Sail Magazine

by Adam Cort

Adam Cort is SAIL’s executive editor. He lives and sails in the Boston area.

Puma Signs Up for Another Volvo

by Adam Cort, Posted April 9, 2010

After coming in second place overall in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, PUMA has decided to do it again in 2011-12, once again under the leadership of skipper Ken Read.PUMA joins France’s Groupama syndicate, Italia 70 and Team Abu Dhabi as officially declared entries. About 20 other syndicates are reportedly working to put together viable campaigns for the race as

NY-BCN Boats Set Sail

by Adam Cort, Posted April 8, 2010

The crews of the two matched IMOCA Open 60 Estrella Damm and W-Hotels set out today from Ambrose light, at the mouth of New York Harbor, on their way to set a new record between New York City and Barcelona, Spain. Both yachts are carrying a mixed Spanish-American three-man crew. The passage is expected to take about three weeks.In a weather briefing on Wednesday,

Southern Straits Smashup

by Adam Cort, Posted April 7, 2010

This year’s Southern Straits race, held April 2 by the West Vancouver Yacht Club, was hammered by big winds and even bigger seas, which forced most of the fleet to retire and sent one boat to the bottom: the 30-foot custom racer Incisor.The race, which was marking its 42nd year, features a three separate course across the Strait of Georgia measuring between 58 and 127 nautical

Running Faster than the Wind

by Adam Cort, Posted April 5, 2010

It’s one of the great ironies of sailing. Going dead downwind, arguably the “easiest” angle of sail, is also the slowest. Thanks to the phenomenon of apparent wind, modern boats regularly sail faster than the true wind speed on a reach. But on a run, there’s no getting around the fact that the faster you go, the less pressure there is on your sails—until now.

Simple, Consistent Collision Avoidance

by Adam Cort, Posted April 5, 2010

The AIS WatchMate RX from Vesper Marine is an all-in-one, standalone collision avoidance system that comes with an internal parallel two-channel Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver, which allows it to effectively identify targets at a greater range.In operation, the AIS WatchMate RX displays class A and class B vessel positions, voyage data, navigation aids, AIS safety messages

9th Century Ship Refitting in India

by Adam Cort, Posted March 30, 2010

ISAF Updates Piracy Response Guidelines

by Adam Cort, Posted March 29, 2010

In response to recent warnings of an increase in piracy, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has updated and re-issued its guidelines to yachts contemplating making a passage through the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin.A single-sheet summary of the guidelines has been sent to marina managers, port captains and ships’ agents in all the places frequented by long-distance sailors

Plastiki Sets Sail

by Adam Cort, Posted March 29, 2010

The 60-foot Plastiki, a catamaran built almost entirely of recyclable materials, including 12,500 two-liter soda bottles, has begun a voyage from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia.Voyage organizer David de Rothschild, a long-time environmentalist and heir to the Rothschild banking fortune, built the boat to raise awareness of the damage being caused by plastic garbage in the

Volvo Race Stopping in Miami

by Adam Cort, Posted March 29, 2010

The Volvo Race will once again be making a stop in the United States, this time in the port of Miami. Organizers have announced that for the 2011-12 running, the fleet will finish there at the end of a leg beginning in Brazil.Miami will then serve as the jumping-off point for a transatlantic leg finishing in Lisbon. According to race organizers, Miami fought off a number of other North

Around the World in 48 Days

by Adam Cort, Posted March 22, 2010

It took five long years, but Bruno Peyron and Orange 2 no longer hold the record for the fastest circumnavigation under sail. That honor—and the Jules Verne Trophy that goes with it—now belongs to skipper Franck Cammas, navigator Stan Honey and the rest of the crew of the maxi-trimaran Groupama 3, which did it in an incredible 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes and 52 seconds! That’s an