Safety & Seamanship

Going Aloft with the Multi-use Prusik

At least once each season, someone should make the trip up top to inspect the rigging. There can also be more immediate needs. An...

Showing Good Ladder Sense

A few years ago, while sitting on the gravel applying fairing compound to my keels (see “Fairing the Keels,” July 2016), I heard a...

Sailing Gear of the Year 2021

What a difference a year makes! Last year, Practical Sailor testers were holed up in their home workshops, garages, basements, and home offices, meeting...

Portable Fuel Tank Update

Everyone hated the first generation of CARB gas cans. Intended to reduce volatile emissions by recovering vapors and reducing spills, they did exactly the...

Revised Lifeline Protection Plan

World Sailing (then ISAF) initially accepted Dyneema lifelines in 2012, but then banned it from all offshore racing in 2015. In 2018, World Sailing...

Distress ‘Flares’ Go Electric

The first USCG approved electronic beacons entered the market in 2015 (46 CFR 161.013). Classified as electronic visual distress signaling devices (eVDSD), they emit...

Search & Rescue Tech 2.0

On December 1, 2020 Kevin Escoffier was plucked from a life raft, near the infamous “Cape of Storms.” The name dates back to 1488...

Rescue at Sea Meets High Tech

Disasters at sea always grab big headlines. But very few of these accounts deliver as much good news and valuable lessons learned as the...

Don’t Be Fooled by Warmer Air Temps

As air temperatures in the northern hemisphere warm enough for sailors to start spending time on the water, boating safety experts are reminding sailors...

Life Jackets for Active, Racing Sailors

Practical Sailor has long lamented the lack of imagination in the design of personal flotation devices (PFDs), and part of the reason for this...

40-Footer Boat Tours – With Some Big Surprises! | Boat Tour

Join us at the Miami Boat Show as we get on four 40-footers for boat tours! A Beneteau 37.1, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410, Dufour...