Safety & Seamanship

Offshore Log:New Gear for the New Year

The early Florida shows—IBEX and Fort Lauderdale—are good places to see the latest efforts of the marine trades. Nick Nicholson went to see what was cresting over the horizon.

Offshore Log:New Gear for the New Year

The early Florida shows—IBEX and Fort Lauderdale—are good places to see the latest efforts of the marine trades. Nick Nicholson went to see what was cresting over the horizon.

Personal Locator Beacons

Personal locator beacons, or PLBs, provide the benefits of 406 MHz distress signaling, but at a more affordable price. And unlike an EPIRB, they’re small enough to attach to a life jacket.

Offshore Log: Still In Class

Feedback on our October 1 column gives us a chance to stay in school and dig deeper into the same topic.

Chartplotter-Sounder Conversions

You can add a conversion kit and transducer to a chartplotter/radar display, and have robust sounder capabilities without needing another screen. We evaluate conversion kits from Garmin, Furuno and Raymarine.

Walker Bay RIDs

There will be added drag in some conditions, and the nine-footer is tough for one person to carry. Minor gripes aside, though, Walker Bay's addition of an inflatable tube was a great move.

Offshore Log: The Volvo Open 70

This new class of round-the-world racers has just been introduced. The boats will be designed for even more speed than their 60-foot predecessors, but also engineered for more safety.

PS Advisor: 10/15/03

Lifesling Recovery OptionsI've read about the difficulty of getting a crewmember back aboard once s/he's fallen into the water. It's not hard to imagine...

Offshore Log: Back to School

We harp on the theme of learning and maintaining piloting skills. People tire of it, but it must be done. Here's another example.

Electronic Cartography Update

Ever get confused about the names and types of electronic charts out there, and what runs on what, and where the data comes from? We do, too, so here's a review, and a reference guide.

Morgan 382 – The $30K Boat Nobody Talks About

The Morgan 382 might be one of the most overlooked cruising sailboats ever built. Designed by legendary naval architect Ted Brewer and produced between...

Latest Sailboat Review

Caliber 33 Used Boat Review

The Caliber is a peculiar blend of tradition and innovation, of security and performance, of practicality and pizzazz. All of the owners we heard from were "satisfied." One called the 33 his favorite boat over six decades of sailing.