Category: Sailing Tips
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) VHF radio can be a chaotic and noisy place, and a few considerations for how to use it and an awareness of the rules (and laws!) make it much more useful for everyone. Even if you’re an old salt, a refresher before the new season is never a bad idea. […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) “Oh! Piglet,” said Pooh excitedly, “we’re going on an Expotition, all of us, with things to eat. To discover something.” “To discover what?” said Piglet anxiously. “Oh! just something.” Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne If you take your boat anywhere for the night, you almost always bring a dinghy. This sturdy […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) Tucked up near Canada on the northwest corner of the lower forty-eight states, the San Juan Islands are a delightful archipelago with some of the most stunning cruising grounds in the U.S.. This cluster of over 100 named islands (and several hundred other unnamed rocks and islets) is a popular […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) More years ago than I care to admit, my wife and I took an offshore sailing and cruising course. It was fantastic, and we learned loads of valuable skills during a week spent sailing from Florida to the Bahamas, living on board with three other students and the instructor. But […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) Spring lines are a powerful tool for any boater getting, but so many people don’t use them well. They’re a little challenging to figure out, and when the best situation is for them, but they will make an enormous impact on your in-close boat handling. We’re not going to re-write […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) Most places that you anchor, it’s best to anchor so you swing like everyone else. Mostly boats only use a single anchor, set from the bow. This way, everyone swings through all the wind directions together as it shifts and nothing goes bump in the night. But there are times […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) It’s more common at the boat show to see prices in monthly payments instead the full purchase price of the boat. From a sales perspective, this makes loads of sense. What better way to get past the sticker shock on a $100,000+ boat than to break it up into a […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) It’s the middle of the winter, so what better time to talk about…hurricanes? Hurricanes show up in June and plague the east coast until November, and can affect your boat anywhere from Florida to Maine. These tremendous storms originate in the tropics and pick up power from warm water as […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) The other day in a Facebook group, someone asked “Do people really cook while the boat is moving? That seems dangerous.” It was a contentious topic, because admins closed comments after a while. The answer, of course, is yes – on a multi-day passage you definitely cook offshore. It’s not […]
by B.J. Porter (Contributing Editor) A ship’s log is a permanent record of where you’ve been, what happened on the way, and what you’ve done with your boat. For commercial shipping, it’s a requirement, and logs can be requested if there are any incidents or problems. So details and procedures can be quite formal. Many […]
