Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2026 i Cruising World

I have no problem being called a traditionalist sailor. I wouldn’t have made a brigantine schooner if I wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t embraced some technology that has swept like a hurricane through the boating world, particularly in the area of electronics. Undoubtedly, many of these modern inventions have made boating much safer and more enjoyable, but they have also created a dependency on the gadgets themselves. Far too many boaters are failing to learn and use the methods that have served, and many times saved, seagoers for centuries. GPS, without a doubt, is the greatest innovation in the past 40 years. It might rival the invention of the wheel. Even so, I still mark our paper charts every hour because, if power is lost, the chartplotter will…

You can always count on the weather changing. It never ceases to amaze me how many different weather patterns I sail through during a short afternoon sail or on a longer passage. A sailboat is continuously sailing to ever-changing locations. Wind shifts direction or changes velocity. Water depth gets deeper or shallower. Clouds form overhead. Wave patterns change with tidal currents. For all these reasons and more, sailors need to be aware of the weather. Before heading out and once underway, keep an eye on the weather patterns. Early preparation and continuous observations will help prevent any weather-related problems. Early preparation and continuous observation are key. Combining modern forecasts, old-school instruments and local experience helps sailors anticipate weather changes and stay safe. Weather forecasts these days are generally reliable and…

the Gambier Islands are exactly what dreams of Pacific sailing are made of: silvery purple pearls tossed into a palm like the casual distribution of M&Ms. High mountain peaks poke through dense green forest, offering panoramic views of a reef-filled lagoon and white sandy cays. Nothing but hermit crabs and fallen coconuts crowd the shores. An outrigger pulls alongside to offer tuna fresh from the hunt. A half dozen reef sharks circle like curious, eager puppies. The Gambier Islands fulfill every desire for an authentic Polynesian experience. It’s almost as if the popular Society Islands, the lush Astrals, the pristine Tuamotus and the stunning Marquesas were all bundled together in one tiny island group. Our decision to head there was driven by the archipelago’s relative distance from the milk run.…

World wanderer and author Kia Koropp’s daughter, Ayla, stands on her own “private pearl,” a tiny rim of sand surrounded by crystal-clear water, and looks inland toward the towering, forested peaks of the Gambier Islands. Around her, the lagoon glitters in every shade of blue and green, and the soft hush of waves lapping against the sand is broken only by the occasional shadow of a reef shark or a passing outrigger. Here, the islands feel impossibly close, yet astonishingly remote, like an untouched corner of Polynesia where the rhythm of the ocean sets the pace of life. From this tiny cay, the dense tropical forests and jagged granite of Mangareva rise like a living painting. Days are spent snorkeling reefs teeming with fish, exploring uninhabited beaches and tracing the…

My husband, Jamie, texted me from the shipyard: “You need to come see the galley.” He’s an occasional texter at best, so I felt nervous. “Need?” I hustled from our rental casita to the Cabrales boatyard in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, where our Stevens 47 Totem rested on jackstands during a lengthy refit. I went aboard, and Jamie pointed out a hole in the galley sole where he’d fallen through to the bilge below. Replacing portions of Totem’s sole was no longer a “someday” project. We already knew the aft cabin sole felt spongy underfoot. Exploratory prodding revealed the same problem beneath it. Many Stevens 47s have a lovely teak-and-juniper cabin sole throughout. Underneath is a plywood subfloor that didn’t age well after exposure to moisture over time. The plywood delaminated…

It was the concluding day of the Annapolis Sailboat Show in Maryland. Along with longtime sailing mates and colleagues Tim Murphy and Ralph Naranjo, I was the third member of the judging panel for Cruising World’s 2026 Boat of the Year contest, with sea trials scheduled to commence on Chesapeake Bay the next day. And yet, all I could think of was the early Bob Dylan classic A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. Unbeknownst to Dylan, he’d nailed the short-term forecast. An early autumn nor’easter was spinning up the mid-Atlantic coastline, accompanied by serious breeze and heavy precipitation to match. Cruising World Editor-in-Chief Andrew Parkinson had already called off the next day’s full sailing schedule for the contest’s 14 current nominees, and was scrambling to assemble a workable plan B for…

As far back as I can remember, I have always enjoyed the challenge of finding solutions to practical problems. This was certainly the case when I started work on fitting out the first Aventura. As an absolute greenhorn in anything nautical, I was forced to come up with answers to complex questions in virtually everything I touched. The boat had a center cockpit and aft cabin, and the wheel was too far from the rudderstock. The easiest and cheapest solution was to have hydraulic steering, but that meant I could not use the self-steering gear whose control lines had to lead to a drum on the wheel or to a tiller. The solution I came up with was to extend the rudderstock by way of a 6-foot-long, 40-mm steel bar…

When we bought our 1979 Cheoy Lee Avocet, one of the things that immediately won us over was her generous interior. She could comfortably host six people and swallow all their gear without complaint, a rarity for a 41-footer. But during a family sail to California’s Santa Cruz Island, we discovered that our quarter berth wasn’t exactly the comfiest place for guests to sleep. Originally designed as an offset double bunk for crew under sail, it worked in theory, but not for couples in reality. Hence our project to convert that awkward bunk setup into a proper (sort of) queen berth, one where a couple could actually cuddle comfortably. BUILDING THE BONES We started by removing the upper bunk’s large teak beam, which acted as a lip along the top…

I wasn’t prepared for how well this crew of youngsters came together as a team, proving the future of sailing is in capable, enthusiastic hands. When most people hear “Boy Scouts,” visions of tents, backpacks and spiffy brown uniforms usually come to mind. But as I learned recently, the organization is so much more than camping and building park benches. First off, the name has changed. As of this year, with the full inclusion of boys and girls ages 13 to 21, the organization is now known as Scouting America. And this includes the Sea Scout program, which trains youth in activities like scuba diving, snorkeling, coral restoration and sailing. A chum from my sailboat club, Jack Feeney, mentioned that he provided captains to run cruises in the Florida Keys…