BEWARE THE PENETRATION-PROMOTING CHEMICALS There are chemicals in many bottom paint strippers that serve to help the chemicals that break down old paint penetrate layers and layers of old paint...
This book is amazing on several levels. Not only is it filled with sailing adventures, but the adventures are in the context of a rich biblical and historical backdrop. The author-captain and his mate...
BY MICHAEL ROBERTSON WHAT’S IN A COLOR? You’re probably aware that the folks at BoatU.S. sell boat name graphics. You’re likely also aware that each year they release a list of the most popular boat n...
After replacing the screens that fit the opening portlights on our Bayfield 32, I noticed a narrow gap around the perimeter of the aluminum frame, between the screen and the portlight frame. The tiny ...
The mechanic asked, “Did you check the prop?” “No,” I said into the satellite phone, “why would I do that?” “We’ve had some instances where the prop fell off those saildrive units.” A quick div...
When this A-Z history of the Auld Mug landed in my lap, my first thought was: “I am so over the Cup.” Being somewhat on the fence between favoring “traditional” yachts, like the 12-Meter, designed to ...
DON’T BE THE BOAT THAT NEVER CASTS OFF… Please tell David (“There Ought to be a Law,” The Dogwatch, April 2018) that the refit will never be completed and he should just leave!...
It is probably inevitable that a memoir of a skipjack is going to leave one feeling a little melancholy. There are so few of these working sailboats left on the Chesapeake, our very own indigenous spe...
Full disclosure: Liz Clark is a friend. I followed her adventures in Latitude 38 magazine almost from the start, then had a good fortune to meet her in person in French Polynesia in 2015, as she was p...
This book is aimed squarely at wannabe first-time cruisers who are ready to take concrete steps to casting off for a voyage. The author is a relatively young cruiser who bought a 1973 Columbia 34 in n...
MYSTERY SOLVED Nice and funny story (“The Mysterious Fish Magnet,” March 2018), but as a snorkeler and former wildlife management technician, I can say to Bob that his boat has no magnetic properties ...
This is the latest of James Baldwin’s books chronicling his life and travels aboard Atom, his dependable Pearson Triton. Baldwin’s narrative begins in 1992, with Baldwin living aboard Atom in Hong Kon...
75th SWIFTSURE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST For 75 years in a row, thousands of Pacific Northwest sailors have participated in a yacht race that started as an overnight sail to round a lightship anchored ...
This project, like so many others, just didn’t go as planned. A surveyor had pointed out the need to replace a failing exhaust hose on Second Star, the 1993 Sabre 362 I’d just bought. Complying ...
As a nautical author, I know why Adrian wrote this book. There is nothing quite as satisfying as reliving your sailing adventures by committing them to paper (or electronic files.) The highs, the lows...
Captain James Cook was the preeminent navigator of his day. His three voyages of 250 years ago are classics of exploration and pilotage. Cook’s charts are still useful. Out of interest, I’ve used them...
The best fishing is behind my boat, a 1967 Morgan. I know this because every time I settle into a new anchorage, one, two, or more fishing boats inevitably appear, only a fish’s throw from my cockpit....
LINE DRAWINGS OF A NEWPORT 30? I have a dear old friend who owns an old Newport 30 MK III. I have been trying to get my hands on a set of line drawings, so I can make him a half-model of his beloved S...
We’re not like the other sailing magazines, but I know you know this already. The point I want to make is that we’re not really of a place. At the Annapolis boat show last fall, introducin...
STAR BABY IN THE SUMMER OF LOVE “Old boats rule,” is how reader Peter Allen put it in his email to me about the story he sent me on the Great Pumpkin Pursuit Race on San Francisco Bay. According to pr...
Some sailors know Yves Gelinas as the nice guy behind the counter at boat shows selling Cape Horn windvanes, modeled on the windvane he built in 1981 for a world circumnavigation. Alberg 30 sailors kn...
UNSAFE AND IRRESPONSIBLE I am dismayed that you would publish (and in-effect endorse) Tom Alley’s installation of an “OUTDOOR USE ONLY” propane stove for his Alberg 35 (“A New Galley Stove,” Good Old ...
Many of us have Barient winches on our good old boats. If you’ve got them, you may have noticed that they aren’t what they once were. My late 80’s cruiser/racer has 8 of them. Years ago, servicing the...
ACROSS THE BAR: IAN FARRIER Corsair Marine and Farrier Marine founder and legendary multihull designer Ian Farrier passed away in San Francisco, California, on December 9, 2017. According to sailboatd...
“Spindrift – spray blown off the crests of waves in winds of gale force and above. For sailors in a small boat, spindrift is the sign that forceful but workable conditions are becoming dangerous...
Sea Trials: Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire is a real rattlesnake of a tale chronicling the adventures, and misadventures, of the Wilcox family as they sail their way around the world...
Todd Duff’s novel is a thrilling adventure revolving around human trafficking, boat theft, international intrigue, and drug cartels. Though fictional, the book is based on several real stories of huma...
FAWCETT MARINE WINTER SEMINAR SERIES If you’re going to be anywhere near Annapolis, Maryland, this winter, you’ll likely want to check out Fawcett Marine’s winter seminar schedule. They’ve got 27 diff...
Here we have a practical, illustrated guide for marine diesel engine maintenance. The main advantage of this guide is its clear and simple illustrations. This guide fills a gap where a person is just ...
LOVE MY TILLER, LOVE MY WHEEL Granted some boats are too small for a pedestal, but I don’t think many are too large for a tiller. So last month I put it to you: If you’ve got wheel steering do you lon...
