Sails, Rigging & Deck Gear

One of all-chain rodes most popular features among cruising sailors has little to do with anchoring-and everything to do with stowing. With a well-designed bow roller, windlass, hawse hole, and chain locker, your rode and anchor will deploy and stow belowdecks faster and with far less effort than nylon rode requires. But for a smaller boat without a windlass or deep chain locker, an all-chain rode is often impractical. Even cruising sailors who are perfectly equipped for all-chain anchoring often find that their nylon secondary anchor better is suited for some anchoring situations.

Over the years Practical Sailor has conducted dozens of anchor tests, and like many publications, weve repeated the common guidance that cruising sailors should buy an anchor that is at least one size larger than what the maker recommends for your size vessel.

If this were a follow-up article on polyester sail repair, we would have waited two years at least. Wed have added a few stitches during our annual inspection, but major sewn repairs in sound cloth are expected to last for years. Our test boat is sailed frequently, vigorously, and with a lot of tacking, but were not crossing oceans. Polyester would have held up.

Still trying to find a place to stow everything for that big summer cruise? Here are a few organizing accessories that we've found handy in the past few years:

Boats sail better when rode, docklines, running rigging, and sail control lines are properly adjusted, and many lines are easier to adjust if common positions are marked.

There are two primary wind indicators on a sailboat. First, we watch the sails. Sailing to windward we watch the jib for luffing and for flow on telltales.

I have a 30-foot sailboat and I was considering keeping an emergency anchor ready to lower quickly as a temporary way to stop drifting in case the engine failed. I have limited mobility so it should be close at hand.

We have a love-hate relationship with nylon rope. When it comes to absorbing shock, it offers the best available combination of strength, elasticity, and economy. On the downside, it is sensitive to UV, abrasion when wet, has a low working load limit, and is weakened over time by internal wear.

Sailing is all about pulling and securing strings. For infrequent securing, a horn cleat works fine. Others are constantly tweaked and require something more responsive. Cam cleats have become the go-to tool when we need easy adjustment or instant release. But for the cam cleat to work as intended, an often overlooked component comes into the picture-the fairlead. Before you replace or add new cam cleats, consider the following fairlead options

Extremely low friction allows Amsteel and other high molecular weight polyethylene (HMPE) lines to run like lightening through low friction rings. Unfortunately, they also run right through cleats, jammers, and your hands. If a jammer did hold-and it wont-the load would probably exceed the capacity of any device that matched the lines tiny size.