Rhumb Lines

My grandfather had two good digits on his left hand, the thumb and pinky. The other three were sliced off just above the cuticles. A narrow sliver of fingernail wrapped partially around the tip of each stub like a ragged crescent moon. According to family lore, a lawnmower blade was the cause, and given our […]

In a stick-built boat, a shipwright builds piece-by-piece the interior furnishing—lockers, berths, settees, etc. The interior structures on contemporary boats, by comparison, are often pre-molded into one or more large “pans,” fiberglass liners, usually finished with gelcoat on the facing surface, that are bonded into place. The use of a pan accelerates construction and reduces […]

With many of our readers wrapping up their spring pre-launch projects, I thought it would be a good time to offer a brief update...

Whether it is simply the curse of age or my diminished capacity for self-delusion, my efforts at creating a small boat fit for single-handed passage-making seem ever more futile. I’m beginning to think that the rugged individualist’s quest for true self-sufficiency is unattainable—and that this is a good thing. As Joseph Conrad, who frequently spoke […]

Many of the most interesting cruising areas in Florida are inaccessible to the average cruising boat. The Florida Bay between the southern tip of Florida and the Keys is a minefield for boats drawing more than three feet, as is much of the peninsula’s Gulf Coast. The panhandle area is riddled with shallow bayous and […]

The past couple of months I’ve been engaged in an ongoing struggle to remove all the deck paint and primer from Opal, the 1971 Sparkman Stephens designed Yankee 30 that I’m restoring with the help of local professionals in the St. Petersburg, FL area. One would think that after 10 years of full-time cruising, and […]

Another runner has made it! It’s always nice to get an email or letter from an appreciative reader letting me know they’ve escaped the...

The first issue of our 48th year of publication is as good a time as any to play curmudgeon. So let’s talk about the...

You don’t have to spend much time in the sailing world to recognize it is filled with some of the planet’s most creative, good-spirited...

Rigger Glenn Mooney of Yacht Riggers in St. Petersburg, Florida has no choice but to be organized. A veteran rigger with more than three...