Ask SAIL: Time To Buy New Sails?
November 21, 2017
TIME TO BUY NEW SAILS? Q: I have a very old set of Dacron sails on my Catalina. Friends have told me I should have
TIME TO BUY NEW SAILS? Q: I have a very old set of Dacron sails on my Catalina. Friends have told me I should have
DIGITAL OR ANALOG VOLTMETER? Q: I am redoing my nav station voltage distribution panel, and I was wondering if I should go with a needle
BRINGING BACK OLD WOODWORK Q: I’m looking to purchase a 1985 Sabre 38 Mk1 sailboat. It has the traditional dark teak/mahogany cabin woodwork. My question
TIME FOR NEW SAILS? Q: I have had the same Dacron sails on my boat for five years, and the previous owner had them for
A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE! Q: I store my small sailboat in an open space under a roof. Mice have chewed up the existing foam
IS WACKY WIRING FATAL? Q: I recently went behind my nav station to hook up my old chartplotter to my 4-year-old GPS and discovered that
WRINKLY SAILS Q: When I see photographs of raceboats, I notice all kinds of wrinkles in their mainsails. This is true even of small boats
NEW VHF NOMENCLATURE Q: I am a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and we regularly use channels 83A and 22A when working. They say
Q: My friends tell me that I need to “power up” my mainsail in light winds, but I am not really sure what that means.
The morning our diesel engine experienced a runaway started like any other. We were headed out of Monterey Harbor on our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41,
Six sailors have been selected as 2026 inductees to the National Sailing Hall of Fame for their achievements, leadership, and enduring impact on the sport
Editor’s note—This is the second installment of a story that began in the March 2026 issue.Click here for part one. I’m dimly aware of the
In tomorrow’s e-newsletter, we conclude the story of my transatlantic crossing with the Women Wave Project. For part one, click here. In retrospect, the whole crossing
You’ve probably seen the clips online. During the first day of racing in SailGP’s New Zealand series, the worst crash in the league’s six seasons
Log the Glass These days with weather forecasts available wherever there is WiFi, it doesn’t do to forget the old ways. Last season I was
This weekend saw the fourth annual Northeast Ocean Racing Symposium (NORS), held at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The day of technical lectures and networking
Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s much anticipated book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance is out now. Billed as “the maintenance manual that should have come
On March 1, the U.S. SailGP Team shook up the Grand Prix series and won the Sydney Sail Grand Prix, marking their first victory since
Lessons learned by others are a great guide when putting together a vacation to remember.
