Sail Far Live Free

"No one will go to the rescue of a drowning man if his cries are feeble." -Sri Sathya Sai Baba (an Indian guru) Man-overboard poles, or MOB poles, have been commonplace on sailboats for several decades. In fact, many races and offshore cruising rallies require a MOB pole as mandatory sailing gear  to register for an event. The idea is simple: Create an easily deployable device that makes finding someone who has fallen into the water easier even in high waves and low visibility. In other words, transform a drowning man's cry into an unmistakeable and powerful beacon. But stowing a 10' to 15' rigid pole can be troublesome, particularly if can't be mounted on the backstay.  Traditional rigid MOB pole Enter Plastimo's inflatable IOR Dan buoy... Plastimo's inflatable MOB buoy just before installing it on our stern rail This unique device attaches to a stern rail and has a torpedo shaped canister that can quickly be thrown into

A cormorant keeps watch in Charlotte Harbor, FL (by H. Walters)

I'm sure at least of few of you, like me, have been patiently waiting for Bob Perry's sequel to the guest post he provided here a month or so ago about sailboat rigs (If you haven't read it yet, check here ). What follows is the sequel where Bob focuses on split rigs (i.e., rigs with multiple masts). A big "thank you" goes to Bob Perry for his continued guest blogging here on SailFarLiveFree.com. Bob has provided a lot of really great design perspectives and experience that help me better understand the cruising sailboats that I love so much. Maybe more importantly, it's been a lot of fun interacting with one of my sailing heroes. Split Rigs According to Perry , by Bob Perry I use the term “split rig” to describe any boat with more than one mast. It’s important to keep this discussion in historical context. There was a time when dividing up the big rig of a sloop was a practical matter. It was done to break the sail area down into smaller individual compo

Arrival - Coming back to the dock after one of the first sails on our new boat last summer

" The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. " -Henry David Thoreau I remember as a kid occasionally hearing adults mention the term "mid-life crisis".  Usually it was in reference to some 40-something balding male who just purchased a Corvette or quit his stable white-collar career to try his luck at professional fishing. I never knew what the term actually meant and I couldn't seem to identify any particular crisis. Corvettes are cool and fishing is fun, so what's the problem?  It finally hit me just the other day: A mid-life crisis begins the moment you realize the value of time. The REAL value of time, not the monetary value of time. That sounds simple, right? It's not. Let me explain. You see, I've known for a long while that society has trained us to trade our time for money. You've known that most of your adult life too. For example, if you're a skilled craftsmen, you know you can get X dollars for