Often, the trickiest parts of a charter have nothing to do with ticklish navigation, lousy weather, or seasick crew. Instead, they are about logistics and bureaucracy, and I was remembering this as the two female Cuban customs agents with hot pink nails dug through my bag with gusto. On discovering …
For more multihull reviews and stories, subscribe for free to Multihull Power & Sail at sailmagazine.com/multihull I first saw Beneteau’s Excess brand of sailing catamarans in 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, with a room full of marine journalists, some of whom, like me, weren’t convinced of the …
Southern California was serving up a strong dose of its May Grey/June Gloom weather when I arrived in Santa Barbara. With a thick marine layer and cool temperatures, the breeze was light and the seas were flat. I had arrived to test the Oyster 495, a new model from a family of cruisers I’ve held up …
If you’re an avid sailor and passionate traveler at the same time, you probably start making plans for your next sailing adventure as soon as your last charter vacation is over. Depending on how much time you spend on the water you might even consider buying your own boat. But then you’d most …
Buddy Melges, whose career in sailing and impact on the sport has been so remarkable that few superlatives come close to describing it, has died at age 93. The two-time Olympic medalist, two-time Star world champion, three-time 5.5-Meter world champion, three-time Mallory Trophy winner, and …
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is a collection of 1,400 ocean sailors with extensive offshore seamanship, command experience, and a shared passion for making adventurous use of the seas. Their experiences and expertise make them, collectively, one of the most reliable sources of information on …
Most sailors take months or more to learn a new boat since, truth is, most of us have limited or sporadic time to devote to the education. David and Alison Lennarz, on the other hand, put their learning curve on fast-track mode when they took delivery of their new Balance 526 in St. Francis, South …
Mother Nature is good at heavy lifting. She effortlessly—and depending on where you sail, fairly regularly—delivers thousands of gallons of precious drinking water directly to the decks of our sailboats. All that work and water needn’t go down the drain. To harvest rain, on our 36-foot Morris …
Truly it’s vexing that sailing luminaries don’t get more attention in the U.S.—a nation founded on the very skill of being able to sail successfully and well—and it really hits you front and center watching “The Wizard of Zenda,” Mark Honer’s terrific documentary film about the legendary Buddy …
“I’m gonna lose you! Don’t let go…. Don’t let go!” Those were the words that I kept pleading to my husband as he clung to the Lifesling while I used all my adrenaline and grit to pull him back onboard. How we ended up there is a cautionary tale. Like most days in the Sea of Cortez, the sea state …