When it comes to communications technology on bluewater sailboats, I have always been a Luddite. I never had any interest in high-frequency radios and never carried one on any of my boats, even after Pactor radio modems and the volunteer Winlink ham network dazzled us all with ...read more
In the middle of the night, 400 miles away from the Marquesas, my eyes snapped open.Something had changed; Shapeshifter, our Beneteau Oceanis 423 was heeling to a new breeze. I hopped out of my bunk and looked up the companionway. Colin, Shapeshifter’s owner, was flying around ...read more
Last August, my wife, Lily, and I took ownership of our 2011 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409, Summerwind, in St Martin, and set sail toward her new home in Stuart, Florida. After lengthy stopovers in St Croix and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic—the latter to wait out Hurricane ...read more
“My name is Petty Officer Jaime Vanacore. I am your rescue swimmer.” Her Dolphin helicopter hovering 70ft over the peaks of the waves, Jaime had zipped down from the helicopter to the ocean, first with 25 knots of wind whisking her around and then with 15ft waves smacking her. ...read more
Modern weather forecasting is so good that we aren’t often caught out, but we all take a chance once in a while, especially when we’re under pressure to be somewhere else. Coastal sailing in near-gale conditions isn’t the same as ocean storm survival. Instead, we have to think ...read more
Few things strike an uneasy feeling into a sailor’s heart like the sight of darkening storm clouds looming on the horizon, the rumble of thunder and the flash of lightning. Whether you’re watching a storm roll in from the cockpit, revving the engine to head for cover or waiting ...read more
April 29, 2010, began as a day full of promise as I set sail at 0830 from Marina Real on the Sea of Cortez in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico. Heading out on My Traveling Star, my Bayliner Buccaneer 22, I enjoyed perfect weather and a fair wind. It was the best day of sailing I had ...read more
By their nature, larger catamarans are exceptionally safe offshore. It is not unusual to sail through mildly uncomfortable conditions, such as a gale, only to arrive in port and hear sailors on keelboats talk of “surviving” horrendous weather. A large modern catamaran has ...read more
If you live in what some call temperate latitudes, there’s a good chance you are just about to take your last sail of the season and are well along with plans to haul your boat for the winter. This is an inevitable progression for most sailors who live in communities that budget ...read more
This is now: SAIL contributing editor Ben Ellison, after a pilgrimage to the government's Tropical Prediction Center on the campus of Florida State University, some 12 miles west of downtown Miami, says: "Without doubt the most thorough and timely hurricane information is on the ...read more