You can buy the best sailing instrument ever made for 40 bucks.

Bermuda’s 22-year-old MacKenzie Cooper was on top of the sailing world as his Team BDA stormed across the finish line in first place in the first race of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup finals in June. Held in conjunction with the America’s Cup on Bermuda’s Great Sound, the youth series pitted 12 teams from around the world against each other in an exciting fleet racing format that saw eight finalists on the line in a jaw-dropping display of speed, seamanship and sportsmanship. As Cooper’s boat crossed the line, the stands erupted in a sea of Bermuda flags while most of the tiny country’s population of 65,000 stopped what they were doing to cheer on the local favorites.

Mark Wheeler knew that staying calm was key. That’s easier said than done when you’re in 65-degree Lake Michigan with a storm on the horizon, building seas and you’ve just watched the boat you fell off of sail away at 18 knots.

SEPTEMBER 2017 Table of contents

More than 80,000 people packed downtown Auckland, New Zealand, in July to celebrate the triumphant return of the America’s Cup after a 17-year absence. Thunderstorms didn’t dampen spirits as Emirates Team New Zealand paraded down Queen’s Street, the Auld Mug held high, and onto a boat for a tour of the jam-packed Waitemata Harbour. 

The pilot books and online passage guides all agree: You do not sail across the Atlantic from west to east in a small boat in January, February or March. Even the Admiralty chart of the Atlantic warns sailors not to attempt an eastward crossing in those months. But Susie Goodall, 28, was having none of it. After four weeks in Antigua, mainly taken up with fixing her engine, she set sail on March 20 and, rather than take the recommended route via Bermuda, headed straight for the Azores. It’s known as the “devil-may-care” route and cuts 500 miles off the crossing, but also increases the likelihood of running into Atlantic gales. Which was exactly why she did it. 

Admit it. When you read Sailing Alone Around the World you pictured the author as sort of an eccentric geezer.  

If the Balboa 26 had a motto it would echo the original marketing brochures that celebrated the boat’s ability to “go fast, go anywhere.” Designed by Lyle Hess, who in the mid-1970s would become well known for his 28-foot Bristol Channel Cutter design, the Balboa 26 fulfilled a growing demand for an economical cruising boat.

Les Crane sat on the deck of an unfamiliar boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean watching his boat, a sturdy, well-maintained 56-footer that he’d sailed more than 40,000 miles, as it was swallowed by the water. It was 7 a.m., less than four hours after his crew heard a “thud” that they had no idea would lead to them boarding a life raft and waiting for rescue.

Over the years the Amel series of boats have achieved cultlike status as offshore cruising boats. I respect the attention to detail and unique approaches to various areas of design but I have never been much of a fan. It came down to styling. I thought they were bland and uninteresting boats to look at. The new Amel 50 changes that. While there is no mention of a designer in the material I have, it’s clear that this Amel was designed by someone with a good eye for aesthetics and a good understanding for what the cruising market is after today.

I’m familiar with the company C-Yacht and I am familiar with the designer of this clean-looking, Dutch-built design from the Gerard Dykstra design office. Dykstra is responsible for some very beauti

Here’s a slick looking new cat from HH Catamarans for those of you who like to sail flat.  HH cats are built in Xiamen, China, by Hudson Marine. I’ve been to Xiamen a few times. There are som

Sailing at night is challenging, rewarding and dermatologist approved. Gliding through the dark under the stars can be a surreal experience. And you don’t have to go very far from the harbor for the experience. It is a different world that requires new skills and awareness to be fully enjoyed. 

Like a sailboat, life never moves in a straight line from the starting line to the finish. It also has a tendency to blast you with roaring winds, strange currents and a startling array of unexpected circumstances, which means you’ll learn a heck of a lot along the way—and very likely emerge stronger and wiser than before.

It seems a contradictory statement to make in a magazine issue dedicated to safety, but the fact is this: None of us are getting out of here alive. We all have a “sell-by” date, time and place unknown. It’s up to each of us to make it to that point where, in a grocery store, milk would be taken off the shelf, and perhaps a little longer if we’re careful. But it’s going to depend entirely on your own personal responsibility.

Sailing in light air is a science and an art. The science comes from adjusting your sails and position of sail to get the maximum lift and momentum. The art is the patience and fortitude for you and your crew to remain still, quiet and aware while resisting the urge to reach for the start button on the “Iron Genny.” With some experimentation and focus, you’ll fine that it’s not difficult to keep the boat moving well in light air, and it can be surprisingly pleasurable sailing too. 

When helmsman Peter Burling buried the hulls of his 50-foot foiling ACC catamaran on the way to the start line, lost control and nosed-dived into Bermuda’s Great Sound, there was a chance that the America’s Cup was over for Emirates Team New Zealand. But like Humpty Dumpty, the shore crew picked up the carbon fiber pieces and put the fragile cat back together again, and the Kiwis went on to dispatch the British Land Rover BAR team in the challenger playoffs semifinals, and the Swiss Artemis team in the finals to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, setting up a rematch against Oracle Team USA for the America’s Cup in June.

I like this new Island Packet designed by Bob Johnson. I particularly like the profile of the cabintrunk. It reminds me of the Aldens and Albergs of the early 1960s. While there is a well-established Euro (call it modern) look to many of today’s production boats, I still think there are a lot of sailors in the United States who appreciate the classic American aesthetic to yacht styling and proportions. I like to think that.