Features  Charter with abandon Packing a ditch bag when you charter provides peace of mind Sailing the American Riviera A backyard charter off Santa Barbara, California, is the perf

Sailing can seem bicameral—like a 50/50 Senate—split between racers whose passion is intense competition, strategy and speed, and cruisers seeking fun-in-the-sun and vacations to exotic locales.

Iceboaters are used to rapidly changing conditions, be it close racing around a weather mark or switching regatta sites at the last minute because there’s a better piece of ice a few hours away. Whe

Canvas doesn’t last forever. UV rays, wind and regular wear take their toll on sail covers, biminis, dodgers and more. Replacement is an investment, but there’s a good chance your canvas work can

Dufour is one of the oldest French production builders still in business. In 1974 I raced a Dufour Arpege in the Chicago-Mackinac race. The Arpege was an older design at that time. This latest Dufour,

Dear Boat Doctor, I brought my boat from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean for the first time this year and now the corrosion on my boat’s stainless steel is making me crazy.  It has gone 20 ye

This month we have two new European builds to review, the Dehler 38 SQ and the Dufour 430 Grand Large. It would be nice to compare the differences in the two designs, but most of the differences are i

Last weekend, with a fine breeze blowing, I decided to take the Laser out. Me to She Who Must Be Obeyed: “Hey, honey, do you know where my oxygen tank and mouthpiece are?” SWMBO to me: “Where t

We used to publish “green issues” of SAILING. The theme of these special issues was protecting the water and air in which we sail. A cover line on the 2011 green issue read: “Save the sea: What

If Gozzard Yachts had a mantra, it might be comfort and safety.  The late Canadian boat designer and builder Hedley “Ted” Gozzard harbored strong opinions on how a sailboat should be laid out

Features  Secrets of the San Juans The San Juan Islands are a treasure trove of unspoiled beauty good enough to make sailors want to keep some secrets The danger of deferred maintena

Yacht surveyors have an interesting perspective on boat maintenance. They see what happens when a boat isn’t given the care it needs often leading to damage that requires expensive repair  and

It was a scene that looked more like a futuristic movie than one from a sailing racecourse. Patriot, the New York Yacht Club’s AC75 challenging for the America’s Cup, bucked out of Auckland’s Ha

When my husband Chris and I found Avocet, a 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, she was a sturdy, well-loved boat in need of the kind of care any nearly 40-year-old boat would require. Truth be told, it was not love a

Hundreds of miles from anything resembling a western city, in the lagoon of an uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific, our floating home, Agape, sat quietly in crystal clear turquoise water. As the re

Here’s a handsome new design by my friend Kevin Dibley. Kevin is a very good designer and a nice guy. The builder is Lyman-Morse and the company’s pedigree goes back many years. I have been to tha

This month we have two very nice cruising boats to review. It’s hard these days to clearly define “cruising boat.” My definition is any boat that you can cruise. That leaves a lot of latitude.&n

Before Covid-19, sailing seemed stuck in place: it was the same boats moored in the same marina sailing to the same destination or starting on the same line and racing the same course against the sa