Make holding-tank chemistry work in your favor Iss...
March 12, 2026
Why do people sail, climb mountains, or backpack? According to Elliot Merrick, “Perhaps it is that we have gone and must go full circle. From primitive hunger needs, bark shacks, and skin clothe...
Jack Lagan has written a delightful nautical dictionary (or sorts) best described in his own words as a ” loose-footed lexicon: a foot-loose, fancy-free and fore-and-aft alphabetic list of all t...
Eric and Susan Hiscock’s cruising books are manuals for aspirations and ideals as much as technical manuals for world cruising. Whether we splice our own wire rope, repair our own sails, or navi...
Paradise Cay has just released Chart No. 1: USA Nautical Chart Symbols Abbreviations and Terms as a replacement for the government version of Chart 1, which was discontinued by NOAA (The National Ocea...
In the 1950s, just before the widespread production of fiberglass boats triggered the developments that have made boating accessible to anyone, Patrick and June Ellam delivered yachts along the Atlant...
“Life holds a lot of treasure.” This advice, given to Ellen MacArthur by her much-loved Nan characterizes Ellen’s driving spirit. From the time she was a young girl of 10, drawing pi...
Having Corinne Kanter’s latest cookbook, The Cruising KISS Cookbook II, aboard is like having a pocket expert you can take on your cruise. It’s a substitute for the cooking class you never...
There’s no doubt about it: like sex, hyperbole sells. Magazines and books push it ’round the calendar: The best doctors in Dallas. The best chai in Berkeley. The best beaches in Rhode Isla...
I had anchored for the night at Chesapeake City after a long solo-sail up the Delaware from Cape May. The next morning, I raised the anchor and swung Temujin, my Tartan 34C, back out into the C&D ...
Natives murdered Captain Howes Norris on the whaleship Sharon, and people assumed that the reason was because of their savage ways. Author Joan Druett searched for the real story behind the murder in ...
I am glad then, as gales blow and jar the house, and horizontal snows fly by, that my father with his typical creative, extravagant imagination, took his children out to sea to learn how to live.̶...
(SEAWORTHY PUBLICATIONS, 2003; CD AND BOOK; $59.95.) REVIEWED BY S. MERRILL HALL The ultimate guide to the collision regulations” — “Memorable learning tool.” This is supposedl...
For those of us who sail yachts designed by the firm of Sparkman & Stephens, the publication of Lines by Olin Stephens, the most influential yacht designer of the 20th century, is a momentous even...
Did you read the title and decide you were not interested? Already got your boat? Nothing here for you — wrong!This well-written paperback offers good insights into what boat might be right for ...
The Greatest Sailing Stories Ever Told, edited by Chris Caswell, consists of 27 stories (fiction and non-fiction) written by sailors. I felt more at home with this book, as the sailing mentality perva...
How can a boat sail faster than the wind? What is the most efficient hull shape? Why does a tall, skinny Marconi point better than an old gaffer? The aptly titled Evolution of Modern Sailboat Design e...
Have you ever wondered what life on a square-rigger was like . . . not as Horatio Hornblower, but as a sickly apprentice seaman crossing the Atlantic on your first voyage? How would you stand up to th...
Using GPS and a chart plotter for detailed navigation, I have become over-confident. Jerry and I refer to our boat’s system as “Nintendo navigation.” We can go to a small lump protru...
Most of the reading that I do about sailing is of a technical nature, but reading about how to get the perfect coat of varnish, racing tactics, or high-latitude cruising can get a little dry. Once in ...
Anybody remember the ’70s song, “The Mighty Quinn”? The artist was Manfred Mann. Quinn, of course, was an Eskimo, the polar opposite of sailing songwriter Eileen Quinn’s subjec...
BY ROGER MCAFEE (NIGHTHAWK MARINE LIMITED, VANCOUVER, B.C., APRIL 2002; 130 PAGES, $24.95) REVIEWED BY NORMAN RALPH In Fort Ross: The Ship in the Shadow, Roger McAfee presents readers with a smorgasbo...
I don’t know about you, but ever since we bought an older cruising sailboat I’ve developed a mild addiction to books about 12-volt electricity. There are many books available on the subjec...
After reading Margo Wood’s autobiography I feel she is someone I would like to meet. Her story, starting with the day she was born, is simply fun reading. I could put it down anytime and enjoy m...
Lin and Larry Pardey will be the first (and certainly the most credible) sailors to tell you that you won’t encounter many storms at sea. They want to encourage cruisers to go now, not to contin...
One of the challenges and pleasures, of sailing good old boats is that you run the boat yourself. A big responsibility, one which requires experience, skill, and knowledge of many things. Much of the ...
As you sail along with Salty and the Pirates, you’ll set out to solve a mystery packed with adventure and friendship. When Salty and his friends discover the old lost treasure of the ancient Zap...
Winter is here. For most of us that means our sailboats are under wraps and days on the water are only a pleasant memory. For those of us who would like a brief respite, two recently published books m...
Two famous boatbuilding names — and a line of classy bluewater voyagers Hallberg-Rassy has the longest standing and strongest North American presence of any Swedish boatbuilder, with two dealers on th...
A resourceful Colorado sailor does a professional job in the wilds Last summer I had to replace thestern tube on my Pacific Seacraft Orion 27, Allegra. It was a stressful and satisfying ordeal and a t...
A close look at a modern practitioner of a very old trade His voice had an easy, reassuring, and ageless quality about it. Brion Toss was calling back to clarify what work we wanted to have done on ou...
