Sailboat Cruising

Keep after that guy in front of youFor too many sailors, the upwind leg is a chance to get buried by failing to attack or by failing to defend. Think about this one:A boat well to weather of you (and slightly back on your hip) experiences a favorable windshift. What do you do? Howie Hamlin, world champion in the 505 dinghy, 18-foot skiff, and, as of 2006, the

Racers know that moving the genoa fairlead outboard on a reach improves boatspeed, but many cruisers overlook this and wind up sailing longer passages as a result. Whenever the wind is abeam or farther aft, it is best to open up the slot between the genoa and mainsail. When a boat bears away from a close-hauled course and its mainsail is eased, the mainsail boom moves away from the

Many cruisers believe it’s best to locate a radar reflector as high as possible, perhaps even at the top of the mast, for better detection. However, the key issue for a radar reflector is the water-surface reflection, which affects the strength of the reflected signal. When the reflection is increased, the reflector is more apt to be seen. If reflection is reduced, a reflector could become

Not everyone knows that you can use a Digital Selective Calling (DSC) VHF radio to call friends on other boats without using channel 16. It’s a great feature, particularly if channel 16 is very busy or if you want your call to be somewhat private. Here’s how it works. If I want to call a friend on Jubilee, I select a working channel—channel 72, for example—and check to see

Steering close-hauled in darkness is largely a matter of feel. As the boat falls off the wind, heel angle may increase. She’ll start to slow down when she falls off 15 degrees or more below her best course. But when she luffs above the optimum course, she will come upright and lose some of her way before the sails begin to complain audibly. It’s easy to feel the boat coming upright, so being high

A single-line reefing system can have an advantage over systems that handle a mainsail’s luff and leech separately. Probably the most important reason is that the single-line reefing operation can be done entirely from the cockpit, making a trip to the mast unnecessary. But when you use a winch on the reefing line, you must constantly watch for friction and chafe on both the sail fabric and the

Have you noticed that it was easier to hoist your mainsail when it was new? This may be because the luff hardware (typically metal or plastic sliders or slugs) has become worn or deformed, causing excess friction. Chris Caldwell of Piranha Sails in Marblehead, Massachusetts, has a neat short-term solution that’s as simple as making a quick stop at the supermarket for a bottle of dish

After we moved our boat to a new dock in our marina, we had problems getting under way. The docks on either side of us were much higher than those we were used to, and, because of the foot traffic on them, we couldn’t just put our relatively heavy lines on the dock and leave; we had to coil them and carefully place them on the dock before we could start backing out of our slip. Experimenting

How to find the favored end of the lineDetermining 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