Safety & Seamanship

As the forecast for this season calls for much cooler temps and more frequent higher wind speeds and gusts, thanks to the effects of...

One of the aspects of safety on a voyaging sailboat that I am most concerned about is that objects stay stowed where they're supposed...

When an anchored boat spins, the anchor chain twists, and the anchor can come up backward. One solution is an anchor swivel, but failures with some poor designs are a concern-a lovely stainless swivel on one of our test boats had an interior crack that became visible only when disassembled. And as we found in our most recent test, many swivels arent very effective at reducing twist due to the inherent friction in the swivel.(see How Well Do Swivels Reduce Twist, Practical Sailor March 2016 online).

With all the talk about a record El Niño coming this summer and climate change generally leading to more severe storms, we all need...

Exploring beaches, marshes, shorelines—and yes, small towns—is one of sailing’s greatest joys. The challenge is getting in and out of a dinghy or kayak,...

Although laminating epoxies can tolerate some moisture, we know that excessive moisture can prevent a good cure. So how can we manage an emergency...

The sailing season is here again and everyone is doing their spring checks. Something that is often overlooked are the alarms that may one...

With all of the products out there claiming to be green or non-toxic, surely there must also be villains that are now best avoided. In just a century weve begun to make a fine mess of the world that we need to live in for the next few million years. Yet we are making progress, and finding less hazardous replacements is a part of the answer.

In the process of our ongoing investigation on the effect of time and wind gusts on anchor setting and holding capacity, we performed limited testing at short scope and couldnt help but notice that holding capacity at short scope varied greatly. When recovering the test anchors, some anchors would lift out of the bottom while we were pulling the dinghy over to them, while others required heroic efforts even when the rode was nearly vertical.

Noted seamanship authority John Rousmaniere offers a problem-focused approach to determining and selecting basic but essential safety equipment for the coastal cruising vessel.