Which Sail to Reef First?
June 18, 2013
Which sail should you reef first when the wind gets up—your genoa or mainsail?
Which sail should you reef first when the wind gets up—your genoa or mainsail?
Imagine sailing 4,198 feet above sea level on a lake that’s saltier than the ocean and larger than the state of Rhode Island—a lake where sudden storms erupt from nearby mountains and conditions shift from glassy to gale-force in an instant.
On the first morning of our trip from Miami to Bimini we were “pulled over” by a speedboat full of heavily armed Customs and Border Protection agents. At the time, three friends and I were sailing away from the United States at a stately two-and-a-half knots and were still within 10 miles of Miami.
“Send me an article on the essence of seamanship,” was the editor’s brief. I wonder what you would have included in this article if he had asked you. I can tell you, it isn’t easy.
Walking along the dock at the Sunsail base in Tortola, BVI, one evening in March, I noticed a most peculiar thing. It was changeover day, when one lot of charters departs and the next lot arrives and spends the night in the marina to settle in before heading out the following morning.
The Summer Sailstice is here again! This Saturday, June 22, marks the longest day of the year and therefore, the day with the most possible hours of sunlight during which sailors can enjoy their boats with their fellow sailors.
Three Somali pirates are standing trial on charges of murdering four U.S. yachtsmen in February 2011. Jean and Scott Adam, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay were taken hostage at sea when 18 Somali pirates boarded their yacht.
Kedging works best with a long line. Unlike anchoring, it is scope rather than the weight of the ground tackle that provides the holding power.
If you promise not to tell too many people, I’ll let you in on a little cruising secret: Bocas del Toro. Located on the Caribbean coast of Panama near the Costa Rican border, this unspoiled archipelago of nine big islands and many smaller ones creates an inland sea where the breezes are so tranquil the waves rarely exceed knee height. And because Panama is south of the hurricane zone, there is no “season.” You can safely cruise here all year round.
Chris White, when I first meet him, doesn’t seem like a guy who maybe, just maybe, is on the verge of revolutionizing multihull rig design. I’ve met a lot of yacht designers over the years, and I know that’s what many of them would be telling me right now, flat out, without any maybes. But not Chris.
After a hiatus in 2020, the United States Boat Show in Annapolis, Maryland returned in full force last weekend. “Pent up demand” was the name of
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