Editor’s note: Has this happened to you? You’re out for a sail and realize the cockpit-led reefing line or mainsheet that has sailed many years with you is showing signs of wear or UV damage. Back at ...
As our boat is 40 years old, she’s not free of blemishes but so far there is no indication of chalking on the gelcoat. Accordingly, every year when my wife, Eileen, and I polish the hull of our good o...
We occasionally go to potluck events in our marina where four or five couples are trying to cook their food on a single gas/charcoal grill. There is usually too much food to cook on the grill at one t...
2017 was a disastrous sailing season for the boaters of the lower Great Lakes. At launch time in late April, the water was several feet higher than normal. Owners donned rubber boots to wade through s...
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...
In late September, our marina manager asked if I would be interested in salvaging a few sailboats in the winter storage yard. All had been neglected and eventually abandoned by their owners. In each o...
Novice, beginner, nimrod, greenhorn; we have all been this kind of sailor at one time or another. Many of us still are, and so this is written for you. You are the ones who have not (yet?) sail...
I am somewhere between the middle and end of refurbishing for fun and charter my 1982 Islander 48, Crescendo, hull number 1. She’s just about ready to move from Port Charlotte, FL where she’s been on ...
A friend and experienced boater related an interesting story over lunch. He’d recently had trouble backing his boat into a slip. The wind was on the beam and his bow would blow off, keeping him ...
Well-drilled junior sailors help save a mast To the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song . . . Let me tell you a little story ’bout an engineer named Tom. Had a little boat that he sailed upon t...
I drag the dinghy down the dune to the beach. The water lies so calm only an occasional ripple slurps ashore. I set my knapsack on the bow seat and shove off, the scrape of the hull on the sand giving...
A tour of the marina was illuminating My good fortune to live on a small barrier island in Florida is offset by the misfortune of full-time employment that requires me to commute to the mainland daily...
Getting a magnetic compass to tell the truth about North Most recreational sailors today navigate their craft using electronic devices. This is all well and good until an electrical failure on board s...
This a followup to Durkee Richards’ article “A Boat Explodes” in the July 2012 issue. When the boat next door explodes . . . Catherine Bilyard described Invictus, their Shannon 38 ketch, as “a b...
May 2012 Landfalls with Bull’s-Eye Precision From how far away can you see a lighthouse from the deck of your boat? Well, it depends. It depends on the height of the lighthouse above sea level, ...
