r/sailing

I own a 2021 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440 (44 ft monohull) currently in Bellingham, and I'm looking for a captain to help deliver her down to San Francisco. Departure window is September 17-22, 2026, with the passage expected to take 5-7 days down the Pacific Coast.

I'm reaching out because I'd love to connect with someone from your community for this trip. If you have members who take on paid deliveries, or could point me toward someone qualified, I'd really appreciate the introduction. Happy to share more details on the boat, route, and crew plan.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.

We are on the cruise in our Polca 28. Slowly making our way to the inland waterways of western europe for wintering in the Med. We've been living onboard since last summer.

Not my video (found on Instagram). We were about half a mile behind them when this happened, just about to hoist our own spinnaker.

Let's see your most impressive trailer setups! Especially ones that transport multiple boats. The bigger the better!

Hosted my friend's F18 on my trailer for about a month and traveling 1000 miles. We did two 3-day Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan events in the Michigan "Thumb" and the "UP". This was done to free up his hitch to pull our Race Committee power boat.

We took the mast off our San Juan 28 last month to paint it and it looks so sharp. I couldn't find leather spreader boots for our odd-size spreader and I wanted 'em black anyway, so I drafted my own pattern and taught myself some leatherwork skills and here they are!

The headsail furler on my Dehler 31 seems quite high off the deck and as a result the 135% genoa sets quite high with a large gap to the deck.

This isn’t particularly efficient as you suffer a lot of end loss which is partly why racing boats have such low deck sweeping head sails.

On the plus side you can see under it when cruising and it’s a good reaching sail as it sets well with a fairly high clew.

My sailing is 70% club racing and 30% cruising and I’m wondering about going back to hank on headsails so I can get a non-overlapping jib made which can sheet inboard of the shrouds and is cut much lower at the foot for upwind sailing in heavier airs.

For racing it shouldn’t be a problem as there is plenty of man power, but is anyone using hanked on headsails for cruising these days rather than furlers? Is it worth fitting some kind of downhaul to make it easier to drop short handed? How much more of a pain is it really?

I would also have to get the genoa altered for hanks rather than a furler which is another cost.

However I can’t see any way of using a deck sweeper sail with that furler setup.

Or am I better just getting a non overlapping jib that’s cut for the furler set up and accept the higher foot and that they will be hard to swap out once we have left the dock so you are basically committed to your starting choice?

I’m undecided so any thoughts or experience would be very welcome!

Hi, I'm creating a log that I can have printed in a lay flat binding to use as a ships log.

Part of this is like a checklist, it forces me to think about some of these things a bit better and more clearly (like tides and speed) plus I really want to have a sort of journal to remember my trips.

My question is: what (if anything) should I put in place of the little sailboat picture on the log? Is there any other information I am forgetting?

I sail in the Chesapeake bay, so I don't need to worry about customs or any of those things that Caribbean sailors have to account for.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Went back out again! This one felt a lot more informational than the first. Weather was much more calm and consistent. No 3 foot waves to manage while trying to learn or crazy gusts. It was a consistent 8 or so mph wind with occasional 10-13mph gusts.

With how much more calm things were I was able to see how my actions and changing things impacted what the boat did. Putting up and taking down the sails went much smoother this time too.

Something I found odd was there times where it felt like the boat settled and we weren’t going anywhere, but when I looked behind at the water we were going a considerable pace.

I look forward to getting more time on the boat but weather isn’t looking so good for the next week.

I know the Flicka is a nice small boat. I’m in love with a boat that has a rich mahogany style but it’s too big for my money. So is there anything small that’s affordable and strong as hell.

Pics are just reference, I don’t care of lots of genius interior space, just the astetics

Also bonus point if it has a big open transom backend space. I prefer the outdoors over the indoors

This is my first summer sailing at the sailing club associated with UW Madison. Really nice people and a big variety of boats. I didn’t know that this is one of the few places where you can learn to sail with a lifeguard on duty.

Hi everyone. Hobie 18 sailor looking for some advice on sail repairs and supplies. Most of the mending I need to do is associated with batten pockets and sleeves. Photos above. There are a couple of small tears in the sail itself, about an inch long.

I’m happy to hand stitch these Dacron sails, but need a little help finding suitable patches, thread, and needles. I really like the options at Sailmaler’s Supply. Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks!

I'm finally taking the plunge and getting my first sail boat! I'm looking forward to fun on the water but also I know this is going to come with inevitable maintenance surprises so I want to be as prepared as I can. What are your go to resources to learn about maintence, repairs and improvements? I'd love to hear some recs for books, websites, courses etc. I've been sailing for a long time but never owned a boat so this is a big unknown for me.