Getting Weather on the Water: From VHF to Starlink
We are in the midst of a yachting weather forecasting and awareness revolution. With satellite internet technology today’s sailors have never had so much...
The Fog of Chartplotter Complacency
Cruising the remote west coast of Vancouver Island is the dream of many Pacific Northwest sailors. The journey includes the 80-mile passage from Race...
Gadgets That Actually Earn Their Place Onboard
For better or worse, technology is changing cruising. It is turning sailboats into floating workshops, offices, cafes and even cinemas. While not every cruiser...
Top 10 Practical Sailor YouTube Videos of 2025
The world of media and content creation is changing, largely driven by consumer consumption demands but also by ever-rising printing and mailing costs. In...
Lithium in Winter: Design for the Cold, Not Around It
Winter temperatures are challenging for year-round sailors. Appropriate clothing is vital, including waterproof socks, layering for the legs and midsection, finishing off with a...
Not All That Glitters Is Gold: A Surveyor’s Cautionary Tale
I received a message regarding surveying a 1980 CS 36: “I bought a sailboat with two friends and need a survey,” the WhatsApp message...
Readers’ Choice: 14 More Marine Suppliers You Should Know About
You can’t maintain a boat without ordering a few marine supplies, so Practical Sailor readers offered (mostly) high praise and appreciation for our guide...
Old Boats, New Generations: The Real Value of Our Cruising Life
I often ask myself the point of all the effort and expense of owning a well-aged sailboat. This usually happens after I crack a...
DIY Stovetop Cabin Heater
For my small F-24, with no cabin heating and no justification for the complexity of an installed system, this has been one of my...
VC17 OFFSHORE Pre-Application Prep
It’s been a few years since Interlux (Akzo Nobel) discontinued the popular VC17 and VC17m antifouling due to environmental and safety concerns. However, it...
Before You Buy a Beneteau Watch This First – Hanse 430E...
Thinking about buying a 40–45 foot cruising sailboat? Before you default to a Beneteau, Jeanneau, Catalina, or Hunter, this in-depth Practical Sailor review takes...
Latest Sailboat Review
Tartan 33 Used Boat Review
In 1978, Tartan brought out the Tartan Ten, a 33', fairly light, fractionally-rigged "offshore one design." The boat was a huge success: fast, easy to sail, and unencumbered by the design limitations of a rating rule. But the Tartan Ten had one big problem: limited accommodations with stooping headroom, an interior most kindly described as spartan. A hardy crew could take the Tartan Ten on a multi-day race such as the Mackinac, and you might even coax your family aboard for a weekend of camping out. But cruising or extended racing in comfort? Forget it!