DIY: Replacing Track
August 21, 2016
Here is a sad truth relating to older boats: the more desirable the piece of equipment you want to install, the harder it is to remove its predecessor.
Here is a sad truth relating to older boats: the more desirable the piece of equipment you want to install, the harder it is to remove its predecessor.
After purchasing new sails last year and installing a Tides Marine mainsail track, we decided it was time to upgrade the 45-year-old roller-reefing boom on our Allied Seabreeze 35 project boat Keewaydin.
The last thing you want from your furling gear is for it to jam up in a rising breeze—or ever. I must be some kind of roller-reefing Jonah, because it’s happened a few times on boats I’ve been sailing aboard. On two of those occasions, halyard wrap was to blame.Halyard wrap sounds like something you’d tear off a new piece of rope, but it’s actually the most common cause of
Every boat, no matter how big or small, is the sum of its parts, and even on the smallest boat there are plenty of parts.
I have always liked lazyjacks in theory, but in practice I’ve found them to be a total pain in the backside. Even so mundane a
When I bought my aft-cockpit ketch, Silverheels, she had no bimini top at all. While I attended to other upgrades in preparation for tropical cruising, I pondered how I might have full-time shade in the cockpit and still get at the mizzen sail to furl and reef it.
Undoubtedly because of the Cup, which made wingsails a common sight, there is now more understanding of the concept among sailors. Inefficient triangle sails might see some competition in the future where sporting one or two elliptical wings will be a common sight for cruising boats.
Seamanship: “All of the arts and skills of boathandling, ranging from maintenance and repairs, to piloting, sail handling, marlinspike work, rigging and all aspects of boat operation.”
I’d always dreamed of using a spinnaker to propel our Tartan 31, Solace, along on a light-air summer’s day, but the thought of wrestling with an unruly kite (prior to running it over, of course!) was never appealing. Then one day I read about the benefits of rope-luff sails and their ease of handling in the January 2012 issue of SAIL magazine and decided, “I can do this!”
Traditionally, all sailboat mainsails were reefed by simply pulling down the reefing lines through cringles in the luff and leech of the mainsail, then securing the reefing pennants—often permanently attached to the mainsail—to the boom to tidy the sail up.
Souvenirs are evidence of a life well lived and uniquely documented.
Our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, Avocet, was anchored in Morro Bay during the worst storm system the state of California had seen in two decades.
Note: This story is excerpted from SAIL Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s upcoming book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance—a compendium of lessons learned during his
In the May issue, Charles Scott writes about sailing OPBs—other people’s boats—and a host of voyages that he’s been on thanks to generous invites, offers
A little know how will save you a lot of stress on passage.
The wind built faster than it was forecasted to. We ate dinner with full sail, close-reaching on a building SSW’ly breeze. Before dark we had
Sailing on a schedule is famously a recipe for disaster, but on charter you don’t have much of a choice. The adventure is what you make of it.
Francesca Clapcich has announced the onboard crew roster for the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic. First up is Will Harris (Great Britain) who was Clapcich’s co-skipper
A spin around the steaming cauldron of the Aeolian Islands makes a bewitching visit to the heart of the Mediterranean.
After a long absence, one sailor finds herself sailing the waters of her youth and contemplating years of change in all its forms.
