How (Not) to Tie Your Boat to a Dock
No sailor can resist the temptation to look over another sailor's work, and nothing draws the eye faster than your neighbor's docklines. We like...
Responding to Emergencies: A Skipper’s Guide for Staying Calm
This article is not a “how to” on COB drills or other procedures. There is lots of good training available on that subject and...
Sailboat Safety on Deck
We often think of safety on deck in terms of PFDs, lifelines and jacklines, but the falls they protect against only happen after something...
Master the Sailing Basics: Never Stop Learning the Little Things
Seamanship is about big concepts and small skills. They work together, but we see them differently and they represent different types of learning. Big...
Electric Winch and Windlass Safety
A decade ago a woman from Venezuela was hoisting her husband up the mast of their Amel Maramu 54. The winch was electrically powered,...
Severed Anchor in the Bahamas: Seven Lessons Learned
Leaving Rhode Island to sail to the Bahamas, I wanted to be untethered, for a while. Adrift at dawn and heading for rocks in...
Another Look at Fitting Jacklines
“Keep the crew on the inside and the water on the outside.”
This old salt's advice to new offshore sailors is somewhat “tongue in cheek”...
Collision Avoidance When ‘See and Avoid’ Fails
The obvious answer for how to maneuver when vessels meet at sea is for everyone to follow the Convention on the International Regulations for...
When a Welcome Home Becomes a Rescue
Bill had been sailing single handed aboard his Bristol Channel Cutter 28 Pixie for nearly 90 days from Christchurch, New Zealand to Victoria, British...
Emergency Steering? You Can Jury-Rig a Drogue For That
I had been driving my 34-foot catamaran down the Chesapeake Bay at 8-9 knots all morning, propelled by a fresh breeze. “Thud … thud.”...
J Boats J/9 Sailboat Review and Boat Tour
Are you interested in a fast day sailor? The 28 foot sailboat J/9 from J Boats boasts the most comfortable J cockpit ever on...
Latest Sailboat Review
Tartan 37 Used Boat Review
The Tartan 37 is a moderately high performance, shoal-draft cruiser built between 1967 and 1988 by Tartan Marine, a company that helped usher in...