Anchored off a fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, my daughters, Eleanor (8) and Frances (6), sat at the dinette, manipulating small piles of found objects and plastic pieces into spiral shapes as part of some kid of game.
It is surprising to me that so few sailors are also fishermen. When joining a new boat for a passage, I often ask to see what kind of fishing gear the crew has on board. Almost always, I receive a puzzled look, or perhaps a mildly apologetic one, as my fellow sailors wonder where they last saw the jumbled mass of line, hooks and lead weights they call “gear.”
After reading “The Essence of Seamanship” (July 2013) by Tom Cunliffe, as well as the online banter that followed, it became apparent that the topic of “seamanship” is a hot one, especially in today’s ever-changing world of on-water and systems technology. Here’s my take:
We at SAIL don’t tend to dwell on the darker side of the sailing life—boats lost, sailors drowned. The monthly “Voice of Experience” column has its share of drama, but it’s the kind in which, to channel the radio cliché, “luckily, no one was hurt.” Quite honestly we’d rather focus on reasons to go sailing rather give anyone a reason not to.
This past June, the sailing community marked the passing of Ted Hood, a true innovator who played a central role in making the sport what it is today through his work in sailmaking and cruising hull and rig design.
When I first purchased my 1987 Beneteau First 375, I had visions of mimicking the exploits of Tania Aebi, the Martin family and other daring sailors I admired.
Having grown up surrounded by America’s Cup history in Newport, Rhode Island, and with the veteran pro sailor Jerry Kirby as his father, Rome Kirby is no stranger to professional sailing.
Before I went there, I thought that paradise was reserved for ex-pats and old salts. I thought it was a place you drifted to, eventually, on your sailboat, after the job, the kids and the house were in your wake.
The 85-year-old staysail schooner Niña, a fabled 50-foot (LWL) ocean racer that once was the flagship of the New York Yacht Club, disappeared without a trace on the stormy Tasman Sea with its American owner, his wife and 17-year-old son, and four crewmembers.
Back in the day I owned a salty gaff-rigged ketch named Autant. Traditional to a fault, she had no electricity, plumbing, winches, roller-furling or any other modern conveniences. Nor did she have an engine, though there were plenty of times when I wished it were otherwise. Like it or not, those years I spent cruising without an engine were emphatically educational.
The January 14 volcanic eruption in Tonga not only triggered tsunami surges in coastal communities as far away as Japan and Canada, these same surges
The 13th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 kicked off this morning in Antigua. The fleet that was 75 boats strong with competitors representing 32
For fans of the Vendée Globe, the “Boss Boat” and its skipper Alex Thomson have long been favorites. In a race so heavily dominated by
In episode seven of The Nav Station’s Celestial Navigation series, learn how to use the sight reduction tables in order to find calculated altitude and
After a year off due to Covid-19, the Miami International Boat Show starts February 16 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The show will run
As many readers may have noticed, last year SAIL’s annual Pittman Awards were one of the many things that had to be cancelled as a
The first map of the Gulf Stream, which Benjamin Franklin helped create by tapping the combined knowledge of the whalemen and merchant captains of his
In the sixth episode of The Nav Station’s Celestial Navigation series, you’ll learn the parts of a sextant, how to check and correct its errors,
Pre-cook your meals for the first two days. Reef early. Don’t drink too much the night before departure. Don’t expect to poop until the third
Time was sail-powered vessels ruled the waves. The Age of Sail, as we now call it, lasted millennia. Then came steam engines and the internal
