A novice sailor finds it easy to slip out of time while learning a new world. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 It all started as a writing project. Assigned an article on sailors who singlehandedly sailed acro...
Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Nav in Hand During a cruise of southwest Florida, I used the iNavX charting and navigation app on my iPhone 8 (it can be used on other IOS and Android devices as well). The app...
Getting tasty water from your boat’s tap isn’t a pipe dream if you follow some basic steps. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Stagnant, skunky, tank-sourced drinking water is one of the less romantic aspects of...
A new life for an abandoned good old boat turns a lubber into a sailor. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 It all began on a sunny mid-August Saturday seven years ago, my two boys and I walking along the harbor ...
A meander along Nova Scotia’s southwestern coast is just the ticket for a miles-weary sailor. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Straws and camel’s backs are funny things. I’d been sailing with my husband and ou...
An alternator puzzle leads down an illuminating electrical rabbit hole. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 For several days while anchored off a remote Pacific island, wind and solar power took care of the batte...
A monster wind wreaks havoc on a “safe” harbor. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 In March 2019, we were halfway up Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, sailing on the Sea of Cortez side and looking ...
Understanding what’s happening on the bottom goes a long way to improving anchoring success. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Any article about anchoring can smack of fear mongering. And the audience is ripe b...
Rethinking a battery lifting strap results in a longer-lived piece of essential boat gear. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Batteries are heavy. In a sailboat they are best positioned low, near the centerline,...
A meditation on mountains helps define an evocative passion for sailing. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 At 45 degrees North, our bedroom overlooks an old neighborhood with mature hardwood and conifer trees, ...
Adding a gate in the stern pulpit makes for easy in, easy out. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 We love our 40-year-old Catalina 27, but it has the old-style stern pulpit with no easy access to the swim ladder...
A liveaboard sabbatical wasn’t quite as expected, but maybe even more. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 I’ve dreamed of the liveaboard sailing lifestyle. What could be better than a life of purpose, nonstop ad...
Here’s how to put a quick, easy stop to a free-spinning prop and shaft. Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 Under sail aboard Soggy Paws, our CSY 44, the flow of water past our hull makes our fixed-blade prop spi...
…And Two More Cruising-Capable Performance Tris Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 It’s probably fair to say that the average recreational sailor seldom considers a performance trimaran for extended or eve...
A Cruising Rocket Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020 New Zealand designer Ian Farrier, who died in 2017, is legendary in the multihull community for his concept of folding trimarans. His patented Farrier Folding...
A chilly morning at the edge of autumn foretells the longer journey. Issue 131: March/April 2020 Sunlight streaming through the port-side window into my V-berth burns my eyes open. Last night’s howlin...
Issue 131: March/April 2020 Being Big Brother Last year, as hurricane Dorian headed for Florida, I was forced to evacuate, leaving my schooner Britannia to fend for herself in a Cape Canaveral marina....
Issue 131: March/April 2020 “Do you miss living on a sailboat?” We traveled to visit extended family over the holidays, and I was asked the question a few times, in some form. The question was small t...
Fresh sailing grounds of the Salish Sea offer perspective on Lake Superior. Issue 132: May/June 2020 Nothing in four years of summer sailing on Lake Superior has prepared me for this. Adrenaline pulsi...
Issue 132: May/June 2020 Filling Fuel Tanks Neatly Just over a decade ago, filling outboards, mowers, chainsaws, and small tanks got messy when CARB (the California Air Resources Board) mandated low-e...
During a running refit, a boat imparts life and sailing lessons. Issue 132: May/June 2020 It all started on a freezing winter’s day in a boatyard at the French Canadian-New York border. The decks of t...
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...
Off the grid and off most sailors’ itineraries, Lasqueti Island is a community unto itself. Issue 132: May/June 2020 “You should stop here,” said our new friend, Kevin, tapping his finger on our route...
Buckets, sawdust, and a clever seat make a functional dry marine toilet. Issue 132: May/June 2020 When our son, John, moved aboard his Baba 30, the marine head was inoperable and unrepairable. He saw ...
With three brands on the market, marine composting heads are gaining acceptance. Issue 132: May/June 2020 Several marine-suited composting toilets have been on the market for many years, and each has ...
Ready to buy a boat and sail away? Try this first. Issue 132: May/June 2020 I blame YouTube. I blame those sailing channels filled with bikini-clad sailors living carefree lives in tropical paradises....
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...
Need emergency running lights? Try soda caps, PVC, and a little ingenuity. Issue 132: May/June 2020 On a recent sail approaching our anchorage at dusk, I switched on the running lights and saw the sta...
…and Two More Spunky, Popular Little Big Boats Issue 132: May/June 2020 Twenty-seven-footers should have a special place in the history of fiberglass yacht design. At 27 feet you could incorporate all...
A Beamy, Obliging Pocket Cruiser Issue 132: May/June 2020 A sailor’s reasons for buying a boat are myriad and often mysterious; in the case of James and Barb Shroeger of Traverse City, Michigan, James...
