NEEL 65: A Whole Lotta Trimaran Going On
We all knew this day was coming. With the recent launch and test-sailing of the new Neel 65 the concept of “cruising trimaran” has officially metastasized into the upper stratosphere. I was impressed...
View ArticlePROVINCETOWN MA TO PORTLAND ME: Doublehanded With Underpants
Lunacy at last, as of early Tuesday morning, is all the way home. I brought along crew for this last mini-leg of the voyage not because it felt necessary, but rather because an old friend, a fellow...
View ArticleMIMI ON THE BLOCK: 15-foot 1977 Drascombe Dabber For Sale
I should have mentioned this earlier. I’m looking to find a good home for Mimi, my 15-foot Drascombe Dabber, as the sad truth is she hasn’t been used much in the past few years. This is a seaworthy...
View ArticleCRUISING SAILBOAT RIGS: Sloops, Cutters, and Solent Rigs
In our previous episode in this series we discussed what I like to call split rigs–ketches, yawls, and schooners–where a sailplan is divided among two or more masts. Cruising sailors once upon a time...
View ArticleRAINMAKER UPDATE: Photos of Abandoned Gunboat 55 Hull No. 1 Adrift at Sea
All these pix come courtesy of Gunboat’s CEO, Peter Johnstone, who posted them today to his Facebook page. Johnstone, much to his credit, has not been shy about sharing information on the boat and...
View ArticleSPOUSE OVERBOARD: Cruising Legend Pete Hill Loses Wife Carly Off Coast of...
I think everybody who sails has vividly imagined some variation of this nightmare: you leave a crew member alone on deck for a while to catch some sleep below, and when you come back on deck you find...
View ArticleSELF-ALIGNING ENGINE WOES: A New Prop Shaft and Some Existential Questions...
I have previously mentioned the problem I was having over the fall and winter with my engine being badly out of alignment. How I’d just run the engine anyway and eventually the prop shaft would whip...
View ArticleHOOLIGAN NAVY: Sailing Yachts On Sub Patrol During WWII
When I was boy during summers spent on the Maine coast at the mouth of Kennebec River my mother used to tell us a story from when she was a girl growing up on the river, of how once during the war a...
View ArticleGREEN 37: New Centerboard Yawl Design by Jay Paris
Just heard recently from Jay Paris, N.A., who has been SAIL magazine’s technical advisor since before time began. He sent drawings and details of an intriguing upscaled version of the 32-foot...
View ArticleGREEN 37: New Centerboard Yawl Design by Jay Paris
Just heard recently from Jay Paris, N.A., who has been SAIL magazine’s technical advisor since before time began. He sent drawings and details of an intriguing upscaled version of the 32-foot...
View ArticleFOURTH OF JULY CRUISE: The Father-Daughter Variation
For reasons we need not go into this year’s father-daughter cruise fell on the July 4th weekend rather than on Father’s Day. Our big breakthrough this time out was that Lucy got interested in...
View ArticleFOURTH OF JULY CRUISE: The Father-Daughter Variation
For reasons we need not go into this year’s father-daughter cruise fell on the July 4th weekend rather than on Father’s Day. Our big breakthrough this time out was that Lucy got interested in...
View ArticleCRUISING SAILBOAT RIGS: Converting a Sloop to a Slutter
I mentioned the concept of a “slutter,” a sloop that is converted to a cutter by adding a removable inner forestay, in my last post on this subject and thought I should expound a bit on the process of...
View ArticleCRUISING SAILBOAT RIGS: Converting a Sloop to a Slutter
I mentioned the concept of a “slutter,” a sloop that is converted to a cutter by adding a removable inner forestay, in my last post on this subject and thought I should expound a bit on the process of...
View ArticlePROVINCETOWN MA TO PORTLAND ME: Doublehanded With Underpants
Lunacy at last, as of early Tuesday morning, is all the way home. I brought along crew for this last mini-leg of the voyage not because it felt necessary, but rather because an old friend, a fellow...
View ArticleHAUTE BOAT CUISINE: How to Eat Well on a Cruising Boat Without Really Trying
Yes, I have done this, and that is me in that photo up there, eating cold ravioli straight out of a can. That’s my old buddy and shipmate Dave Lankshear (he got shipwrecked in Spain with me many moons...
View ArticleOPEN 60 DELIVERY: From Portland to Marblehead with Rich Wilson
I narrowly missed my last chance to sail on an Open 60, way back in 2001 at the Heineken Regatta, when Josh Hall and Gartmore turned up a last-minute no-show due to family issues, so I was pretty...
View ArticleOPEN 60 DELIVERY: From Portland to Marblehead with Rich Wilson
I narrowly missed my last chance to sail on an Open 60, way back in 2001 at the Heineken Regatta, when Josh Hall and Gartmore turned up a last-minute no-show due to family issues, so I was pretty...
View ArticleMELONSEED SKIFF: Successfully Deployed as Secret Weapon (Sort Of) in 2015...
There’s a rumor going around that the only reason I’ve been looking to sell Mimi, my beloved Drascombe Dabber, is because she’s not competitive in the Round Island Regatta, an anarchic free-for-all...
View ArticleSEASCAPE 18: Evangelist Test Sail With Andraž Mihelin
How’s this for convenience? I get the word from SAIL HQ that I should look into test-sailing the Seascape 18 from Slovenia, recently revealed on these shores, and it turns out the new U.S. rep is...
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