I only met Edgar Cato once and spent but one day sailing with him, back in the summer of 2007, but he made a large impression on me. It helped, of course, that the boat we sailed on was Dorade, the famous 52-foot yawl that Olin Stephens first made his reputation with way back in...

The bride and I spent a night and a day aboard Lunacy this past weekend, sans offspring, and (thankfully) sans mishaps. The wind Sunday, after the fog finally lifted, was light, but steady, so I was anxious to try flying our asymmetric cruising spinnaker from the new bowsprit. Previously, we'd always flown this sail with...

After several delays the crew at Maine Yacht Center finally splashed Lunacy last Thursday. I then spent much of Friday and Saturday getting her ready to sail. Of course, I was very curious to see how she looks afloat with her new nose and was struck by how the angle of the deck's sheer line...

I've posted barely a syllable about the America's Cup since Larry The Oracle wrested the Auld Cup from the clutches of Ernie The Alinghi back in February of last year. Since then Larry has certainly not followed all my advice regarding the fate of the Cup (1. sail again in 90-foot multihulls; 2) have it...

I spent Friday of last week down in Annapolis meeting with some folks from Farr Yacht Design and the newly formed Bavaria Yachts USA, which is seeking to reinject the Bavaria brand into the American market. SAIL senior editor Adam Cort and I got a good look at four of the boats in Bavaria's new...

Is it fine art? Or just some cartoons? That's what I've been wondering about this "Around the World Alone" exhibit by artist Sean Landers currently on display at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery at 537 West 22nd Street in Manhattan. When I first came across these paintings, I was amused by them. But the more I...

In the beginning, what we now call “yachting,” or sailing for pleasure, was practiced solely by a wealthy elite. Indeed, the first leisure craft were owned by monarchs and were profligate in their construction and appointments. Ptolemy IV of Egypt, we are told, lolled about the Nile aboard an immense 300-foot catamaran whose hull stood...

One huge last-minute addition to Lunacy's pre-launch punch list this year has been replacing the headsail furler. Near the end of last season I noticed that her old Profurl unit, which probably dates back to the early 1990s, was getting increasingly difficult to use. When rotating the drum, the action was stiff and felt very...