SAILの October 2025 の目次

YOU ASK, WE ANSWERED: ASK SAIL IS BACK. Send your questions to sailmail@sailmagazine.com to be featured in the magazine. We have a whole bag of lines that came with our new-to-us Sabre 30, and we have no idea what they’re for. We’ve ID’d the jib and main sheets and some halyards, but there are a variety of other ropes, both corded and non. One is stretchy with a metal ring spliced into it, a couple have shackles spliced in on one end. What’s a good way to identify the purpose of unknown lines? For the things we can identify, is it okay to use line that we don’t know the age or history of? —Julija O’Neil, Newport, RI SAIL says: Oftentimes, prior owners will save old line. After all, it’s always…

My 10-year-old son spotted it first as we snorkeled in Taha’a’s sunset-lit lagoon. I saw Talon dive abruptly, yellow fins flashing, before noticing the creature gliding below us with its enormous half-moon mouth and 10-foot wingspan. “Manta!” I cried, waving my sister over. It was the last night of our charter in French Polynesia. We’d been hunting for megafauna for nearly three weeks, sailing a 40-foot Bali Catspace to remote anchorages in search of dolphins, sharks, turtles, and rays. The manta was the crown jewel in our wildlife treasure chest. It was also the top animal on my son’s must-see bucket list. But an up-close experience with a manta had proven elusive—until now. Sure, we could have sailed to Bora Bora and joined dozens of other tourists on a guided…

A good onboard inventory of spare parts is a treasure chest. It’s like having your own custom-built marine store at arm’s reach at all times. Spare parts make crucial repairs possible and are essential equipment to carry. Experienced sailors cherish their spares and will happily make space for them aboard at the cost of room for other important things like surplus food and extra crew. You’re going to need most everything on the spares list eventually, so the expense is justifiable. Wisely purchasing ahead is good seamanship. Spare parts lists should be customized to match the boat. The list below serves as a good generic starting point: Recommended Spare Parts Inventory Numbers refer to storage location on the boat storage map. In no particular order, because you never know which…

ARE YOU OUT THERE SAILING, CRUISING AND LIVING THE SAILING LIFE? Share your experiences with other readers. Send your photos to sailmail@sailmagazine.com And don’t forget to sign up for our free eNewsletter, Under Sail, at sailmagazine.com/newsletter Waking up in the BVI to this from our catamaran.—Bob Harmon, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com Crew showed up for the night watch on our way to the Bahamas! Love the magazine, keep up the good work!—Mike Schultz, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com This is my favorite photo from our 2023 trip to Newfoundland. My Sabre 362, One Timer, shows the scale of the southwest coast, anchored under the 700-foot waterfall in Aviron Bay.—David Short, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com…

I knew there was going to be a big blow. I just didn’t know how dangerous it was going to be. I had been cruising the Florida Keys in my Herb Stewart-designed West Wight Potter 19, Shorty, for nearly a month. The Potter is a trailerable sailboat, designed and built for cruising. With the lifting keel extended, the boat draws three and a half feet, but with the keel raised and the rudder removed or raised, it only draws 6 inches—perfect for the shallow waters surrounding more isolated anchorages. The storm had been predicted for days, and it was going to be complicated. The wind was going to start strong from the west, then clock around to the north and get even stronger, and finally come out of the east,…

Innovation and perseverance deserve to be rewarded, especially when it comes to something as important as anchoring. Mantus Marine has continually improved their chain hook since launching their first version over a decade ago. They now offer the third generation M3 Chain Hook, and it shines in its simplicity, strength, and ease-of-use. Designed to be used with a snubber or bridle, the M3 Chain Hook fits the full range of anchor chain: BBB, Proof coil, high test, and Stainless Chain. It’s available in 1/4-5/16in, 5/16-3/8in, 3/8-1/2in, and 1/2-5/8in chain link sizes (fitting their metric counterparts too). The latest Mantus Marine chain hook has a likeness to a snap shackle, but with a more rectangular and stout geometry. The M3 locks onto the outside of a single chain link, meaning it…

Close your eyes. Imagine sanding the bare wood coaming on an older sloop or the toerail of a traditional yawl. Envision the first time you walked into the wood shop of a boatyard or boatbuilder. Do you smell those warm, rich, leathery notes? It’s a touch sweet with maybe the faintest bit of spice. That’s teak: a wood we have all come to associate with being resilient in marine environments and beautiful enough to embellish our boats with its warm varnished glow or soft gray weathered presence. Teak has been used in boatbuilding for thousands of years. It holds origins in India and on the border of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Laos, and has naturally spread through South and Southeast Asia over time. With credit to its tight grain and…

Anchored in a bay north of Fayette, Michigan in Lake Michigan….fierce storm cell passed through at sunset. Taken on an iPhone camera, no filter.—Terrence Wall, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com A Friend of a Friend I loved the small boat cover shot (August/September). Here’s my first Thistle (Hull # 869, built in 1956) docked on Lac Désert Quebec. A Thistle is an inherently overpowered boat. You always have to pay attention when sailing it. It’s so light, it will sail on a whisper. I would delight in seeing how far I could sail up creek ingresses to lakes until the wind died, and I’d have to turn around and paddle back. On another note, I loved the article on Dirtbag Cruising by Jake Beattie (June/July). I passed it on to a friend whose…

It’s not often that you hear about a major powerboat manufacturer making inroads in the sailing space. Usually, it goes the other way around. Aquila founder Lex Raas, however, has rarely gone the traditional route. The family-run company was founded in 2012 and is now managed by his sons Jean and Alain. They offered SAIL an exclusive first look at the 50-footer that will debut in 2026 and launch Aquila’s lineup of sailing cats. Before you get too excited that the dark side has seen the light, romanced by the graceful lines and quiet range of a sailboat, it’s worth knowing the Raas family has always been sailors, and the rest of their executive team for the project have sailing backgrounds too. In fact, sailing is buried somewhere deep in…

When fog sets in or the weather turns, it’s nice to have a second set of eyes on watch. Especially in high traffic areas. I had my first experience with Raymarine’s new ClearCruise AR (Augmented Reality) in all the above, racing through the inside passage on the western coast of Canada. I was shorthanded, as many of us are when cruising, and was glad to have assistance from the latest Raymarine technology. ClearCruise AR is an overlay on the video feed of a Raymarine Axiom chartplotter. The software draws attention to marks, waypoints, and AIS targets with clear visual cues for easier navigation. Instead of scanning back and forth between the plotter and the horizon, trying to locate hazards, one glance at the plotter allows a clearer understanding of the…

“Alex! Everything is so European-looking here!” I stammered to my wife repeatedly during our first the westernmost point of Europe so we were, in fact, standing on European soil. Maybe my brain was struggling to find a storage slot for the shocking reality of our arrival after sailing across a vast ocean at a slow walking pace. Or maybe the celebratory bottle of champagne we drank for breakfast after rafting up on the harbor wall had left me a little punchy. few hours ashore in the Azores. I don’t know why this came as a surprise to me. Flores, the island we made landfall on, is Our first long strides ashore in weeks took us up switchback lanes of black and white Portuguese paving stones past rows of (European-looking) houses…