Rule of thumb
Commercial fishing operations abound with heavily-loaded lines.
The Nautical Almanac online
I recall periodically gaining computer access to the Nautical Almanac’s daily pages by simply typing “Nautical Almanac online” into Google’s search engine.
The art of letting go
Our passages up the Pacific coast of Mexico have been hard going as they were mostly into wind and against current.
Stewardship and dealing with trash
For six years, I spent a lot of time floating around on the surface of the ocean — something like 50,000 nautical miles worth.
Twenty-five years of wind vane steering
Many sailors who make short-handed, offshore passages — we have a two-person crew — love the notion of electric-energy-free wind vane self-steering.
Discovering a voyaging classic
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…
Nightly green fireworks
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…
The one that got away
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…
First passage as captain
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…
Satellite phone a necessity offshore?
To the editor: As a long time subscriber I read with great interest the communications articles in the November/December 2013 issue. It had excellent coverage of the many devices and services available to sailors. I would like to add one comment, however. As…
A sailboat electric-energy system
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…
The outside route
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.
