Controlling Jibes With Boom Brakes
Ten years ago, you may recall having seen the Walder boom brake demonstrated at sailboat shows. There wasn't anything quite like it. The device...
Tools to Tame the Jibe
The loads of a flying jibe in late summer squall are enough to shred sails, rip out deck or boom fittings, bend or break...
The Best Prevention is a Preventer
Ideally, you don't put yourself in a position where an accidental jibe can happen, but even an experienced sailor can get caught off guard...
Ideal Drogue setup will require experiments
For maximum maneuverability, the control lines-one port, one starboard-should attach at the widest part of the boat. This maximizes leverage and places the effort...
Snap shackles not advisable for snubbers.
In regard to your ongoing investigations of snubber hooks (Snubber Chain Hooks Revisited, February 2017), I want to add another idea to the mix....
DIY Rig Check
Here are two good examples showing the problems associated with the lower or deck level use of swage terminals for your standing rigging. Swaging...
Rope-to-Chain Splice Test
If youve ever struggled to retrieve a balky rope-to-chain back splice with your windlass, youve probably wondered if there wasnt a better approach. The...
The Pros and Cons of the Rigid, Fiberglass Dinghy
Dinghies are the Rodney Dangerfields of cruising. They get no respect, or at least not as much as they deserve. The little boat that...
Snubber Chain Hooks Revisited
Last spring we reported on tests of chain hooks (see Testing the Effects of Chain Hooks, PS March 2016). Those tests found that some...
An Inquiry into Anchor Angles
Designers of boat anchors deal in a handful of variables. The holding capacity of an anchor derives from its fluke, particularly the flukes size,...
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
Catalina 22 Used Boat Review
In its 10th anniversary issue in 1980, Sail magazine named the Catalina 22 the boat that had represented the breakthrough in trailer/cruisers in those...