Virgin Anchorages

I love this book: Virgin Anchorages. I’d highly recommend it to anyone going sailing in the Virgin Islands. I used to take all my sailing books with me. Just in case I needed to check something. Or in case I needed to figure out how to explain something to one of my crew. And I [...]

Really basic sailing vocabulary

Although I’m the one that knows how to sail in our household, I’m not a stickler for nautical vocabulary. I’ve been known to say “grab that thingamajib” more than once. However, things go smoother if everyone has some basic words for the things around them when chartering. Here’s the list I’d start with: Boat parts. [...]

When to reef a catamaran

Many people learn to sail on a monohull and then charter a catamaran because of the additional room and stability they offer for a cruising vacation. As catamarans do not heel over (until you are in big trouble!), a common question is when to reef? On my 16 foot hobie cat, I used to watch [...]