Block Party The elegance of these new X3M Flight blocks from Ubi Maior conceals the fact that they can handle loads of up to 15 tons. Designed to be used with a variety of textile loops, as fixed or snatch blocks, the X3M blocks have resin frames to carry the loops and anodized ...read more
Furl Power Are you afraid of flying—spinnakers, that is? Harken’s new Reflex 3 top-down furler will tame A-sails on monohulls from 44-58ft and multis from 39-55ft, and Code 0’s on 39-54ft monos and 36-50ft multis. All you do is heave on the furling line and the sail will roll up ...read more
Block Party The elegance of these new X3M Flight blocks from Ubi Maior conceals the fact that they can handle loads of up to 15 tons. Designed to be used with a variety of textile loops, as fixed or snatch blocks, the X3M blocks have resin frames to carry the loops and anodized ...read more
Doctor Your Sails If one of your sails gets a rip or the stitches start coming out, you want to repair it right away–especially if you’re just embarking on a cruise or are about to start a race. These nifty Sailkits from Dr. Sails contain enough sailcloth for a repair, along ...read more
STACK ‘EM Here’s a nice idea from fiber rigging specialists Colligo Marine. Stackers are lightweight but strong static blocks—no moving parts—with integrated becket, that can be “stacked” together to form purchases of up to 5:1. They’re designed for slippery Dyneema-type lines ...read more
Springtime for Cleats It’s not every day you see a new take on the humble cleat. There are two problems with these essential items: lines tend to get snagged in them when you least want them to and they attract bare toes with painful accuracy. German company Nomen, maker of the ...read more
Gravity is an important force at work on a sailboat. It keeps the boat upright, it makes the anchor drop to the bottom, and it makes the mainsail slide neatly down the mast to be flaked and put away at the end of the day… until it doesn’t. In the case of dropping the mainsail, ...read more
Aye for an Eye If you want to bring some carbon fiber bling to your dinghy, raceboat, sport cruiser or maxi-yacht, look no further than the U-block line from Ropeye. Not only do they look dead sexy, they’re super-strong, nearly weightless and useful for all sorts of applications ...read more
It’s Elementary Harken says its new line of element blocks are just the thing for “wallet-conscious” cruising sailors—indeed, is there any other kind of cruising sailor? Aimed squarely at the cruising market, the Element line comprises single, double, triple and footblocks, ...read more
PUMP IT If you’re a racer or performance-minded cruiser you’ll want to get the best out of your boat and its sails, which means you’ll need some way of adjusting backstay tension to get the sag out of the forestay and flatten the mainsail for better pointing. Selden’s new HTI ...read more
GET HOOKED Fortress’s aluminum anchors are renowned for their unrelenting grip on the bottom, which has earned them a great reputation as storm anchors. With an eye on the small-boat market, Fortress has packaged two of its anchors together with chain and nylon rode in what it ...read more
Three Speeds From Antal Italian winchmaker Antal has introduced a pair of three-speed winches designed to make a racing grinder’s life easier. The XT52.3RD and XT62.3RD each have one direct speed to let you get the bulk of the line in quickly, and two reduced gears for medium ...read more
Block Party Ratchet blocks are common on raceboats, but their benefits extend to cruising boats too. They have a ratchet that prevents the sheave from turning in one direction when it is loaded, but lets it spin when you ease the line. Ratchet blocks are especially useful for ...read more
If a kind of elegant simplicity is an integral part of good design, then it would be hard to find a better example of excellence than Ino-Rope’s Ino Ending 3.6. An evolution of the Ino-Block, in which a short loop of HMPE line takes the place of a conventional axle, or pin, the ...read more
Strops, grommets and shackles made from rope were found on every sailing ship for hundreds of years. The making of them was part of the sailor’s craft and their uses were legion. By the time commercial sailing went the way of the dodo, though, much of the ropecraft that held ...read more
Like thousands of other sailors, I scoffed at powered winches until a rock-climbing injury reduced my right shoulder to an arthritic mess. So, while I love to spin handles, I’ve realized that powered winches are my friends. And I’m not alone. Most medium-to-large cruising boats ...read more
As with many things, change comes slowly in the marine world, sometimes imperceptibly slowly, and we only notice how much things have changed when we look at an old photograph. That’s what happened to me. I was trolling through my photo archives when I noticed a photo of a ...read more
Alain Janet is pretty talkative these days, and with good reason. The head of the UK Sailmakers loft in southern France, Janet has spent most of his adult life making sails and working on how to make them better—not just for sailors, but also for the environment. Three years ...read more
Anchor snubbers are critical when anchoring with an all-chain rode, but it can be tricky getting a snubber’s chain hook to stay on when you’re first rigging it, and there’s always the danger of it coming off—especially if conditions get choppy. To solve these kinds of problems, ...read more
Instant Electric Winches The WinchRite ABT (Advanced Brushless Technology) is an improved version of the battery-operated winch handle that has already been sparing sailors’ arms for a number of years. Central to the new model is a brushless drive motor that runs cooler and ...read more
Racers can trim yet more weight off their masts and booms with Harken’s new Carbo Pivoting Lead Blocks: high-strength, glass-reinforced composite blocks that are up to 25 percent lighter than the stainless classic versions they replace. The blocks provide working loads up to ...read more
Give Your Wheel a Rest Jefa Steering’s new disengagement unit allows you to take one of two twin helms offline by simply turning a knob in the hub. This will not only reduce your autopilot’s power draw, but also cut down on the wear and tear on your steering linkages. You can ...read more
Few sailors look forward to climbing the mast, but inevitably there comes a time when it’s necessary to make repairs aloft. Bosun’s chairs are the method of choice, but you need someone grinding away at a winch to hoist you up the rig. Luckily, there’s also plenty of gear on the ...read more
Smart Spreader Covers The key to smart boat ownership is protecting those parts and systems that are the most susceptible to wear and tear—especially when it comes to your sails. With this in mind, the Swedish company Waterline is now offering small, pre-punched leather covers to ...read more