A seasoned offshore sailor and business consultant takes a systematic approach to managing risk for those heading off passagemaking (published February 2017) November is not the […]
Risk Management
Distress Signaling for Cruisers
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 […]
Preparing for Offshore: Know Your Boat
Before heading offshore, take some time to know how your boat responds in various conditions (published October 2016) While sailors often think first of checking the […]
Decision Time
All of the weather forecasts from multiple sources indicated a likely and potentially dangerous passage. The real question was whether or not we would have the […]
Passages South
How to plan a fall passage from the East Coast to the tropics (published September 2016) Several falls ago, I found myself aboard Peter Johnstone’s 68-foot […]
Dealing with a Hurricane
Tropical weather systems, and hurricanes in particular, have their own idiosyncrasies. Understanding them can help us deal with them more effectively. Misunderstanding them can be a […]
Fumbling for Solutions
If you’re attempting to address a medical emergency and you’re not prepared, you’re already too late (published August 2016) Six months before we were scheduled to […]
Our Final Sail
The decision to switch from a symmetrical spinnaker to a Parasailor proved to be the right one for this cruising couple aboard their Pearson 424 (published […]
10 Items to Make Cold Weather Sailing More Comfortable
Whether you’d like to extend your sailing season into the colder months or make a voyage to the wilds of the high latitudes, there’s extra planning […]
Offshore Anticipation
Preparations for the Bermuda Race are about to commence, but getting ready for an offshore passage isn’t unfamiliar territory despite the myriad possibilities that lurk in […]