Sailing & Boating Advice

Advice of a general nature such as how to get friends enthused to go sailing, and how to get the most out of the sailing experience.

Let’s say a group of four sailing friends from the States fly off to the U.S. B.V.I.’s for a week-long wonderful charter of a 42 foot monohull, touring islands and discovering legends. It sounds perfect, right? How could it go wrong? Exactly 8 days later, the group arrives home. One had just a so-so time, and the rest had a terrible time. Why? Captain Fred gives you some things to consider that may just save your chartering experience.

Captain Fred looks at the history of building boats in the mid-20th century in Southern California, and details why you probably shouldn’t build your own boat.

Captain Fred explains why its wise to listen to all viewpoints when making a decision… including his, in this brief aside.

UPDATED 1/6/09 with new information. A look at the hidden costs involved with owning a boat, including a breakdown of how much you can expect to pay to own, maintain, and berth your boat for five years.

Are multihulls really that much better than their monohull counterparts? Captain Fred looks at the major advantages and disadvantages of monohulls, catamarans, and trimarans, and his findings may surprise you.

While the old adage “Why own the cow when you can get the milk through the fence?” is seldom is used in reference to boating, it certainly could be. I believe that begging rides is an excellent way to gain salient knowledge about boats before investing in your first, or next sailing or power vessel.

10 rules, tips, or whatever you want to call them, learned over 65 years of buying, owning, building and chartering boats… they may just save your life… or at least they may save you some money and a headache or two when buying a sailboat.

Getting a crew to join you for your adventure or dream is nearly impossible. Over the years , I have tried to get the “Gang” together for drinks, cruises, overnights, weekends. It just doesn’t work. People say “Hey, that sounds great.” But almost without fail, most of your guests will develop other commitments…They don’t [...]