Rhumb Lines: Show Highlights from Annapolis

I’ve always enjoyed how the annual Annapolis Sailboat Show offers a glimpse of the future—or at least how gear and boat makers envision the...

Rhumb Lines: A Search for Sole Survivors

Inspired by Technical Editor Drew Frye’s dive into sailing shoe durability this month, I recently rummaged through Practical Sailor’s Gear Graveyard to see what I...

The Northwest Pacific Sailboat

Somewhere between Cape Caution, British Columbia and Cape Foulweather, Oregon, I found myself pondering the pros and cons of pilothouse sailboats again. The marinas...

Rhumb Lines: Pursuing the Illusion of the Perfect Boat

Earlier this month the press announced the launch of Jeff Bezos’ kazillion dollar sailing yacht, a three-masted, 417-foot schooner filled with a bunch of...

Rhumb Lines: Yes, We Are the Lucky Ones

Slow down. Stretch. Breathe. Before we let the coming summer carry us away, dreamy, windswept, mouth wide open, ready to inhale each sultry moment and...

Rhumb Lines: The Bathtub Cockpit Concept

I often wonder what the Norwegian yacht designer Colin Archer would say about today’s performance cruising boats, with their open transoms rolling out the...

Rhumb Lines: Tiller Versus Wheel, Again

Two articles this month focus on the simplest, most reliable form of steering, one that has persisted through the ages with little modification—the tiller....

Rhumb Lines: Eight Bells for Charley Morgan

Legendary sailor and yacht designer Charley Morgan passed away on January 6, 2023. He was 93 years old. Outspoken, self-assured, indefatigable, Charley was all...

Rhumb Lines: Seamanship, Not Size, Is What Counts

Years ago, one of my first assignments as a sailing editor was to join the famous sailor and yacht designer Steve Dashew and his...

Rhumb Lines: The Saddest Story I Ever Heard

The familiar opening sentence to Ford Madox Ford’s classic “The Good Soldier” in the headline above could easily apply to “The Boy Who Fell...

Why Sailors Still Want This Slow Old Cruiser – Down East...

In this Practical Sailor boat tour, we take a deep look at the Downeaster 38, also known as the Down East 38, a classic...

Latest Sailboat Reviews

C&C 40 Used Boat Review

While C&C did not invent the racer/cruiser, the Canadian-based company has remained dedicated for two decades to the concept of the dual-purpose boat. With the notable exception of a few pure cruisers-the relatively low-performance Landfall 35, 42, 43, and 48-a racer-based cruising boat (the Landfall 38), and a real oddball (the Mega 30), most C&Cs have paid at least lip service to contemporary trends in racing boats.