World Cruising | Destination Niue: The Rock of Polynesia: Experiencing a unique and pleasant isle along the Coconut Milk Runby Nadine Slavinski

Classic Passages | Marquesas to Panama: Onwards and upwards from French Polynesia eastwards to Panama by Eithne Sweeney

Living Aboard | Breaking the Routine: How to escape the typical and often problematic ruts of cruising by Amy Schaefer

Adventures at Sea
Please Go Away…Sailing, That is
Before the Mast
Northwest Passage by Claudia Kirchberger Continue Reading…..

SEA  TIME

Over the last few years we have been involved with several rallies and offshore sailing events and have literally seen thousands of sailors take off on passages. We are one of the founding sponsors of the Salty Dawg Rally that last fall had 116 boats in the fleet. For years we were the sponsor of the Caribbean 1500, but are no longer affiliated with that group. We have been sponsors of the Pacific Cup and the Chesapeake to New England Rally. And recently we joined forces with Jimmy Cornell to be an official media partner with the Blue Planet Odyssey around the world rally.

All of these events take their participants offshore in a rally format that provides for camaraderie, communications and some measure of safety. All of these offshore rallies involve a fee for the services they provide with the exception of the Salty Dawg Rally, which is free. Continue Reading…..

With a unique and flexible design, the Beneteau Oceanis 38 is going to evolve with your sailing style in mind By Andrew Cross

Being that I am slightly obsessed with sailboats, I usually get excited when something new and bold hits the market. It is a rarity, though, when I am overly enthusiastic to see the interior of a boat first—I guess I’d much rather be on deck actually doing the sailing then dwelling on the finer points of joinery and fabric selection. But when the design specs and marketing material for the Beneteau Oceanis 38 first came across the nav desk of my home office, I thought, “Wow, this is new.” Working to create a boat that is as diverse as our modern lives have become, the Beneteau Oceanis 38 is a boat designed for everyone. With three models to choose from—daysailer, weekender or cruiser—you can literally configure the boat for your sailing style. And this boat has style in spades. Continue Reading…..

Equal parts performance and comfort, the Allures 45 will take you wherever you want to go By Andrew Cross

At first glance the Allures 45 looked every bit the capable blue water voyager I had expected, ready and willing to take a competent crew around the world many times over. From the floating docks of the Annapolis boat show, I easily imagined her swinging at anchor in crystal clear tropical waters, resting with centerboard up on a high-latitude beach or romping offshore with reefs neatly tucked in her sails. But dockside admiration and wanderlust alone are just the beginning for this well-found French-built aluminum world cruiser. Continue Reading…..

As Bavaria’s Daniel Kohl and I walked down the dock toward the new Bavaria Cruiser 41 that we were going to take out for a test sail, it became increasingly apparent that our afternoon of sailing was going to be either very short or very long.

The surface of Spa Creek in Annapolis, MD, was glassy. Not a ripple. At the tops of the masts in the marinas, the wind cups were spinning slowly so there was a little hope. Daniel is the head of product development for Bavaria’s sailboat division and responsible for the design and styling of all of the cruising boats that Bavaria builds, which includes six Cruiser models from 33 to 56 feet and the Vision 42 and 46.  Continue Reading…..

The X Factor • The new XP 44 from the Danish builder X-Yachts, is a thoroughly modern racer-cruiser built in classic northern European stlye by George Day

Flying overnight from the East Coast of the U.S. to Europe always gives me a through-the-looking-glass sense of being dislocated from time and reality. And so it was when I landed at the Billund airport in central Denmark last September after a hop across the pond from Boston and a layover at Amsterdam’s Shiphol airport. The airport, I was told, was built by and for Lego, whose corporate headquarters are nearby. A Lego airport makes perfect sense. I hadn’t slept a wink and was now, by mid-morning, on my fourth cup of coffee.

I was met by my buddy and host Lars Ostergaard who is with Gori Propellers and immediately swept into his car and driven two hours to a small marina somewhere in west central Denmark. Continue Reading…..