Everything Else

Seasick Blues Be Gone

by David Schmidt, Posted May 29, 2009

Some sailors are born with saltwater rushing through their veins and an ironclad stomach that can weather the worst of blows. I, however, am not one of those sailors. While I like to think that my blood has more than its fair share of salinity, I’m a frequent visitor to the leeward rail in lumpy conditions. Until now, that is. While everybody’s body reacts differently to various medications – and

Cruise in Comfort

by David Schmidt, Posted May 15, 2009

If you can’t run air conditioning on your boat there’s no reason to get overheated. Meet the new Bora 12- and 24-volt fans from Caframo Marine. The three-speed fans, available in either white or black, have a locking cam mount and are easy to install. Best yet, the fans move a lot of air but are quiet, unobtrusive, and lightweight. The compact units can be mounted sideways, upright, or upside

Stainless Is as Stainless Does

by David Schmidt, Posted March 10, 2009

Many marine fittings are made from stainless steel, and many tools are made with carbon steel. Problems can arise when carbon-steel screwdrivers interact with stainless screw heads; tiny bits of stainless from the screw head can lead to pitting or corrosion of the tool. Wera Tools’s line of ergonomic, vacuum ice-hardened stainless-steel screwdrivers are just the thing for

Wrino Wrestling

by David Schmidt, Posted March 10, 2009

There’s nothing new about a boat hook—unless it’s so innovative that it makes docking or mooring a boat easier and safer. At least that’s what the judges at the 2008 Marine Accessories Aftermarket Trade Show (MAATS) in Las Vegas thought of the new telescoping Wrino Boat Mooring Hook. With its second, smaller hook and a splice-gripping clip opposite the hooks, you can hitch

Charged: Battery Bug

by David Schmidt, Posted March 10, 2009

Few things are as annoying as stepping aboard your boat and finding that its batteries are dead. The Battery Bug from Argus Analyzers shows how much juice is left in a deep-cycle or dual-purpose battery and how much capacity has been lost; it has a replace-battery indicator and a low-battery alarm. It compensates for ambient temperature and is self-calibrating. Argus Analyzers

Lobster Pot Payback

by Sail Staff, Posted February 6, 2009

Wherever you sail, you know all too well how easy it is to get something tangled around some appendage of your boat. The Hooknife, from Sailor’s Solutions, has multiple effective cutting angles and makes it easy to free your keel, rudder, or prop from abandoned fishing tackle, plastic bags, discarded cordage, or (heaven forbid) your own sheet or guy, without having to go swimming. This tool will

Leveled

by David Schmidt, Posted December 11, 2008

LeveledAre you a racer looking for ways to hone your crew’s sail-handling skills, or are you a cruiser interested in creating a home video documenting of your latest adventure? Either way, Horizon True can get you sorted with one of their high-quality, self-leveling video camera mounts (they also accept still cameras). The mounts utilize either a pendulum or a counterweight to keep

Leashed

by David Schmidt, Posted December 4, 2008

Leashed. Spinlock has been stepping up their already-deep line of safety products, first with their award-winning Deckvest, and now with their ORC-legal Connect Range tethers. The two-clip tether that I tested relies on a girth hitch, rather than a metal clip, to affix it to a PFD’s hard point (Spinlock recommends also carrying a knife, should a user need to escape her tether).

Rechargable Shine

by Sail Staff, Posted November 18, 2008

Few things are finer than sitting in the cockpit on a starry night, nursing a glass of wine and sharing conversation. But sometimes it’s nice to see the other person (or the dishes that you’re serving and enjoying) as you soak up the ambiance. Black Diamond’s Apollo lamp features a 3-Watt LED lightsource that’s powered by either AAA batteries or a rechargeable battery that gives off a

Forget Me Not

by Sail Staff, Posted November 18, 2008

Here’s a stocking stuffer that packs a LOT of remembrance, in the form of an omni-directional 360-degree high-intensity strobe light. While nobody likes to think about MOB situations, ACR Electronics’s manually activated Waterbug SOLAS Firefly 3 strobe ranks as some of the best visual MOB protection one can have, aiding both the MOB and those back aboard. The unit features an easy-to-use sliding