Free sailing teaching resources

Put the simulator on your site

Copy the code and paste it into any page that accepts HTML: WordPress (a Custom HTML block), Squarespace (a Code block), Wix, a club site or a course platform. It carries no adverts, no cookie banner and no tracking of your visitors.

<div style="container-type:inline-size;max-width:760px">
<iframe src="https://sailingvirgins.com/embed/points-of-sail" title="Points of sail simulator by Sailing Virgins" width="100%" height="1380" style="display:block;border:0;width:100%;height:clamp(800px,(640px - 100cqw)*99999,1380px)" loading="lazy"></iframe>
</div>
<p style="font-size:14px"><a href="https://sailingvirgins.com/resources/sailing-glossary/how-sailing-works#points-of-sail">Points of sail simulator</a> by <a href="https://sailingvirgins.com">Sailing Virgins</a></p>

<div style="container-type:inline-size;max-width:760px">
<iframe src="https://sailingvirgins.com/embed/parts-of-a-sailboat" title="Parts of a sailboat, tap to learn by Sailing Virgins" width="100%" height="1060" style="display:block;border:0;width:100%;height:clamp(640px,(640px - 100cqw)*99999,1060px)" loading="lazy"></iframe>
</div>
<p style="font-size:14px"><a href="https://sailingvirgins.com/resources/sailing-glossary/how-sailing-works#parts-of-the-boat">Interactive parts of a sailboat</a> by <a href="https://sailingvirgins.com">Sailing Virgins</a></p>

To open the simulator on a particular point of sail, add ?point=beam-reach to the address in the code (or close-hauled, close-reach, broad-reach, running).

Free diagrams

Use these in slides, handouts, blog posts, course notes and books, including commercial ones. They are licensed CC BY 4.0, which means you can copy and adapt them as long as you credit Sailing Virgins. Each one comes with a ready-made credit line.

Printable cheat sheet and worksheets

A one-page points of sail cheat sheet, three labelled parts of a sailboat pages, and three matching blank worksheets for students to fill in. Print the lot, or only the pages you need.

Or download a blank worksheet as an image:

• Parts of a sailboat worksheet: hull and deck
• Parts of a sailboat worksheet: sails
• Parts of a sailboat worksheet: rigging

A 20-minute first lesson

One way to use all of this for a shore-based session before anyone steps on a boat. It follows the order most beginner courses teach in, including ASA 101.

1. Step 1 · 3 minutes

   Start with the wind

   Put the simulator on the screen and turn the blue wind arrow. Ask the group where the boat cannot go, then point the boat there and watch the sails flap.

2. Step 2 · 5 minutes

   Walk round the points of sail

   Use the jump buttons from close-hauled to running. Before each one, have the group guess: sails in or out, faster or slower, more heel or less.

3. Step 3 · 4 minutes

   Tack and gybe

   Press Tack, then Gybe. Ask which end of the boat went through the wind each time, and which side the boom finished on.

4. Step 4 · 5 minutes

   Name the parts

   Switch to the tappable boat and go through the hull and deck. Hand out the blank worksheet and let people fill it in as you tap.

5. Step 5 · 3 minutes

   Finish with the quiz

   Run the two short quizzes as a group, or send the link home. The questions change each time, so it is worth a second go.

Open How Sailing Works

Link straight to a topic

Answering a question in a forum or a class chat? Each point of sail has its own link, and so does every term in the glossary.

• Close-hauled
• Close reach
• Beam reach
• Broad reach
• Running
• Every term in the sailing glossary

How to credit us

A link to the page you used is all it takes. For essays, course notes and articles, here is a reference line.

Sailing Virgins (2026). How Sailing Works: An Interactive Guide. https://sailingvirgins.com/resources/sailing-glossary/how-sailing-works

Need a diagram we haven't drawn, a different size, or a version in your club colours? Tell us what would help. Sailing Virgins teaches beginners to sail on week-long courses, and we would rather more people learned well than kept this to ourselves.