Safety & Seamanship

Throw Bags

It’s a toss up: KwikTek for daysailing, West Marine for offshore cruising.

Inflatable Life Vest Showdown

Crewfit brushes off Plastimo’s challenge.

A Shining Solution

Visibility can be a very important element when it comes to safety on the water. For that person in the water, being as visible...

Electronic Charts

Navionics’ Platinum and Gold charts excel over C-Map and Garmin

Learning to Share

For avid sailors with flexible schedules, timeshare sailing can offer a cheaper ûalternative to sailing clubs or chartering.

Slings, Scoops & Ladders

In Part II of our safety series, we find that conventional overboard recovery gear like the Lifesling prove the most useful to sailors

Safety Spray Hood

According to safety specialist Capt. Henry Marx, sailors who go overboard and subsequently drown—particularly those wearing a PFD—would have stood a better chance of...

CO Detectors: Fireboy/Xintex Wins; Safe-T-Alert is a Best Buy

Marine carbon monoxide detectors are important. For reliability, we like the hard-wired CO Sentinels; for price, it's MTI's Safe-T-Alert.

Slant Six Throw Bag

One product not included in the Nov. 1 report on crew-overboard testing, was the Slant Six Throw Bag from Seattle Sports Co., which...

Float-Tech

The Float-Tech PFD, which is offered in seven sizes, provides 27 lbs. of buoyancy, and its makers say that it's designed to turn...

$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!