Safety & Seamanship

Belt-style Inflatable PFDs

ConclusionBelt-style flotation devices are generally less expensive and are more comfortable to wear than their vest-style brethren. But unlike the vests, belts require you...

PS Advisor: 10/01/04

Quick-Stop Defined Dan Dickison's editorial mentions "the Quick-Stop." I thought I knew of most of the MOB-type products, but I haven't heard of this...

Inflatable PFDs Put to the Test

On land, we found the Stearns vest easy to don and adjust to fit. Once on, it has a comfortable fit. Like some others,...

Headings: The Bare Essentials

]Distress SignalsThe law requires most boats to carry audible and visual distress signals. The most ear-ringing sound signal I know is the old-fashioned, environmentally...

EPIRB Update: 09/04

In the wake of independent tests conducted by the Equipped to Survive Foundation (ETS), wherein the GPS components of two EPIRB models from McMurdo...

Headings: The Academy of the Sea

The 2004 Newport-Bermuda Race was one of the more complex, weather-driven races we've sailed in the last 25 years. A combination of low-pressure systems,...

Life on the Edge—State of the Art Boatbuilding

by Nick NicholsonMost of us have boats built of fiberglass, laid up in female molds as part of a production boatbuilding process. We have...

Safe and Sound

As of this summer, Practical Sailor enters its fourth decade as a journal of fact and opinion pertaining to the gear and equipment we...

Life on the Edge—State of the Art Boatbuilding

by Nick NicholsonMost of us have boats built of fiberglass, laid up in female molds as part of a production boatbuilding process. We have...

Headings: Trickle-Down Safety

Every two years, some 150 offshore sailboats line up in Newport, RI, to race roughly 650 miles to Bermuda, a semi-tropical island in the...

The UNIQUE Maxus 26 Lifting Keel Trailer Sailor

What is the best trailerable sailboat? One big feature is the mast stepping system. Today we look at trailer sailors like the Catalina 275,...

Latest Sailboat Review

Morgan Out Island 36 Used Boat Review

Most are familiar with Charles Morgan and his Out Island 41, primarily made to cruise and charter in the Bahamas, but not many are...