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 EdgeState 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...
EPIRB Test
Chandler said McMurdo plans to include Ritter in its testing. "We welcome his input. We want to come up with an actual solution to...
Headings: Navigation, Then and Now
The year 1979 was my first in offshore racing, but it was also the tail-end of an era. Except for races such as Marion-Bermuda,...
Fee-Based Weather Forecasts
In years gone by, sailors going offshore would watch the barometer and keep a weather eye. Nowadays, there's plenty of weather information available, on...
Abandon Ship! Coast Guard Rescue Beneteau 523 in the Atlantic
What would cause the captain and crew to abandon ship in the Atlantic ocean? There was no sailboat disaster here, but a coast guard...
Latest Sailboat Review
J/109 Used Boat Review
The J/109 is a 35-ft. boat that races well and has some comforts for short term cruising. It is a true racer/cruiser. The first...