If the answer is yes, you do need to find out what all you have to do if you intend to do the sailing yourself. I know it sounds good to go out and rent a yacht for a day, but there are a lot of things you need to know before you get on the water. Any company, first of all, is going to require you to have a RYA Day Skipper Practical Certificate. This one certificate is recognized around the world by most companies, so if you have your RYA Day Skipper Practical Certificate, you are set, almost. Do you already know how to sail? Do you go out with friends and family sailing? If you do, then you know most of the basics for sailing. Just remember that the courses for the RYA Day Skipper Practical can take Five consecutive days to get, so there is a lot of planning if you plan to sail around the world or go out to some desert island with your loved one.

To be a skipper is a great responsibility and you have to know what you are doing if you plan on being the skipper of a yacht. It isn’t something to be taken lightly. How can you tell your deck hands what to do if you yourself don’t know? If you are just learning, it is fun to take sailing courses with other friends and even family. That way, they are leaning at the same time you are and you all learn from each others mistakes. Sailing courses can be allot of fun for everyone, and you can form a bond with whoever your are taking your sailing courses with and be out on the water at the same time. To be a day skipper can be hard work and there are a lot of RYA courses to take on that. You will be in charge of allot of people and their safety is in your hands whether it is for a weekend or a week, so you have to know what your doing.

Lastly, remember that RYA courses are meant to be fun. If you’re not having fun taking RYA courses, it’s probably time to do something else!

Tiller is a leading training centre providing Sailing Courses, RYA Courses and Day Skipper courses on a worldwide basis.

You’ve just motored out to a clear spot in the river and get ready to raise the mainsail. You hoist the head of the mainsail up the mast–and the halyard breaks free!

Now you are in a mess, as the halyard flails back and forth, five feet out of reach. Learn to sail like a pro when you use a simple, little-known technique that will keep this from ruining your sailing day!

Before you get underway, rig a simple halyard retrieval line for your mainsail and headsail halyards. That will allow you to haul the halyard down if it parts, or breaks loose when hoisting any sailboat sail. Follow these three easy steps:

Measure Your Mast and Headstay

Use small diameter, three-strand nylon or Dacron line. For the mainsail halyard, make the line length equal to the sailboat mast, plus enough to reach the base of the mast to tie it off to a cleat. For the headsail, make the line length equal to the headstay, plus enough to reach back to the cockpit and tie off to a cockpit boat cleat.

Splice an Eye Above the Halyard Shackle

Form a tight, small eye in each halyard just above the halyard shackle. Avoid the temptation to splice to the shackle, because the eye could slip off of the shackle when retrieving. Cover the bitter ends of your splice with three or four tight wraps of riggers tape. This will prevent the ends from fraying in the high winds at the head of the mast.

Hook a Block to the Stem-head at the Bow

Shackle a fairlead block to the stemhead (the fitting that the bottom of the headstay attaches to). Use one of the holes aft of the hole used by the headstay.

Test Your Mainsail and Headsail Retrieval Lines

Raise your mainsail on a a calm day in the slip or at the pier. Slack the retrieval line as you hoist the head of the mainsail. Some sailing skippers like to attach a small block to the base of the mast to run the mainsail retrieval line aft to the cockpit. You can also use the line to help haul the mainsail down after sailing.

Raise your Genoa or jib to the top of the sailboat mast. Feed the line through the block and aft back to the cockpit. Your headstay retrieval line can pull double-duty as “haul-down” line to help you lower the Genoa or jib.

Mark Your Cleat Spots on Each Retrieval Line

Make sure to keep each line slack so that it does not interfere with sail shape. Use a marker to show the “cleat off” spot on each retrieval line. That way, you know that your lines are set to the correct spot and ready to use in an instant.

Use these five easy tips to learn to sail better and with less effort. Boost your sailing skipper skills to the next level with these time and effort saving sailing tips–wherever in the world you choose to go sailing.

Captain John teaches sailing skippers the skills they need to set sail for a day, a week–or a lifetime! Get his popular free report “Ten Top Boat Safety Checks for Cruising Boat Skippers” at Learn to Sail at Skippertips.com.

John offers free sailing tips, articles, sailing videos and newsletter at Learn to Sail at Skippertips.com.

Do you know what the diamond shape on a buoy symbol means on your nautical chart? Could you tell the navigational significance of a black dot or a small open circle? If you want to learn to sail like a pro, you will need to know these five super important chart navigation chart symbol secrets.

1. Buoy Body Shapes Made Simple

Scan the chart for diamond or “pie-pan” shapes, which show floating aids to navigation (buoys). Those that mark the sides of channel edges, isolated dangers, or specific areas show a small diamond. A shape that looks like the profile of a pie pan indicates a mooring buoy, used by vessels to tie up to. For safety, keep clear of mooring buoys unless you’ve paid to use it!

2. Segmented Buoys Mean Multicolored

Some buoy body symbols are cut into two parts–either with a horizontal or vertical line. This shows that the buoy carries more than one color. On buoys with horizontal segments, look for the abbreviations RG or GR (red-green, or green-red), or BR (black-red) nearby. On buoys with vertical stripes, look for the abbreviation RW (red-white) nearby.

3. Lights Stand Out as Exclamation Marks

Highlight those all important light structures and light houses. Cartographers draw a teardrop shape with a black dot on the end, much like an exclamation mark. The teardrop has a magenta (purple) color. The black dot represents the exact position of the light. Use the latitude and longitude of light symbols as waypoints in your nautical gps. This gives you a highly reliable navigation source that you can trust.

4. Square and Triangular Daybeacon Secrets

Daybeacons are simple pilings of wood or steel, driven into the seabed with dayboards bolted to the top on two or three sides. On your navigational chart, they are shown as small squares or triangles. Look for the color of the daybeacon near the symbol. R means red (triangles) and G means green (square). Beware of the deadly white beacon. Circle in bold any solid white square beacon because these are used to mark super dangerous rocks or wrecks.

5. Prominent Landmarks for Accurate Navigation

Don’t forget those all important land objects, like a tank, tower, spire, cupola (a dome shaped roof), and so many more. Look for those that have a small black dot enclosed by a circle. That means you can rely on the position for navigation. On the other hand, a landmark that shows a smaller circle without a central dot means “navigator beware!” These are approximate positions–good for basic reference but it’s best not to rely on them for waypoints.

Use these five super important chart navigation symbol shapes to boost your sailing navigation skills to new heights. You will be well on your way to reading a nautical chart like a pro–no matter where in the world you choose to cruise!

Captain John teaches sailboat cruising skippers the skills they need to set sail for a day, a week–or a lifetime! Get his popular free report “Ten Top Boat Safety Checks for Cruising Boat Skippers” at Learn to Sail at Skippertips.com.

John offers free tips, articles, videos and newsletter at Learn to Sail at Skippertips.com.