Making Your Sailboat Look Good

Anyone can sail, but not everyone can sail well. Of course, "sailing well" depends on how you define the phrase. If it means moving a vessel by the power of the wind, then it’s impossible not to sail once the boat casts off. With any wind at all and sails hoisted, almost anyone can move a boat more or less in the direction they want it to go. It takes a special sailor, however, to bring that same boat to a dead stop in the wind in order to pick up a mooring, for instance, or retrieve a crewmember’s hat that has blown overboard.

By Scott Alumbaugh  
Published: August, 2007 

Good-looking boats tend to sail well. It may sound rather shallow at first, but I’m not talking here about more expensive boats, or boats with canvas that matches the boot stripe, or even boats with crews wearing matching polo shirts. No, I’m talking about the boat as boat.

To see what I’m talking about, scan the Bay on any weekend afternoon and check out the sailboats. Look for one with fenders still tied on. (Most people call them bumpers—those inflatable buoy-like items used to keep the side of the boat from rubbing against the dock.) Fenders have no use once the boat has left dock; on a well-sailed boat, they are promptly stowed away. If you see a boat sailing with these still tied on, you will discover that it looks bad. On the high side, they lie helplessly strapped to the hull, like poor Ahab astride the white whale. On the low side, they drag in the water and trail off the boat, bouncing in the waves. Sloppy. But worse, if you see fenders dangling on a boat under sail, chances are the inattentive skipper doesn’t even know they are there.

You might also see some sailboats heeled over much farther than others. Part of this can be due to the strength of the wind or the weight of the keel. But any sailboat will heel excessively if the sails are hauled in too tight. If you could get close enough to that boat, you would see someone with a white-knuckled death grip on the helm, supporting himself with ramrod legs and staring forward with a clenched jaw. There may be yelling, but no one would be talking. And no one would be very relaxed.

There are a number of other things that make a boat look bad: flogging sails, a sagging jib, a dockline trailing in the water, and many others.

All of these details may seem small or picky. But these are the things that separate good sailors from bad. Sailors who have had mishaps on the water will tell you—almost without exception—that the problems they experienced stemmed from a series of a few small things that led to some larger failure, not one big event that caused it all. As such, a well-sailed boat is the result of much attention to detail: knowledge of forecast conditions and signs of change; a scanning eye looking for problems ahead; a feel for tension on the helm, or among the crew; constant adjustments to sail trim and course based on fluctuations of wind, current, and waves; and making sure the damn fenders are down below where they belong!

All of these skills, along with a few dozen more, are known collectively as seamanship, which separates the average sailor from the adept. Knowledge and skill ensure the crew’s safety and secure a great time for everyone. In other words, seamanship is what makes those well-sailed boats look so good.