Sailors today live in an era replete with new equipment and innovation. Looking back on the state-of-the-art in February of 1970—when SAIL’s first issue was unveiled—you’d find aluminum was still considered a pretty high-tech material. Wooden spars were still relatively common. Electronics were primitive: LORAN was top dog, and plenty of cruisers used radio direction finders when navigating out of sight of land. Sextants remained mandatory when heading offshore. Crosscut Dacron sails were still used on America’s Cup boats, and although carbon fiber existed, it was the stuff of spaceships, not sailboats.

Forward thinking has dramatically advanced the state of sailing from the days when the fastest racing boats might see 20 knots when a puff coincided with a big wave. In 2009, the “flying” hydrofoil trimaran l’Hydroptère achieved a tooth-rattling top speed of 51.56 knots, and the 131-foot trimaran Banque Populaire 5 crossed the Atlantic in 3 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes and 48 seconds. In the process, it hit a top speed of 47.15 knots and logged a 24-hour run of 908.2 nautical miles. Amazing!

Equally impressive is the fact that it is now common for even the most modest cruising boats to have everything from powered winches and fantastic electronics and communications gear to air conditioning and heating, roller-reefing sails, a carbon-fiber rig, a reliable autopilot and a watermaker.

This sort of evolution requires technology, innovation and creative thinking. Few people understood this better than Freeman K. Pittman, who served as SAIL’s technical editor for 14 years before his untimely death from ALS. Pittman was widely respected throughout the marine industry for his insights on innovative equipment, and SAIL honors his memory with these annual Innovation Awards. Each fall, editor-in-chief Peter Nielsen (Cruising Gear), senior editor David Schmidt (Racing and Safety Gear), electronics editor Tim Bartlett (Electronics) and technical consultant Jay Paris (Systems) sift through boat shows in the United States and Europe to find gear that’s ahead of it’s time.

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CRUISING GEAR

DING-EZ

On seeing the Ding-EZ for the first time, I had to choke back the chortles. A granny bar for inflatable dinghies—puh-leeze! And yet, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made, especially after I took my elderly in-laws sailing and helped them on and off the boat. I bet more people drown getting in and out of dinghies than fall overboard from sailboats, so why not cut the odds? The more handholds around a boat, the better, and there’s no reason why a dinghy should be an exception. The Ding-EZ’s frame fits around the floor of an inflatable, and its 38-inch-tall safety bar can support a load of 350 pounds (heavier-duty versions are also available). It can be removed by just pulling a couple of pins. If you often sail with people who are physically weak, elderly or just plain unaccustomed to boats, take a close look at the Ding-EZ. From $150 to $389, model depending. Ding-EZ Corporation; 877-602-2922, www.ding-ez.com

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CT SNUFF AIR

Compact is good, no question about that, which is why I like this new take on the venerable spinnaker douser from New Zealand-based CT SnuffAir. It’s an inflatable spinnaker sock hoop that takes up a fraction of the space required by the usual fiberglass bucket. Pump it up with a 12-volt inflator or a dinghy foot-pump and away you go. Spinnaker cloth slides easily over the slippery surface, and even if things get out of hand during a set or douse, your crew will only laugh if they get clonked on the head by this hoop. Light, tough and easy to stow— what more could you want? At present the CT SnuffAir is being made in several sizes for boats over 50 feet. The biggest boat it’s been used on so far is on a 172-foot Perini Navi. It can be retrofitted to an existing sock or supplied as a complete unit. CT SnuffAir; +64-9-810-8406, www.snuffair.com

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HARKEN RADIAL WINCHES

A winch is a winch is a winch, or so I’ve always thought. I’ve used winches from every manufacturer over the years and haven’t had any real cause to complain about any of them, except when I’ve lost springs or pawls when servicing them. That having been said, Harken’s new line of Radial winches is the first truly different approach to winch design I’ve seen in the last two decades. The smaller winches have composite roller bearings and bushings, and weight is reduced by 20 to 50 percent over equivalent conventional winches. A diagonal “radial” pattern on the drum is designed to push line wraps down as the winch turns, rather than letting them ride up. Anyone who’s had to deal with an override on a highly loaded winch will instantly recognize this as a Good Idea. Another Good Idea is that the winch top on the self-tailing units is completely stationary, eliminating the possibility for fingers or loose clothing to get ingested. I also like the fact that the winches can be installed and removed without the need to take the drum off, and that the bearings remain secure when you lift the drum off for maintenance—no more clunk, clink, splash. Radial winches are available in aluminum or chrome, with or without a self-tailing top. Prices vary depending on winch size, style and material. Harken, Inc.; 262-691-3320 www.harken.com

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