Every sailor has heard the adage that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day you buy your boat and the day you sell it. Ensuring that the buying part of that equation rings true starts with buying the right boat for your sailing style at the right price. We’re breaking down the process, whether you’re buying new or used, big or small, cruiser, racer or daysailer.Schedule

Although short in stature, sailing photographer Bob Grieser had a huge presence, one that he was known to announce with his trademark bark, a literal “Woof, Woof!” that could be heard from down the dock or across anchorages. Whether it was the press offices of the America’s Cup or the Los Angeles Times, a Caribbean race’s party tent or local sailors’ watering hole, The Big Dog, as Grieser was known, would bring life to any room. ScheduleScheduleSchedule

 Some people say Chip Ford is obsessed.Fourteen years ago, at age 52, the sailor from Marblehead, Massachusetts, bought a 1974 Catalina Mk I for $2,500 because it seemed like an inexpensive way to go daysailing.  ScheduleScheduleSchedule

boot Düsseldorf is the world's largest boat and watersports show with activities, exhibitors and boats to keep sailors busy for days.Schedule

SAILING Magazine, the oldest continually published American magazine dedicated to the sport of sailing, announced today that it will unveil a new design in its January 2017 issue.  A new premiumSchedule

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 Successful husband and wife teams are rare in the competitive sailing business. But Heidi and Steve Benjamin, each accomplished sailors in their own right, have found a winning formula racing together for several decades. Intrigued by their success I caught up with the pair in Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, during the recent Etchells World Championship where Steve was racing.Schedule

 Our picks for holiday gift giving.ScheduleScheduleSchedule

Growing up in Florida, I was often envious of my friends who spent their summers going to camp or a theme park for a family vacation. Could I spend a week visiting an overgrown and overpriced mouse? Oh no, our family headed to the Abacos for our summer vacation.  I vividly recall the image in my head as my mother explained that we would be making “the crossing” to the Bahamas. I pictured our family, all with water wings on our arms, swimming from island to island, with cartoonish sharks circling in the distance. In reality, the crossing was the 12-plus hours it took to sail from somewhere near Jupiter, Florida, to the Abacos, a part of the vacation that I loathed then, as seasickness was something I was prone to. 

Terry Kohler, who discovered a love for sailing as a boy aboard his mother’s Alden-desigend schooner Venturer, dedicated himself to making the sport more technologically advanced as well as more accessible to sailors of all abilities, all from a sleepy blue-collar town on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Next year’s crop of new boats is anything but cookie-cutter. From push-button control to origami trimarans, there is something to pique the interest of every sailor. New refinements in manufacturing and design are evident, and the payoffs are boats that offer more in terms of speed, storage, sail area and safety. Turn the page to catch a glimpse of what will be gracing the docks at upcoming boat shows.

It started as an April Fools’ joke. I never would have thought of  Kyle Ryan as particularly gullible. He’s an experienced sailor, a big wave surfer and a divemaster. He has spent years at sea as an officer with NOAA. And he recently proved to be sound crew on a rough crossing from Fiji to New Zealand aboard my Beneteau 473. Which is why I was surprised when he believed the ridiculous story my wife and I concocted in the early morning hours of April 1.Schedule

On the second afternoon of a Chicago-Mackinac race that would be remembered as one of the fastest in years, most of the 326-boat fleet was charging up Lake Michigan in a 20- to 25-knot southerly breeze with chutes full and a building sea pushing down waves. The 10 sailors on the 1D48 WhoDo were enjoying their own rollicking ride as they entered the Manitou Passage about two-thirds of the way up the course when a gust buried the boat’s bow knocking it down and causing it to round up only to get knocked down on the other side. 

Have you ever used a scythe, Nic?” asked Cathy Mac Aleavey when I met her at Jimmy Furey’s house on the banks of the River Shannon in Ireland last summer. Now, I’ve been to dozens of sailing events around the world, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never been asked that question before.  

 You can’t escape history when sailing in the Mediterranean, not even your own. We were off the Lycian coast of Turkey. My wife Tadji was at the helm, searching for zephyrs as Quetzal ghosted over a shimmering sea. I was below, rummaging through the nav station looking for a detailed chart for the approach to Kekova Roads. I am a luddite, I still use paper charts and I knew it was in there somewhere.

Revolutions aren’t always noisy, colorful affairs. Sometimes they start with just a ripple, a whisper—or the sound of tiny plastic balls hitting the ground.

For many would-be sailors, their first sailing experience will come in a formal learning environment with an instructor guiding them through it. Sailing instructors are ambassadors of the sport and may be one of the most important factors in whether someone becomes a lifelong sailor or returns to their landlubber roots. It’s a tall order for instructors, who take the responsibility seriously. Every year, thousands of sailors take a class to learn new skills or improve and expand their sailing knowledge, but how do you know you’re getting the most out of a learning experience?

 Come back alive, and bring the boat back alive.” Over and over those words played through Hobie Ponting’s head as he boarded a plane to England. He and his team had set off to Hamble, England, to take delivery of a Class 40 sailboat that had been donated to Oakcliff Sailing. The plan was to return to the States via the inaugural Royal Ocean Racing Club Transatlantic Race, departing from the Canary Islands and finishing in Grenada. None of them had ever sailed a Class 40. None of the crew had ever crossed an ocean.  None of them knew what awaited them other than 7,000 miles of ocean sailing.