Standing Rigging

In this report, first published in 1998, we discuss various designs of mast steps for climbing, or for assisted climbing. Here is a link...

Mast steps are a great help when going aloft, but they add weight where it hurts most (aloft), and halyards love to get stuck behind them. One alternative is the Mast Mate webbing ladder, which hoists on your mainsail track.

With a double-headsail rig, you already have some powerful gear-shifting options. Putting your staysail on a furler adds an overdrive.

Prices, advice vary greatly when it comes to asymmetrical sails.

Many PS readers undoubtedly found our articles on going aloft alone (July 1, 1998 and August 15, 1998) a little esoteric, but for the...

A certain appeal of sailing is its seeming limitlessness. One can spend a lifetime perfecting navigation skills. Remember Marvin Creamer, who circumnavigated by the...

Practical Sailor offers the annual selection of Editors Choice products for the Gear of the Year 2010 lineup. We hope the list will guide you through the dizzying array of gear at the fall boat shows, or at least help you whittle down your wishlist for Santa. The roster covers a broad spectrum of products-from gadgets for measuring speed to a performance multihull built for speed-that have bested their peers in our tests. The lineup includes gear from Spinlock, Brion Toss, Lopolight, Selden Mast, DuBarry, Keen, Standard Horizon, and Mastervolt. It covers LED navigation lights, bosun chairs, footwear for sailors, and marine electronics. Boat maintenance products from Polymarine and Interlux also made the list.

Its been almost 10 years since Practical Sailor weighed in specifically on mainsail track hardware. (See Practical Sailor, Feb. 1, 2005 online) At the time, we offered a summary of the products designed to manage what we termed the three Ss of mainsail handling-setting, shortening, and striking. In that article, we focused on the gear used with full-battened mainsails, which were becoming increasingly popular among a broad spectrum of sailboat owners then.

Our annual selection of outstanding equipment, headlined this year by the Spade anchor, Nexus instruments and the Isotemp water heater.

In the October 1, 1997 issue, we published a letter from Houston Car of West Bath, Maine, in which he asked how best to...