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The history of Hans Christian Yachts started in 1974 with an idea that heavy, ocean crossing sailboats could be manufactured at a lower cost in Taiwanese boat yards. A review of the HC 34/36 by long-time contributor Darrell Nicholson outlined the convoluted history of Hans Christian Yacht, a history common for sailboat producers in the 1970s and 80s. You can read that here.

The Hans Christian Traditional 48T (traditional) was designed by Scott Sprague, a yacht designer from the Pacific Northwest, who also designed the HC40 Christina (1986), the HC43 Christina (1986) and the HC45 (1985). The HC48T was built at a succession of yards, creating confusion through the years. The molds were shipped from the original builders Shing Fa Boatbuilding in Taiwan, to Thailand during the late 1980s. There are no verified records of how many 48Ts were actually manufactured by these companies, but if hull numbers are anything to go by, up to 25.

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One of the challenges we faced when testing the Chesapeake Anchor, even at the 3-pound scale, was that once any anchor is set to 100 times its weight, it becomes a bugger to break loose. If you pull immediately, straight up, the recovery force is commonly 80 percent of the setting force.

Some of the 3-pound anchor tests required 250 pounds of force to break them out, and even my F-24 can put loads up to 700 pounds on the ground tackle in a storm, resulting in a recovery force of over 500 pounds. That's impossible without a windlass, a line run to a winch, or a rigged block and tackle.

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If you are thinking of converting your sailboat over to lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP or LiFePO4), whether for propulsion or house needs, there are some laws, standards, regulations, and other requirements that you need to be aware of. Some of these are global, some are regional or national, and others are industry- or user-specific. This article aims to provide a high-level summary of such laws and regulations, as they may affect you.

UN 38.3

Readers will all be familiar with the United Nations (UN) but possibly unaware that a sub-committee publishes a "Manual of Tests and Criteria" for the classification of dangerous goods. Section UN 38.3 of that manual is devoted to the safe transport of various classes of lithium-ion and similar batteries. It is effectively the foundational document for lithium-ion [including lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP)] battery safety.

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As a young family we had been sailing Dreamer, our O'Day 25, for five years, exploring the fabulous cruising grounds of the Canadian Gulf Islands from our home port of Tsawwassen, a community just south of Vancouver, British Columbia. We had crossed Georgia Strait (now referred to as the Salish Sea) in gales and calms, under sparkling blue skies and through driving rain, and enjoyed the tranquility of our favorite anchorages.

The 10-mile-wide crossing between home and the Gulf Islands was our weekend highway. Summer cruises included the northern reaches of the Salish Sea, Desolation Sound and the Discovery Islands. During the long winter months, my wife Carey would join our daughter Nicky and I as we planned our next summer's cruise, with nautical charts, guidebooks and tide tables spread out on the dining room table.

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The paradox of my experience with inflatable dinghies is that in trading up to a bigger sailboat, I found myself wanting a smaller support craft for coastal exploration and shore excursions. Needs change and sometimes you discover that less is more.

I've been a sailor for decades, but my ownership experience with inflatables began in 2019 when I purchased a West Marine PHP-310. This model now sells for $1,999, but West Marine seems to put its boats on sale every summer. I purchased during one of these sales back in 2019 and recall paying $1,699.

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When couples go cruising they often consider 42 ft (13 m) to be a sort of highwater mark for a cruising boat that two people can handle safely. But what if a boat was bigger—much bigger—but all the systems, including the sail handling and propulsion, were set up and automated with no expense spared? Would it make it easier to handle for just one or two sailors? No expense spared is our theme with this proven world traveller for two—a custom Antigua 60.

Our friends over at Dave Walters Yachts, a luxury yacht broker with offices all along the east coast, treated us to a tour of this incredible yacht. On the list of full-bore ocean cruiser requirements, this Antigua 60 has a lot going for her—center cockpit, cutter rig, and great fuel capacity. The encapsulated keel has 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg) of lead in it, a number that's equal to, near as makes no difference, three Ford F150s poured into the keel of this boat.

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Some people are prone to motion sickness while others are not. For those who suffer from this malady, sailing isn't usually their sport of choice, and with good reason. Nausea and vomiting are not fun, and when you're hit with a bout of motion sickness, it can take a day or more to recover.

I myself have the proverbial cast iron stomach, which is a good trait for a sailor. In contrast, my best friend, Jeff, who I've known since our college days, is super prone to motion sickness. He always has to sit in the front seat when riding in a car, and he always cracks the window open to get a blast of fresh air on his face. He's careful about flying, favoring early morning flights that are less likely to encounter thunderstorms, and he either fasts or eats only light meals before the flight. Jeff can even start feeling sick when riding on an elevator or on a crowded subway train.

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This little red switch was invented for a much simpler boat than most of us own today. Fifty years ago, a boat might have two ordinary lead-acid batteries, a modest alternator on the diesel or Atomic Four gas engine, a few incandescent lights, perhaps even a refrigeration system, but no solar panels or a secondary way to charge the batteries. Certainly, they wouldn't have lithium banks or automatic charging relays (ACR).

This simple switch made perfect sense in that world. But as boat manufacturers and owners added more batteries, larger house banks, new charging equipment, and batteries of different chemistries, the same simple switch became a surprisingly easy way to flatten every battery in the system and damage the alternator. It connects two banks that should never have been connected in the first place and can inadvertently go through OFF instead of BOTH.

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The gear shift on smaller outboards is typically a stubby little 3-inch lever tucked away on the starboard side. On a tender or skiff, it's easy enough to reach around and shift. You helm the boat from starboard and it's right in front of you. But on many trailer sailers, you helm from port because the reach across the cockpit is too great from starboard. You must reach through, around, or over the stern rail. The outboard may also be considerably below your seating position. All of this may not be too bad when backing out of the slip, but when returning, shifting into reverse at just the right moment, and then back into neutral, it can be a challenge.

There are motor-specific kits to move the shift inboard or to put it on the tiller. If the problem is severe, they have a lot going for them. Our PDQ cruising cat was powered by twin outboards in wells, and both throttle and shifting were handled by a twin Morse controller at the helm. But that's overkill for small boats. We found a 15-minute solution we liked better—you might even like it on your tender.

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This boat is dangerous for one simple reason—it looks like the answer. It's big enough, pretty enough, modern enough, and suddenly, somehow, almost affordable enough. That's the moment a sailor's brain starts doing bar-napkin math. Before you let the dream take the wheel, let's take a look at what this boat really is.

The Jeanneau 42 DS is, admittedly, one of my personal favorites. Not because it's perfect—it isn't. Not because it's one of the toughest offshore boats ever built—because it's definitely not that. I like it because it represents one of the most interesting bargains in the used, cruising boat market. It is a big, comfortable, modern-feeling 42-ft. monohull that gives you a lot of the dream boat experience without all that dream boat price.