Cruising Tips

“Old sailors never die, they just get a little dinghy.” It may be a hoary old joke, but one of my problems at age 79 is I can no longer get easily in and out of a little dinghy, and neither can my (several years younger than me) wife. For this, and various other reasons I will ...read more

Our anchoring adventure took place a few years ago as my family and I were nearing the end of a weeklong bareboat charter along the west coast of Florida. With me was my wife, Diane, our son and three of his high school classmates. The boys were all age 16 and inexperienced ...read more

In 2015, our friends Lee & Rachel Cumberland were onboard their Tayana 37, Satori, tied to a mooring buoy in a Bahamian anchorage when a severe line of thunderstorms rolled through. The rare weather phenomenon known as a “derecho” wreaked havoc throughout the Exumas with ...read more

Having set ourselves the task of transforming our recently purchased Open 66 ex-Vendée Globe racer, NV, into a performance family cruiser, my partner, Timo, and I found ourselves (extremely) high and dry as cyclone season approached. The favorite cyclone strategy in Fiji is to ...read more

When I began preparing Minx, my 1987 Pearson 39-2, for extended Caribbean cruising, I had to balance my champagne wish list against my beer budget. Every buck spent on the boat before leaving would be one less frosty can of Carib down in the islands. On the other hand, I had to ...read more

After the long and tiring 2020 pandemic year, and after many talks about hypothetically sailing away, my partner, Vanessa, and I decided it was time to stop daydreaming and start planning. What makes us different from many cruising couples is the fact that we are under the age ...read more

Don’t confuse helming a boat with steering a boat. Put it this way—you steer a boat when towing a waterskier or maneuvering around a marina in close quarters. Steering involves deliberate inputs on the wheel (or tiller) in order to move the rudder, which in turn makes the boat ...read more

The first thing you notice when you look at the sailplan for the Farr 65, Falken, which Mia and I recently added to the fleet here at 59-North, is the sheer number of headsails. Falken was built in 1999 as a racing boat to go around the world, and the crew would have carried the ...read more

We’re broad reaching with two reefs already in the main and the breeze rapidly building. We’ve already seen gusts in the upper 20s and a few above 30 knots. A third reef is clearly needed, but luffing up to depower the mainsail will see the apparent wind spike from the low 20s ...read more

Following a taco dinner and brief nap at anchor, the Swan 59 Icebear set sail from Falmouth, Antigua, weighing anchor at about 20 minutes to midnight. The first passage of the season had begun. As Icebear’s chief mate, one of my responsibilities is stocking the boat with food ...read more

We’re currently outfitting and refitting our Swan 59, Icebear, for the upcoming, round-the-world Ocean Globe Race (OGR, oceangloberace.com) in 2023, a reenactment of the early Whitbread races. In 1985, Nautor’s Swan placed a “factory” entry into the Whitbread, Fazer Finland, a ...read more

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricanes (the term most U.S. sailors are familiar with) and typhoons are just two different names for the same weather phenomenon: tropical cyclones, i.e., “a rotating, organized system of clouds and ...read more

“Why would you ever want a boat with a 14ft draft?” It’s a phrase my partner, Timo, and I have heard often, ever since we purchased NV, a former Open 60 raceboat originally built for the Vendée Globe, but which we now cruise. And to be honest, it was also my least favorite thing ...read more

The title of this essay is a bit of a misnomer because I don’t actually believe there is such a thing as an objectively “good” offshore boat, let alone a perfect one. The answer is subjective. First, some truths. A conservative design with a more moderately sized rig, moderate ...read more

Imagine this simple scenario: the boat’s powered up, sailing close-hauled in a building breeze under full sail. I come on deck as the skipper during the watch change to make sure the new crew is comfortable and the boat is properly set up for both the current conditions and ...read more

“The weather is rough and unpredictable,” says August Sandberg, skipper of our Swan 48, Isbjørn, and a native Norwegian, having grown up on an island outside Bergen at 60 degrees north latitude. “The sun never rises. The sky is dark, and the air cold. You’re constantly chipping ...read more

Of all the superpowers today’s sailors wield thanks to modern electronics, being able to sail in fog with impunity is certainly one of the most useful. GPS navigation and electronic charts have been around long enough now that there is an entire generation of mariners who have ...read more

Our Nautor’s Swan 59, Icebear, was as close to Bermuda as we were going to get on our passage south to the BVI from the Chesapeake. When we left the bay, I’d had no intention of stopping until we made landfall in Tortola. Then the bilge started filling with water… I’ve long ...read more

Twin-rudder raceboats have been with us since the mid-1980s. In the last 10 years or so, they’ve also become increasingly popular aboard cruising boats, including those available for charter. It is therefore a good idea to be aware of their idiosyncrasies. In some circles, ...read more

Is the paper chart going the way of the dodo bird? NOAA is ready to scrap them. Costs too much they say. They no longer print them, although they do still create the necessary digital files. So, who is affected, and why? Electronic Navigational Charting (ENC) is king. ENC is ...read more

Sailing might not be the first pastime that comes to mind when you think of extreme sports, but that’s not to say risks don’t abound. The Cruising Club of America tackles many of them head-on in their newly released guide for skippers, Creating a Culture of Safety: The Skipper’s ...read more

Learning to sail is an organic process. Often we’re introduced to the sport by a family member or good friend who loves sailing and wants to share their passion. As such, one learns in bits and pieces. The problem is you can end up with lots of missing bits, and thus many ...read more

Sailors are a superstitious lot, but you don’t have to sacrifice an ox, like the ancient Babylonians, to carry on the tradition of christening your new boat. Here are some tips to ensure a jinx-free first launch. 1. Out with the old: If you’re renaming a previously owned boat, ...read more

When I was a younger man, with less money and a stronger back, I was a regular anchoring snob. Free parking, I believed, is a fundamental right when cruising under sail, and if you want to be a true cruiser you must exercise it as much as possible. In developing this manifesto ...read more

It is with great sadness that we read of the murder of New Zealand cruiser Alan Culverwell, and the attack on his family, by criminals who boarded their boat in Panama’s Guna Yala/San Blas Islands early in May. The San Blas were known as a “safe” area to cruise. Aside from petty ...read more

Many cruising boats, especially smaller ones, don’t have a conventional oven. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have all the baked foods you want, from bread to brownies to breakfast rolls to casseroles and even a roast chicken. All it takes is the right bit of gear and a ...read more

The young racer had been sailing for days without sleep, but he was ahead of the fleet in the Solitaire du Figaro, a grueling, singlehanded race off the coast of France. Sailing into the harbor to the cheers of the crowd, he stepped from his boat onto the wharf to accept their ...read more

“Ready to take the dink ashore?” Never had those words invoked as much anxiety as when my husband, Jeff, and I first moved to the Pacific Coast. Why? Because we had exactly zero experience with dinghy surf landings, and the possibility of being flipped upside down along with our ...read more

I often get asked about safety and security on charter, and most of the time I shrug and say it’s a matter of common sense, just like at home. Some places may be more prone to issues than others, but it’s usually a matter of luck—good or bad. For example, you may be warned to ...read more

If you’re cruising for a few weeks or longer, how do you deal with your mail? Aboard our boat we’ve discovered a service called USPS “Informed Delivery” that lets us check mail daily right from the comfort of our cockpit. Basically, this free electronic service gives you the ...read more

If you are cruising, you need at least two anchors on board for the simple reason that you must have a backup. Imagine having to slip your anchor on a stormy night with other boats dragging down on yours, or having your rope rode severed by some unseen underwater obstacle, ...read more

Our first encounter with a big squall was sailing from San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico. We left at 0200 to ensure we’d get into Ensenada before our 1300 haulout time. The National Weather Service had forecast consistent 15-20 knot winds from the northwest, which was perfect for ...read more

Getting the most out of your boat refrigerator means being able to have the foods you want on board, having cold drinks, being able to find what’s in the refrigerator and use as little power as possible in the process. Somewhat counterintuitively, all that starts by taking some ...read more

This past hurricane season was particularly hard on boat owners in both the Caribbean and the Florida and Gulf coasts, thanks to Harvey, Irma and Maria. BoatUS has estimated that more than 64,000 boats were damaged in the United States alone. While for many boat owners these ...read more