At the beginning of last season, the stroke of an official pen shut down an entire communications system and made half a million distress beacons obsolete, as the International Cospas-Sarsat satellite system stopped processing distress signals on 121.5MHz.It wasnt as bad as it might appear, though: the old 121.5MHz distress beacons hadnt been doing muchother than adding to the tally of
THE TECHNOLOGY Conventional old-fashioned high-frequency radios are quite capable of communicating worldwide, just as they did throughout most of the 20th century. But they suffer from two main problems.The first is that radio communication over distances of more than a few hundred miles can be achieved only by reflecting radio waves off electrically charged
In the April edition of Ask Sail, Nigel Calder asked readers to share ideas on how best to keep their props clean. The Q and A from the magazine sparked a discussion with readers chiming in from all corners of the country. Here are some of their ideas:Q: What do you recommend for keeping barnacles from growing on my prop, strut and shaft? For years, I’ve used metal
When my oldest son, David, told me about the J/24 he had just bought I had a pretty good idea what was coming next. “Dad, I’ve bought a J/24. It needs a lot of work, but the price was right.”“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.“Race it, eventually. Here’s what needs to be done,” he said and pulled out a two-page list of repairs and upgrades he wanted to make on the boat.
When someone drops a winch handle, spinnaker pole or outboard shaft on a fiberglass deck, it will sometimes produce a minor ding in the gelcoat and fiberglass. Fortunately, most of these dings are relatively easy to fix. Heres how.Hole in oneTo repair a minor ding or hairline crack, first use a Dremel tool to smooth the gelcoat
When someone drops a winch handle, spinnaker pole or outboard shaft on a fiberglass deck, it will sometimes produce a minor ding in the gelcoat and fiberglass. Fortunately, most of these dings are relatively easy to fix. Heres how.Hole in oneTo repair a minor ding or hairline crack, first use a Dremel tool to smooth the gelcoat
This is the time of year when I receive emails like this: My engine ran fine when I laid it up last fall, but now it wont turn over It is also the time of year when that magical device, the digital multimeter, earns its keep.Please note, I wrote digital. If you have a cheap analog meter (the one with a swinging needle) do yourself a favor and replace it with a decent digital one. If
Dick Hansen of Norwalk, Connecticut, asks:”My new chartplotter is just great and gives me aerial and radar overlays. But when I transmit on VHF Channel 68, a frequency we use a lot in my area, the GPS hiccups, the chartplotter freezes, and it can take about 30 seconds for the system to recover. Everything works fine when I transmit on other channels; its just 68 that is
Olene Boyko of Urbanna, Virginia, asks:”On removing the inspection plates on the welded steel water tanks aboard my 48foot boat, I could see they were painted on the inside with a blue high-gloss rubber-like paint. I also saw quite a bit of corrosion around the edges of the opening for the inspection plates and a considerable amount of scum and algae growth. Bleach has
Joe Nieters of Dillon, Colorado, asks: “What are the advantages of a rigid boomvang? Many boats I’ve seen with them seem to also have topping lifts, and a lot of the rigid vangs also have a block-and-tackle control arrangement.” Win Fowler replies: The advantage of a rigid boomvang is that it supports the boom. Having a topping lift and a rigid
Citing the confluence of three major climatological factors, forecasters from NOAA’s National Weather Service are predicting an extremely active Atlantic hurricane season with the highest
There aren’t too many events in the four-year IMOCA 60 calendar that bring the fleet to this side of the Atlantic. Fewer still see the
Following on the heels of its success last year with the 510 (a SAIL Top 10 Best Boats winner for 2024), Hanse teamed up again
I was on the 1400-2000 watch on our second day at sea, sailing Falken across the Atlantic from Mindelo towards Barbados. The afternoon watch was
“Charles, are you OK?” A pause. “Charles?!” Although a stranger to us, the person’s panic was universal. Something’s wrong, said the look my partner, Phillip,
Plotting Sheets Whether you’re studying for an Ocean Navigator certificate or just interested in celestial navigation, you’ll be needing plotting sheets. The scale of oceanic
They call themselves the Vagabonds. A psychologist, a healing arts practitioner, a traveling millwright, a widowed restaurateur—this is only a fraction of the colorful characters
Sixteen years ago, I installed solar panels on my boat. At the time, the peak efficiency at converting sunlight to electricity was around 16%. Today’s
Fun fact: The island of Newfoundland is home to zero snakes, zero ticks, and zero skunks. Like a dog, I do best when kept clear
