Extending the Bow: Are Add-on Sprit Kits Worth It?
Already de rigueur with many performance-oriented sailors, easy-to-handle lightweight sails are gaining popularity with cruisers. And setting a gennaker, asymmetric spinnaker, or a new...
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,...
New Twist on Furlers: New Generation of Roller-Furling Systems For Light-Air-Sails Skip the Fixed...
Roller furling makes headsail handling a whole lot easier, but it also results in a significant loss in light-air efficiency. This stems from the...
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,...
Riding Sails to Tame Those Anchor-Dancing Boats
Practical Sailor recently evaluated a radically new designed riding sail, the FinDelta Anchoring Sail from Banner Bay Marine, which uses three panels instead of...
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...
Sailboat Jackline Test
Whatever jackline system is used, it should be supplemented with fixed clip-in points in the cockpit, at the helm, and around the mast-wherever crew...
Facelift for Saggy Liner
The headliner in my boats cabin is beginning to sag. I have tried to secure it to the overhead again, but I am having...
The Cruising Sailors Drivetrain
after approximately seven years, which means that we have just fitted our third unit. The first one is still onboard as a spare and...