
At the Helm: A Refreshing Kind of Club Culture
It’s late May in Sweden, the sun is shining, and boats are launching. Sweden, with its thousands of miles of spectacular coastline and DIY culture,

It’s late May in Sweden, the sun is shining, and boats are launching. Sweden, with its thousands of miles of spectacular coastline and DIY culture,

Lifeline failure usually arrives as a shocking surprise, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Metal fatigue and crevice corrosion are hidden from sight in traditional lifeline construction,

Shortly after I first met Mary Therese Kubek last October, aboard her 1968 Alberg 30, I handed her a copy of Bernard Moitessier’s first book,

Forty years ago, the solid-state revolution, which gave us computers and a host of increasingly powerful electronic devices, reshaped boat energy systems in ways that

When we decided to add windvane steering coupled with a hydrogenerator to our sailboat, our focus was on the practical aspects: conserving battery power, adding

There were two things I disliked about my 1987 Pearson 39-2 from the outset—the anchor locker and the forecabin. The former was a shallow tray,

A dark cloud has been hanging over Starlink antennas lately. Sailors around the world have been bypassing the $5,000 per month maritime version of Elon

You might think that watching invasive surgery on a dated fiberglass sailboat week in and week out would be just about the last thing to

When talking shop among sailors or reading about safety at sea, ventilation is not a topic that comes up much. Evidently it’s secondary to things

Are you happy with your boat? Few of us are, at least not 100%. There’s always something that could be improved or altered. There are

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

On March 1, the U.S. SailGP Team shook up the Grand Prix series and won the Sydney Sail Grand Prix, marking their first victory since

Lessons learned by others are a great guide when putting together a vacation to remember.

After being the Chief Designer at Tartan Yachts for 48 years, Tim Jackett has found a new home with Niche Watercraft. The company has announced

A trans-oceanic performance catamaran loads up on practical features and comforts of home.

A classic racing yacht, three weeks at sea, and eight crewmates you’ve never met. What could go wrong?

Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from SAIL Contributing Editor Christopher Birch’s upcoming book The Four Seasons of Boat Maintenance(available for order soon)—a compendium of

Ever notice how sea stories just get better with the passage of time? The more years that disappear in the wake and the more times