When you break a mast or need a new spreader base or just want to have a fresh coat of paint applied to an old aluminum mast, where can you go? What if you want a new cockpit arch, bow rollers, pulpit...
On October 15, 2022 at the Kingston Yacht Club in Kingston, Ontario, in front of a sold-out audience, 12 prominent past and present members of the Canadian sailing community were inducted into the Can...
Rob Ball’s legacy will live far beyond his years. I was shocked to hear of the recent death of my old friend Rob Ball at 79 years of age on September 9th from injuries suffered in a severe fall....
This is a remarkable story of one couple’s 17-year, 40,000-mile adventure that chronicles their sail from British Columbia to Lake Ontario the long way around. That is, heading west via French Polynes...
The late Bruce Kirby was one of the most influential yacht designers of the 20th century. Though known primarily for the Laser, his design career lasted over 40 years in two countries and spanned a ra...
…and Two More Performance Cruisers. Issue 138: May/June 2021 I assumed the Passport 42 would be a Bob Perry design, an assumption further reinforced when I saw she had a Valiant 40-style canoe s...
…and Two More CCA-Onspired Classics Issue 137: March/April 2021 Carl Alberg developed a design aesthetic based on the Cruising Club of America (CCA) yachts of the 1950s and ’60s, and he never re...
…and Two More Lift-Keel Performers Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Everyone knows that deep draft improves sailing performance but restricts cruising options. The ability to reduce draft would certainly...
…and Two More Freestanding-Rigged, Solid Sailers. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 Looking for boats to compare to the Nonsuch 36, the obvious commonality has to be the freestanding rig. That cer...
If you were to try and pick the day (yes, the very day) that the United States was founded, what would it be? The founding of Jamestown? The arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers? The Declaration of Independ...
Ready to Come About is both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. I met the author, Sue Williams, and her husband, David, when they delivered a presentation to our yacht club. Their tale was so fascin...
Sea Trial is two and a half stories in one, with each story perfectly complementing the other. Brian Harvey, accompanied by his wife, Hatsumi, and miniature schnauzer, Charley, set out to circumnaviga...
A variety of factors contributed to the end of yacht design’s golden age. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 I recently finished reading Dick Carter’s autobiography, Dick Carter: Yacht Designer in the Gol...
… and Two More Performance-Influenced Cruisers Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 In the late 1960s and early ’70s, boats designated as “cruising yachts” tended to follow the Colin Archer/William Atkin model of...
I don’t read romance novels; this is the first romance novel I have ever read. But this book was given to me by a good friend who billeted Carol Cronin in her home during the Snipe North American Cham...
…and Two More Bright, Solid Cruising Performers Issue 131: March/April 2020 The late powerboat designer Tom Fexas once published a provocative article entitled “Sailing Is Silly” in which...
When I was with Mark Ellis Design in the mid and late 1980s and early 1990, Mark was in the process of successfully incorporating more powerboats into his design portfolio. I expect that was the reaso...
Freestanding rigs offer an intriguing comparison to traditional, stayed masts. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 In 1985, when I joined the office of Mark Ellis Design, Mark took me sailing aboard a Nonsuch 30...
L. Francis Herreshoff: The flowering of genuis, by Roger C. Taylor (Mystic Seaport Museum, 2019; 644 pages) Nowadays, when the name Herreshoff is mentioned, I suspect most people conjure the face of L...
… And Two Other Interpretations of Timeless Cutter Design Issue 129: Nov/Dec 2019 It is relatively easy to assign a time or decade to the design of most production fiberglass sailboats. That’s particu...
None of us is getting any younger, and some of us may have begun to ask ourselves how long we can continue a boating lifestyle. For an answer to that question I enthusiastically refer you to Tim West ...
…and a couple North American racer/cruisers Issue 128: Sept/Oct 2019 The 1980s were a transformative period in the sailboat industry in North America. After years of incredible expansion in the ...
… and two more proper little yachts Issue 127: July/Aug 2019 The McCurdy & Rhodes-designed Seafarer 26 is a proper little yacht, with full standing head-room, an enclosed head, a full galley...
Leave the weight in the lake and tow a lighter boat Issue 127: July/Aug 2019 Water can be used in various ways to increase a boat’s stability. One method is as old as yachting itself. Æmilius Jarvis r...
Anybody who lived through, and was part of, the extraordinary growth in offshore racing in the 1970s will be familiar with the name Ron Holland. He and his friend Doug Peterson, and later, German Frer...
. . . and fellow CCA-to-IOR transition boats Issue 126: May/June 2019 The late 1960s was a period of transition in the history of yachting, when fiberglass construction, combined with a secure and gro...
Most of us know Michael Palin from his days with Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but he has also produced several superb BBC travel documentaries. It was probably his fame from the former and inv...
Over the past several years, the sailing community has been blessed with the publication of several excellent biographies of prominent yacht designers, including those of L. Francis Herreshoff by Roge...
. . . and two true centerboarders Issue 125: March/April 2019 It is often said that all boats are compromises, but that is especially true with regard to cruising center-boarders when it comes to deci...
The thing I like about opera is its ability to bring together of so many complementary artistic endeavors to create a production that pleases all the senses. That is, a production where the who...