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Cruising tips

Knowing the Land and Sea Breezes

When sailing close to the coast it often seems that NOAA’s wind forecasts are maddeningly inaccurate. How could NOAA get it so wrong?

Cruising Tips: Take a Better Photograph

How the Pros Take Sailing Photos, On the Water with Onne, 6 Tips for Smarter Smartphone Photography and The Latest and Greatest in Waterproof Cameras.

DIY Hardtop Dodger

My ketch Silverheels didn’t have any cockpit canvas when I bought her, just an old two-bow dodger frame. I had visions of installing a hard dodger and bimini, but a lack of time, patience and skill caused me to opt for a hardtop for the dodger frame instead.

Let the Wind Do the Work

The first time I tried to pick up a mooring singlehanded in a stiff breeze, I approached from dead downwind in the usual manner and stopped the boat with the pickup buoy right where I wanted it.

Learn to Read the Water

Reading the water is an important skill you should practice often to ensure there’s always water under your keel

Cruising Tips: Sailing Through Reefs

Negotiating a reef inlet, be it in the Bahamas or the South Pacific, requires precise navigation and skilled seamanship. Detailed charts are essential, and you should always consult any local sailing directions you have onboard in advance.

Cruising Tips: Boomed-out Headsails

I will say it until I’m red in the face: displacement cruising yachts, no matter how nimble, always make faster passages sailing in a straight line. Forget the gybing angles that racers use when sailing downwind. Square the sails off and run!

Installing a Tides Marine Sail Track

After years of dealing with the 40-year-old track on the mast of his Allied Seabreeze 35, SAIL’s Andrew Howe installs a track and slide system from Tides Marine. Although the project sounds complicated, it proved to be a surprisingly straightforward one, and the results are more than worth the effort. The key is to take your time, follow the

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May Issue Preview

Spring is in the air and warmer weather is right around the corner. Get ready for the season with SAIL’s adventure issue! Through the Eyes

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Caught in a Squall on a Daysail

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

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DIY: Fixing a Diesel Engine

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,

Photo: Lydia Mullan

Part 2: The Doldrums to Belém

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

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From the Editor: Team Spirit

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

Black Foils (NZL) and DS Automobiles France collided just seconds into the race. Photo by Felix Diemer for SailGP

Racing Collisions Raise Questions

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

Photo: Tom Cunliffe

Cruising Tips

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

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