Keeping up an older boat pays back in family time, not dollars Issue 120: May/June 2018 What is the point of all the effort and expense I put into owning a good old boat? I often find myself asking th...
A suspended zippered bag relieves crowded cockpit locker Issue 120: May/June 2018 Prepping Sapphire, our Tartan 3700, for a cruise from Lake Ontario to the Bahamas forced us to review our stowage opti...
It was not the best place for his rudder to jam hard over Issue 120: May/June 2018 On the day I purchased my first boat, the 30-foot Shallow Life, my sailing experience amounted to only two days aboar...
Storm windows on hatches and ports help keep the cabin cozy Issue 120: May/June 2018 How many northern sailors miss the glory days of sailing? I’m talking about the fall when, in many parts of the con...
Most everything, according to surveys Issue 120: May/June 2018 We spent two years preparing our boat to cross the Pacific. We read countless blogs and peppered experienced ocean sailors with questions...
. . . and a couple of companion centerboarders Issue 120: May/June 2018 I have to admit that I like centerboarders. It was no accident, after sailing International Fourteen Foot Dinghies (with centerb...
An update of a longtime favorite Issue 120: May/June 2018 I came upon this classic good old boat at Mazanet Marina, up the Yahara River in Madison, Wisconsin, but I was puzzled as to what it was. Andy...
Shared passions form a common bond between strangers Issue 120: May/June 2018 I rode motorcycles for years, first a 1982 Yamaha Virago 920, later a 1977 Honda CB550. Neither was a touring bike, but th...
A midlife course change has left a legacy in its wake Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Short of getting married to begin with, starting a sailing magazine 20 years ago was one of the most risky and rewarding ...
Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 StopGull bird deterrents Our berth is near a clump of trees where starlings and blackbirds roost. They do their dirty work all over nearby boats; I jumped at the chance to tes...
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...
Reverse the ravages of age or accidents Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Deck hatches are great for the light and air flow they allow below, and it’s nice to see through them. Unfortunately, subjected to ultr...
Adding a deck hatch transformed the head compartment Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Even with an opening portlight, the head in our Island Packet 31 was a dark cave in need of more ventilation. Adding an ov...
A better way to connect snubbers and bridles to chain Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Anchoring can be a straightforward procedure, but there are occasions that demand special strategies. And anchoring as a ...
Individuals of genius, and technical advances, laid the groundwork Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Although fiberglass quickly overtook wood in the 1950s as the predominant material for building pleasure boa...
World-girdling pioneers inspired generations of sailors with their writing Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 I want to tell a story about Bernard Moitessier. It is not the famous one about him crossing his out...
A sinker and line makes a reliable messenger Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 When the genoa halyard aboard my father’s C&C 29 broke last summer, we thought we would have to remove the mast to replace the...
Rigidity and shade were just two of the benefits Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 As all things must, the old canvas dodger on my Westsail 32, Antares, came to the end of its life. We had sailed many a happy ...
The youngest circumnavigator advises focusing on the solution, not the problem Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 I’ve sailed solo around the world, 518 days of solo. It takes a mental fortitude that few can ap...
On long passages, it’s a campaign against attrition of gear and the electrical system Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 When I started sailing solo, I realized that I’d have to learn to deal with breakages if ...
In 1968, Britain’s The Sunday Times newspaper offered a trophy, named The Golden Globe, and £5,000 to the first person to sail singlehanded nonstop around the world. No starting date was specified, bu...
. . . and two pocket cruisers that followed Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Most sailors, I think, look for evidence of evolution in yacht design, even when the rating rules of the day were written to stymie...
A beamy shoal-draft overnighter inspired by catboats Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Traditional Watercraft of Largo, Florida, incorporated in the fall of 1979. Its founder, chief designer, and CEO was Rober...
Saying no to wings, foils, carbon fiber, and satcoms Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 I’m embarrassed to report that I’ve long been a bit sour on the America’s Cup, as it’s evolved. Embarrassed because boats ...
A coral atoll revealed the sea in its true colors Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 As a boy, I felt very lucky to grow up at Leigh-on-Sea, on the north shore of the Thames Estuary in Essex, England, where the...
Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 Hurricane-tested water shoe I live in sandals and don’t often wear shoes. When I received the Bzees Wink Water Shoes to give them a test run, I dutifully wore them around for ...
Nor will SAEs mingle with metrics in the bottom of the toolbox Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 Entropy, the natural process that leads to disorder, was well manifested in Second Star’s toolbox. Wrenches woul...
Good planning, instinct, careful observation, or luck? Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 In Good Old Boat there is an entertaining trope, or recurring narrative pattern, that shapes many Learning Experience st...
Solving a perplexing problem led to an explosive discovery Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 I dialed the number and waited through several rings. A man answered, and I told him I was the most recent owner of ...
Sailing other people’s boats is a good way to find the right size Issue 122: Sept/Oct 2018 The essence of cruising by sailboat is not about crossing vast oceans, but about living by sail. My husband, ...
