The legendary designer/builder Charley Morgan allegedly conceived this boat in a fit of pique when the IOR supplanted the old CCA rule as the racing rule du jour back in 1970. If so it was an auspicious tantrum, as the Out Island 41 turned out to be an extremely successful boat and ultimately helped to transform...
We’ve already discussed the basic concept of a boat’s displacement or weight. We’ve also discussed waterline length and how it relates to a boat’s theoretical maximum hull speed. Considered separately, however, length and displacement yield only a general notion of what a boat is like. If you blend the two values you can make a...
This is a very interesting idea a few offshore sailors I know swear by. Run your jacklines off the deck up to a fixed point on your midship shrouds. That way the jackline is always easy to find and clip on to as you step out of the cockpit, your clip stays clear of...
I know, I know. The Aquatic Miracles angle on this one is a little attenuated. But the sun, as our primary heat source, is ultimately responsible for all our weather, and of course keeps our oceans liquid as opposed to solid. Which is a nice feature when it comes to oceans. Besides, I have always...
Quiz any curmudgeon these days on the subject of proper wayfinding and you’ll soon find yourself reefed down in a gale of conventional wisdom about the importance of paper charts, compass bearings, dead reckoning, sextants, and the like. But what curmudgeons tend to forget, as they rail on about how modern nav tools are corrupting...
AS OF LAST MONTH, as documented here on WaveTrain, Reid Stowe can rightfully lay claim to a record for longest ocean voyage in history and earlier toppled the record for longest solo voyage. But unlike most sailors who now play the record-breaking game, Reid's motivations and methods are, shall we say, not entirely linear. To...
Legend has it the idea for this unique pocket cruiser was born round a campfire in Baja California in the early 1970s as two brothers, Dean and Stan Wixom, speculated on alternative modes of exploring Baja and the Sea of Cortez. They were on motorcycles, had tired of the dusty ride, and thought a small,...
Team SEMOSA had to beat hard to windward to get from Saba to St. Eustatius, better known as Statia, but still it was a most enjoyable sail. The breeze was blowing 18-20 knots, just a shade north of east, but the sea state was relatively flat. With one reef in Lunacy's mainsail it took us...
Cast into the past to find the founding figure of bluewater feminism, the first in the line that leads to such modern-day characters as Isabelle Autissier, Ellen MacArthur, and Samantha Davies, and you bump up hard against a woman named Ann Davison. She is remembered today, when she is remembered at all, as the first...
I have long wanted to visit the steep little island of Saba, just 25 miles south of St. Martin, but was always nervous about taking the family, as I'd heard the parking can be tricky and it is hard to get ashore there. But the recent SEMOSA spring cruise with Chas. and Phil presented...
