SAIL.SailMagazine

While it’s true that just about any winch handle will turn a winch, that’s no reason not to think carefully when purchasing one. Selecting the right handle for a particular boat or application will make not only make your sailing more efficient but more enjoyable as well.

Few can enjoy the inner passages of the Florida Keys quite like diehard thin-water sailors, such as Ida Little and her husband aboard Thorfinn.

It was the start of Leg 2 of the second annual Atlantic Cup, a mixed-format regatta raced in high-speed water-ballasted Class 40 sloops, and we were bound for Newport, Rhode Island.

Back in days gone by, before rumbling speedboats and thundering Spring Break coeds discovered Lake Havasu, this was a place for sailing. A wide spot on the Colorado River 448 feet above sea level (a product of the Parker Dam), Havasu was a desert haven with vistas of jagged peaks and winters infused with sunshine and warmth.

During the gloomy winter of 2011, while temperatures in Minneapolis hovered around -10F, my fiancée, Christine, and I made a pledge to sail as many of Minnesota’s lakes as possible in one summer.