SAIL.SailMagazine

How to find the favored end of the line

Determining which end of a starting line is favored can be tricky. At a recent J/World racing clinic, North Sails sailmaker and J/World instructor Geoff Moore provided three useful methods for determining a line’s favored end. It’s important to test the line before the warning gun is fired so as not to interfere with another start; you’ll

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Follow these performance tips to get the most from your cruising cat.By Richard Woods

I’ve been sailing and designing catamarans since 1976. I’ve cruised tens of thousands of miles and have won several national titles in racing boats. Years of experience have taught me how to maximize sailing performance. For starters, nothing turns a cruising cat’s polar potential

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Lodged in my nautical psyche I find indelible images of rafts: a boy and a runaway slave standing proud before a canvas tent aboard a makeshift pontoon of pine planks floating down the muddy Mississippi; a sun-bronzed Viking in a loincloth steering a lashed-up slab of balsa logs across the electric-blue Pacific with a massive oar. Having always wanted to be that boy and that Viking, how could

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The bow is the last place you want extra weight when approaching a windward mark in a tightly packed fleet. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to keep the bowman off the foredeck during sets. It works best on boats with retractable sprit poles, but it can be adapted for boats that use standard poles.

The gear All you need is a swivel-mounted snapshackle, some lightweight cord, and some

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Because most dinghies have an outboard, it’s not surprising that many sailors neglect the oars. But if you’re not careful, one of them will inevitably come loose when you’re not looking. During the 18 months we spent cruising, we found four dinghy oars floating in various harbors. After we lost one of ours, I made a point of tying a length of cord from the midpoint of each oar to the dinghy. The
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