Heavy Weather Sailing Gear

From sea anchors, drogues, and trysails to forereaching and heaving to, tactics and gear for surviving a storm at sea vary greatly. During a...

Getting Rid of Mold and Mildew Onboard

Among the marine maintenance products Practical Sailor evaluated recently were 14 pump-spray mildew cleaners to find out which one was the most effective at...

Practical Sailor Names 13 Products Best Gear of the Year

Practical Sailor’s annual wrap-up of the year’s best sailing equipment looks at our favorite top-rated products from November 2007 to November 2008, including the...

Farewell to Skip Allan’s S/V Wildflower

Anyone who has ever run before a gale knows how exhilarating it can be. On the right boat, in the right conditions, the adrenaline...

Snatch Block Test Update

Although it has a comparatively small sheave diameter (1.75 inches), the RF-6831 can handle loads up to 3,310 pounds, which is on par with...

A Tale of Two Trysails

A storm trysail rarely gets the close look it deserves. Designed to replace the mainsail in a severe storm, it spends most of its...

Singlehanded Sailors Notebook

First sailed in 1978 and held in even-numbered years, the Singlehanded TransPac (SHTP) crosses 2,120 miles of Pacific Ocean from windy San Francisco Bay,...

Taming the Main: Sail-Handling Systems for Bigger Mainsails

The mainsail continues to be both the heart of most sailplans, and the bane of many short-handed cruising sailors. In its modern bigger-than-ever context,...

Used Nylon Three-Strand Rope Faces The Ultimate Endurance Test

Nylon three-strand dock lines, anchor rodes, and mooring pendants are the sailors safety net, so to speak, and have been for nearly a century....

Practical Sailor Test Boat Gets Half a Refit With Powerlite PBO Rigging

Although stainless steel wire and rod rigging are still the traditional, most popular, and economical material of choice for mast rigging, metal is rapidly...

Beneteau 423: What You Should Know | Boat Review

Looking to buy a 40-45 foot sailboat? Considering a Beneteau 423? See a Beneteau 423 for sale? What are the pros and cons of...