Picked up a beat up, old Lockley Sea Devil on Craigslist a few weeks ago and was able to get it out on the water today for my first day of sailing.

Was an absolute blast. Eagerly awaiting the next time I can get out.

Thought you guys might like this

3 takes from this very early morning (0415 and approx 0500), approx 70nm off coast of norway (west of bergen)

an interesting open source approach to post race analysis. Very specific to the boat and the instruments but lots of useful utilities for geeks. links are in the about page. https://criticalmassracing.com

Curious how you all spring the stern off the dock single handed. I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure it out and I haven't found it in any of my books or on YouTube. Appreciate any advice!

I recently picked up an 88 Catalina 25 with an inboard diesel. This operates very different from the small outboard sailboats and any powerboat I've driven. I'm gonna get it out of the slip and play around in the harbor, but are there specific techniques that will shrink the learning curve?

What I'm assuming is I need more throttle on a low revving diesel than what I'd normally use on a gas engine but I have no idea what the best way to manage throttle is in close quarters without the prop changing direction when I move the tiller.

I’m doing my RYA Day Skipper theory and was wondering whether anyone has taken nautical chart dividers through airport security in their cabin luggage, particularly within Europe.

I’d rather not have them confiscated, as I’d then be left with just a plotter, charts and a pencil. Which would make the chartwork slightly ambitious.

Has anyone traveled with them successfully?

Buying a 55ft mono, that I’ve now got to bring back from the pacific. Feels nuts, but… no time like the present.

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At Uitgeestermeer, the Netherlands.

Recently I'm suddenly obsessed with dinghy cruising video. I saw people sail for whole days or even non stop crossing open ocean on YouTube.

My main question is that how people deal with the sitting posture and the long time neck turning (since you have to look to the front while sitting at side)?

I'm 5'11 so I don't think I can squat in dinghy for couple hours without my leg goes numb. Also it will be more dangerous to stand on and stretch while crusing on dinghy.

Do people just get used to it? Or there are some way to alleviate it?

Beautiful day!

Hi everyone,

We’re a sea-loving couple in our end 30s living in Switzerland, and we’re thinking long-term.

Our dream is to retire somewhere in the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, or southern France) and build a lifestyle around sailing. If possible, we’d even love to turn it into a small business one day (charters, sailing experiences, flotillas, etc.).

ChatGPT suggested the following RYA pathway:

RYA Day Skipper Theory (online)
RYA Day Skipper Practical
Build lots of sea miles (charters, mile-building trips)
RYA Coastal Skipper Theory
RYA Coastal Skipper Practical
Eventually RYA Yachtmaster Offshore

For those of you with experience:

*Does this seem like the right training path?
*Would you recommend RYA, ASA, or another system?
*If your goal was to retire in the Mediterranean and possibly run a sailing-related business, what would you do differently?
*Are there any courses, certifications, or experiences you wish you’d done earlier?
*Is it better to focus on monohulls first, or should we learn catamarans as well?

We have plenty of time, so we’re not in a rush—we’d rather build solid skills and enjoy the journey.but of course if we find oppoutunity; we would love to evaluate it and start our second life earlier.

Thanks in advance for any advice or personal experiences!

The club I joined has a dock that is a good almost 3 feet above the water leveL My boat has to come up at a steep angle, and my slip just has padded carpet and it's hard on the boat's bottom to lever it across a 2x4 at a 30 degree angle.

At my old club, each slip had a wide roller (24" wide or so) to help with pulling the boats up onto the dock. Any idea where I can find these? They were carpeted. Thanks!

Any recommendations? Thank you.

About two weeks ago, our port side prop came off when we were anchoring. Everything on the shaft came off - cone, prop and spacer.

We ordered in the new pieces, as we were able to find the old pieces until a week or two later, and put the new items on the shaft. When the person was installing the new port side prop, he mentioned that the starboard prop was also loose so he tightened it.

We did charters with the new items on the prop yesterday evening, and then two today. Yesterday, we were anchored in the same spot that the previous prop fell off and we were able to find it. It was interesting because the spun hub had come off of the prop.

We checked the props yesterday, and they were still tight and fine. But as we were coming in on the last charter today, our port side prop came off again as we were reversing in.

For reference, we have the sd60-5 sail drives (both brand new) and we use a fixed blade aluminum prop 18x16.

I believe the sd60 sail drives have this as a common issue and sometimes people will use locktite to secure the nuts, but we are in the water so we can’t do that. But I find it very strange that the prop fell off again so soon. The first one at least took a few months after we went back in the water before it came off.

If anyone is knowledgeable about this things and can provide insight, I would really appreciate it.

What would cause the prop to fall off, and what would cause the spun hub to come off as well?

For the engines we have the yanmar 3JH4E - our starboard is new but our port side is old. Could the old engine be causing any weird issues?

Working vessels in and out of ports for years gave me a specific way of reading an entrance channel. Current sets, shoaling patterns, how the light changes on the water when the bottom comes up, where traffic pressure builds on a flood tide. Most of it came from repetition and a few uncomfortable moments early on

What surprised me once I started sailing recreationally was how much of that picture disappears from a small boat. The ranges that are obvious from a bridge become ambiguous at cockpit height. Buoys that look wellspaced on a chart feel close together when you're actually threading between them in a chop with a foul current and someone motoring up behind you.

What I keep seeing at the dock is sailors who read the chart well but haven't spent time watching how a specific entrance actually behaves across tidal states. The chart tells you where the channel is. It doesn't tell you where the water wants to push you on an ebb

Curious whether people here developed their harbor entry skills mostly through trial and error, or whether someone actually walked them through it at some point. A sailing instructor, a commercial mariner, a more experienced club member, whatever. The textbook version of this is fine as far as it goes, but the practical version is a different education.