Sail Far Live Free

"Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!" - Bob Marley My favorite genre of books is, no surprise, non-fiction cruising/sailing books. But I've got to be in the right frame of mind to read and actually get something out of it. If it's not quiet or I've got other tasks looming, I might as well forget about reading. My mind just won't focus under those circumstances. However, the latest wave of cruising/sailing videos is there to fill the void. Often I'll put on my headphones and let my mind drift while watching YouTube just before bed. I know in a sense this is burying my thoughts and escaping the reality of a long, cold winter, but I've accepted that in the short term. Our addition (from a few boats & years ago)  to YouTube's cruising annals. Several years ago when I first started blogging (~2007), YouTube was still just an infant and there was little in the way of sailing content. Nowadays, there

Simple solutions. That could be a sailing cruiser's credo. And in that vein, the Scosche Magic Mount is a super simple solution for mounting portable electronics at the helm or the nav desk down below. I've been using the Magic Mount Original for about a week now with my iPhone 6 Plus and have been really happy with the functionality and ease of use. But before I get into the likes and dislikes, what is a Magic Mount? Well, it's essentially a magnetic mount that allows you to dock and undock devices quickly and easily in either landscape or portrait orientation. The base is similar to a lot of other mounting systems and allows for twisting, pivoting, etc. The base of the Magic Mount original (the model I think will be most useful to boaters) attaches to just about any surface using a sticky adhesive pad. If this semi-permanent arrangement is an issue for you, I suggest you consider one of the window mounts that use a suction cup instead. Magic Mount Original from S

Big Skies and Smooth Seas (by Hannah Walters)

I love electronic gear that doesn't eat into my sailboat's battery bank. Add in three-in-one versatility and an IPX5 shock/water resistance rating and you've potentially got a nice piece of cruising tech. Those are the features that the Buckshot Pro Bluetooth speaker/powerbank/flashlight from Outdoor Tech possesses and as their website says, this is "stuff you probably want". I first became interested in the Buckshot Pro as a small Bluetooth speaker that could handle wet rides from the mothership to the beach and back. Its small size (about 4.125"L w/ a 1.75" diameter) allows it to fit in a pocket, a cup holder or mount to stanchions and the bimini frame using the included rubber mounting strap. I routinely get over 10 hours of play time at 3/4 volume, which is quite good considering the size. Sound quality isn't stellar, but it's still very respectable, again considering the speaker size. Most of the time the sound is on par with other small