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...
$40,000 for a 40 Foot Cruiser? The Bristol 40 Reality Check
You can find Bristol 39s and Bristol 40s for around $40,000 — and at first glance, that sounds like one of the best deals...
Latest Sailboat Review
Tartan 33 Used Boat Review
In 1978, Tartan brought out the Tartan Ten, a 33', fairly light, fractionally-rigged "offshore one design." The boat was a huge success: fast, easy to sail, and unencumbered by the design limitations of a rating rule. But the Tartan Ten had one big problem: limited accommodations with stooping headroom, an interior most kindly described as spartan. A hardy crew could take the Tartan Ten on a multi-day race such as the Mackinac, and you might even coax your family aboard for a weekend of camping out. But cruising or extended racing in comfort? Forget it!