Safety & Seamanship

Offshore Log: Across the Isthmus

In early February, the last gate at Miraflores Locks opened to complete Calypsos transit of the Panama Canal. We were in the Pacific at...

Offshore Log: Across the Pacific

The Pacific is a big, big ocean. After leaving Panama in mid-February, Calypso sailed just under 5,000 nautical miles before dropping the hook in...

Trim Design Turnbuckle

Big ships had bulwarks, hip-high extensions of the topsides to prevent the crew from falling or being swept overboard. Yachts had nothing; maybe a...

Buyer’s Guide: Children’s PFDs

When it comes to safety precautions, kids usually think less is better. Fortunately for them, parents (and the US Coast Guard) disagree. Since...

Buyer’s Guide: Handheld Emergency Flares

Aerial flares, such as we reported on in the March 1999 issue, are intended to attract attention. Theyre designed to alert a potential rescuer...

Buyer’s Guide: Simrad CP32 and RayChart 520 Top Gray Scale GPS/Chartplotters

Like some form of electro-mechanical Darwinism, GPS chartplotters continue to evolve into many subsets, each filling a potential niche. There are more than a...

Offshore Log: Rigged For Downwind

A cruising boat has for downwind sailing much the same hardware as a racing boat. The only difference is that the cruising boat is...

Sunscreens: We Test Nine

Nowadays, maximum sun times and ozone reports are part of the daily news. More and more people worry about the chances of getting a...

Offshore Log: America’s Cup Triumphs and Failures

This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world ends:Not with a bang, but with a whimper.-T.S. EliotThe world of America's...

Life Rafts: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

by Douglas S. RitterMore critically perhaps, righting instructions were often woefully deficient; volunteers ignorant of the proper technique weren't helped much. At night, for...

The History of Cape Dory Sailboats

Cape Dory Yachts was founded in 1963 by Andrew Vavolotis in East Taunton, Mass. In the following 28 years, the company built over 2,800...

Latest Sailboat Review

Cape Dory 30 Used Boat Review

When the Cape Dory 30 entered production in 1976, it was the largest boat in the expanding line of the Taunton, Massachusetts boatbuilder. In...