SAIL.SailMagazine

Over my years as SAIL’s charter editor, I’ve worked with many bareboat-charter companies both as a charterer and as an editor. Truth is, the people you interact with in setting up a charter vacation and dealing with the details are almost invariably as helpful and knowledgeable as you could wish.

When a friend who was planning a first-time charter came to me with questions, I seized the

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HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT CHARTERING?

Readers want to know: How to get there; when to go; what to pack. I'm not a travel agent—far from it—but I do have some practical experience to share, especially when it comes to the Caribbean.

How to get there. San Juan, Puerto Rico, has long been the hub for travel from the U.S. mainland to the islands, and American

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Cruising the challenging waters of the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn

The change in the weather is as emphatic as it is fast. One moment we're meandering along, running wing-and-wing before a light northerly breeze that's just enough to get our heavy 56-footer trundling along at 5 knots. The next, the sky to the west takes on a gunmetal hue and the jib shakes itself as the

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If you've done any sailing outside your home waters, you already know how invaluable a cruising guide can be. I suppose it's possible to tough it out with just the chart and the chart checkout, but at the very least this means you'd be reinventing the wheel when it comes to choosing an anchorage, figuring out what time you should arrive there, finding groceries, and much more.

Chris

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A resident of Grenada, Chris Doyle wrote his first Cruising Guide to the Windward Islands in 1980. The current 2007-08 guide is the twelfth in the series.By Chris Doyle

FOOD AND DRINK» ProvisioningThere was a time when charterers set off for the Windwards with bags of food—who knew what you would find down island? Forget

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