Understanding how to read nautical charts is one of the most important skills for safe sailing. These special maps are packed with information about water depth, hazards, landmarks, and routes. In this guide, we’ll break down the essentials so you can confidently plan and navigate your sailing trips.
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Some Electronic Charting Tools

Many sailors today use apps or chartplotters with GPS:
• Navionics (available in UK/USA)
• iNavX
• Savvy Navvy
• OpenCPN

These apps provide live tracking, tide data, and automatic route planning. But don’t rely solely on tech—always carry a paper chart and compass as backup.
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• Upwind: Sailing toward the wind (you can only go at an angle)
• Downwind: Sailing with the wind behind you
• Beam Reach: Wind comes from the side

Adjusting your sails based on the wind direction is called 'sail trim'. The better your trim, the faster you sail.

Step 3: Safety First
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Of course, you are not going to go sailing on your own or without a competent companion. But even if it's just to make sure you bring the right clothing, always check the weather before you go out. Always wear a life jacket, and tell someone your sailing plans. Never go to sea without a VHF radio.

Bring along useful gear like:

• Wicking base layers
• Good fleece midlayers
• Decent footwear with a grippy, non-marking sole
• A warm sleeping bag
• A head torch with a red lens (for night watches)
• A waterproof torch
• A mobile phone with a waterproof and shock proof case and charger brick
• Keep it all in a soft, waterproof bag/rucksack​

Step 7: Take a Sailing Course

One of the best ways to learn is by taking a class. Sailing schools teach:

• Boat handling under power and sail
• Learn to navigate
• Safety procedures and good practice
• Courtesy for other water users
• Rules of the road and bouyage
• Understanding weather and weather forecasts

Step 8: Keep Learning and Exploring

Once you know the basics, you can try:

• Sailing bigger boats
• Joining a sailing club
• Racing (competition always speeds up your learning)
• Cruising overnight
• Ocean crossings
• Working at sea on posh yachts!

Sailing is a lifelong skill. Every day on the water is a school day, so just get started! 

​Many sailors will rarely do more than short day-sails throughout their sailing career. And that’s fine. For the more adventurous, the idea of longer voyages soon becomes appealing. In fact, many students consider their night sailing to be the highlight of their course.

Even then, many night sails don’t require a watch system. But if your voyage is going to be over 18 hours or more, it’s worth putting in place some sort of watch system, especially if conditions are challenging. This helps keep people safe from exposure on deck and allows for equal rest for all, even if that isn’t always sleep.

In this video, we talk you through how to calculate and plot and Estimated Position (EP). We have no allowed for the application of variation and deviation, so as to keep this simple. 

There is a link in this video to a tutorial showing how to apply variation and deviation.

​In this article we talk about weather forecasts and how to understand them

In this short video, we bring it back to basics. Once you have appraised what you need in terms of charts, pilotage books and almanacs, etc it's simply a matter of working out how long the passage is likely to be (an estimate based on the distance divided by an estimated boat speed).

Once you have that, work out the critical tidal windows and when you will meet them and then you will be able to plan the passage based on when you want to get there and/or when you want to leave.

Remember;
Appraise - Plan - Excecute - Monitor
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