On the Water

Consummate veteran Skip Allen, who has won California-Hawaii races crewed, doublehanded, and solo, maintains that doublehanded is the hardest, harder even than singlehanded because when you’re alone, you know you have to make compromises. Doublehanded, he says, “You feel obligated for your partner’s sake to keep pushing as hard as you can.” The quote is approximate, [...] …Read More

More and more charter yachts are making promotional videos these days, but rarely do I see one so polished and well thought out as this new upload from Sayang, a 54-foot sailing yacht that charters in the British Virgin Islands. I was last aboard her a... …Read More

It's just a draft  -- artist I'm not -- but maybe someone out there in Panbo land can craft this into something fun for a hat and business card?  The graphic idea is an electronic wave turning into an ocean wave, but I'm open to another des... …Read More

The defenders of the America’s Cup today released narrower parameters for the next racing class, still keeping open the question of whether it will be monohull or multihull. I’m happy to see a wing mast specifically permitted in the new specs for the multi, and I am only mildly surprised to see a cant-keel included in [...] …Read More

When you need to find boat ramps, you can look everywhere at a glance with a new iPhone app, the Boat Ramp locator. The free new app is available to anyone and can be used on both iPhones and Droid phones. It’s available in the Apple iTunes store and in the Droid Marketplace, and can [...] …Read More

Management company Northrop and Johnson tells me that the 98-foot MCP motoryacht Eagle's Nest is now offering seven nights for the price of five during charters in the Bahamas. The offer is good for all charters that take place between now and August ... …Read More

There's a lot to say about this screen and how the values got there, or didn't, but what I like the most is how Maretron's DSM250 is displaying the outputs of two NMEA 2000 depth transducers at once, and that I was even able to name their data window... …Read More

How to avoid summer storms when aboard your PWC or boat …Read More

The problem: The wind will carry you Dead Down Wind, but DDW is slow. DDW is especially “slow” in a fast race boat sailing against similar boats that are using narrower wind angles to generate more apparent wind and additional speed. But would it be possible to create a contraption that captures the wind and uses [...] …Read More

Today is July 1, the date that the Greek government has set for increasing VAT (value-added tax) on yacht charter vacations. Any charters in Greek waters that end after today will be subject to the increased VAT rates, no matter when the charter was bo... …Read More