Fabric scraps protect delicate displays Issue 80 : Sept/Oct 2011 The sailing instruments in our cockpit are not the original units that came on our good old boat. The depth sounder and knot meter have...
Silent and stowable, they are easy to love Issue 82 : Jan/Feb 2012 Shakespeare said it best: “A hatchboard by any other name would still be a nuisance.” Anyway, I think that’s what he said. It’s late ...
The answer is to baffle it Issue 85 : Jul/Aug 2012 Everyone else on the shopping bus was bleary-eyed and commiserating about how many times during the night they had gotten up to close hatches. It had...
Keep that mainsail attached to the mast Issue 87 : Nov/Dec 2012 It is very likely that a sail loft seized the slugs or slides to the luff of your mainsail, mizzen, or trysail. Since that time, those s...
Varnished teak goes under wraps Issue 88 : Jan/Feb 2013 Our 1983 Tayana 37 cutter, Cetacean, has a profusion of glorious teak brightwork on deck. The gleaming varnish is a pleasure to look at but a ma...
The evolution of the three-cornered mainsail Issue 89 : Mar/Apr 2013 The three boats in our comparison this issue have almost identical sail plans. Each is a masthead sloop with a Marconi mainsail. Th...
A simple way to power up or down the mainsail Issue 90: May/June 2013 Many mainsails have a cringle at the luff of the sail a few inches above the tack. It’s known as the Cunningham and is named after...
Be prepared for visiting foreign ports Issue 91 : Jul/Aug 2013 Flags have been flying for more than 5,000 years. One of their first uses was for identification at sea. It has long been customary for v...
Shelter for a cockpit that’s active in winter Issue 92 : Sept/Oct 2013 Blue plastic hardware-store tarps appear in our marina about the time mushrooms sprout in the nearby woods. Slung over booms and ...
Where the on-watch crew stays warm and dry Issue 95 : Mar/Apr 2014 Our Maestro seat proved successful on all counts. From a beat to a beam reach, the watchkeeper remained sheltered, warm, and dry behi...
Protection and lifting handles all in one Issue 96 : May/Jun 2014 When my husband, David, suggests I do some sewing, it’s usually for a project he’d really like to have done and one I’d rather not tac...
Bid farewell to flutter Issue 96 : May/Jun 2014 A Bermudan or Marconi mainsail is seldom a straight-sided triangle. On many sails, the leech — the aft edge of the sail — is made convex to add more sai...
Low-tech, high-precision aids for sail trim Issue 99 : Nov/Dec 2014 Sail telltales are short strips of very lightweight material of a color that contrasts with that of the sail. They are sewn on both ...
Nature and lack of nurture take their toll Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 We had just crossed the equator northbound on passage from the Solomon Islands to Micronesia when we saw a squall approaching from t...
A handy sailing rig for dinghies and small trailerables Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 The gunter rig was developed by Edmund Gunter in the late 1700s. It has always been popular in Europe and, during the a...
A stitch in time can extend the life of a sail Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 The monsoon season was upon us. Each day we spoke by high-frequency radio to friends clawing their way toward Palau aboard a 50...
Downwind sailing with a new-tech nuance Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 Square sails have been used on sailing vessels for centuries. There is little argument that these sails, when the wind is dead astern o...
Don’t let wear and tear stymie your cruising plans Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 While we were anchored in Micronesia, a large well-found yacht arrived in port on a tight schedule. She was bound for the Ma...
A cockpit shelter that gets around a dodger-defeating boom Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 Our San Juan 7.7 has a large mainsail and a low-sweeping boom that prevents the use of a dodger, but we’ve come up w...
Getting the kinks out of long-term storage Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 Sailing the waters off the West Coast of British Columbia brings great joy along with the occasional challenges. Pacific Northwest s...
A shady, rain-proof whole-boat shelter Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 A few years ago, I spent a rainy season in Trinidad with my boat hauled out while I did a major refit. As most of the work on my old 25-...
First dodger, then bimini, and then the whole caboodle Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 We were motorsailing north along the rugged California coast, fighting a headwind and a strong current. Our ride became ...
Durable, reusable, inexpensive, and full of light Issue 110: Sept/Oct 2016 When we put our Hunter 30 up for sale, my wife, Margi, and I decided to cover it to protect it and keep it clean. Although we...
A cannibalized cockpit enclosure provides versatile shelter Issue 116: Sept/Oct 2017 How much shelter from the weather does a sailing crew need? Some sailors look at their bare unprotected cockpits an...
Tame an unruly gennaker with a homemade snuffer Issue 117: Nov/Dec 2017 Aboard Smooth Moves, our Hughes 26, we do most of our cruising up and down the Strait of Georgia during the warm summer months. ...
Lasting social mementos created with imagination and recycled sailcloth Issue 118: Jan/Feb 2018 It wasn’t until my partner, Jim, and I made our first trip to Mexico on our Outbound 46 that I was intro...
Applying patches with a sticky sealant is as effective as sewing Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Modern cloths make sails infinitely trouble-free when compared with the state of things in the bad old days. B...
From Carbon Wings to Polytarp Lugs and Beyond: The Complete Guide to What’s Flying in 2025 The wind hasn’t changed, but the cloth catching it has never been more diverse. On one marina dock you’ll fin...
A new mainsail puts a spring in a good old boat’s step. Issue 132: May/June 2020 I slept with my sail in my bunk for a month before I finally set it. That hadn’t been the plan. The plan had been to me...
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...
