Sail Magazine

by Peter Nielsen

Peter Nielsen is SAIL’s Editor-in-Chief.

Which Sail to Reef First?

by Peter Nielsen, Posted June 18, 2013

Which sail should you reef first when the wind gets up—your genoa or mainsail?

Morris Yachts Introduces the M46

by Peter Nielsen, Posted June 5, 2013

Who among us isn’t a sucker for pretty overhangs, a sweet sheerline and a flush deck? There isn’t a boat in Morris Yachts’s M-series line of Sparkman &Stephens-designed modern classics that’s not a head-turner, and the new M46 is no exception. There’s more to this beauty, though, than meets the eye: good performance was near the top of the design brief.

The Boats of Strictly Sail Miami

by Peter Nielsen, Posted June 5, 2013

Something has happened to the Strictly Sail component of the Miami International Boat Show over the last five years. Each February, I’ve seen a drop in the number of monohulls and an increase in the number and variety of multihulls. This year, I twice attempted to count the number of catamarans; each time I was distracted and lost track somewhere around the mid-20s. Granted, there were a few brokerage boats in there, but it was an impressive turnout nevertheless, with plenty of new models amongst the evergreens.

Blue Jacket 40: a fin-keeled, twin-wheeled performance cruiser

by Peter Nielsen, Posted June 4, 2013

We sail the Blue Jacket 40, a fin-keeled, twin-wheeled performance cruiser from Island Packet Yachts If you were asked to sum up any boat you sailed in just two words, it’s a fair bet that some of them wouldn’t be “family-friendly.” Thankfully, the phrase that stuck in my mind after our test sail of the new Blue Jacket 40 was this: sailor-friendly. Given the boat’s unusual but impeccable design pedigree, it could hardly have been anything else.

Editor's note: Blame Games

by Peter Nielsen, Posted May 16, 2013

One reason I like sailing is that it is one of the few endeavors in which the concept of individual responsibility still has meaning. It is much easier to blame someone or something else for the consequences of your decisions than to admit any fault on your own part—it goes back as far as Eve and the serpent—but on a small boat you soon run out of things to point your finger at.