Books and DVDs

Armchair Sailor A new book from Vanessa Bird, Dream Cruise Destinations, is sure to keep you dreaming of blue water and gentle breezes, even when

What’s the next best thing to curling up with a copy of SAIL magazine on a snowy winter’s day? Why, curling up with a good book, of course!  

In SAIL’s June issue, we reviewed 10 of the best apps for navigation (“Navigating the App World”). One thing I emphasized was the importance of an app being able to use data from ActiveCaptain. But what is ActiveCaptain and how does it work?

There’s nothing like a good book, whether you’re on passage or just hanging out in the cockpit at the marina. For those in search of a summer read, there are a number of great new titles to choose from.

It didn’t take long for America’s Cup fans Diane Swintal, longtime cupinfo.com contributor Robert Kamins and photographer R. Steven Tsuchiya to put together their take on the 34th America’s Cup…

Reviews of the year’s films fit for the nautically minded

As sailors, we’re constantly calling upon our personal repertoire of knots. We master a few common ones and, sometimes, learn knots that are more advanced or serve a more specific purpose. For instance, suppose you need to secure your dinghy to the foredeck.

Paul and Sheryl Shard have been exploring the world under sail together since 1989. Along the way, they decided to use their television backgrounds to create a travel-based series called Distant Shores.

Since October of 2012, I’ve been using this space to review smartphone apps for SAIL readers. I’ve looked at the best apps for AIS, anchoring and navigation. I’ve tested new apps for boat logs, knot-tying and chartplotting. And when I wanted to send a postcard of my boat from a far-off sea, I found that, yes, there’s an app for that, too.

Take a break from winter’s chill with renowned sailing photographer Onne Van der Wal in his latest book, Sailing.