Practical Seamanship - Essential Skills for the Modern Sailor torrent

To be commercially successful
and to reach port
safely, you had to have a
mixture of skill and luck.
Master and crew learned to
cope with whatever nature
threw at themâ??or they
didnâ??t make it.
The skills learned over centuries
of seafaring were
passed from generation to
generation.
Today when we head out the odds are much more in our favor. We know where we are with precision, in
all types of inclement weather. We have strong boats and rigs, furling systems to make short-handed sail
changes and reefing simple, and for the most part excellent information about the areas in which we sail.
Yet there are times where the skills that were second nature to the men in this photograph are essential,
even to modern sailors.