Ask Sail: Shackles Versus Bowlines
June 24, 2020
Q: I’ve sailed and raced on a number of boats over the years. I feel like aboard most of the boats I’ve sailed, we’ve just
Q: I’ve sailed and raced on a number of boats over the years. I feel like aboard most of the boats I’ve sailed, we’ve just
Q: I have a new-to-me Gulfstar 41 Ketch and would like some advice on bonding the through-hull valves. They are not bonded to anything or
CHOOSING THE BEST JIB SHEETS Q: I need to replace the jib sheets on my 35ft performance cruiser. I keep hearing about how high-modulus line
Q: I have an old 30ft C&C from the mid-80s. It was originally equipped with a conventional spinnaker, but a spinnaker hasn’t been flown from
Q: This past winter I did a bareboat charter aboard a 38ft cruising catamaran. I was once again impressed by how heavy and massively built
Q: I am redoing my voltage distribution panel and can’t decide between a needle movement voltmeter or a digital illuminated voltmeter to monitor my house
Q: I am noticing more and more cruising boats carrying high-tech membrane sails, and I was wondering why that is. — Carter Dickens, Houston, TX
Q: While inspecting behind the nav station for my spring cleaning, I discovered water behind my chartplotter and VHF radio stack. Freshwater to boot! Do
DINGHY DILEMMA Q: We are in the throes of choosing a dinghy, and I would like to ask if you would recommend buying a RIB
Q: Our Pearson 26 has a 110-percent jib that tends to rattle very noisily at the top hank. We only bought the old boat recently,
Though they’ve made sailing easier and more accessible, electric winches must be treated with appropriate caution.
Sometimes it’s the imperfections that make things perfect.
Six IMOCAs are lining up in New York this week for the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic, a fully-crewed sprint from New York City to Lorient, France.
Tank water can easily be contaminated with anything from a lingering bad taste to dangerous bacteria. Installing a triple filtration set up on Ben-Varrey helped.
The effort to save Maine’s classic plastic fleet began—as so many great things do—with three friends and a foolish idea.
Boat meets spaceship at the luxury end of the market.
Tides are an essential part of coastal sailing, so don’t forget to look at the moon once in a while.
The Magenta Project seeks applicants for their 2026-2027 mentorship program.
Twist: The Big Question When asked to help out onboard, I’m sometimes surprised to find how many skippers only have a vague notion of how
The sailing world has lost another great this week in the passing of John Rousmaniere, author of Fastnet Force 10 and numerous other sailing texts.
