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You May Need a Bigger Boat Than You Think
31 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesMembers
Read more: You May Need a Bigger Boat Than You ThinkSo what boat size is optimal for offshore voyaging? There is no one number. Rather, we must understand our own expectations before we can zero in on that. John tells the story of a smart guy that saved him from getting this wrong.
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John on Andy Schell’s On The Wind Podcast
4 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: John on Andy Schell’s On The Wind PodcastJohn appeared on Andy and Mia’s popular podcast On The Wind for the third time. Here are the details.
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Six Things We Need to Check Before Survey
70 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesMembers
Read more: Six Things We Need to Check Before SurveySurveys are expensive so here are six things we should check ourselves first.
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Retrieval Problems With Unsheathed Dyneema (Spectra) Series Drogues
66 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesFree
Read more: Retrieval Problems With Unsheathed Dyneema (Spectra) Series DroguesBuilding series drogues to Don Jordan’s design from single-braid Dyneema and Spectra has suddenly become popular. But there’s a big problem that will make retrieval difficult to impossible.
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Series Drogues: Learning From Randall Reeves
94 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesMembers
Read more: Series Drogues: Learning From Randall ReevesWe strongly believe that the series drogue designed by Don Jordan is the best storm survival option. A belief based on good science and interviewing some of the best offshore sailors of our time about their experiences. John continues that learning and data gathering process in this article.
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Why Are Saildrives Even A Thing?
65 CommentsReading Time: 4 minutesMembers
Read more: Why Are Saildrives Even A Thing?Saildrives are becoming ever more common on cruising boats. But are they a good idea, or just yet another way to make the builder’s life easier while making the owner’s harder? John has some thoughts.
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Six Things We Can Learn From A Night Approach That Ended on a Lee Shore
20 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: Six Things We Can Learn From A Night Approach That Ended on a Lee ShoreThere are always lessons to be learned from a disaster, and this one can teach us many things, as well as remind us all of some fundamentals of good seamanship.
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Six Warnings About Buying Fibreglass Boats
71 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesMembers
Read more: Six Warnings About Buying Fibreglass BoatsThere are a huge number of second-hand fibreglass cruising boats for sale, but very few good ones. Here is how to weed out some of the junk.
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A Chat With Randall Reeves
45 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree
Read more: A Chat With Randall ReevesRandall Reeves and John spent a couple of hours discussing storm tactics in general and the series drogue designed by Don Jordan in particular. Here’s an excerpt.
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Rocna Resetting Failures and Evaluation of Vulcan and Mantus
316 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: Rocna Resetting Failures and Evaluation of Vulcan and MantusWhen an anchor that thousands of sailors rely on has a dangerous flaw, we need to write about that. Also, some thoughts on the the Vulcan and the Mantus anchors.
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Wow, Buying an Offshore Sailboat is Really Hard
199 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFree
Read more: Wow, Buying an Offshore Sailboat is Really HardJohn and Phyllis want to buy a 40-foot sailboat. There are thousands of second-hand boats for sale, but most of them are not fit to go offshore. So how do we weed through all the junk to find a decent and safe boat at a fair price? And what about refitting an older boat? This is the first of a series of articles to answer those two questions.
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Learn From The Designers
16 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Learn From The DesignersOne of the saddest things that can happen to a cruiser is buying a fundamentally bad boat, and there are plenty of those out there to tempt the uninformed. Here’s how to make sure that the boat you buy is well designed.
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Refitting an Old Boat Can Work…For Some
83 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesMembers
Read more: Refitting an Old Boat Can Work…For SomeWhen the subject comes up of buying an old and tired boat and refitting it as a way to get out there ocean voyaging inexpensively, John tends to start throwing around a lot of cold reality, and generally being a spoil sport. But sometimes this approach can work.
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Specifying Primary Anchor Size
193 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesMembers
Read more: Specifying Primary Anchor SizeHow to select the size and material (galvanized steel, stainless steel or aluminium), for the primary anchor on a cruising boat.
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Susie Goodall’s Series Drogue Failure
98 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesFree
Read more: Susie Goodall’s Series Drogue FailureSusie Goodall was one of the few competitors in Golden Globe Race 2018 with a series drogue to Don Jordan’s design. But it failed her, and her boat pitchpoled What went wrong and does Susies’ terrible experience indicate a fundamental problem with the series drogue and/or Don Jorgan’s science and engineering? John digs in to find out.
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SPADE, SARCA Excel, or Some Other Anchor?
40 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesMembers
Read more: SPADE, SARCA Excel, or Some Other Anchor?In the last two chapters we have reviewed the SPADE and SARCA Excel anchors. So which of the two is best, and are there other anchors as good or better? We also cover four anchors we should never use.
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Golden Globe Race 2018—It Didn’t Have to Be That Way, and How to Fix It
114 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFree
Read more: Golden Globe Race 2018—It Didn’t Have to Be That Way, and How to Fix ItNow that the Golden Globe 2018 is nearly over, it’s time to figure out why it turned into a demolition derby, and how to fix it so that there will be future editions.
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A Sailing Fairy Tale
8 CommentsReading Time: 4 minutesFree
Read more: A Sailing Fairy TaleWe pursue a technical vein here at AAC. But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from anchors and electrons. To that end, John is trying his hand at fiction.
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4 Vital Anchor Selection Criteria and a Review of SPADE
145 CommentsReading Time: 12 minutesFree
Read more: 4 Vital Anchor Selection Criteria and a Review of SPADEEveryone loves to tout the benefits of their favourite anchor, John included, but this article is about much more: how to cut through all the claims to the criteria that really matter when selecting an anchor.
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15 Steps To Getting Securely Anchored
55 CommentsReading Time: 10 minutesFree
Read more: 15 Steps To Getting Securely AnchoredWhen thinking about anchoring, it’s easy to just focus on gear, but good technique can contribute at least as much to getting securely anchored. These steps, based on 40 years of experience, make getting securely anchored easy and repeatable.
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Beware Marine Equipment Awards
31 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesFree
Read more: Beware Marine Equipment AwardsAre the gear awards given by panels of marine journalists useful and worth your time?
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UV Protection For Roller Furling Sails
38 CommentsReading Time: 4 minutesMembers
Read more: UV Protection For Roller Furling SailsA headsail that is not protected from sun damage when furled, will only last a season or so. So what’s the best way to protect the sail? John has some suggestions.
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Nigel Calder’s Integrel, Part 2—Is It Really Better Than a Generator?
56 CommentsReading Time: 13 minutesMembers
Read more: Nigel Calder’s Integrel, Part 2—Is It Really Better Than a Generator?In Part 1 we concluded that Integrel was too expensive and complicated to be of use to cruisers who have reasonably modest daily power needs. But what about those of us who want all the comforts of home and therefore use a lot of power in the run of a day, or even those with one foot in each camp?
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Nigel Calder’s Integrel, Part 1—What You Need To Know
74 CommentsReading Time: 12 minutesMembers
Read more: Nigel Calder’s Integrel, Part 1—What You Need To KnowNigel Calder’s newest machine, that claims to revolutionize electrical systems on boats, has generated a huge amount of excitement. So is this thing a good product that we should buy? Let’s dig in and find out.
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Our Navigation System
66 CommentsReading Time: 2 minutesFree
Read more: Our Navigation SystemWe have written a lot about navigation systems. Here’s what we use on Morgan’s Cloud, and why.
