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    Allen Penticoff

    Allen Penticoff, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, is a freelance writer, sailor, and longtime aviator. He has trailer-sailed on every Great Lake and on many inland waters and has had keelboat adventures on fresh and salt water. He owns an American 14.5, a MacGregor 26D, and a 1955 Beister 42-foot steel cutter that he stores as a someday project.

    Grey Hound
    • Boat Reviews
    • Multihull
    • Reviews

    Farrier F-33

    A Cruising Rocket Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 New Zealand designer Ian Farrier, who died in 2017, is legendary in the multihull community for his concept of folding trimarans. His patented Farrier Folding...

    Allen Penticoff
    December 26, 2025
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    eight-track telltales
    • Projects
    • Sails & Canvas

    Tale of the Tape

    Eight-track audio tape makes for perfect telltales. Issue 132: May/June 2020 When I first began sailing my own boats, I tied yarn to the shrouds to use as telltales. This common, quick-and-easy method...

    Allen Penticoff
    December 8, 2025
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    Watkins 27
    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Watkins 27

    A Beamy, Obliging Pocket Cruiser Issue 132: May/June 2020 A sailor’s reasons for buying a boat are myriad and often mysterious; in the case of James and Barb Shroeger of Traverse City, Michigan, James...

    Allen Penticoff
    December 4, 2025
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    sailboat on water
    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Sabre 38

    A Maine-Built Sailing Master Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 When Dave and Sharon Nehring of Racine, Wisconsin, began searching for a boat to serve largely as a comfy floating summer home as well as for cruis...

    Allen Penticoff
    July 23, 2025
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    boat on water
    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Hunter 260

    A Low-Priced, Water-Ballasted Trailer-Sailer Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 Bill and Marianne Blaschka of Madison, Wisconsin, have been so blown away by the Hunter 260 that they’ve kept theirs for 12 years—a...

    Allen Penticoff
    June 30, 2025
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    flat sheer, plumb bow, and hard chines define the current French styling of midsize sailing yachts. Note the absence of a roach in the furling mainsail.
    • Boat Reviews
    • Reviews

    Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 379

    A modern racer-cruiser with two helms Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 This 2013 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 379 was less than 10 years old at the time of my review, providing a great opportunity to look at some of ...

    Allen Penticoff
    May 16, 2025
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    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Seaward 26RK

    A Head-Turning Shoal-Draft Cruiser. Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Lake Mendota, just north of Madison, Wisconsin, is my home water; it’s also where the late, great Buddy Melges sailed. Wide and deep, it’s a...

    Allen Penticoff
    August 19, 2023
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    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Hunter 33.5

    A well-planned economy cruiser Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 Rich and Carolyn Sutorius of St. Charles, Missouri, sailed a Seafarer 26, Manana, for more than 30 years. We reviewed the boat in the July/August...

    Allen Penticoff
    January 15, 2023
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    • Dogwatch
    • Sailing
    • Sailing Tips

    The Magic Mushroom (Anchor)

    The anchoring issue of Good Old Boat (May/June 2021) was full of great tips. In it, technical editor Drew Frye showed us how to make a kellet—weight added to anchor rode itself, to decrease the angle ...

    Allen Penticoff
    August 15, 2021
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    • Book Reviews
    • Dogwatch
    • Reviews

    Book Review: The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float

    This classic nautical book is aimed squarely at Good Old Boat readers, despite being written decades before Good Old Boat magazine came to be. The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float is not so much a tale of man ...

    Allen Penticoff
    June 15, 2021
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    • Book Reviews
    • Dogwatch
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    Book Review: My Old Man and the Sea

    During these COVID-19 days of isolation, this 17,000-mile voyage by a father and son on a 25-foot engineless sloop, has the effect of making our stay-at-home confinement seem downright luxurious in co...

    Allen Penticoff
    May 15, 2021
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    • Book Reviews
    • Dogwatch
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    Book Review: Heart of Glass

    This book, aptly subtitled, “Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Made Them,” is the bible of the fiberglass boatbuilding industry. And Dan Spurr is the prophet to write it. Dan is Good Old Boat magazine’...

    Allen Penticoff
    March 15, 2021
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    • Book Reviews
    • Dogwatch
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    Book Review: The Greatest Sailing Stories Ever Told

    As the title makes clear, this is a book of 27 unforgettable stories. Having just read this book, I realize I’ve already forgotten most of them. Then again, my rusty old brain does not remember things...

    Allen Penticoff
    February 15, 2021
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    • Book Reviews
    • Dogwatch
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    Book Review: Spirit of a Dream

    What do you do when you’ve prepared for a single-handed around-the-world sailboat competition, have a great 40-foot high-performance boat ready to go… and then the race is called off? Go. That’s what ...

    Allen Penticoff
    January 15, 2021
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    • Dogwatch
    • Sailing Tips

    Easy Charting

    I sail a MacGregor 26D. It does not have a chart table. We don’t even carry much in the way of charts, because using charts in the cockpit takes a lot of room and just when we need to look at de...

    Allen Penticoff
    February 11, 2020
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    Seafarer 26 sailboat
    • Boat Reviews
    • Monohull
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    Seafarer 26

    A good and forgiving starter boat for coastal cruising Issue 127: July/Aug 2019 Rich Sutorius first became interested in sailing from watching a 1960s-era National Geographic special about Irving John...

    Allen Penticoff
    July 1, 2019
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    Sailing lesson
    • Dogwatch
    • Sailing Stories

    A Taste of Sail, One Sailor at a Time

    Editor’s note: A Taste of Sail! I love this concept and I know it’s practiced at clubs all over. But if it doesn’t happen in your community, hopefully you’ll be inspired by A Taste of Sail to start so...

    Allen Penticoff
    July 1, 2018
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