Sail

For as long as there’s been sailboat racing there have been racing “freaks.” An early example were the “plank-on-edge” cutters favored by Victorian-era sailors in the UK. Back in the mid-19th century, it was decided that ultra-deep, ultra-narrow boat

PRINCIPAL EDITOR ADAM CORT MANAGING EDITOR LYDIA MULLAN WEB EDITOR EMME HURLEY CRUISING EDITOR CHARLES J. DOANE TECHNICAL EDITOR JAY E. PARIS ELECTRONICS EDITOR BEN ELLISON CHARTER EDITOR ZUZANA PROCHAZKA CONTRIBUTING EDITORS NIGEL CALDER, DON CASEY,

Created in 1805 by Britain’s Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, the “Beaufort Scale,” which classifies wind and sea states according to a dozen different “force” levels, is widely used in the UK, but much neglected in the United States, which is too bad.

Offshore racing sailors will always find the fastest route. That is, after all, the whole point of the exercise. Often that means sailing the rhumb line, i.e., the shortest, most direct course between the start and finish. Sometimes, though, they’ll

The professional skipper of this yacht has shaped his sails perfectly in search of that most elusive aspect of sail trim, known a “twist.” The upper parts of both the jib and main are setting farther from the boat’s midline than the lower parts, yet

Ronstan is offering keelboat crews an all-new pick-me-up with its recently introduced Soft Attachment Block line of snatch-blocks. The blocks have the highest dynamic load-to-sheave-diameter ratio of the company’s keelboat range—making them small but

The past year has been a strange and tragic one, to say the least. A funny thing happened, though, on the way to everybody just saying to hell with it and giving up. Namely, people—and sailors, in particular—didn’t. Despite the uncertainty, sailors f

A Superbowl is a Superbowl, and a World Series is a World Series. Sure, the names of the players and the teams change from year-to-year, but otherwise, the game pretty remains the same. Not so the America’s Cup. Still in many ways a hot mess left ove

DEFENDER, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND YACHT SQUADRON Though pulling off an event like the America’s Cup during a global pandemic was never going to be easy, the Kiwis also (inevitably?) found themselves having to contend with the latest in the long line of Ame

In the next few weeks, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic effort and INEOS Team UK will all battle in the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series in Auckland to determine who will face the Defender, Emirates Team Ne

Of all the superpowers today’s sailors wield thanks to modern electronics, being able to sail in fog with impunity is certainly one of the most useful. GPS navigation and electronic charts have been around long enough now that there is an entire gene