Mast steps can make climbing the mast easier, but the wrong design can snag lines and create problems while sailing. Folding mast steps keep a lower profile ...

We're keeping you in touch with the sailing spirit. Since 1894, we've been a vessel for adventure, innovation, and inspiring stories via our magazine and ...

Not every sailboat is designed for the same kind of sailing. Hunter sailboats can be affordable, enjoyable options for beginners and coastal cruising, but ...

Two rules worth remembering when sailing offshore: always take a reef at sunset, and never enter an unfamiliar anchorage at night without a GPS track. ...

A sailboat’s engine is auxiliary propulsion — the sails are its primary means of moving under sail. If the engine fails, sailing skills can become essential to ...

A manual bilge pump is only useful if it works when you need it. Test it before heading offshore, learn how the pump and check valves work, and know how to ...

Building a watermaker can save money, but a complete system can save a steep learning curve. The same tradeoff applies to Dyneema rigging, where splicing, ...

A molded fiberglass keel stub forms part of the hull above the metal keel. Its continuous construction helps spread grounding loads through the hull instead of ...

Your boat can be replaced. Your life cannot. Offshore sailing demands more than knowing how to handle a boat — it requires the judgment to recognize when ...

An Oyster weighing more than 120,000 pounds struck a marked rock at over 11 knots during Hamilton Race Week. Cutting a corner while racing under spinnaker puts ...

Team Vestas strikes a reef after sailing at roughly 19 knots at night, but the keel remains attached. The crash footage carries a simple navigation lesson: ...

The Westsail 32’s big full keel comes with trade-offs in upwind performance. Comparing it with a fin-keel boat highlights underwater drag and the ability to ...

A laminated emergency protocol card gives your crew a script for a VHF Mayday call. If the skipper is unable to call for help, someone else can follow the ...

Jogging into heavy seas means easing along between waves, adding power to climb them, and backing off on the other side. Matching the sea’s rhythm helps keep ...

After just under 6,000 nautical miles and six weeks of near-constant time at sea, the anchor finally goes down in Store Bay, Tobago. Three long Atlantic ...

A harbor bar is a ridge of sand across an inlet or harbor entrance. As swells reach that shallow water, they steepen and break, turning a long, gentle wave ...

Mark Farnworth executes forensic rot repairs and composite fiberglass lamination on SV Mahi, transforming rotten daggerboard trunks into watertight forward ...

The breeches buoy used a line fired from shore to a wrecked ship, a heavier rope, and a ring with pants to bring people back to the beach one at a time. The ...

IT'S OFFICIAL! We have sailed across the Atlantic Ocean! Arriving to French Guiana and the Salvation Islands. Home to a notorious penal colony where the book ...

When the Pendleton broke apart, chief engineer Raymond Sybert took charge of the 32 men left with him and assigned them duties. In an emergency, specific jobs ...

The tanker Schenectady broke in half while tied to a dock in Portland, Oregon, in flat calm. Its failure illustrates the difference between riveted and welded ...

Sailing around South America means planning for bluewater passages, even beyond Cape Horn. The exposed Pacific coast, limited stopping points along Chile, and ...

Worried about pirates? Researching destinations and reading cruiser reports on noonsite.com can help identify security concerns before arrival. In areas with ...

Wharram’s Polynesian-inspired catamaran design lets the hulls move more independently with the waves. That flexibility raises practical concerns, one of them ...