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There are two general types you should know: bend and hitch. A bend is a knot that fastens rope ends together. A hitch loops a rope around itself to secure the boat to a rail or post.

There are hundreds of knots but only a few basics that should be on your practice list:
•Bowline: A bowline knot is your standby. It creates a loop at the end of a top, is strong and easy to untie. If you know the old saying, the rabbit comes out of his hole, ’round the tree and back down into his hole, you already know the bowline. When in doubt, use this knot.
•Square knot: The square knot, or reef knot, is used to tie two ropes (lines) of the same size together. You may be familiar with it from Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, first-aid class or from tying your shoelaces.
•Clove hitch: This loop is a quick way to temporarily moor a small boat to a ring, rail or post.
•­Round turn and two half hitches: This knot is frequently used to secure a boat to the docking ring or post.
•Figure-of-eight: This stopper knot is used to prevent a rope from unraveling or slipping out of a ring or other device. This type of knot is essential in both sailing and rock climbing.
•Sheet bend: Need a longer rope? A sheet bend knot is a quick way to fasten two lines temporarily

The basics of sailing are easy to learn in a few classes, although it can take a lifetime to perfect them. Of the many skills and techniques to learn about sailing, there are five essentials: sail setting, boat balance, fore and aft trim, position of the centerboard, and course made good.
1.Sail setting: Sailboats can’t be taken directly into the wind or they run the risk of stopping (when there’s literally no wind in your sails). Depending on your point of sail — the direction of your boat in relation to the direction of the wind — different sail settings are needed. You can set your main sail by listening to it: Ease the sail out until it flaps along the luff, the part closest to the mast, and then pull it back in just until the flapping stops.
2.Boat balance: When your boat begins to lean to one side, it’s known as heeling. To overcome heeling and stay on course, it’s important to stay aware of the wind (is it gusting?) and the position of your sails. Also keep aware of the weight you have onboard and how it’s distributed. If your boat is leaning port side, you can counteract it by moving your weight (or the weight of the crew) to the opposite, or starboard, side.
3.Fore and aft trim: A boat must also stay balanced from end-to-end. Generally, the front of a boat (bow) is raised slightly higher than the back (stern), and the distribution of body weight on board (you and your crew) is key to maintaining that balance. If you find your boat is dragging in the water (an example of what happens when the back of the boat is too low), move your weight closer to the middle or front of the boat. If the bow is submerging in the water, take a seat toward the back of the boat. A correctly balanced boat allows you to sail more quickly.
4.Position of the centerboard: There is a delicate balance between your boat and the wind, and you can easily find yourself being pushed off course by it. The centerboard, a piece of wood, fiberglass or metal (depending on what your boat is made from), is a movable fin under the hull. By adjusting it in relation to your point of sail, you’re able to correct any drift.
5.Course made good: Getting from point A to point B isn’t always a straight course, especially if the straight course takes you directly into the wind. Planning a route that gets you to your destination in the shortest possible time is called “course made good.” This is generally accomplished through a maneuver called tacking, in which the boat is steered in a zigzag, upwind direction.

Get to grips with basic sailing terms

Before you hit the water, make sure you’ve swotted up on some of the basic sailing terms you’ll need. Being familiar with these terms will enable an instructor to impart information to you more easily, meaning that you’ll really get the most out of your sessions.

Take instruction

Don’t try and teach yourself on the water. Not only is this dangerous, it is also likely to be a time consuming and therefore costly. By all means invest some time learning the basics from guides and books, but practical instruction should come from someone with good sailing experience. A good sailing course is worth investing in.

Start in calm, uncrowded waters

One of the best tips for sailing beginners we can give is to start out in calm and quiet waters. Nobody wants to be starting out in rough open waters or surrounded by boats containing skilled yachtsmen who clearly know what they are doing. If you’re just starting to master the basics, then start out in conditions where winds are light and traffic is low. A contained marina is perhaps the safest option.

Start small

Like no-one chooses to learn to drive using a bus, the same applies to sailing. Start with a small boat, ideally a small dinghy. This will be much more responsive and easy to manoeuvre. It will also be far easier to deal with in the event of capsizing, which you will inevitably do as some point.

Check conditions

Once you are ready to go out alone, it always pays to check conditions beforehand.

Check information concerning tides, wind and weather conditions so that you are prepared for whatever may come your way. Be sure to have the right gear and provisions as required.

Capsize!

No we’re not crazy, but you really need to have practised how to deal with your boat capsizing. It is better to do this within a controlled environment where there is help at hand, rather than confronting this eventuality when you are in open water. Trust us, you will capsize at some point, so a test-capsize is essential.

Boom or bust

Watch out for the boom – the horizontal pole that extends from the bottom of a mast – as it can cause injury or even send you overboard. The boom is most commonly responsible for onboard injuries, so always keep a watch for when the boom is about to swing. It might just save you a major headache or worse.

Safety first

Your safety is of paramount importance. No matter what your level of experience there are certain safety precautions that should always apply. These include informing people of your intention to head out on the water, wearing a floatation jacket, and of course, being able to swim.

Know the right-of-way

It’s not a sailing free-for-all out there – there are rules to govern how sailing craft should manoeuvre to ensure they do not collide with one another. How you move is based on many variables including what side the wind is on, what type of craft it is, whether you are planning to overtake. Get familiar with these nautical rules to prevent mishap.

Always maintain a lookout

It may seem obvious, but always look where you are going! Sailing is fun but there are plenty of other craft out there, so maintain a proper lookout using both your eyes and ears to help prevent collisions. To give you sufficient time to respond to danger you should always maintain a safe speed.

A Dabbie can be subjected to a lot of elements that can contribute to wear and tear over time. Thus, make the necessary steps to take care of your Dabbie after sailing in order to maintain its good performance every time you go onboard.

There are several things to do as far as proper care and maintenance is concerned. Here are some guidelines on how to take good care of your Dabbie:
 Once the Dabbie is ashore, rinse it thoroughly with fresh water.
 After washing the Rudder, Centerboard, and/or Daggerboard, store them in their respective bags.
 Make regular inspections so that damages or problems (if any) will be attended to before they become worse.
 Make sure to run repairs on parts that need to be fixed.
 In stowing the Sails, make sure to wash them thoroughly and let them dry before putting them in the sail bag for protection.
Here are the steps in storing your Sail:
o Lay the Mainsail out on a clean, flat surface.
o Fold the top over onto the body of the Sail. Roll the Sail carefully and make sure that the roll is at right angles with the Leech.
o After rolling the entire Sail, put it in a sail bag.
 You can use a trolley to store your Dabbie. Tie the boat securely on the trolley. Fit the boat cover over the top and make sure that it is fastened firmly. Secure it under the Hull, Bow, as well as the sidedecks. To prevent your Dabbie from being blown over, tie the Dabbie down to securing points on the ground.
 Put your Dabbie in an area where it can be safe and secure. Dabbies can be left at Dinghy parks in many Sailing Clubs.

These are some tips on how to take care of your Dabbie and keep its good working condition. Regular checks and inspection on the components of your Dabbie can help ensure its good performance every time you go sailing.

If you are going to take dinghy racing very seriously and want to be on the top of your game, you need to be fit.Getting tired while racing leads to a lack of concentration,mistakes,slower boat speed and so on.Hiking out to flatten your Dabbie is so important and you tire easily. Why not build a hiking bench, follow this link to see what one looks like.

Click here Hiking bench

Owen

Click here for the GP 2012/13 results Sailwave results for Dabchick 2012-2013 GP series (Travelling Circus) at Northvaal 2013

Happy Dabbie sailors

Lessons that you can learn whilst enjoying being out on the water include:

· Decision making

Good sailors understand that the faster you make a decision, the sooner you can correct it if it’s proven to be wrong. A decision could mean opting for a particular side of the race course, choosing to set a different sail, perhaps experimenting with different people doing different roles on the boat.

In business, it is often easier for a manager to stop a new initiative than have the courage to sign it off – you’re less likely to get fired for maintaining the status quo than trying something new. Of course, this approach results in the company stagnating and, eventually becoming uncompetitive – the manager will probably end up becoming redundant in any case….

Also, a lot of managers don’t objectively track the results of their decisions. By contrast, a good sailor will always be monitoring his progress to see if a particular decision had a good or bad outcome. Getting used to being proven wrong and taking quick corrective action is a useful life skill.

· Resilience

Sailing is a sport of eliminating mistakes rather than brilliance. You have to manage your equipment and team, make the best use of the weather and wind shifts and use the waves and currents to your advantage. It’s tremendously complex and fulfilling as a result. Having the strength of mind to acknowledge when you’ve made a mistake and to bounce back from it, without going into a panic and changing all the things that brought you success in the past, will stand you in good stead for life, which is invariably tough and confusing.

An important aspect of sailing is that you can’t just stop when you’re tired or conditions are unfavourable or rough. Children as young as 10 get caught in gales and they are forced to decide to deal with it or have a thoroughly unpleasant time. Most choose to make the best of the situation and actually learn how to relish pushing their limits of endurance and achievement.

· Leadership, teamwork and communication

Yachts are incredibly confined spaces. Depending on the size and focus of the boat, there could be anything from 1–30 people on-board – as you can imagine, getting large crews to work as a team requires leadership. Moreover, the confined space means that you need to work with other personalities that might not gel well with your own – you can’t simply ignore the problem.

Successful sailing crews have well defined roles and clear communication about what is going to happen next. Not everyone takes a leadership role and not everyone contributes to every decision. Part of the team is responsible for making sure the yacht heads in the chosen direction while others ensure that each manoeuvre is performed correctly. The key things are that people are empowered to do their jobs, they understand how they contribute to the overall goal, and they are able to provide feedback to enable the whole team to learn and improve.

In “real life”, it’s important to be able to move in and out of leadership roles – sometimes you call the shots, other times you are part of the team implementing the decisions. One of the best bowmen (one of the “workers” on a race boat) I have sailed with is Mark Sadler, who was also skipper of Shosholoza, South Africa’s first entry into the Americas Cup. On Shosholoza, Mark was the main decision maker, carrying the hopes of our nation in the world’s most important sailing competition. However, during a race in Cape Town, Mark was also modest enough to be bowman on a friend’s yacht – he did a fantastic job and was as focused as he would be as skipper, even if he wasn’t in a decision making role.

How to get involved?

There are sailing schools in South Africa’s main centres (Cape Town, Durban, Gauteng) and yacht clubs throughout the country, some of whom also have sail training programs.

There is a perception that it is extremely expensive and it is true that it can be costly to buy and run a large yacht. However, sailing dinghies (generally boats under 6m) and small catamarans can be available for a few thousand rand and, once you have developed some skills, there are usually people who already own yachts that are looking for crew, both here in South Africa and abroad. If you’re reliable, keen to learn, easy to get on with and reasonably fit you should have no problem finding a sailing team to join.

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