Personal Gear & Apparel

Womens Sailing Shoe Test Update

Boat decks are mazes of toe-stubbing hardware and slippery surfaces, making foot protection a key component to a sailors kit. Over the years, Practical Sailor tested has tested boat shoes, sea boots, and sailing sandals. For this update, we focused on the latest womens kicks from the top performers in past marine footwear tests: Helly Hansen, Harken, and Columbia Sportswear. The new shoes were the Helly Hydro Power 3, Helly Hydro Moc, and Columbia Outpost Hybrid. We also re-tested the top picks from the 2007 test, the Teva Sunkosi and Helly Hydro Power original, to see how theyre holding up after three years of on-deck duty.

Real Kids Sunglasses

Only a few sunglasses manufacturers featured in last summers test (July 2009) offer childrens sunglasses, and those shades are usually just scaled down versions of the adult kind. After experimenting with several different styles for kids ages 3-13, we found that the younger children, ages 7 and under, were a tough bunch to fit. Harder still were kids ages 3 and under. Uncomfortable ear pieces were a common complaint.

The Best Sailing Gear of 2010

Practical Sailor offers the annual selection of Editors Choice products for the Gear of the Year 2010 lineup. We hope the list will guide you through the dizzying array of gear at the fall boat shows, or at least help you whittle down your wishlist for Santa. The roster covers a broad spectrum of products-from gadgets for measuring speed to a performance multihull built for speed-that have bested their peers in our tests. The lineup includes gear from Spinlock, Brion Toss, Lopolight, Selden Mast, DuBarry, Keen, Standard Horizon, and Mastervolt. It covers LED navigation lights, bosun chairs, footwear for sailors, and marine electronics. Boat maintenance products from Polymarine and Interlux also made the list.

The Liquid Image 310 Video Mask

For those of us who spend nearly as much time under the water as on it, the Liquid Image 310 video mask sounded like a great addition to our diving kit-and a good fix for our gadget addiction-so we had to give it a try when we came across it at a spring boat show.

Sailing Sandals for Women

Testers set out to find a womens shoe that was comfortable wet or dry, didnt absorb water, provided traction and support, and was built to resist the odors typically associated with boat shoes. We looked at eight designs from four makers: Teva, Keen Footwear, Columbia Sportswear, and Sperry Top-Sider. Each sailing shoe faced grip tests on wet and dry surfaces, and funk tests to determine their ability to stave off stink and mildew. Men in the market for new sailing sandals can expect that the mens versions of these designs will have the same performance as far as grip and construction.

What is the Best Way to Stay Hydrated at Sea?

As the summer heats up, we were reminded that staying hydrated and healthy is as essential to a safe sail or a successful race as having the right gear on board. Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving the body is greater than the amount being taken in. It can rob muscles of strength and can fog the mind, compromising a sailors boat-handling ability and capacity to make tactical decisions. It can also lead to seasickness, or be a result of mal de mer. Its easy to prevent: Just be sure to get enough of the right kind of fluids before, during, and after sailing. But what are the right fluids? With the advice of a dietitian from New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Practical Sailor weighed the pros and cons-from a sailors standpoint-of various beverages marketed for athletes, including plain old water, coconut water, vitamin-enriched water, and sports drinks.

The Top 4 Drink Holders for Your Boat

Weve spilled our share of drinks on board, and while its a shame to see a fresh drink go to waste, some beverages can stain cushions and decks. Drink holders can help minimize onboard spills, but there are a million types marketed to boat owners-from basic lifeline-mounted wire baskets to expensive Starboard or teak binnacle boxes. To find out which is most effective, Practical Sailor field-tested a sampling from several manufacturers. Three of the 10 test products were of the old-style, gimbaled wire-basket variety that hang from a lifeline: the Sail-Buoy, the Sail-a-long, and one from Snap-It. From Edson and Snap-It, we evaluated rail- or pulpit-mountable holders made of stainless and Starboard (high-density polyethylene) and three binnacle-mounted products that can accommodate multiple drinks. The two products we tested designed to mount on vertical surfaces like a bulkhead were the Sea-Fit and the Bar-buoy.

Mailport: March 2010

The March 2010 issue of Practical Sailor features letters from readers on such subjects as: household adhesives, Union 36s, foggy electronics, digital freezer controls and converting a boat from gas to electric.

Camet Wahine Shorts for Her

After a frustrating and fruitless day of shopping locally for gear appropriate for a 30-something woman to wear on the race course, Practical Sailor editors set out on a mission to find a pair of padded sailing shorts that: fit properly (unlike most womens board shorts, which seem styled for a 13-year-old); did not look like theyd been borrowed from a mans locker; and were fast-drying, comfortable, and functional (even when hopping around a racer-cruiser or hiking on a dinghy). We found few options, and most of those were made by Camet International, a California-based sailing apparel manufacturer.

Columbia Mocs for Him . . .

As we noted in our last look at mens athletic-style boating shoes (June 2007), the marine footwear market is changing quickly. This hasn't necessarily been good for the consumer, as a lot of poorly executed "copycat" shoes are turning up at boat shows. Last year was the first time Practical Sailor had the opportunity to take a hard look at any boat shoe from Columbia Sportswear, an Oregon-based apparel company that over the last 10 years has expanded into the boating market. Testers put a pair of the companys PFG Sea Ray Boating Shoes through our battery of shoe tests (nonskid grip, water absorption, odor resistance, etc.) and then wore them around for six months. The ability to multi-task is one of the appeals of the moccasin style of boat shoe.

FULL TOUR of the MASSIVE Deck Saloon Catalina Morgan 440

Step aboard the Catalina-Morgan 440 for a full walkthrough tour of this capable and comfortable cruising sailboat! In this video, we take you inside...

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O’Day 30 Used Boat Review

Over 350 O'Day 30s were built between 1977 and 1984. During 1984, the 30 was modified by changing the keel and rudder, and the stern was lengthened to accommodate a European-style boarding platform. This "new boat" was called the O'Day 31, and it stayed in production until 1986.