When a sailor progress to sailing through the night a headlamp becomes essential gear. This article tells you which headlamp you should buy and why it’s the best choice for sailing on the market.
Tragic Drowning in the Chicago-Mac
Near the start of the 2018 Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac race a sailor was washed overboard and drown. This account from his team makes my stomach churn: The boat made three unsuccessful approaches to retrieve him, during which crew noted that his life jacket had not inflated. During the third approach, crewmembers saw […]
Sailing Charter Crew FAQ
This is the information I send to my friends who are coming along on bareboat sailing charters. I try to get them this information more than a month before they leave for the trip so that if they need to buy anything they’ve got long enough lead time to go shopping without a big rush. […]
Headsail Furling Gear Troubleshooting
These days furling headsails are standard equipment on sailing yachts. Most of the time they make foresail handling a breeze: setting, reefing and dousing the headsail is accomplished from the comfort and relative safety of the cockpit. But as reliable as modern furlers have become they’re not bulletproof: they’re subject to wear and tear like […]
Navionics Navigation Introduction
This 3 minute tutorial will introduce you to the basic navigation functionality of Navioncs. If you’re getting started with navigation on Android or iOS devices download SavvySalt’s click here to download Ultimate Guide to Smartphone Navigation. This will jump start your foray into Android or iOS navigation. Video Transcript. In case I mumbled: This video […]
MxMariner Navigation Introduction
Navigation is the art of keeping your vessel clear of trouble while getting where you’re going. At sea, navigation is your ounce of prevention. This 3 minute tutorial will introduce you to the basic navigation functionality of MxMariner. If you’re getting started with navigation on Android or iOS devices download SavvySalt’s click here to download […]
Personal Gear Requirements: Ocean and Offshore Racing
Update: Since my first Offshore race I’ve kept this up to date for crew of other offshore racing programs I’ve participated in. Although most of the quotes are from the 2015 Marion to Bermuda race requirements the gear listed has been updated for 2018 ocean/offshore races. Last updated November 30th, 2019. I took charge of […]
Film Making for under $1000
DISCLAIMER: This article is nearly five years old; that’s practically ancient where camera gear is concerned. The last five years I made plenty of videos that you can use as inspiration but these recommendations are very dated – you probably can’t buy most of the gear recommended below and even if you could you shouldn’t. […]