Sailtrain

26/08/2026

Have you ever wondered what the origin of the sailing terms ‘Starboard’ and "Port" is?

Boats developed from simple dugout canoes. As the majority of people are right-handed, most paddlers steering canoes naturally steered from the right-hand side (looking forward) of the boat.

As canoes developed into larger vessels, the steering paddle grew larger and developed into a broad-bladed oar, held vertically in the water and permanently fixed to the side of the boat by a flexible lashing or a built-in moveable swivel.

The seagoing ships of maritime Northern Europe all featured this side-hung rudder, always on the right-hand side. This rudder was known as ‘steorbord’ in Anglo-Saxon, and was further developed in medieval times into the more familiar apparatus fixed to the sternpost.

The word ‘steorbord’ evolved over time into ‘starboard’, and it remains in the English language to describe anything to the right of a ship’s centreline, when viewed from the rear.

While ‘starboard’ means to the right-hand side of the vessel, the left-hand side is now referred to as ‘port’ – though this wasn’t always the case.

In Old English, the term was ‘bæcbord’ (in modern German Backbord and French bâbord). This did not survive into medieval and later English, when ‘larboard’ was used – a term that possibly derived from ‘laddebord’, meaning ‘loading side’; the side rudder (‘steorbord’) on the right-hand side would be vulnerable to damage if it went alongside a quay, so early ships would have been loaded (‘laded’) with the left-hand side against the quay.

From an early date, port was sometimes used in place of ‘larboard’, probably deriving from the loading port. However, Larboard sounded too much like starboard during storms, so navies officially changed the left side name to port in the 19th. It was only from the mid-19th century that the term was formalised. According to Admiral Smyth’s The Sailor’s Word Book, published in 1867, ‘the left side of the ship is called port, by Admiralty Order, in preference to larboard, as less mistakeable in sound for starboard.’

13/07/2026

For Yachtmasters wanting a career in the marine industry we have just received the below:

Dear Yachtmaster Offshore Training Centre

I hope this email finds you well.

At Njord Offshore, we are a leading Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) operator running a fleet of 23 high-specification vessels across Northern Europe. We are actively recruiting for CTV Masters and have identified a brilliant talent pool that often goes untapped: RYA Yachtmaster Offshore graduates.

Many qualified Yachtmasters do not realise that they are already sitting on the exact prerequisite needed to captain a commercial CTV. They simply need to take that next step to complete their Master 200 (Code vessel) qualification, a transition we can support. As with all commercial workboats all crew are required to have STCW basic training courses and an ENG1 Medical Assessment.
Bridging the Gap to a Rewarding Career

We want to help your students see the direct link between the YM Offshore training you provide and a sustainable career in the offshore wind sector. To help spread the word, we would be incredibly grateful if you could display our recruitment poster on your student notice boards or share it in your digital student networks.

Why this is a win-win for your students:
· Career Pathway: It shows your Yachtmaster Offshore candidates a direct, high-value progression route to a Master 200 qualification.

· Excellent Prospects: A career as a CTV Master offers competitive pay, great time for time rotation schedules, and the chance to work with a market-leading fleet.

· Industry Demand: The renewable energy sector is going from strength to strength, and we need skilled mariners right now.

Best
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Rate
Junior Operations Manager


Office: +44 (0) 1255 833 888 | Mobile: +44 (0) 7498 908 607
Email: [email protected] / [email protected] (Personal) |
http://www.njordoffshore.com
Njord Offshore Ltd., Maud's Court, Long Lane, Tendring Essex CO16 0BG United Kingdom

08/07/2026

Did you often wonder why a Statute mile and a Nautical mile are different lengths?

The answer lies in their different purposes.

A statue mile was used on land as an agricultural measurement.

Although its origin is based on a Roman soldiers 1,000 paces, an Elizabethan law standardized land measurement by combining two older agricultural systems to promote equitable taxation and trade:

The Furlong: The length of a standard agricultural furrow (ploughed strip).

Parliament legally defined the mile to equal exactly 8 furlongs, which mathematically translated to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet.

A nautical mile on the other hand, as the word implies, was used at sea.

Well known to mathematicians, a circle is made up of 360 degrees of arc, each degree is split into 60 minutes of arc which makes a full circle 21600 minutes of arc (360 x 60).

Look at the earth from the top, place the circle on the earths round shape and we have a nautical mile for each minute of arc. Making the Earth 21600 nautical miles in circumference.

Because the Earth is an oblate spheroid (slightly flatter at the poles) and not a perfect sphere, the exact length of a nautical mile varied historically. To standardize this, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) adopted the "International Nautical Mile" in 1929. This standard defines a nautical mile as exactly 1,852 meters (about 1.15 Statute miles).

However, there is no such thing as a nautical kilometre

20/05/2026

For beginners it can be confusing on where to put your Tide plot line when constructing a Course to Steer (CTS) or an Estimated Position (EP)

My little aid to memory for a CTS is:

You’re plotting to find out what direction you’re going to point the boat. You are therefore, at the beginning of your journey so the tide goes on at the beginning of your plot.

For an EP

You are plotting to find out where you are at the end of your journey so the tide goes on at the end of your DR (Dead Reckoning) plot.

18/11/2025

Why Pilotage plans are so important even in waters you know.

I recently arranged to meet a contractor who was going to do some work on our boat in Woodbridge Tide Mill marina, at the end of the River Deben on the East Coast. Woodbridge Tide Mill has a concrete sill at the entrance and at low tide the river just becomes a muddy ditch. As it would be a morning meeting I needed to be in the marina the night before.

HW was at 7.45pm so I drifted up the river as the sun set and took a waiting buoy outside of the marina. Waiting until I could get over the sill. I had calculated that I would just about have enough water at HW to get over.

However, when high tide arrived, I was surprised to see that the gauge showing the height didn’t show enough water was available but I tried anyway. Sure enough, I couldn’t get in. What I hadn’t taken into account was that the atmospheric pressure was very high (30 Millibars from the norm 1013 can make a foot difference) and the tide was 0.2 meters below forecast.

I was then the wrong side of the sill on a falling tide. This meant that within about an hour I was going to be aground and within 2 or 3 hours the boat would be laying on its side. Time was running out fast.

My only option was to return, in the pitch black, with no lit buoys, along a meandering river until I reached 24 hour water at the green No 7 buoy (see chart below). Without a pilotage plan it would be virtually impossible. Fortunately, although the river was well known to me, I still made regular pilotage hand drawn plans and was able to use one that I had prepared previously.

As anyone who knows the area will tell you the route was littered with moored boats that ground at low water and a lot of empty mooring that look like unlit buoys so identifying every buoy that I passed was crucial.

On a falling tide, I clearly didn’t want to go aground at any stage so armed with a strong light and my pilotage plan I was able to slowly navigate my way back.

26/09/2025

We have just launched a new website focused only on ONLINE training courses.

Just click on the "Learn More" button below to have a look:

Our Online theory courses are designed to help you understand both the traditional and modern methods of navigation, pilotage, passage planning and meteorology. Excellent as stand alone courses, they also add significantly to any practical course.

18/09/2025

Did you know that under SOLAS every journey requires pre planning. In fact a passage plan before you start your journey is mandatory.

Amongst other elements, tides, weather, the type of boat, the experience of the crew, etc. all play their part but the journey itself I like to split into 3 parts. The leaving, the passage and the arrival.

If I am new to the areas I will construct a pilotage plan for leaving my port of exit and another for my port of entry. Central to my pilotage plan I like to make a hand drawn chartlet of the relevant area and include the features that are important to my safe exit/entry.

It all looks so easy on the chart with all the different colours and symbols but when you exit the marina you are normally confronted with a very large, featureless, open sea of grey/blue and it can even be confusing as to what direction you should take.

I don't want to bring my charts upstairs with so much information on them that quick decisions are impossible or where they may blow away or get wet, so I take my small, manageable hand drawn chartlet and work from that.

18/05/2025

Calculating Leeway

All vessels tend to sideslip, or make leeway, except with the wind dead ahead or astern. High-freeboard power vessels make leeway at slower speeds when the wind strikes their sides. Sailing vessels make lots of leeway when hard on the wind and less leeway when well off the wind. Light airs and heavy winds have more impact than moderate breezes.

One method For Estimating Leeway

Keep a steady course. Take a bearing on your wake trail. Use your hand bearing compass to estimate leeway angle. Sight dead astern with your compass. Wait several minutes, then sight along the wake line to windward. The difference in the two angles gives you your leeway angle.

To correct for Leeway you will need to sail closer to the wind by the number of degrees calculated above but this change of course may also change the amount of leeway experienced. Its not an exact science. Trial and error and lots of practice will improve your results but as with helming, it will never be super precise. Its all about eliminating as many errors as possible.

24/03/2025

When plotting on a chart, if you’re having trouble remembering which way round you need to put Variation when going from True to Magnetic or Magnetic to True, try this little aide-mémoire.

“Variation West, Compass best, Variation East, Compass least”

If say, in order to obtain a Compass course, you want to apply a magnetic Variation of 7 degrees West to a course of 110 degrees True, then as the Variation is West the Compass course is best, so it has to be a bigger number than 110, the Variation would be added making 117 Degrees. If the Variation was East, the compass would be least so it would be 110 – 7 = 103 Degrees Compass

The same principle would apply to Deviation.

24/11/2024

Many years ago, when taking my Yachtmaster Instructors exam, it was a given that students could sail on to buoys in any condition. Wind over tide, wind with tide, light winds, strong winds etc. Invariably the chosen buoy had shallows immediately after their location and numerous hazards would abound. Other buoys, boats and the like. So, any failure to pick up first time would require a previous well thought out plan B and woe betide any student who didn’t have a plan B.

However, another little twist that the examiner would add, which I use to this day, was that when it was time to sail off the buoy the examiner would ask another student to select the number of Tacks and Gybe’s that the new helmsman should complete before picking up the buoy again. So, if the student selected say 1 Tack and 2 Gybes, the new helmsman had to provide exactly that number of Tacks and Gybes before picking the buoy up again. No more and no less.

What a great way to check how good your wind awareness is.

When out next, with friends or family, you may want to ask them to give you the same test with randomly selected numbers of Tacks and Gybes.

Its quite old now, and I certainly do not receive any commission from its sale, but I found this little book would also provide scenarios to practice.