Head protection has become a hot topic among sailors. Volvo Ocean Race helmsman wear surf helmets with retractable visors. Americas Cup crew wears them, along with body armor and breathing equipment. Amateurs in high performance beach catamaran and dinghy classes are adopting them in big numbers, and some youth, college, and Olympic sailing programs have made them mandatory, like PFDs. Even cruisers are beginning to wonder about trips up the mast, heavy weather sailing, and even routine bumps. I...

Sailing a cruising boat is many things--rewarding, sometimes adventurous, and often relaxing--but seldom viscerally fun, not in the way that a beach cat or performance dinghy saturates the senses and puts you in touch with the wind and waves. It doesnt communicate every ripple and puff, it doesnt thrill, and it doesnt allow you to push the edge. Its the difference between driving a Winnebago and riding a bicycle. For many of us, our love of sailing began with something fast and volatile, and by-...

Weve followed countless debates about the best engine oil and the right time of year to change it, as well as quite a few debates about oil analysis. Just as controversial is the advice on oil filters, which ranges from a blasé recommendation to use whatever fits, to an adamant insistence to use only original equipment manufacturer parts (OEM). Because the oil filter is sealed in a cartridge, unless your filter leaks oil into the bilge we never actually know if it did its job or not. Give...

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I recently interviewed Mark Bologna of Landfall Navigation. Hes a safety expert, major supporter of safety training and has decades worth of experience selecting and servicing inflatable PFDs. The first thing I asked Mark was whether or not I was overly concerned about the inflatable lifejacket issues mentioned above. His unequivocal No, and follow up advocacy for training and regular gear inspections paralleled most of the opinions above....

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