On the Water: News & Events

DBE! is my new shorthand for "Don't Blame Electronics!"  And the collision of Ella's Pink Lady with the Silver Yang off Queensland, Australia, last September is a terrific example (especially as no one got hurt).  I first heard about it in ... …Read More

What jumps out at me from the 23 June Protocol is that a door remains open to a match in 2013 rather than 2014, which still seems more likely. Also, there’s item 24.4: Racing Areas to be Shared: The racing areas for the Challenger Selection Series and the Defender Trials shall be the same racing [...] …Read More

NOAA released a new and interactive Eessential Fish Habitat map this week, which shows locations of habitat, gear restrictions and closed areas, and species locations. This is version 2.0, and a few clicks confirm that NOAA’s worked all the bugs out of this system. It runs smoothly, allowing you to choose geographic region, fish species, and protected [...] …Read More

To finish off our series on high-performance photographers, we bring you behind the lens of the group's veteran. …Read More

Sunscreen is a must for boaters, but that greasy feeling sun screen leaves you with stinks, so I was interested when SmartShield said theirs worked without that slickery feel. They sent me one of their 4.5 ounce bottles of SPF30 to try out, and I had the chance to give it a workout during a sunup to sundown [...] …Read More

We had a false start in December when we first saw the PC charting program Expedition interfaced to a Navico BR24 radar, but as of last night this interesting possibility, and many like it, seem to be official.  Read the full press release here.... …Read More

In yet another example of racing when the most recent crop of America’s Cup boats would be huddled ashore, youngsters from up and down the West Coast spent last weekend sailing the Opti Heavy Weather regatta on the San Francisco cityfront. This is one place where locals can give an event a name like that, [...] …Read More

Leaders of sailing businesses found new wind for their sails at an educational conference staged by Sail America. …Read More

The 100-footer Maxi Speedbird beats all the other boats to Bermuda in the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race. We've got a nice video tour of Speedboat. …Read More

The photo is from a BoatUS press release discussing how it, NOAA, and several other organizations are concerned that many boaters are using outdated charts.  They've even got a survey going (quick and easy), and I bet the results will confirm th... …Read More