Here are the modern tools that sailors use to signal distress at sea (published February 2017) Last November, when the 57-foot cruising catamaran Leopard flipped over […]
Distress Signaling for Cruisers
Batteries for Cruisers
Match your batteries to your needs and budget (published November 2016) Among the cruising fleet of sailors, the topic of onboard energy is a constant staple […]
Green Energy Afloat
To be truly self-sufficient, a cruising boat needs to use solar, wind and water energy to top up the battery bank (published November 2016) In the […]
Offshore Communication Comes of Age for the Occasional Passagemaker
(published November 2016) Whereas long-term cruisers develop various communication strategies over time, offshore communication has always been a challenge for occasional passagemakers trying to balance cost […]
What Worked, What Didn’t Nine Years Later
After nine years at sea, we are proof that a cruising sailboat is a maintenance treadmill. But occasionally there is equipment we replace because newer, better […]
Tiny Unmanned Sailboat Makes It Across The Atlantic
A tiny sailboat built by a high school senior from Waterford, CT has successfully traveled thousands of miles from the coast of Cape Cod across the Atlantic […]
Emergency Signaling Devices
Today’s sailor has a wide array of devices to call for help in an emergency (published May 2016) Several years ago during the annual Fastnet Race […]
Long Range Communications
When you are off the grid long range communication gets more difficult. Sometimes the best solutions are different than you think they might be. Let’s go […]
No Fear, The Electronics of Getting Rescued
Sometimes all the preparation of getting ready to go cruising makes my head hurt but never more so than when it came time to replace/upgrade our […]
Integrated Nav Systems for Passagemaking
Some 350 boats sailed in last fall’s rallies and most of them used advanced navigation and routing systems (published January 2016) Last November, I was lucky […]