Short Tacks

Commercial fishing operations abound with heavily-loaded lines.

Our passages up the Pacific coast of Mexico have been hard going as they were mostly into wind and against current.

To the editor: In the summer of 2009 my son Christopher and I were spending a lazy afternoon wandering around our local boatyard in Port Jefferson, N.Y. We were in the “bone yard” section, investigating the old abandoned boats, when…

To the editor: The Americans we’ve met call it bioluminescence. When we crossed the Atlantic we talked about it as nightly green fireworks. Without doubt, one of the biggest changes we’ve felt since going from one ocean to the next…

To the editor: Telling this story I feel like a fisherman talking about a big fish that got off his hook. It was Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013. We were on a non-stop trip from Huntington, N.Y., to St. Maarten. Joining…

To the editor: In May I was in New Orleans frantically finishing a two-year refit of my 1975 Cape Dory 28. Then, just a few months later, I had put 2,000 miles under the keel on a passage north to…

To the editor: Many cruising sailboats have worked out an electric-energy system that works for them; too many others are continually trying to find the right mix. Kathy and I have done the same on our vintage Tartan 34.5 CB…

It was about mid-day when I asked the dockmaster in Jersey City what she had been hearing about weather for the next few days.

Voyaging under sail has many pleasures, but a major reward is experiencing the beauty of the natural world.

A little more than a century ago, Joseph Conrad sat for his mate and master’s tickets in the British merchant service.

Haul outs are de rigueur for big displacement boaters; the old fun machine must be pulled out regularly for a scrape and a fresh coat of ablative bottom paint.

A sailmaker gave us some advice one time when asked how we should care for our mainsail: “Sail hard. Put it away wet. And come see me in a year.”

To the editor: The Pacific basin is an iconic tourist destination, and for good reason. Any voyager who has spent time there can attest to its beauty and diversity: the Tuamotus’ palm-fringed atolls, Fiji’s lush rainforests, and New Zealand’s vertiginous…

Although my dad, Rick Higgins, had sailed in the previous two Marion Bermuda Races, participating in the race myself was the last thing I pictured doing. Then, I had a sudden change of heart.

To the editor: With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, it became abundantly clear that a huge military advantage would belong to the side that knew how to faster navigate the Atlantic.

To the editor: Those of us who winter on our boats and leave them propped up on jack stands, where they soak up the hot Florida sun during the summer, always hope that the diesel runs when we go back…

To the editor: Ralph Naranjo’s recent article is excellent in its coverage of bilge pump options and their pros and cons: the equipment to deal with flooding (see “Pumps and priorities,” Issue No. 209, Ocean Voyager 2013). I wish to…