November/December 2019

Sail

SAIL is the magazine of record on sailing.

Sail2 min read
After the Storm
We live in interesting times. I’m not sure if that phrase actually is an ancient Oriental curse, but sometimes it sure feels like it. In early September, I watched with a mixture of horror and resignation as Hurricane Dorian first squatted over Grand
Sail3 min read
Letters
Further to Finding the Way (October), I too remember when the GPS revolution began and the naysayers and detractors who poo-pooed the technology. Here we are decades later, and if you don’t have GPS on board your boat, you are considered by your sail
Sail5 min read
To Sail or Nor to Sail
When I was young I would unflinchingly go out sailing in anything. Big boat, little boat, alone or with a crowd, it didn’t much matter. Same thing with setting all kinds of sail, weather forecast be damned. Reefing is for wimps! This, of course, resu
Sail2 min read
Cruising Tips
When I was looking to buy a used boat a few years back, I was horrified at the state of many of the yachts I came across. Do people try to sell their homes with a pile of rusty motor parts strewn around the front room or a heap of soaking bedding mou
Sail1 min read
Cup Boats Hit the Water
Emirates Team New Zealand may have been the first to launch a new-generation America’s Cup boat, but it was the New York Yacht Club’s challenger, American Magic, that had the last (first?) laugh. Just a few days after ETNZ’s radical-looking AC75 hit
Sail1 min read
InBrief
A big tip of the hat to British sailor Jeanne Socrates, who at the ripe young age of 77 became the oldest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world when she brought her Najad 380, Nereida, home to Victoria, British Columbia in Sept
Sail6 min read
Holiday Gift Guide
The new GPSMAP 86 series from Garmin is comprised of four models, including the top-of-the-line GPSMAP 86sci with built-in Garmin/Navionics charts and inReach functionality, making them just the thing for a daysailer or pocket cruiser, in particular.
Sail2 min read
The Race is On
It’s official—Volvo Ocean Race veterans Mark Towill and Charlie Enright will campaign an IMOCA 60 in The Ocean Race 2021-22. Their team, 11th Hour Racing, has become one of the first official entries in the round-the-world race, which is open to both
Sail4 min read
The Beat Goes ON
The fall shows may have drawn to close here in the United States. But in today’s global marketplace, the business of building and designing new sailboats never stops. And, of course, lest we forget, the Miami boat show is just around the corner. What
Sail11 min read
Trouble in Paradise
It was just after sunset, and Nina and Mario were belowdecks on their Bavaria 40, Seatramp, anchored a few miles southwest of Linton Bay Marina on Panama’s Caribbean coast. When they heard noises on deck, Mario went out to investigate, and two men hi
Sail5 min read
X-Yachts X4°
There’s something especially fun about sailing a boat on the home waters of the company that built it. And when you’re sailing the latest performance-cruiser from X-Yachts, the X40, on the “Little Belt,” just down the road from the company’s squeaky-
Sail8 min read
Fly Like an Eagle
Sailing at 19 knots in 15 knots of breeze is not an earth-shattering experience any more. I was thinking about that on a perfect late summer day in Narragansett Bay while we were slicing along on the most technologically advanced cruising catamaran I
Sail7 min read
The Vagabonde Life
Once upon a time conquering your dream of sailing off into the sunset was enough, but these days it seems like you have to be popular on social media too. Balancing the stresses of sailing around the world while keeping a successful—not to mention fi
Sail3 min read
Push-Button Reefing
Boats have never been easier to sail, and yet designers and builders still strive for that extra iota or two of convenience. A case in point is the growing acceptance of powered headsail furlers. Roller-furling headsails are ubiquitous not only on cr
Sail4 min read
Powered Furler Manufacturers
Among other things, this Italian company builds bespoke furling systems and sail-handling equipment for superyachts, so its engineering chops are not in doubt. Bamar does not neglect the smaller end of the market and has recently introduced a new lin
Sail5 min read
Anchoring
In almost 40 years of cruising my wife, Terrie, and I have almost never set a tripping line on the anchor. We lost one anchor while riding out a gale in a tight anchorage in Belize lying to two anchors in 60ft of water. Toward the end of the gale the
Sail9 min read
Choosing the Right Outboard
Two of the most indispensable items on board a cruising yacht are a dinghy and an outboard motor. At anchor or on a buoy, of course, they are your only means of getting ashore. They also have a thousand other uses. For example, they can allow you to
Sail5 min read
Installing an Electric Furler
So, what exactly is involved in installing an electric furling gear? If you’ve ever installed an electric windlass, part of the process will be familiar to you—you’ll be hooking up an electric motor to switches and a control box, running cables the l
Sail6 min read
Holding Action
My dissatisfaction with the head and holding tank plumbing arrangement on our 1987 Sabre 38 had grown as we cruised the boat away from the comforts of a marina for longer periods of time. When we are tied up at a marina, the use of regular bathrooms
Sail3 min read
10 Movies for Perfect Group Bonding Before a Charter
The fall boat shows have come and gone, winter is settling in, and sailing may seem like a distant dream as you hold your breath until your warm-weather Christmas charter. All is not lost, though, as this is also a great time to both distract yoursel
Sail4 min readAutomotive
Ask Sail
Q: I need to replace the jib sheets on my 35ft performance cruiser. I keep hearing about how high-modulus line can benefit sail shape and wonder if I should maybe spring for something fancy. Or will good old double-braid polyester still do the job? I
Sail3 min read
Mooring Pirates
When I was a younger man, with less money and a stronger back, I was a regular anchoring snob. Free parking, I believed, is a fundamental right when cruising under sail, and if you want to be a true cruiser you must exercise it as much as possible. I

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