Innehållsförteckning för March 2025 från SAIL

For nine years, Chris Jahn put down some serious cruising miles sailing a Hans Christian from California across the Pacific. One thing always puzzled him in his travels—how so many people with perfectly good boats spent all their time working on them, rather than going sailing. “While cruising I met so many people doing endless refits,” he says. “Sometimes the boats were immaculate, ready to go. Why don’t they just leave the dock? I’d think.” Which explains a little bit about his answer when asked about the boat truest to his heart now, a Yankee Dolphin 24. “Well, specifically,” he says, “nothing sucks about it.” Chris grew up in Southern California. From 2011-2020, he cruised from California to Hawaii, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and beyond on a Hans Christian 33.…

It has been a long time since Amber Ringgold hasn’t worn a cap in public, “hiding under a hat with no hair.” But on the glimmering Chesapeake Bay aboard the Beneteau Oceanis 40 Anneliese, sipping wine with her husband, Rico, today her hair is shining—and so is she. “It wasn’t until now that I’ve sort of been able to process the last year and a half,” she says. “When I was thrust into it, I really didn’t have a chance to do anything like this. It was a full-time job in itself.” “It” is breast cancer. Her last surgery, seven months ago, was the preventative removal of her ovaries. She’s still in active treatment, and a month ago, she was at a retreat for women going through cancer when she…

We set out to cross the Bay of Biscay in January. The sailing season ended months ago, long before we wrapped up our toil in the boatyard. Now, in the middle of winter, we peel off Elixir’s frozen sail covers. After leaving the friendly refuge of Falmouth Harbour, we sail into the biting North Atlantic. Despite the cold, it feels exciting to be sailing south, towards an empty horizon, and sharing the moment with Harry and Chloë. We run with a steady northerly. Beneath the starlit sky, the temperature plummets. We pile on layers until there are no more to add. After two numbing nights, the wind begins to build as we close in on the Galician coastline. The sea ramps up as we make our way onto the continental…

At a little table outside of the train station in Narbonne, France, my friend Derick set two glasses in front of me, one with emerald liquid, the other a deep amethyst. We’d spent several days picking our way by train across the southern coast of Spain and France on our way to the Cannes Yachting Festival. We had precious few days left together before I had to get to work, and he had to catch a flight. Derick asked the elegant older ladies at the table next to ours what the deep green beverage they were drinking was, and they sent him back to our table with two glasses: one green and one purple. Derick, who is a playwright with a keen sense of mischief and whimsy, set the glasses…

ARE YOU OUT THERE SAILING, CRUISING AND LIVING THE SAILING LIFE? Share your experiences with other readers. Send your photos to sailmail@sailmagazine.com And don’t forget to sign up for our free eNewsletter, Under Sail, at sailmagazine.com/newsletter Photos Afternoon solo sail in Half Moon Bay, California, aboard the Catalina Capri 22 Bella Barchetta. Perfect conditions under a beautiful sky!—James R. Harris, Moss Beach, CA Cruising on Crystal Lake near Frankfort, Michigan, in our 1979 19’ O’Day last summer.—John and Judy Phelps, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com…

For a long time, sailing résumés were not required for anything other than working on boats or joining race crews. Recently, however, I’ve heard a fair amount of talk about sailing résumés becoming more prevalent, particularly that charter companies and insurance companies have wanted to see a summary of a client’s experience. Fortunately, this is not nearly as onerous as it sounds. In both cases, summarizing your sailing experience is the primary objective. For insurance companies, much will depend on the kind and size of boat you’re trying to insure and where you intend to sail. “Seeking a sailboat insurance policy isn’t that difficult,” GEICO’s Marine Insurance public relations office told me. “However, many boat insurance companies today want to see increasing levels of experience when it comes to insuring…

Few boatbuilders have had as longstanding and deep an impact on American sailing and boatbuilding than Catalina Yachts. Truth is, you can’t swing a cat in just about any marina or boatyard and not hit one of the tens of thousands (80,000 by some counts) of boats that the company has built over the last 55 years. Their special sauce has always been to deliver boats that are well built, comfortably laid out and accommodating, relatively affordable, and designed to be easily and safely sailed—in short, boats that don’t intimidate, but rather encourage people to take the boat ownership plunge and get out on the water. When changes do come, they’re thoughtful and focused rather than trendy, always keeping a keen ear to the customers’ (and dealers’) wants and needs.…

“There are some heavy hitters here,” said Ed McCoy, my friend and frequent sailing partner. “Agreed,” I replied. Since arriving about 30 minutes earlier at the backyard barbecue in Falmouth, Maine, just north of Portland, I had reconnected with an old friend and two-time Vendée Globe veteran, discussed emergency composite repair with a Class40 round-the-world racer, and listened in on a discussion about rounding Cape Horn in heavy weather. “I think only in Portland, Maine, and somewhere in France does a house party like this even exist,” I added. My first arrival in Portland had been a year ago to pick up an old Open 50 called Sparrow and begin preparing for the Global Solo Challenge—a solo, nonstop, around-the-world race. I’d known about Maine’s reputation for unparalleled sailing and cruising; with…

Do the lead acid batteries on your boat last at least five years and preferably 10? Very few do, but they should. Although rarely recognized as such, battery failures are the most common electrical system failure on boats. These battery failures are an indication there is something wrong with the design of the system, or with the battery installation, or most likely both. Quality batteries are expensive. On many cruising boats, a replacement house battery bank costs thousands of dollars. A ton of money is being spent on avoidable failures. Let’s explore ways to extend battery life and reduce the financial pain. Absorption and Float I should probably start with a whole boat electrical system design review, but that’s too ambitious a project for a magazine article. Instead, I’m…

Docked at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor St. Augustine, Florida.—Vicki J. Boileau, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com More Classic Plastic! How about doing an article on boats that the baby boomers grew up with, like the Cal 20/24/40, Columbia 50, Ericson 25/35, Pearson, Kettenburg 40/50, etc. —Brian C., via sailmail@sailmagazine.com Hi Brian, thanks for the note. We love these boats too, and we talk about them every month in our Boats and Their People stories, which we started including in SAIL a year ago. So far we’ve written about a Cal 36, Pacific Seacraft 34, Cape Dory 36, and Kelly-Peterson 44, to name a few. Stay tuned there and elsewhere in the mag for more cool baby boomer boats!—SAIL Editors To the Stars Reading the article on Starlink was interesting (“Jumping on the Starwagon,”…

The Cruising Club of America (CCA) in March will confer on six sailors its annual awards for a range of accomplishments, all of them bound by the same commitment to bold bluewater sailing. The CCA announced the winners in January, led by Leiv Poncet earning the prestigious Blue Water Medal, for “his remarkable solo voyages over the past 25 years” and his “dedication to exploring the world’s most remote and challenging locations without fanfare.” Poncet, of the Falkland Islands, has circumnavigated the Southern Ocean, sailed from the Falklands to the Aleutian Islands, and has accomplished “remarkable, first-ever, high-latitude sea-kay-aking trips. His sailing achievements are further highlighted by his use of the 38-foot steel sloop Peregrine, a French Trireme model, which has taken him to places like South Georgia and beyond.…

Notice anything different about me? Am I glowing? Do I look like I’m in love? If you guessed it’s my boat-iversary, then you nailed it. Yeah, sorry everyone, but I’m totally that guy right now. The annoying, overly-romantic sailor. The dude posting “me-and-my-boat” photos with music by Barry White. The guy saddled up at the bar, telling total strangers how great his sailboat is. Delilah. It’s been four years since I took the leap; four years since I stopped dreaming, rented a pickup, and drove 18 hours up the West Coast during a pandemic to buy a Cape Dory 25. I know, it was a long way to go. But it made for a good story. Plus, the boat was a pretty green, from a good owner, and recently refit.…

I heard my name being called. First a whisper and then a little louder the second time…or maybe it was a third. I was disoriented. I heard a flapping noise. There was a strange motion. Right, I was below deck and about halfway to Bermuda. And I was about 60 minutes into a four-hour off watch, and the sounds had snapped me out of a deep REM cycle. My feet found their way into my boots, I slung a lifejacket over my shoulder and emerged into bright sunlight. Shielding the sun with the main, I could see the spinnaker was wrapped twice around the furled headsail and was attempting another twist. The wind had dropped, and the boat had sailed too deep for only a moment, allowing the chute to…