offshore

I’ve just returned from a week offshore on SEA’s Corwith Cramer (which I will be very happy to tell you all about in an upcoming issue of SAIL) but as the magazine’s gear reviewer, I wanted to give a quick shout out to some of the packing list’s MVPs. This isn’t my first rodeo, ...read more

Pre-cook your meals for the first two days. Reef early. Don’t drink too much the night before departure. Don’t expect to poop until the third day at sea. Don’t sail to a schedule. Some lessons are ubiquitous and obvious (including the pooping one, though it might not be as ...read more

Bluewater sailing is 25 percent actually sailing and 75 percent learning how to live on a boat at sea, in constant motion and with no chance to get off the roller coaster. I cannot over-emphasize how difficult normal daily functions become at sea, even on nice, calm days. ...read more

I arrived on the docks of Beaufort, North Carolina, in late April with two backpacks filled with new gear—everything I’d need for my first offshore passage. Though I’d been sailing for 16 years, graduating from dinghies to keelboats to a J/122, I’d spent my time racing and, in ...read more

No cruising boat is complete without a good pair of binoculars and a hand-bearing compass. West Marine’s Offshore 3000C binoculars combine both in one sturdy, waterproof package that will give you a lifetime of use. The 7 x 50 specification offers good magnification combined ...read more