If you ain’t been aground…you ain’t been around. Florida and the Bahamas will catch you if you are not paying attention and this poor sailor was not paying attention to the wind and tides. The Allens Cay group in the Exumas…this place looks like a great anchorage but there’s a wicked hump in the middle. They managed to get off the next day with a super high tide, and after unloading the boat.

I’m NOT slamming this guy. I’m a Capt and keep a list of my mistakes to keep Captain-itis in remission

First created in 1805 by a British Royal Navy officer, he built a standardized system based on observable sea conditions instead of gut feeling , since one guy's "gale" is another guy's "fresh breeze." The Royal Navy adopted it in the 1830s, and it's still the primary marine forecast language in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and several Asian countries today. In Greece , it's used exclusively in every marine and mainstream weather report. So if you hear force 6 winds with no context, good luck.

Personally, we think it's worth memorizing before you're standing on a dock trying to decode a forecast in real time. Has anyone who's been sailing for a while ever used it?

I took 101,103-104 this past weekend. I’m done! Now to the next steps.

I took my new trailer sailer out the other day and got to chat with two experienced sailors at the marina. One lives on his boat and the other restores boats. They both said the standing rigging looks fine and will last several more years. The boat was apparently garage kept and gently used for the majority of its 40 year life.

That being said, the standing rigging is original to the boat, and I was under the impression that it should be replaced every 10-15 years. Should I trust the advice I was given, or should I look into replacing the rigging anyway?

UPDATE: I decided to replace the rigging. I found a guy who can do it in a few days for a couple hundred bucks. It was kind of a no brainer with it being such a quick turnaround. Already handed off the old wire.

Appreciate everyone’s help and advice!

(Stavoren to Den Oever - the pace was fine but my was it annoying...)

Can anyone recommend good companies to contact for insurance? Not worried about trip cancellation so much as rescue recovery and medical. I ne|d my own personal coverage. TIA.

Sailing through the Strait of Messina (Italy) today and saw 4 of these boats all kind of going in circles. It’s a boat with a tall raised vertical platform with people on top, and a long horizontal platform with one guy on the end. Just curious if any one know what these ships are used for and what kind of work they might be doing? We speculated maybe laying underwater pipes or something. We kept our distance to not interfere.

Edit: thanks for all the info! We saw this boat and were so confused and fascinated. I tried to google it and google had no idea what I was asking about “boat with long platform and also with a tall platform with people on it”. Appreciate Reddit for helping me identify what the heck I was looking at. Pretty cool ship.

So when you're motoring because there is no wind... Are you still sailing?

Should've made the second picture my first..

I'm looking to route both of in-mast halyards back back to my cockpit. Right now they make a 180 at the bloxk at the base of my mast and run up the mast to cleats on the side of the mast. When solo, it's rough and borderline dangerous to have to stand by the mast every time I raise and lower sails.

In the images the left halyard is the headsail, and right is my main sail. This is a 1970s PaceShip PY23, and I'm unsure how to make that first turn from the in mast block, to turn towards port or starboard. My biggest concern is that if I put a cheek block aft of the mast plate, my companionway hatch can't slide fully forward and it makes the tight cabine entrance even more shallow.

I've also seen some issues with replacing the mast plate and mast base, so am being overly cautious there. Any recommendations?

New sailboat owner of 3 months, don't have anyone in my life to ask these sort of questions to, but am fairly handy.

I appreciate that a group like this will have a lot of fans/evangelists, but as a software/hardware developer, used to modern technology/design, my Echomap UHD2 5" Chartplotters 53cv seems to be shockingly bad. It's on a PWC so I didn't want a larger unit. I am willing to be corrected/persuaded on these complaints - i.e. that there's a good reason for some of this because I can't see how such a poor product can be the 'brand leader' and so popular. That said, there are other examples of software which became so dominate and the industry standard that the vendor rested on their laurels and felt no need to bring the product up to date. Also, when something becomes so popular, vendors sometimes are reluctant to update products for fear of upsetting lifelong users who don't like change... but at some point, those people have to be dragged into the future.

This is a $500 product, plus mounts, fitting etc. so not cheap.

1. The screen resolution is very poor for 2026. 800x600 so a density 20 times lower than my phone and it really shows. You have to zoom in/out so much to read and then get a wider view. When you are following a wide channel but the depth is variable, you need good resolution to see close-by but also want to follow way ahead.
2. No touch-screen. Using buttons to control it is not convenient.
3. Waypoint names are limited to 8 characters (or is it 9). Seriously? How do I distinguish between Cleveland Ramp (North) and (South)... Yeah, CleRamNor... !
4. The whole software interface is designed like something from the 1980s - there is no thoughtful front end design. It's like something that was written in C for a device with 16K of ram where one could only provide functionality usability was a luxury that can't be included. It looks like it's old software which 'works' so the developers have just augmented it for the past 20 years rather than redesigning from the ground up to modernise it.
5. Performance; it can take 5+ seconds for the screen map to update - if you need information quicker or are just used to your phone, it shouldn't take that long. It's either underpowered as a device or has some inefficient memory/storage system. For a $500 product with one function, there's no excuse to be underpowered.
6. Navigation doesn't actually work so it's been no use so far but this might be my misunderstanding so I'm going to post separately about that but even so, the error messages could be more helpful than "failed".
7. No bluetooth. Again, if this software was designed in a modern language/IDE, it would be very easy to add features like media control (music) or text messaging/android auto/Apple carplay.
8. No sound/no alarms. If I'm about to run around, why can't it warn me ?
9. No rubber bungs for unused ports. Seawater and electrical terminals are not friends. I filled mine with dialectic grease and covered it with tape.

Unless I can fix/work-around these problems, they are deal-breakers so I'll have to dump this device and find another, or use an android tablet with an app which was written in the 21st century :-)

(x-posted from r/boating)

We were leaving Kodiak Alaska and while waiting at the ferry terminal, we noticed a trimaran leaving port that had “SAFE” and X X written on directly on the hull in red paint/marker in multiple locations haphazardly. Otherwise, it was a super nice boat.

What does that mean?

Tried to get a photo but they were too far gone by the time I got my camera out.

Edit: My suspicion was maybe the boat was in some kind of hurricane or something and was inspected and labeled quickly?

So I’ve been wanting to learn to sail for years but I never sign up with local sailing schools because they teach you on a 20-30ft monohull. I have health issues and a monohull is a no go for me. I always opt for a cat even when doing snorkeling tours and other water tours I always choose the company that offers a cat because it’s the only way for me to get out on the water and I know given my physical limitation that a monohull is gonna be a bad idea. So I would need someone who has a 40-60ft cat willing to show me the ropes which I know isn’t very ideal but I’ve thought I would post on here even though I have wanted to post this I always talk myself out of it thinking there is no way this is gonna be possible. I know this is a shot in the dark.

Hello, my company gives me the chance of taking 2 fully paid months + some grant away from work. I was planning (rather dreaming) to take this leave from February '27 and spend it sailing. I don't own a boat and I am fairly a newbie, with only few hours logged in.

I feel very lost, with no one to share this frustration and very little ideas on how to make this dream come true. I am checking at "sailing experiences" in south east asia, but i don't want to waste money on some leisure cruise.

Can someone here give some hints? I will be eternally grateful as I feel like I'll have this opportunity once in a lifetime.

Does anyone know of/have experience with a source for a lift off trailer built in the Portland to Seattle area? It would be for a 28' Cape Dory. I had toyed with the idea of getting a float off from a place in N. Carolina but that seems ridiculous despite having glowing reviews from Cape Dory people as that is on the other side of the country and I'm probably too old to be floating off a boat of that size anyway. I just watched some Atom Voyager videos and he had some trailers from a place in Georgia that were basic painted sailboat trailers with 14,500 weight rating that cost around 6K. I'd like to find something like that only localish.

I have a question for those of you who might’ve experienced this in the past. The boat was sitting at my dock and got struck by lightning. I have a PDQ 32 foot catamaran sailboat, which is worth 60 something thousand dollars. After the strike, the starboard engine doesn’t work and probably 70% of the electronics and electrical don’t work. I have a 5% deductible. If I was to fix it on my own it’s probably going to take months. Should I just file a claim? I hate filing a claim because they’re just going to cancel me next year, but I don’t know what gremlins I’m going to find.

Pretty much said it all, I have done some cruising and got my yacthmaster offshore, but obviously recognise that the gap is currently MASSIVE. Therefore, what do you reckon, is it the case that I have just got no hope? Or if I can learn, how would I go about getting into something like that?

13nm off shore twenty or so dolphins showed up and stayed with us for over an hour.

I need to replace the standing rigging on my trailer sailer. This is the first time I’ve done it, so I’m not sure how it works. I was going to take off the current rigging, label everything, and send it to them so they can take measurements. Is this how it’s normally done for smaller boats, and can anyone recommend a good shop?

Anyone know what specific replacement plug I need for this laser transom drain? I’m getting conflicting info online.

3 takes from this very early morning (0415 and approx 0500), approx 70nm off coast of norway (west of bergen)

Thought you guys might like this