Having capitulated, here’s how to raise the waterl...
September 25, 2026
Give slime and scum the brush-off on the cheap Doesn’t every sailor yearn for another tenth of a knot? Especially when racing? I do. Lucky are those who trailer their boats and can clean them at any t...
Asked to officiate at the wedding of sailing friends in the Caribbean, Captain Gilmore also wrote their vows. . . CAPTAIN GILMORE: We are gathered here today before this beautiful sunset and in this ...
Could the 2018 Golden Globe Race have been fairer and safer? Issue 125: March/April 2019 As I write this column, four of the five sailors remaining in the 2018 Golden Globe Race have rounded Cape Horn...
“I feel my body gone glass, emptying and refilling with Arctic swell. Darkness and safety a trick of the mind, as distant as the long, light fields of home.” So writes Jenna Butler in Magnetic ...
Great Lakes sailor James Barry was inspired to write his first historical fiction novel by a true story he discovered while sailing among the islands of Lake Huron’s North Channel. The short ve...
DRONE LEGALITY You asked about reader experience with drones (“Put It to the Readers,” The Dogwatch, September 2018). I can say that launching a drone from a boat under sail is not easy, because of wi...
Are you familiar with the comprehensive boat review we feature at the start of each issue of Good Old Boat magazine? We have a small team of marine freelance writers who draft those for us, and we’re ...
On November 24th, 1995 the sturdy 47-foot Compass, Melinda Lee, sailed in 35-knot gusts and 8-foot seas at the end of a long passage and only 20-odd miles from her destination in New Zealand. Mike and...
This is a guide to everything you could possibly want to know about anchors and anchoring. Rigging Modern Anchors includes elegant illustrations and informative graphics and tables. Frye presents fact...
New sailors outfit an old boat for a future of adventures. My husband, David, and I have always loved the outdoors and water. We have been avid sea-kayakers and snorkelers. We have owned powerboats, b...
Novelty luggage tags help prevent embarrassing oversights Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 We all have a checklist, formal or not, that we consult before casting off. Depending on our boats and ambitions, to-d...
A high school sailor questions their value Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 My former high school sailing-team coach was always telling us “consistency is key.” What does that even mean? What if consistency fo...
Mark Sinclair’s choice for the solo nonstop race around the world Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 “This retro race could not have come at a better time,” says Mark Sinclair about the Golden Globe Race 2018. “...
Fulfilling dreams with boats once destined for landfills. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 In an age where the norm is to throw away the old and buy something new, I have learned that thrown-away sailboats can...
All-inclusive fleets welcome novice racers at the starting line. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 When I was a child, my family would spend every summer cruising and sailing out of our home port. Years later, ...
Learn to refine it by chasing good old boats around the buoys Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 I am not a very skilled sailor. I’ve sailed thousands of miles in all types of weather, from Glacier Bay to Panama...
A top-down furler takes the terror out of setting a spinnaker. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 Downwind sailing with only a jib or genoa can leave a sailor wanting more. I wanted to fly a spinnaker on Hagar, ...
Insulate and decorate cold stainless steel with French spiral hitching. Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 When a stainless steel steering wheel gets wet or, worse yet, wet and cold, it becomes difficult to grip...
Banish mildew on your boat with a simple chemical brew As near as I can tell, boating consists of one part blue lagoons and white sails and two parts painting the bottom, fixing engines, and scrubbing...
Siting solar panels led to an all-around renewal Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 After deciding to add rigid solar panels aboard Alembic, our 1981 Whitby 42 center-cockpit the 12-foot spans into two 6-foot sp...
A dehumidifier keeps a cabin dry and free from mold Issue 124: Jan/Feb 2019 My friend Don Smith and I live and keep our boats in Alaska. To control moisture aboard, and its negative side effects, mild...
An electrical update for the 21st century preserves the 1960s aesthetics. Dog-eared and dated, the 12-volt DC switch panel on our 1961 Alden Challenger, Christmas, was original. I had planned to repla...
Over the years, I’ve often used a sun shower to heat water for onboard showers. If conditions are right, they can get to be too hot to use. But more often, a cooling breeze saps the heat generat...
MORE MULTI I enjoyed my Good Old Boat subscription when I had my O’Day 26, but I dropped my subscription last year as I bought a small trimaran (a 1992 Ostac Tramp) and noticed that Good Old Boat does...
ASA RAISES OVER $40,000 TO BOOST LITERACY The American Sailing Association (ASA), America’s premier sail-education authority, announced last week that it raised $41,379 this fall to benefit Hands Acro...
You already know Ed and Ellen Zacko. Ed writes award-winning articles for Good Old Boat. Ellen is the smiling co-sailor occasionally pictured in those articles. Also occasionally pictured in those art...
In warm weather, full-length foul-weather pants are rather uncomfortable to wear for too long...
A User-Friendly Cockpit Grating Kind to feet, it keeps dirt from getting underfoot by Drew Frye...
Mary McKSchmidt was like many idealistic young people of the 1970s. She eschewed business and material possessions. She was going to travel, write, seek adventure, and live free. And for a short time,...
