Ask SAIL: Do Without a Bolt Rope?
March 9, 2022
Q: In one of your recent Ask Sail responses, you wrote about loose-footed mainsails. I have an S2 7.9 that has a rope-footed main.
Q: In one of your recent Ask Sail responses, you wrote about loose-footed mainsails. I have an S2 7.9 that has a rope-footed main.
Celestial Nav 5 – The fifth installment of The Nav Station’s Celestial Navigation series discusses the contents of the Nautical Almanac, and how to use
In mid-August 2019, my wife, Terrie, and I laid up our Malö 46, Nada, in Falmouth, England, and flew home to Maine. We booked flights
To read part 1, click here. When I began repairs on my Santana 27, Shirley Rose, I focused on the major systems rather than cosmetics.
I’ve always known the importance of having good sails. As a low-budget boat punk, I prioritize making sure I can get where I’m going with
If you missed the first installment, click here. The hull and deck of Shirley Rose had been repaired, but what kind of sailboat would she
Squalls are well known to sailors who cruise the middle Latitudes. Eventually, you become complacent to their bluster. But squalls vary in magnitude, and while
If you missed the first installment, click here. Thankfully, the deck and cockpit of my decades-old Santana 27, Shirley Rose, were in pretty good shape.
Ever since the advent of GPS, I have not found much use for the chart table on my schooner Britannia. Most of our passagemaking navigation
Pressurized water systems are brilliantly convenient, but they raise the question of how to get water out of the tanks in the event of a
15 years after the original First 30 debuted, this re-imagined update proves a winner.
When several members of our Florida sailing club, the West Coast Trailer Sailors Squadron, decided to get together for a group daysail on a recent
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
