Loyal WaveTrain riders have perhaps been alarmed, or at least puzzled, by the scurrilous and incoherent diatribes posted here of late. This is what comes of allowing a pick-up bareboat charter crew to share their secret thoughts and whims with an unsuspecting public. It is left to the skipper, of course, to impose some semblance...
Given the name of this blog I would be remiss if I failed to mention the massive tsunami that trashed northeastern Japan today. You can watch an absolutely horrifying video of the big waters sweeping through the city of Sendai here. In other unrelated bad news, the Danish Cruising Family Johansen (including three children and...
This stylish little pocket yacht is both the first and smallest boat ever produced by Sabre Yachts, a quality production boatbuilder based in southern Maine. Designed by the company’s founder, Roger Hewson, and introduced in 1971, the Sabre 28 was the only boat produced by Sabre until 1977. Production did not cease until 1986, by...
American shipwright and boat designer Tom Colvin, who has long championed both metal construction and junk rigs on cruising sailboats, has designed about 300 small ships and boats over the course of a career that has now spanned about 70 years. He designed the original Gazelle for himself and his family to cruise aboard way...
Due to an abrupt increase in sailing magazine responsibilities (ironically), I've concluded I won't have time to sail Lunacy south for the winter this year. Instead, for the first time in three years, she'll be hauled out next week and stored on the hard here in the soon-to-be-frozen Northeast. I am none too happy about...
I meant to post something about this amazing video Hold Fast when I first found it, but it's quite long (over an hour), particularly for something put up for free at Vimeo. I've now watched it twice. I'm sticking it here in the Lit Bits category, because it rises to that level. This isn't some...
Yet another tidbit from Annapolis: Beneteau's new Dock & Go propulsion system made a big debut and was featured on a new Beneteau Sense 50 that put on a little show and attracted big crowds and rounds of applause every hour, on the hour, just like the fountains in front of the Bellagio in Las...
Yet another intriguing bit of kit I sussed out in Annapolis is this new Max-Prop Ecowind propeller from PYI. As described to me by PYI's Fred Hutchinson, the prop has a spring in the hub that automatically varies the forward pitch of the blades as the load on the blades changes. By maintaining optimal pitch...
Here's an impressive item I saw at the Annapolis show last week that may well find it's way aboard Lunacy sometime in the very near future. I'd already started shopping around a bit for some new headsail and staysail sheets, so I was quite happy to stumble across this stuff. The Ph.D moniker (it officially...
Lunacy stopped here twice this summer--once on a weekend outing with the girls, and again when just Clare and I were coming back from Rockland. It is both a nice spot to visit in its own right and a good hidey-hole for those transiting Casco Bay in either direction. It is nearly the only place...