Inside Practical Sailor

I got the impression that most of the young sailors were looking for boat show deals on gear and ideas on how to improve their own Pearson 26s, but seeing so many young faces was encouraging nevertheless. I sense that the growing number of blogs and YouTube videos created by young people engaged in the adventure of a lifetime are gradually filtering down to other sailors. Is cruising going viral among younger sailors? Given the state of the economy and the lack of opportunity for newly minted grads, I wouldn't blame them for shoving off. The economic doldrums of the eighties was one of the reasons Theresa and I took off at 22 and 23 respectively.

Ive put enough boats on rocks and shoals and had enough near misses to sympathize with the skipper and crew of Vestas Wind, who piled up the multi-million-dollar Volvo Ocean 65 on Cargados Carajos Shoal in the Indian Ocean on Nov. 29. The accident occurred during Leg Two (Cape Town to Abu Dhabi) of the Volvo Ocean Race, the most widely followed around-the-world racing event on the planet. Thankfully, all the sailors on board were rescued safely. At the time of this writing, the fate of the boat is still undetermined, but the longer it pounds on the reef, the less likely it seems that the boat will be able to continue racing.

I don't want to come down too hard on the good people at Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission; many of the underpaid, overworked officers seem genuinely interested in doing the right thing. But the most recent survey, and the accompanying informational video preceding it, lead me to believe that the FWC has been puffing swamp gas again. …

Surprisingly, one of the best chains in our most recent test was one of the generic Chinese chains. This chain showed good strength, and had a thick galvanized coating that showed a high resistance flaking and abrasion. However, the other generic Chinese chain in our test showed appalling performance, so bad, that we believe it is unconscionable for any marine chandler to sell it. And here is the quandary. Weve identified a promising, economically-priced chain, but it is virtually impossible for the average boater to distinguish it from junk.

If youre in the used boat market, late fall usually offers a good opportunity for buyers. Owners in snow-bound states face haulout and storage expenses for a boat they will only put on the market again in the spring. But before you can start filtering through the used-boat websites looking for desperate sellers (hint: add the search term reduced) youll want to get a clear picture of what your insurance options are. Back in October 2012, we probed the insurance market for the best rates in various regions and the experts we spoke with offered a number of excellent tips on how to find the right insurance policy at the best rates.

Based on US Coast Guard statistics, surprisingly few boaters enable the Digital Selective Calling (DSC) function on their VHF radio, or have it operating correctly. From what we are hearing from some marine manufacturers like Icom, the numbers for marine single-sideband (SSB) marine radios-the topic of our ongoing series of tests-are just as discouraging. It doesn't have to be that way. With a few simple tools and maybe a trip to a Radio Shack, getting your radio (VHF or SSB) DSC-ready can be carried in a single weekend.

PS Editor Darrell Nicholson offers his take of the Annapolis boat show in 100 words or less . . . and plenty of photos.

[IMGCAP(1)] Being afflicted by an affection for wooden boats, Ive always been perplexed by the faux teak trend. In my book, youre either in love with wood and you pay for your love in labor, or you bow to the apparent pragmatism of plastic. For me, a boatbuilder who is seduced by a synthetic wood deck or trim is akin to Ferdinand the Bull ecstatically romping through a field of plastic flowers-that is to say, more…

Just as the incurable text-sender spends more time staring at his phone than noticing the people around him, sailors intoxicated by their display screens can lose the ability to recognize natural patterns in the weather, the waves, and wind. Nurturing environmental awareness is more than just a matter of safety. To hide behind a digital wall diminishes the art of sailing into something easily quantified, which it simply isn't. To punch a few buttons and safely sail across a pixelated sea is truly amazing, but it isn't sailing.

Technical Editor Ralph Naranjos new book, The Art of Seamanship, is rolling off the presses at McGraw-Hill. Although it is being billed as a textbook (it will be used in many of the educational programs that Ralph teaches at the Annapolis School of Seamanship) Ralph and the editors at McGraw-Hill have done a terrific job of interspersing meaty instruction on everything from anchoring to riding out a gale with real life stories that Ralph has collected over the years.