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Ultralight backpacking? I remember when I first cut my toothbrush handle in half. I thought I was going light then, with thirty-five pounds on my back for a weekend backpacking trip. Now I am going heavy if get near fifteen pounds.

The biggest change was when I reduced the weight of the "big three." These are your backpack, sleeping bag and tent. This article, however, is about some of the "little" things I have learned along the way. They include weight-saving tricks, but also ways to be safe and comfortable as well.

Ultralight Backpacking Tips

- To have warm hiking shoes in the morning, put them under your sleeping bag by your legs, or even in your sleeping bag if you have a plastic bag to put them in. I sometime keep my shoes warm by using them as a pillow - it is more comfortable than you might think. Point one shoe each way, so they cradle your head, and lay a shirt or other piece of clothing over them.

- Use less stove fuel by cooking out of the wind. Block the wind with a improvised windscreen of some sort. Cooking time can double in even a slight breeze.

- Evaporative heat loss results from evaporation of moisture (this is why your body sweats to cool off). To reduce this form of heat loss, you need to stay as dry as you can. Wear your rain gear when walking through wet bushes, and don't sit directly on snow.

- Conductive heat loss results from heat being conducted away from your body by direct contact with colder things. Don't sit directly on cold rocks or snow - use your sleeping pad, or sit on a log (wood is less conductive than rocks).

- The lightest pan? You probably won't find it in backpacking catalogs. Every titanium pan I've seen weighs more than the cheap aluminum pan I bought in a local dollar-store. They make backpacking pans too thick. I removed the handle and added a wire hanging handle to my soup pan, and it weighs about two ounces.

- A light seat cushion can be made from a sleeping bag pad. Use an old basic blue foam pad. Cut a square about 12 inches square out of it. This will weigh about one ounce (3/8" pad). It makes a nice waterproof seat when you want to sit on a wet rock, log or on the ground. Pack it against your back inside your pack and it will also pad you from any sharp or clunky items.

- The cold wind might chill the front of your body, even though your back is hot and sweaty. When this happens, put your jacket on backwards, and leave it opened. This will keep your back cooler while protecting the front of your body.

- When it is hot, soak your hat in every stream or water source you pass. A wet hat is like a little air conditioner on your head. Try a wet bandana around your neck too. This trick works best in dry climates.

- Attach alligator clips to the top of your pack, and you'll always have an easy way to hang clothing to dry while you hike.

- If your damp clothes haven't dried by morning, put them on - unless it is too cold. They'll dry quickly once you start hiking. Drying them this way is generally safer than allowing damp clothes to accumulate in your pack.

- One way you can lighten your load is to carry high-calorie foods. Suppose you need 12,000 calories for a weekend trip. This could weigh from fifteen pounds down to four pounds, depending on the foods you select. Mixed nuts, for example, have twice as many calories per pound as bread. Plan for some variety, and balance the weight savings with decent nutritional choices, of course. Ultralight backpacking can still be healthy.

Copyright Steve Gillman. The ebook "Ultralight Backpacking Secrets" has 150 more of these backpacking tips scattered throughout it. To get it for FREE, as well as gear recommendations, and a new wilderness survival section, visit =>http://www.The-Ultralight-Site.com

How to Teach A New Crewman in Five Minutes

When I was quite young and began doing overnight races, my view of the universe was only as big as the area where I was working. I was only concerned with the task at hand. I was certainly unable to think in the sort of scope or range that the skipper of the boat would have been thinking.

Im sure that limitation still applies to most crew in their early days of extended racing. But, as experience grows, so the universe expands until it takes in, first of all, the watch one is keeping, and later the whole boat.

Later still, it encompasses other boats in the fleet, and eventually weather patterns, current predictions, tidal, where the boat stands in relation to others in the race, tactics and eventually strategy.

Although such experience cant be taught, acquiring it can be accelerated.

Later as a skipper, I developed a learning routine for new sailors that helped accelerate the process of their usefulness from the very first day onboard.

Although finding a crew, actually participating in a race, trials at sea, building a team and basic testing are important, the most important first lesson is how to use your hands on a boat. It sounds simply and almost automatic, but let me explain.

As skipper, when you begin training your own crew, teach them something which every old sailor takes for granted, but which still needs to be passed on. It is the rule of one hand for yourself and one for the boat.

Its explicit and precise and invaluable. Once the crew has learned that they must first ensure of their own safety, and then do whatever work is necessary, they have made the first step from landlubber to sailor.

Everybody has seen the willing crew who has hardly been to sea before, and really wants to help, but fouls everything up. He or she cant seem to keep their balance, or gets thrown from one side of the boat to the other when there is the slightest lurch. The experienced sailor has a handhold or has short-clipped his harness so that the work can be safely done.

Keep that rule in mind until it becomes second nature. Major injuries that occur during heavy weather are usually caused by somebody having forgotten that maxim.

By climbing out of a berth without a good grip they are thrown across the cabin. By coming out of a companionway without having their safety line clipped on they are thrown into the cockpit, or even into the sea.

It is hard to make the inexperienced sailor understand that the most dangerous place in the boat is at the foot of the companionway stairs, inside the boat. Invariably conditions seem much calmer down below than they are on the deck and a person about to climb the steps is going from a safe environment to a dangerous one.

Crew members are not always fully alert to that so it should be standard practice that people coming up from below pass up their safety hook to someone on deck to be clipped on to the lifeline before they actually begin their accent.

Keep this simple, yet invaluable principle of one hand for yourself and one for the boat in mind and the next tests are easy. The first test by which a crew is judged is their capacity to be available. The second most important test is their capacity and qualifications in terms of individual skills and individual personality trait.

Joel is an avid boating enthusiast. If you're interested in boats then you are missing out if you aren't constantly trading up. It is one of the best ways for you to get into the boat of your dreams. Check out his website at http://ahoyboater.com for information, resourceful articles, boating tips and methods you can use to skipper the boat of your choice for less money than you thought it would cost. Get your free report "Tips, Tricks and Resources for Financing the Boat of Your Dreams!", when you visit."