When sea-borne commerce started to expand beyond the Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages, the most important person aboard a ship was the pilot. The captain may have run the ship, but he depended on the pilot for his sailing…
Universal Plotting Sheets, every chart-room's staple, are no longer produced by the government, but they are being offered by a private company at a slightly higher fee. Celestaire, Inc., of Wichita, Kan., has taken over the printing and marketing of…
Equipping your boat with radar and learning how to operate it properly is only part of the collision-avoidance story. The other part involves making sure that other vessels can pick you up on their radar. Anyone who owns a wood…
The debate as to whether a paper or electronic chart is the better for the contemporary sailor has been going on for years. To some extent, the answer is subjective, even nationalistic. The British, for example, tend to be more…
Taylor Made Products of Gloversville, N.Y., has helped brighten docks by introducing their new line of patented glow-in-the-dark dock bumpers. The 93-year-old company is a world leader in buoys, dock guards and fenders. The new MarineGlow bumpers are available as…
How accurate is the modern chart? This question must be a matter of fundamental concern for all chart users, both paper and electronic, since the Global Positioning System, especially differential-corrected GPS (DGPS) and Wide Area Augmentation System- or WAAS-corrected GPS,…
Handling the mainsail can be a challenge for a short-handed crew. Because the main is such an important part of the sail plan, the right system for hoisting, reefing, and furling it should make things easier for voyagers. There are…
November/December 2006 To the editor: The San Blas Islands are less a well-kept secret than an often-overlooked cruising ground. The islands are a sailing paradise unspoiled by excessive tourism. Composed of more than 100 islands off the eastern…
Navigationally speaking, we straddle three centuries. Some of us still navigate the 19th century way, with compasses and dividers and sextants, with plotting sheets and paper charts. At the other end of the scale are those outfitted with fully integrated…
Question: Hal Sutphen's recent article on sea anchors ("Anchor survey," Issue No. 100, September/October 1999) has prompted me to ask some questions about sea anchor deployment on my own boat. I have sailed on many vessels, including performance yachts, full-keeled…
Darrell Nicholson is a veteran voyager and delivery skipper with 11 years and 30,000 ocean miles of voyaging experience aboard his 1937 gaff-rigged ketch Tosca. He and his wife Theresa Gibbons have voyaged in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans…
