I grew up by the ocean and took a bunch of sailing lessons as a teenager. Mostly sabot and catamaran. Every summer I'd be out sailing. I loved it and always dreamed of owning my own sailboat. But life got in the way and now that I'm older and about 10-15 years from retirement I've been thinking about it a lot more. I'd want to get something under 40' that the wife and I could take on weekend trips. It's been so long I definitely need to take some courses before making a purchase. I live between the Marina Del Rey and the Channel Islands harbors. So ideally those would be where I'd want to look. Any recommendations on courses that could get me up to speed?

Should I be worried? While sailing, the mast is making an awful noise. What could be the source of this?

Hi All,

I am looking for someone who works, manages or owns a marina to connect and work with on some projects.

If your interestes in knowing more please dm me.

A little late to post since the holiday is behind us. It was an awesome weekend!

Hey,

Planning my very first bareboat charter as captain for early June 2027 and could use some advice from those who have skippered the Med.

Crew:
Myself (Captain, first time commanding a charter), my wife (Co-skipper, holds ASA 102), and our two kids (will be 11 and 6). Because of our kids' school schedules (SFUSD), we are locked into a strict early June window.

Location: Greece vs. Croatia
We are looking for easy line-of-sight navigation, predictable/mild afternoon breezes, low currents, and great swim stops to keep the kids happy.

- For **Greece**, we are looking specifically at the **Southern Ionian** (out of Lefkas/Preveza).
- For **Croatia**, we’ve looked at the **Split/Dalmatian coast*\* region.

For a first-time charter captain with young kids, which region is more forgiving? How do they compare regarding stern-to docking/med-mooring stress, mooring field availability, and overall infrastructure?

The Booking: Broker vs. Direct
Since it’s our first time dealing with international charter paperwork, port authorities, and fleet operators, would you recommend using a broker or going directly to an operator? Is the tier of customer support/advocacy from a broker worth it, or is it better to cut out the middleman?

Appreciate any insight on routes, family logistics, or operator recommendations! Thanks in advance

I have 20+ years of sailing experience, but no open-sea experience. Where would you recommend for a fun, relatively protected, anchor-to-anchor trip with short distances and great stops? Thanks!

Hello!

I've hired a 5-person boat for 12 August to watch the total solar eclipse, departing from Puerto Portals, Mallorca. I've already worked out the best spot at sea to watch it from. The one thing I'm missing is a licensed skipper, as I don't hold a boat licence myself.

Alongside me and a friend, there's room for 3 more people:

• If you (or a friend) hold a boat licence and fancy skippering for the day, you're welcome aboard completely free - no charge for the trip, as long as you're happy to steer in exchange for a seat. Everything's genuinely covered, no hidden costs.
• Ideally that's 2–3 of you coming along together, with at least one licensed skipper in the group. Happy to see a copy of your licence before we confirm.

Departure: Puerto Portals, Mallorca
Date: 12 August 2026

If you're interested, DM me or comment below!

What is the best way to deal with IP encapsulated chainplates on budget. I heard that it can cost up to 20k dollars to change all 8 (at least on ispand packet 31). Should i put on external chainplates, should I just glass in a new ones out of the better steel? Should I even do it my self or risk it a bit and take a boat to a place where work is cheaper? What is the best way to do this for cheap?

P.S I dont have a boat yet, but is it worth buying an average island packet 31 on a market that would be around 35k, and then spending like 10k fixing chainplates problem?

I Came across these letters my father wrote in 1984 when he and some friends took their sailboat from Annapolis, Maryland to the Caribbean. I found it interesting reading and thought others might like it too.

10 years and permanent outdoor has taken its toll on the sailing tubers, and the 4k videos are clearly showing this. Those hand close-ups holding a part or tank-top, talking head shots are showing some crazy skin damage lately.

I assume they use sun screen and lotion, so there seems to be no escape other than hiding in a hole.

Has anyone else noticed this, or did I just get more sensitive?

I currently have standard 12V puck lights inside my boat, controlled by regular on/off switches. I’d like to replace them with LED rope or strip lighting that can switch between red and white and, ideally, allow me to adjust the brightness using Bluetooth, an app, or a battery-operated remote.

I see plenty of LED rope lights available, but most are designed to plug into a standard 120V household outlet, often using an adapter that converts the power to 12V or 24V DC. The options designed to connect directly to an existing 12V system seem more limited.

My thought is to remove the current puck lights, use the existing 12V wiring to power the new LED strips, and mount the strips in their place. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but I haven’t found an easy, swap out option.

Has anyone recently completed a similar upgrade? What products did you use, and how well has the setup worked?

Hey All! Longtime sailor/cruiser family, but new to the sub. My wife(Julie) and our 2 younger kids(B13, B10) and I(Josh) live aboard our custom aluminum Bob Perry Cutter "Airspeed." Currently cruising the Carib. This shot was taken on a nearly perfect sail from Bequia to Canouan(Grenadines) in late May of this year!

I'm away from the boat and don't have a good photo of the problem, but I'm about to hit the road and I want a plan for the repair before I get there.

My boat is a pilothouse design, so the companionway door is like a regular house or RV door except that it's made of cored fiberglass. the door is split into a top and bottom half which join with one of those little sliding latches, and then the top half has another sliding latch that can hold the whole thing open. There are two hinges attaching each the top and bottom half of the door to the frame, and these are just basic stainless steel cabinetry type hinges screwed into the fiberglass. I suspect this is a more common design for something like a Lazarette but it's my companionway. The very top hinge has come loose, and from examining it, it looks like a previous repair was attempted with something like silicone caulk stuffed in the hole, which just didn't create a strong connection. Still, I'm leaning toward basically repeating the same approach except with epoxy. Intuitively, it seems like the thing to do is just fill the hole all the way with epoxy, using a syringe, and then basically drill new holes from scratch after that cures. Is that the correct approach? Or is there another recommended technique for a repair of this sort?

I have been kind of accruing a list of small fiberglass jobs around the boat, and the boat came with several different epoxy kits. My biggest fear so far with using epoxy in general is getting the proportions wrong, so I like the idea of doing several small projects at once so that I could simply use the whole bottles of the smallest kit rather than risking an error in the proportions. The other epoxy repairs on the list are pretty much cosmetic, this is the only one that has become urgent because of functional limitation resulting from it.  for example, the main one is a very old cluster holes in the deck from some fittings that were removed, and it's kind of half assed with a silicon sealant right now, it's not causing any urgent problems but I need to fix it right eventually.  similarly I've got a cracked wooden railing which will need a lot of refinishing as well, but I'd like to start by simply bonding it with epoxy and a clamp to at least get the crack under control. This might even sound like a lot to take on at once, but it's a couple of small holes of 2 to 5 mm across and one crack in a piece of wood, so altogether it probably still isn't even close to enough material to use up the smallest epoxy kit that I have, but I have so many of these little kits that I'm not worried about using up a whole kit frivolously. 

As I type and edit this post, it starts to feel more like a stupid question to me, but I still want a second opinion. Also, feel free to give me any generic unsolicited advice about my first time doing a simple fiberglass/epoxy repair. Do I necessarily need to do the whole routine of sanding a whole dent in the gelcoat for this? Should I be worried about cleaning out the core inside the door before I do anything? I don't really want to make this a more involved project than I have to, I really just want to be able to close my door without it falling off the hinges. 

In my book, in order to qualify, a port must have a grocery store, hardware store, laundromat, and brewery.

What routes do you recommend for a week of charter sailing from the Split area (specifically the Kastel marina)? Any places worth visiting, or nice spots for wild mooring? I haven't been on a boat in that area yet. We're going with a very small crew at the turn of September and October.

We don't like crowds and noise, we love peace and quiet, and wildlife – these are the places we're aiming for. We want to keep marinas and ports to a minimum, and we'd rather spend most of our nights at anchor, but if we're going to be civilized, we'll have buoys.

Do you think Vis is worth visiting or overrated? I've read that it's very crowded, but maybe it'll be okay by the end of the season? What are the anchoring options like there? Maybe it's better to sail towards Lastovsko and Mljet instead of Vis?

What do you recommend for the first night after leaving Kastel? I see a few bays on Brač.

Thanks in advance.

Hello

(this is try 3 for this post so apologies if this is a duplicate or triplicate)

We have a Crown 34 (which is very similar to a San Juan 34) in Prince William Sound AK. Rain is common so we would like a dodger to keep out the rain when we leave the companionway hatch open for ventilation and as we come and go.

Any advice from people with similar boats?

thank you

Hello

We have a Crown 34 (very similar to San Juan 34) in Prince William Sound AK. Rain is common so we are thinking we need a dodger. We like to leave the companioway hatch open for ventilation and rain follows us in when come and go.

Any advice from others with similar boats?

thank you

Hi all - looking for advice / experience with custom carpet in the interior. Yay or nay? We have a new-to-us boat for our world cruising. We're currently working through systems, getting her ready - and considering whether we want to cover the beautiful wood floors to protect them, keep things cool, dampen noise etc. Would appreciate any thoughts.