Publications & Articles

Featuring visits to the Paris Boat Show, Atelier Outremer on the French Riviera, “Club Med” the giant cat in Monte Carlo and the Amsterdam Scheepvaartsmuseum. Port de Versailles on the southern limits of Paris is the venue of the annual Salon Nautique, also known as the Paris...

Wind driven machines – don’t we all only think of catamarans (ok, sometimes even monos).  But Dutch artist Theo Jansen is way out to lunch.  Not only are his kinetic sculptures beautiful wind-creatures that can walk across sand dunes but they also represent a single...

The question of Seaworthiness: Design and Construction. A brief analysis of the most important considerations when purchasing a cruising multihull. Safety and seaworthiness, as Czeslav A. Marchais describes it in his great book “ Seaworthiness – the Forgotten Factor” should...

Heavy weather and survival conditions First, let us make the distinction between heavy weather sailing and survival sailing. Heavy weather sailing is done in full control of your circumstances and ability to manage your vessel. Survival is when you pass that point and must take...

What is sailing and sail trim like on a cruising cat or tri? To a large extent that depends on your level of sailing expertise, on the boat you sail, and your perspective. Since the basic sailing concepts apply to all types of sailing craft including multihulls, you’ll find...

Sailing Hydraplaneur with Yves Parlier. Hydraplaneur flying a hull Photo: Twin When a phone call from Ocea , Yves Parlier’s parent organization invited me to test this radical catamaran I found myself a week later in the company of a very special group of people – true pioneers...

Uncovering the compromises of both underwater appendages and analyzing their disadvantages and merits. Man has learned much from nature, and sailboats and their underwater appendages are one of the areas that we have applied what works and what doesn’t. As we all know, boats – as...

An essay describing FLO’s participation in the 300 mile classic offshore race.   Miki, appeared wobbly as he stepped out of the car. No wonder, he arrived the night before from Zurich and was starting to feel his biological clock being slightly out of sync with the present...