Sailing Magazine

Retrofits

January 2012 Feature

Welcome to SAILING Magazine’s annual guide to retrofitting and refitting. This month we are featuring retrofits of four great boats. Some of the retrofits were done by our editors over the course of a few years and others are virtual retrofits, using pricing based on actual boats on the market. These retrofits are thoroughly researched, focusing on correcting issues common in each type of boat and in boats of this age and use actual figures for products and projects featured in each retrofit.

Hobie 16
Bristol 24
Nelson/Marek 43
Morgan Out Island 51

CAPSIZE ‘In the blink of an eye’

December 2011 David Liscio Feature

When Gunboat Marketing Director Rachel Jaspersen and photographer Richard Langdon left the dock aboard a chartered dive boat on August 15, the pair had no idea that hours later they would be pulling five sailors from the sea. Working as Team Phaedo Media, they headed out in heavy seas toward Fastnet Rock—a spiny outcropping with a lighthouse just off the southernmost tip of Ireland—planning to await the arrival of the company’s lightning-fast catamaran. Their goal: to photograph the 66-foot orange-hulled Phaedo sailing hard with Fastnet Rock in the background. Instead, they found themselves at the right time and place to pluck the crew of the capsized Rambler 100 from the icy Celtic Sea in a dramatic rescue.

“We left the dock early so that we could get to The Rock and be in position as Phaedo approached,” said Jaspersen, noting Phaedo’s estimated time of arrival was 8 to 9 p.m. “Richard and I were aboard Wave Chieftain, a chartered dive boat. The wind speeds were atrocious. It was pouring rain and the swells were cresting at 15 feet. No other boats were going out in that sea. But you have to be in the right position to get the money shot.”

As Wave Chieftain pushed through the short, steep chop, visibility dropped to about 600 feet. Suddenly the radio crackled with a bulletin from the Irish coast guard in Valencia, notifying mariners that a personal emergency radio beacon was signaling distress in the vicinity. The rescue device was registered to GiGi Bertrand. The coast guard asked if anyone listening on their marine radios recognized the name. Nobody did.

Video Podcast

February 2011

By Land and Sea: Land-based sailing vacations offer the best of both worlds

October 2011 Heather Steinberger Feature

In this magazine, extolling the many pleasures of charter cruising is likely preaching to the choir. Who hasn’t dreamed of steaming mugs of coffee in the cockpit on a sultry tropical morning, brisk reaches across impossibly blue waters to the next anchorage, dining al fresco as the sun drops into the sea, and falling asleep to the purling of water along the hull? These are glorious things.

Yet, let’s be honest; we’ve all probably considered shoreside vacations at one point or another. Maybe you have younger children or a partner who is less enthusiastic about onboard living, and you feel a resort or cottage would be a better fit for them. Perhaps you’re new to chartering and are reluctant to commit your entire holiday to the venture. Or you simply might have wondered, as you sailed through an exotic cruising ground, what a land-based experience would be like.

As it turns out, you can have your cake and eat it too. SAILING Magazine recently found quite a few venues around the world that offer “stay-and-sail” packages for their guests. They’re in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Florida Keys and Mexico. They’re along the United States coastline, in the Great Lakes and even in landlocked reservoirs. And they range from international corporations and esteemed local
businesses that have made sailing holidays their official mission to colorful mom-and-pop operations staffed by passionate sailors who hope to share a little slice of their dream.

Sister sailors love the challenge

November 2011 Erin L. Schanen Feature

The J/30 is sailing on the final downwind leg of the last race of the season in the hotly contested women’s series and although the boat is not in contention for the season championship because of missed races, it’s looking pretty good in this race. It’s not easy sailing: a leftover lumpy sea and a dying breeze require a good deal of concentration and it would be great if the boat could make it to the finish without having to jibe.

Perry on Design

by Robert H. Perry

Sailing Magazine : The Beauty of Sail

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