Bites, sweep, fins, bulbs, wings, and winglets Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 In Part 1 (May 2015) and Part 2 (July 2015) of this narrative, we explored the evolution of the keel from a longitudinal struct...
Exercise that gets you somewhere on the water Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 For many of us, our very first boat was a rowboat — in my case an old and leaky one — so every outing is a trip down memory lane...
A quick trailerable that does the small things right Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 R K. “Kim” Hogan, a retired airline captain, and his wife, Karen, have been sailing their 1996 Precision 23, Willow, on t...
Familiar waters feel like a fond hug Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 We had just seen a favorite kid play the role of a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz when we untied our docklines in late June for a 75-nautic...
A loyal, uncomplaining member of the crew Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 We lost a treasured sailing companion several years back and sailing hasn’t been quite the same since. By all appearances that August...
Let there be light, even in the cold and wet Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 Before we left home for a year-long land-and-sea cruise around the continent, during which time we would live aboard our 25-foot C...
Trap dirt and sand before they get on the mother ship Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 My sailboat, Pelorus, sits on a mooring about a third of a mile offshore. I get to her by dinghy, a plywood Phil Bolger d...
Turn any flat surface into a workbench Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 What happens if you find yourself on a sailboat and need a vise for holding either wood or metal while you work on it? I have long admir...
Fun and utility in a lightweight package Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 When we were looking for a MacGregor 26D to review, we found one nearby — a 1989 model that Allen and Ruth Penticoff bought new and na...
Cooking up volts in the galley Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 Jones was a large man who said everything with a smile, even if he was insulting you. As I walked into the marina’s restaurant and bar, a favori...
A lifelong sailor supports her passion by chartering Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 It was 2004 when I entertained the thought of a boat of my own. I had just completed the exam for USCG Master. When I took...
Life lessons from an early affair Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 There was no name on her hull when I found her, so I called her Frankly Scarlett in reference to the closing line of Gone With The Wind. That...
Outsourcing and insourcing assure the best results Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 With just a few days left until landfall on our 2,800-mile passage from Mexico to the Marquesas, we noticed the steering fel...
A daily duty records a lifetime of memories Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 I am sitting in front of the fire doing research for an upcoming ocean passage. I like to study the passages of others. What routes...
Marital harmony restored at a bargain non-marine price Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 After our first summer in our Benford 40 schooner, one of the items high on the refit list was upgrading the control for...
A downhaul is a singlehander’s foredeck crew Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 A friend of mine told me about an incident he witnessed in which the jib furler on a 54-foot sailboat jammed. “You haven’t laughed...
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...
Variations on taking in a slab of sail Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 A sail is reefed to reduce its area so it will not overpower the boat in stronger winds. Of the many reefing systems used, slab or jiffy...
. . . and partners from the era of split rigs Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 The Bowman 46 was designed originally with a deep-draft fixed keel and the majority of the boats built from that tooling retained...
Lettuce and cold drinks — the frosting on the cruising cake Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 This past summer, for the first time in 15 years or more, we had ice in Mystic’s icebox. In years past, we cruised ...
When a sailboat suffers a heart attack Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 It’s 0700 on a beautiful April morning in France. Entr’acte, our Nor’Sea 27, is on the River Seine in 18 knots of wind with 4-foot seas d...
A homemade replacement is the answer Issue 100: Jan/Feb 2015 My good old boat was a former racer and came with a KVH Sailcomp electronic compass and sailing instrument. As it was quite old, the LCD di...
