There are two ways to do this depending on whether you are reversing into position or going forward to a halt. In each case the engine direction is in opposition to the placement of the line – for a reverse approach you use a forward spring loop, for a forward approach you use an aft […]
Boats & Boatwork
First we choose a boat, then we spend the rest of our lives working on it.
This is the section of the site for these topics. Read about Choosing Boats or you can look up Performance Parameters for various boats and compare them.
Reading Barometers & A Storm Cheat Sheet
A quick reminder of some concepts around hurricanes plus a great handout on reading Barometers and Barometer Trends.
How to Get Weather Faxes, GRIBS and Email Offshore Using Your Radio
Getting Weather Faxes, weather GRIB files and sending and receiving email offshore is easy with an HF Radio, a Pactor Modem and Airmail Software. All the steps are shown with screenshots to make it easy for you.
Transferring Your MMSI from the Previous Owner
This article is an addendum to the earlier article on Registering Your Radios with the FCC. You may want to visit that article to fully understand what is being explained in this addendum. Many thanks to Susan Ruse for digging out this information about how the new owner can re-use the MMSI number that the […]
Hang up that Anchor: a DIY Fortress Anchor Mount
Many of us sailors have an auxiliary fortress anchor either as a lunch hook or stern anchor and it’s handy to mount that on the stern someplace. There are commercially available fortress anchor mounts for this purpose. They cost $50 and up. However if you also add mud palms to the anchor to make it […]
Tips for Docking a Sailboat Safely and Confidently
I grew up in a sailing family. I learned by example from my dad, then by experimentation after that. Since our early boats had no engines (nor did they go in reverse!) I did not learn about docking except how to sail a tiny light boat up to a dock and turn into the wind. […]
