Using a 3D printer onboard
At the start of the year, I purchased a 3D printer for my Valiant 40 boat, Ursa, and I’d like to share some of the experiences I’ve had with it. First the why: I’m based in Mexico right now,…
Gear thoughts after an offshore passage
Recently, I completed an offshore trip that included periods of heavy weather. We were aboard Nostos, a 2001 Sabre 402, departed from Jamestown, RI on…
A circumnavigator’s favorite ocean films
While essentially the entire world was on lockdown and almost all…
Reports of aggressive killer whales
Orcas have battered sailboats off Spain and Portugal and the behavior of these large marine mammals has baffled experts. Sailors along Spain and Portugal’s Atlantic coastlines…
During a pandemic, flexibility is key
The wheelhouse was scattered with guidebooks extolling the virtues and sites to behold in and around the Baltic — fjords in Sweden and Norway, Danish in Denmark, history-laden Poland, and enough lager to sink a barge in Germany. The chartplotters…
Boat show lemonade
It’s been a tough year for the businesses of the world. There was no precedent for the COVID-19 pandemic and no instruction manual on what to do.…
The rebuilding of Golden Rule, the first protest boat
It’s a misty day in the photo and the sand is brownish gray, setting off the white paint of the derelict hull as if the boat were lit by a ray of sunshine.
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.
