GPS has greatly simplified certain aspects of navigation; at the mere touch of a button, a boats position can be determined within about 30 feet. Despite the reliability of these devices, boats are still being damaged because of navigational errors. After several decades of both navigating and teaching navigation, Ive suffered a few close calls of my own and can recommend some ways to use your
They say you never forget the first time. For me, cruising offshore began back in 1976 onboard Azulo, a 20-year-old, 31-foot Mariner ketch. Three friendsDave, Karl, and Allenand I set out to follow the path of 19th-century writer Richard Henry Dana, up the California coast. A motley crew of four young sailors off sailing the high seas!I kept a journal during that first cruise,
They say you never forget the first time. For me, cruising offshore began back in 1976 onboard Azulo, a 20-year-old, 31-foot Mariner ketch. Three friendsDave, Karl, and Allenand I set out to follow the path of 19th-century writer Richard Henry Dana, up the California coast. A motley crew of four young sailors off sailing the high seas!I kept a journal during that first cruise,
They say you never forget the first time. For me, cruising offshore began back in 1976 onboard Azulo, a 20-year-old, 31-foot Mariner ketch. Three friendsDave, Karl, and Allenand I set out to follow the path of 19th-century writer Richard Henry Dana, up the California coast. A motley crew of four young sailors off sailing the high seas!I kept a journal during that first cruise,
Living onboard a 50-foot sailboat with six members of your family for a year isnt always easyespecially in a space the size of your living room. For example, what are you to do when your brother uses up all the hot waterfor the rest of the day? Or when, after a bitter spat with your sister, the length of the saloon is the farthest youre going to get away from each otherfor the next two
Living onboard a 50-foot sailboat with six members of your family for a year isnt always easyespecially in a space the size of your living room. For example, what are you to do when your brother uses up all the hot waterfor the rest of the day? Or when, after a bitter spat with your sister, the length of the saloon is the farthest youre going to get away from each otherfor the next two
Living onboard a 50-foot sailboat with six members of your family for a year isnt always easyespecially in a space the size of your living room. For example, what are you to do when your brother uses up all the hot waterfor the rest of the day? Or when, after a bitter spat with your sister, the length of the saloon is the farthest youre going to get away from each otherfor the next two
Chartplotters are powerful extensions of GPS technology and provide tremendous convenience, but they can get you into trouble if youre not careful. While my focus is on vector-based plotters (digitized charts, which are the ones typically found on recreational sailboats), most of my observations also apply to raster-based (scanned charts) plotters.Scale change matters.
British Olympian Ben Ainslie, just days after competing in AC class racing in Valencia, has been named ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year at the 2008 ISAF General Assembly in the Spanish capital of Madrid. Ainslie won his third gold medal at the Qingdao Olympiad (he also has a silver in the Laser) with an overwhelmingly confident win in the Finn dinghy. Ainslie, 31, is the first
Acting on studies showing that ocean ecosystems are seriously threatened, a pair of non-profit organizations are collaborating on a one-year circumnavigation of the Americas aimed at building awareness of the ocean environment.Boston-based Sailors for the Sea, co-founded by David Rockefeller Jr, is dedicated to providing education and resources to boaters to preserve coastal environments.
Even cheap smartphones pack thousands of times more computing power than the machine behind the Apollo 11 moon landing, so it’s hardly surprising that their
Boats of yesteryear will once again race around the globe Many sailors of a certain age look back fondly on the Whitbread round-the-world races of
In the annals of shorthanded sailing, Australian Jon Sanders stands with the greatest. His achievements are little short of awe-inspiring, all the more so for
If you’re seeking a dose of culture on your next charter, the Med is your best bet. Not far from one of the cradles of
Let’s face it—as much as we love the shiny topsides and new-boat smell of a brand-new catamaran, not everybody is ready to pay the premium
If there’s one thing as certain as death and taxes, it’s that sooner or later every sailor who owns a boat bigger than a trailersailer
A ‘Multi-Tool’ VHF Furuno’s FM4800 fixed-mount VHF has built-in Class D DSC, a GPS Receiver, AIS receiver and an integrated loudhailer with intercom and eight
Back when I first started ocean sailing, the most routinely challenging part of standing a watch was just keeping track of vessel traffic. If you
With 118 islands and atolls stretching over 1,200 miles of the South Pacific Ocean, French Polynesia has a long and intimate relationship with the sea.
Super-light Snatch Block Never mind the novel way in which this bit of gear is manufactured: from a purely functional standpoint Born To Rock’s 3D
