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2014 ANNAPOLIS BOAT SHOW: Jimmy’s New Boat
Not surprisingly, one of the big draws at this year’s U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis has been the new Garcia Exploration 45, developed by French builder Garcia Yachts in cooperation with bluewater...
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2104 ANNAPOLIS TEST SAILS: Bavaria Cruiser 46, Xc 35, Beneteau Oceanis 35
Just back from test-sailing boats après-show this past week at Annapolis. Five boats in two days in fairly strong conditions, with the wind blowing 20 knots at time. Once I even saw gusts to over 30....
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2014 ANNAPOLIS TEST SAILS: Garcia Exploration 45, Seascape 27
Day two of this year’s test-sailing program looked to be a bit snotty weather-wise, with the forecast early on showing wind gusting to 30 knots, rain, and a good chance of thunderstorms. Great...
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MARINE INSURANCE: Scoring New Coverage for Bluewater Cruising
As I may have mentioned, I am in the midst of getting Lunacy ready for a run down to the W’Indies. This is always a fraught process, what with the normal anxieties of worrying about whether the boat...
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2014 SOUTHBOUND LUNACY: Hard On the Wind Forever
Sorry I’ve been AWOL from the blog for so long, but I’ve been struggling to get Lunacy south to the W’Indies for the winter. This process actually started nearly two weeks ago, on October 20, when...
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2014 SOUTHBOUND LUNACY: Waiting on WX in Bermuda
Right now I’m sitting out my second gale-force WX feature since arriving here last Saturday morning. I had had some hope of getting out before it arrived and taking off Wednesday afternoon as soon as...
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2014 SOUTHBOUND LUNACY: Waiting on WX in Bermuda
Right now I’m sitting out my second gale-force WX feature since arriving here last Saturday morning. I had had some hope of getting out before it arrived and taking off Wednesday afternoon as soon as...
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2014 SOUTHBOUND LUNACY: Goodness Gracious Great Mats of Weed!
As I had expected, we encountered mostly headwinds after we finally left Bermuda bound for St. Maarten on the morning of Saturday, November 8. Even worse, early on in the passage, when our headwinds...
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STANLEY PARIS: Record-Breaking Non-Stop Solo Circumnavigation, Take Two
Let the record reflect (no pun intended) that on November 9, just one day after I finally departed Bermuda aboard Lunacy, Dr. Stanley Paris left Fort Lauderdale on his second attempt to circle the...
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VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Team Vestas Wind Wrecked
Here’s one way to get cruising sailors interested in the ongoing Volvo Ocean Race–have one competitor pile up on a reef at night in the middle of nowhere. It was definitely NOT a happy Thanksgiving...
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AMERICA’S CUP: Why Not Bermuda?
Since word first leaked out two weeks ago that Bermuda would be selected to host the 35th America’s Cup in 2017 there has been a drumbeat of criticism in the sailing community. People saying the...
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VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Supernatural Bird Attack and Vestas Grounding Video
The birds are not happy with Team Alvimedica, who stood by so selflessly at Cargados Carajos Shoals waiting to help their shipwrecked mates on Team Vestas Wind. I read somewhere the other day that...
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CRUISING SAILBOAT EVOLUTION: Early Fiberglass Cruisers and the Westsail Cult
In our last thrilling episode in this series we discussed the classic cruiser-racers that dominated sailboat design through the early to middle part of the 20th century, including when the first...
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MAYDAY: Liveaboard Sailor Swept Offshore and Rescued 12 Days After Making Call
Ron Ingraham, a 67-year-old fisherman who had been living aboard his Bayfield 25 Malia on Molokai in Hawaii, was rescued Tuesday by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, 12 days after first trying to call...
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CRUISE INTERRUPTED: Young Swedes Shipwrecked on Easter Island
Ah, to be young again. That’s what I’m wishing after reading this account of two young Swedes, Melvin Svensson and Emil Warme, who were shipwrecked on Easter Island (called Rapa Nui by locals) this...
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VESTAS WIND SHIPWRECK: Post Mortem With Embarrassing Personal Recollection
You know something really big has gone on in the sailing world when even The New Yorker magazine feels they have to say something about it. The grounding and abandonment of Team Vestas Wind has been a...
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VESTAS WIND SHIPWRECK: Post Mortem With Embarrassing Personal Recollection
You know something really big has gone on in the sailing world when even The New Yorker magazine feels they have to say something about it. The grounding and abandonment of Team Vestas Wind has been a...
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FRIVOLOUS BOAT GEAR: What I Didn’t Get for Christmas
I did drop some broad hints this year about maybe getting an aerial drone from Santa Claus, thinking I might like to shoot some aerial video of Lunacy under sail, but these seem to have fallen on deaf...
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POST-CHRISTMAS WEST INDIES CRUISE: High Maintenance Vacation
Truth be told, I originally resisted the idea of basing Lunacy in St. Maarten this winter, primarily because she previously spent two other winters there, and I was hoping to check out someplace new....
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STANLEY PARIS: Foiled Again
I get the sense some people out there are waiting for me to opine on the fate of Dr. Stanley Paris, who again decided to abandon his attempt at a non-stop circumnavigation and put into Cape Town...
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