Tying a fender to your boat

One thing you might want to teach guests on your boat is how to tie a fender to your boat. Often, when you need others to tie fenders to your boat (instead of being able to take the time yourself), it’s when it’s urgent. Like the time we had a boat slam into the side [...]

How to use your VHF radio

The VHF radio is an important piece of equipment on your charter boat but hopefully the most important thing you’ll have to use it for is calling for restaurant reservations. Here’s how it works. You keep your VHF radio on channel 16 most of the time.  However, most restaurants will be listening on a different [...]

Tip of the day: Pull your dingy in close when mooring or anchoring

One of the most common mistakes you see is people anchoring or mooring their boats with their dinghy trailing 20 feet behind them. Quite often they’ll end up driving over the painter (the rope that ties the dinghy to the boat) and getting the painter wrapped around the boat’s drive shaft. Reading John Licthy’s account [...]

Charter Boat Sank in the BVI

A Mooring charter boat sank in the BVI last week. Supposedly everyone (except the boat) was rescued. While this story shouldn’t keep anybody from sailing, you should stop and think for a minute. In sailing, mistakes are often very embarrassing and very expensive, so you should learn from others’ mistakes as much as possible! This [...]

Learning to Sail: Big boat or small boat?

If you get a chance to learn to sail, take it, don’t worry about if it’s the right way. Any time on the water on a boat will help you. That said if you are looking to learn to sail, how should you start? Start on a small boat. Small boats will teach you how [...]