Running backstays: A simple way to stow them
IF your boat has running backstays, chances are you will want to get them out of the way when not using them. If you are actually sailing you will want to get the leeward one secure so it does not bang around.
Offshore passage: Winter capsize, roll over and recovery and dismasting in Class 40 yacht
Offshore and ocean passages are sailing adventures not to be taken lightly even in the balmy months. The following account is extremely valuable reading for all who venture to sea in small boats.
Blue water sails: Offshore sail selection-Mainsails
The mainsail is commonly the most abused and detailed sail in the inventory. It is up in almost all conditions up wind and down, light air and hard and when motoring in a cross sea, it is frequently set to stabilize the boat.
Bermuda 1-2: Class 40 crew de-brief
The Bermuda 1-2 is the oldest short-handed race on the East Coast. Held every 2 years on the odd year, it was first run in 1977. It is a solo race from Newport (R.I) to Bermuda and then a double-handed race back to Newport. Sailors from this race, and the O.S.T.A.R., gave birth in the early 1908’s to the then named B.O.C which became the Around Alone & is now the Velux 5 oceans and so the Bermuda 1-2 might also be rightly known as the spiritual Grand father to the Vendee globe.
Jessica Watson: Australian Transport Safety Bureau preliminary report
Any one reading this website will be familiar with the Australian Teenager Jessica Watson, who, while on her first departure (aiming at a solo non-stop circumnavigation) from Queensland, on Australia's east coast, was involved in a collision with a bulk carrier.
J-105 Double-handed: The Greenport Ocean Race
Regular readers will recall my participation on the Greenport Ocean race this time last year: We were one of two Double-handed entries, and we won. This year we were sailing against 5 other boats including another J-105 rating the same as us--a 90 mile match race, double-handed in what became 25-30 knots.
Practicallysailing.Com Eight months in.
See, we really do exist as live real, humans, most of the time anyway. Not some synthesized computer generated Idea Font…
Bermuda 1-2 And O.S.T.A.R: Offshore sailing, Heavy weather sails & rigging
Even thought the Bermuda 1-2 and the O.S.T.A.R are billed as races, the main common underlying theme is a short-handed offshore passage, one of 650-700 miles the other of something closer to 3500.
Offshore passage making in small boats: Two Offshore capable open 30 footers--- open as in sans Cabin ...
The literature of offshore and ocean sailing full of remarkable voyages in small boats. A quick thumb through my reading list on the home page here identifies many transoceanic voyages in "small" boats, less than say 30 feet LOA. For a look at the latest generation of boats operated by the Outward Bound organization, designed to be (and in the bigger picture instill self sufficiency in the participants) self sufficient and seaworthy to make such passages mark your calendar for next weekend 23 and 24 May in Newport.
Heavy weather sailing: Preparation is the key
Sailing in hard conditions is by and large not really that different in the basics from sailing in "nice" conditions in that the physics remain the same albeit that errors are usually magnified much more quickly in 35 knots than 12 knots. The usual weak link is in preparation.