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RIO GUADIANA CRUISE: Between Time and Portugal
I was sitting in the cockpit of Crazy Horse, my old Alberg 35 yawl, toes contracted in the thin film of cold dew that clung to the boat, cup of hot coffee in hand, watching the sun struggle to emerge...
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KNOT OF THE YEAR AWARD: The Obscure But Ultimately Very Useful Halyard Knot
That’s right, sports fans: it’s awards season! In the always hard-fought Cordage Utility category the ballots have been counted and the surprise winner this year is the mysterious halyard knot....
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CLEAT OF THE YEAR AWARD: Antal’s Sexy New Super-Handy Roller Cleat
I don’t know if you guys have noticed or not, but deck-cleat technology, once a mundane and very static science, has become increasingly sophisticated in the last few years. Most developments have...
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MARINE LIGHTNING PROTECTION: Getting Z-Z-Z-Zapped on a Sailboat
I have to admit I don’t normally think about this too much. As is true of many sailors I suspect, I have subscribed to the philosophy that lightning and its effects are so random and poorly understood...
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MARINE LIGHTNING PROTECTION: Getting Z-Z-Z-Zapped on a Sailboat
I have to admit I don’t normally think about this too much. As is true of many sailors I suspect, I have subscribed to the philosophy that lightning and its effects are so random and poorly understood...
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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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TOPPLED: Sloop Providence Replica Falls Off Jackstands in “Historic” N.E....
Ouch! This happened yesterday in Newport, Rhode Island, at the Newport Shipyard, where Providence was blocked up for the winter. Though the yard staff evidently stuck in some extra jackstands before...
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RAINMAKER ABANDONED: Gunboat 55 Hull No. 1 Dismasted, Crew Evacuated by Helo
For me this is like déjà vu all over again. All this month I’ve been thinking about where I was a year ago, dangling from a wire beneath a Coast Guard helicopter many miles offshore with a busted...
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LEEWARD ISLANDS CRUISE: St. Kitts and Nevis
This was my primary personal goal for Lunacy‘s winter season in St. Martin. Together with fellow SEMOSA members, Phil “He Of Many Nicknames” Cavanaugh and Charles “May I Cast Off Now?” Lassen, I had...
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MID-BLIZZARD EVACUATION: Australians Rescued Off $10K eBay Boat
Yet another mid-winter North Atlantic Coast Guard helicopter rescue. Not off a new boat this time, but off an old 43-foot Carroll Marine racing sled, Sedona (built in 1995), that an Australian, Jason...
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MID-BLIZZARD EVACUATION: Australians Rescued Off $10K eBay Boat
Yet another mid-winter North Atlantic Coast Guard helicopter rescue. Not off a new boat this time, but off an old 43-foot Carroll Marine racing sled, Sedona (built in 1995), that an Australian, Jason...
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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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BLACK SAILS: Pirates on TV
One thing I particularly like about the age in which we live is that there are lots of great TV shows to watch. An astounding number, really, with gritty adult themes such as we never dreamed of back...
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CRUISING SAILBOAT EVOLUTION: Multihulls and Other Alternatives
Our most recent ruminations on this topic focused on some of the popular dedicated cruising-sailboat designs that dominated mass-production boatbuilding as the industry started growing and maturing...
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STEVE JOBS SUPERYACHT VENUS: Barely Escapes From Simpson Bay Lagoon
And now for something completely different. Steve Jobs’ 256-foot superyacht Venus, built by Feadship and completed in 2012, a year after his death, has been out and about this season and was most...
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FOOD BOAT: Pizza Pi to Go From a Rebuilt Motorsailer
Gourmet food trucks are very trendy these days. Witness last year’s popular film Chef, about a gourmet chef who rebuilds his reputation peddling Cuban sandwiches out of a truck after getting into a...
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FOOD BOAT: Pizza Pi to Go From a Rebuilt Motorsailer
Gourmet food trucks are very trendy these days. Witness last year’s popular film Chef, about a gourmet chef who rebuilds his reputation peddling Cuban sandwiches out of a truck after getting into a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KNOT OF THE YEAR AWARD: The Obscure But Ultimately Very Useful Halyard Knot
That’s right, sports fans: it’s awards season! In the always hard-fought Cordage Utility category the ballots have been counted and the surprise winner this year is the mysterious halyard knot....
View ArticleClik here to view.
CRUISING SAILBOAT RIGS: Ketches, Yawls, and Schooners
I like to use the term “split rig” to refer to any sailplan on a boat where sail area is divided between two (or more) masts, rather than crowded all on to one mast, as with a sloop or cutter. On...
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WINDBOUND IN SXM: More Sailing With the Family (Or Not)
The better part of valor, and all that. When we arrived here on St. Martin Saturday evening it was blowing a bit, and all day Sunday–as we provisioned Lunacy, adjusted to the pleasant weather, and...
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