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Seamanship is what comes before the policy

Seamanship is not exam material. It is the difference between a passage and a claim. It comes down to five things: knots, line work, manoeuvres, navigation, and a language in which one word is enough. We write this down because we read damage reports every day, and because a good share of them were not caused by the weather but by a small thing on deck.

A hand on the wheel of a cruising yacht, open water ahead under an overcast sky

The five topics

A knot in white rope lying on a weathered wooden deck

Six knots, and what each one is actually for The bowline, the stopper, the hitches, and the splice that holds more than any knot.

A mooring line on a cleat, a blue fender against the hull, marina behind

A boat lies as well as its lines lie The cleat, the slip, the mooring system and its springs, fenders and holding ground.

A cruising yacht heeling with spray over the bow in a fresh breeze

Manoeuvres are agreements, not tricks Tack and gybe, reefing, heaving to, man overboard, trim and getting ready for sea.

A chart table below deck with radios and a reading lamp in evening light

The plotter shows where you are. Not why Chart, dead reckoning, bearings, buoyage, the rules, tides and the log book.

Colour coded halyards and sheets at the mast foot of a cruising yacht

There is no rope on board Port and starboard, windward and leeward, and four names for one piece of cordage.

Why an insurer writes about this

We do not sell training and we are no substitute for a sailing qualification. But we see which losses keep coming back: the line that was too short on a falling tide, the halyard that ran up the mast because nobody had whipped the end, the anchor that dragged at night while no one had taken a bearing. None of that is expensive to prevent. It only has to be known.

Blue water cover Talk about your passage

Last updated: 26.08.2026

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