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As long-term cruisers, my partner, Timo, and I are used to up-cycling our belongings into any new items we might need rather than looking for a store-bought solution. Making a crib for our son, Nemo, was no exception. A few weeks before I was due to

Life doesn’t get much better than aboard this recently launched X-Yachts X4³ as she carves up the chill waters off Haderslev, Denmark, near where she was built. For more on this newest boat in the X-Yachts line, go to this month’s Just Launched, on p

AT THE HELM withAndy Schell Don’t confuse helming a boat with steering a boat. Put it this way—you steer a boat when towing a waterskier or maneuvering around a marina in close quarters. Steering involves deliberate inputs on the wheel (or tiller) in

It was a busy winter and early spring down in South Florida as the Bacardi Invitational and West Marine US Open series saw scores of boats doing battle off Clearwater and Fort Lauderdale and on the shallow waters of Miami’s Biscayne Bay. As in years

With so many manufacturers dreaming up bigger production boats, more and more mid-sized cruisers fall on the smaller end of their lines. However, “smaller” does not mean less, and the tricks for optimizing larger models have helped with squeezing mor

Got a good story to share? Send it to sailmail@sailmagazine.com I was never supposed to take my boat through New York City. After getting sucked backward through the Cape Cod Canal on my way south from Maine, when the speed of the current exceeded th

Running out of fuel or having the engine splutter and die after a dirty fill is bad news, but to end up with an engine full of water puts the cap on the event. It’s not uncommon for one to lead to the other. Cooling water exits the system via the exh

With 2,000 miles of coastline, 270,000 islands and seemingly countless bays and inlets, Sweden is truly a sailor’s paradise. One of the top sailing destinations here is the archipelago just outside the country’s second largest city Gothenburg (locall

Imagine a sailboat under 60ft with private en suite accommodations for five couples plus professional crew. Add to that enough space to allow those same lucky guests their own private lounging areas outside. That’s a lot of room. That’s the Fountaine

When most sailors think “charter,” warm-weather destinations like Antigua, the Bahamas and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands spring to mind. And there’s no denying that palm trees and endless white-sand beaches have their appeal, especially in the

A sail on Lake Tahoe has been on my bucket list since the day I first laid eyes on it, and come hell or high water, I decided I was going to someday charter a boat there. North America’s largest and deepest alpine lake, Tahoe sits at 6,225ft above se

Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay is a sailor’s paradise, not only because of its vast expanse of sheltered water, coves and seaside towns, but because of the many nearby destinations it offers as well. The last time a group of friends and I chartered

Although the 1903 defender of the America’s Cup, Reliance, was deemed a “racing freak”—the boat pushed design rules to their limit and couldn’t be beat, at least in very specific conditions—designer Nat Herreshoff was nonetheless onto something. A ce

So, you like to charter in the Caribbean with its warm waters, swaying palm trees, steady trade winds and strong rum drinks. What’s not to love? It can be easy, though, to get stuck in a rut when chartering year after year in the same place. Sure, th

Part of the remodeling of the chart table area on my 45ft schooner Britannia involved making a new section of floorboarding or, to use its proper nautical term, cabin sole. The floor beneath was just rough plywood, unlike the remainder of the boat, w