Latitude 38 Feb. 2012

Page 52

LETTERS

BRING BACK THE GOOD LOOKS OF YOUR SAIL WWW.VACUWASH.COM

Doug — We love it! You can also get the eBook version of Latitude on your Kindle. Just download the file(s) to your computer, then transfer them to the Kindle via the USB cord. Here's 'Lectronic looks great on a link to a complete set of instructions the Kindle Fire. and a video: www.amazon.com/gp/ help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200728710#usb.

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Marina • Boatyard • Chandlery • Brokerage Dealers for

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Latitude 38

Distributors for

• February, 2012

⇑⇓LATITUDE IS ON FIRE! I brought my new Kindle Fire down to Puerto Vallarta with me so I could stay connected. I'm currently sitting on a balcony overlooking Banderas Bay catching up on the 'Lectronic postings. 'Lectronic looks fantastic on the Fire. Doug Vaughan Odyssey, Jeanneau 37 Oakland YC

DOUG VAUGHAN

Vacu Wash® is the leading washing technique for laminated and woven sails, displaying extraordinary results where other don’t. Go to our website and see the many ‘before and after’ examples and see how easy it is to ship your sails to our facilities in taxfree New Hampshire. Good looks DO matter...

Charters book 'ti Profligate at perhaps the lowest price of any four-cabin, heads ensuite, 45-ft cat in the Caribbean. And she's in fine shape. Maybe that's why she's not available again until June 2, but it's not too early to book her for next winter. 'ti Profligate is a strictly 'big bang for the buck' cat, so while she came directly out of The Moorings program a few years back, she doesn't have air conditioning, AC for hair dryers or coffee makers, or electric toilets, as do some of the more modern Moorings charter cats.

Brownell Boat Stands

⇑⇓THERE'S JUST NO COMPARISON TO OR IN LATITUDE As Latitude is the best and most informative sailing publication, what would you guys think about having a boat test section each month, as they do in motorcycle and car magazines? Comparing the sailing, quality, performance, quirks, and availability of three or four new or used boats — i.e. a Catalina 36 against an S2 36 or Saber 36 or Islander 36. I think this would give Joe Public an idea what might be the best product or application for them. Don Little Syzygy, Santana 20 Folsom Lake Dan — We don't know if Latitude is the best sailing magazine, but our staff busts our bottoms each month to try to provide readers with the most information we can. So on behalf of them, thank you for the kind words. It's always been our opinion that you can't test or compare boats as you can cars or motorcycles. It's not a problem to quickly find the variety of environments motorcycles will operate in. Give us a car in Marin County for three hours, and we can give you a decent assessment of how it will do on freeways, in traffic, up hills, on curvy roads, fleeing the police, and in most other conditions except snow. Because sailboats operate in a much greater variety of conditions, legitimate testing would take far more time — as in days, if not weeks. Heck, the folks from Adventure Cat once told us it took them a year to understand how to sail their cat. After launching Profligate, we understood what they meant. In addition, the operator of a sailing vessel is a much greater variable than a driver of a car, so that could throw things way off, too. For example, if you put a good sailor at the helm of a Corsair 31, he or she will quickly have that tri singing. But put a novice or average sailor at the helm of the same tri, and he/ she might soon be swimming next to the overturned hulls.


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