Cymothoe
An interactive field manual for sailors. Cymothoe takes the boat apart and puts it back together – from the rig of a Catamaran to the keel of a cruising sloop – so you can understand it deeply before you ever cast off.
Five hands-on sheets cover the working knowledge of the deck: hulls and parts you can rotate in 3D, the wind rose and weather sense, chart navigation, the rules of the road with lights and buoys, and ground tackle – plus a Glossary, Quizzes, a Daily Challenge, News and Directories.
What you will find here
Three things in one place: learn the boat, keep up with the sailing world, and find who you need ashore.
Tools & Practice
Practice
Resources
Directories
About Cymothoe
A field manual for people who'd rather be on the water, written by someone who mostly is not (right now, anyway).
Cymothoe started the way most good boat projects do: with someone who should probably have been doing something else instead. I hold an offshore sailing licence, which is either a real achievement or a very elaborate excuse to spend even more time thinking about boats – honestly, it's both. Somewhere between splicing rope and reading tide tables for fun, I realised the notes I kept for myself might actually be useful to someone else, so I turned them into this site – named, as it happens, after the little sea nymph on the right.
What's aboard
Hands-on sheets on boats, wind & weather, navigation, rules of the road, and anchoring; a Glossary and Quizzes to test what stuck; a Daily Challenge to keep it fresh; a News digest curated from around the sailing web; and Directories of useful links.
It's built, written, and (mostly) proofread by one person, in the evenings, because sailing is genuinely one of my favourite things and I like writing about it. Think of Cymothoe as a friendly first mate – enthusiastic, reasonably competent, occasionally salty – not the captain.
Cymothoe is a personal, hobbyist project – not a sailing school, and not a professional teaching platform. It's built from my own experience and general reading, and while I do hold an offshore sailing licence, that doesn't make this site a substitute for certified instruction or make me your instructor. Everything here is general information, simplified for learning purposes; it can be incomplete, out of date, oversimplified, or occasionally just wrong in ways I haven't caught yet.
Sailing is a genuinely risky activity, and the collision regulations, required safety equipment, and local regulations vary by country and by body of water. Before you rely on anything here – especially for navigation, safety, or legal requirements – always check with a qualified, certified sailing instructor or school, your national sailing federation, current official nautical charts and Notices to Mariners, your vessel's own manuals and equipment, and your local coast guard or maritime authority. Conditions, vessels, and crews all vary, and only you (and your instructor) can judge what's appropriate for yours. In an emergency, follow official maritime emergency procedures and contact your local coast guard – not this website.
By using Cymothoe, you accept that I can't be held responsible for decisions made, or outcomes on the water, based on content here. See the full Terms & Conditions for the complete disclaimer and limitation of liability, and the Privacy Policy for how your data is handled.