolong the life of your lifejacket?
You can find the answers in the book 200 Skippers Tips and in the sample tips at the bottom of this page
There are 196 other canny tips in Tom Cunliffe's new book.Some you may know, others we guarantee you'll have never heard of.
Download your free online sampler from the book
To give you a taste here's a short sampler. There are 200 Skipper's Tips in the book itself but you can get the first ten for free here.
Watch the online Skipper's Tips videos here
You'll find handy tips, wrinkes and techniques on using a self tailing winch, avoiding collisions, checking your rig and the perils of lobster pots.
Order your copy of 200 Skipper's Tips by Tom Cunliffe now.
Just some of Tom's sailing tips from the book:
BACK UP THE THE GALE
If you try to come alongside a wall conventionally in a strong offshore gale, you’ll struggle to get anyone ashore. As you lose way the keel stalls and a modern yacht with a cut-away profile blows off to leeward in short order. One solution is to nose up to the dock and have someone climb off the pulpit with a couple of lines. The problem is that most sailing boats, left to themselves, end up with bows at about 150 degrees to the wind. They prefer, therefore, to back up to the wall with a fender rigged. Have a nimble crew member ready on the transom – the sugar scoop’s ideal if you have one – and come in slowly astern until they can step off. It’s easier than you think because the helm is close to the action and the boat wants to do what you’re asking of her. Get a short stern line on, then run a long line to the bow and lead it via a fairlead to a windlass or winch. The rest is easy.
WEIGH THEM UP
If you're under the illusion that you have to change your lifejacket gas bottle every year, you may be wrong. Examine them closely and you'll see a 'safe weight for operation’ in the small print on one end. Take them home and pop them on the kitchen scales. If you’re OK, inflate the lifejackets with your lungs to make sure they’re tight and leave them overnight. Then deflate, repack and that’s it, done. Sometimes they last for years.
AN ELECTRICAL SHIELD
Next time you’re caught in an electrical storm, grab your handheld VHF radio and your spare GPS, and pop them in the oven. Shut the door and don’t light the gas! Whatever happens to any instrument with masthead antennae, the kit in the cooker will be OK. If you take a strike and lose all the main equipment – you probably will, whether thye are connected or not – you’ll still be able to communicate by radio and you’ll know where you are!
HALO HALO
When you see a halo around the sun or moon, stand by for dirty weather. We aren’t talking about those little ones that fuzz themselves around the heavenly body. These big chaps are sure-fire harbingers of unpleasantness. Watch the barometer. When it starts falling and the wind backs as well, that’s you for the high jump. If you’re safely anchored, let out all the cable you’ve got. Far out at sea wihtought the option reeve up the deep reef penant, cook and meaty stew, then pray.
Tom Cunliffe is Britain's leading yachting journalist and author. He is a RYA® Yachtmaster® Instructor Examiner and writes regularly for Yachting Monthly, Yachting World and SAIL magazine. He also wrote and presented the BBC TV series, The Boats That Built Britain..
