Not Quite A Life Raft
Following our three-part series on life rafts, we now briefly examine five inshore rescue platforms from Survival Products, Switlik and Winslow.
Offshore Log: A New Sail Inventory
Calypso dumps her old sails for a new suit from North, and what a difference it makes!
Life Raft Materials, Construction and Servicing
A follow-up to our three-part series evaluates PU, PVC and various rubber fabrics.
Sea Anchors & Drogues
Taking bad weather bow-to or stern-to is a fundamental quandary. Much depends on your boat. Then you have to decide which sea anchor or drogue to buy. We sort through the decision tree.
Mailport 08/01/00
Handheld GPSI have the greatest respect for the equipment reviews in Practical Sailor, but I think that you overlooked very critical attributes for your...
Close As A Pencil Point
On May 1, President Clinton announced that the selective availability (SA) system used to degrade GPS (global positioning system) signals was terminated, effective at...
Mailport
Stripped Hose ClampsRe: The Case of the Stripped Hose Clamp in the September 1999 issue:First, torque is not the issue. Clamping force is the...
A Foolproof (and Simple) Way to Set Jib Leads
An excellent, surprisingly simple way to set jib leads is to use jib luff telltales as a guide. This technique applies to all types of headsails-genoas as well as working jibs.
Offshore Log:Escape From Lotus Land
As lovely as they found New Zealand, the crew of Calypso decides its time to move on…as soon as they can find a window between cyclones to cross theTasman Sea.
Offshore Log:Escape From Lotus Land
As lovely as they found New Zealand, the crew of Calypso decides its time to move on…as soon as they can find a window between cyclones to cross theTasman Sea.
Latest Logbook
Practical Sailor Logbook – September 2026
In September we tour the Hans Christian 48T — the offshore cruiser many sailors call the holy grail — walk the custom Antigua 60...
Video: The BEST Sailboat You Can Buy for $35,000 – Catalina...
If you’re searching for a mid-30-foot sailboat, affordable cruising sailboat, liveaboard sailboat, first sailboat, or a capable used sailboat for coastal cruising, the Catalina...
Latest Sailboat Reviews
Cal 2-27 Used Boat Review
Our story begins in 1970, with the introduction of the Cal 29. Looking for something similar but a bit smaller, the company asked designer Bill Lapworth for a 27-footer, which at first was the Cal 27, a fin keel, spade rudder design with a convertible pop top; another incarnation of this basic hull was the T/2. But the concept of the 29 found its full expression in the Cal 2-27, which began production in 1975 and continued to 1977, after which it was again modified and called simply the Cal 27...again. Production of it ceased in 1986.
