Hand-Bearing Compasses
Bow-and-beam bearings, running fixes, collision-course bearings, anchored position—the oft-ignored hand-bearing compass can provide all these and more.
Navigation Software Update
Fugawi does the job at an attractive price. RayTech Navigator 4 shines as a real-time navigating tool. Maptech's Offshore Navigator delivers a complete planning/navigation package.
Handheld Weather Stations
It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, but one of these gizmos can tell you how hard it's blowing, atmospheric pressure, and more.
Night Vision
ITT still leads the pack in our book, but there are other viable and less costly units for night ops.
Communications Options
Alongshore, you're good to go with a VHF plus Net-ready cell phone. Offshore, keep the SSB, and for heavier use include an Inmarsat system or sat phone.
The Yeoman Alternative
Looking for a way to stick with the simplicity and reliability of charts, but still get the rewards of GPS and automatic trigonometry? Consider ye olde Yeoman.
Handheld VHF Radios: Standard Horizon, Icom Dominate
The Icom IC-M1V takes top performance honors. Standard Horizon's HX350S is a Best Buy, and there are several honorable mentions.
Choose Your Own Seductions
Here's a letter and response we were going to run in Mailport this month, but we'll run it in this space instead: ----------As I...
To See and Be Seen
In the course of running the scientific evaluation of the Tri-Lens radar reflector featured in Practical Sailor's August 15, 2001 issue, Dick Honey, former senior principal scientist at SRI, sent us the following thoughts on the nature of radar reflection and detection at sea.
Family Radios
The Motorola TalkAbout takes the top spot among seven sets of these close-range alternatives to VHF radios and cell phones.
Marinas Are Quietly Banning Older Boats
Are marinas starting to quietly ban older boats? Across California and other high-demand coastal areas, boat owners are reporting increasing difficulty getting slips for...
Latest Sailboat Review
Morgan 34 Used Boat Review
By today's standards, the Morgan 34 is a small boat, comparable in accommodations to a lot of 30-footers. When the boat was designed, she was as big as most other boats of her overall length. In profile, the boat has a sweeping, moderately concave sheer. The ends of the boat are beautifully balanced: the bow profile is a slight convex curve, the overhanging counter aft is slightly concave. Esthetically, hull shapes of this period from the best designers are still hard to beat.