Boating

Boating is the world's foremost magazine for boating enthusiasts. Written by experts for those who love the sport, the editorial covers the waterfront -- from runabouts to sportfish convertibles to luxury showpieces, and everything in between.

Boating

KEEP IT ROLLING • Boat trailers deserve the same attention we lavish upon our boats and engines

Capt. Sergio Davi Ocean Adventurer • Capt. Sergio Davi loves to cruise the open ocean aboard rigid inflatable boats (RIBs)—and we mean open ocean. The 57-year-old Italian native has captained a variety of RIBs powered by his sponsor, Suzuki outboards, traveling from his home base in Palermo to Amsterdam (3,000 nautical miles), North Cape (4,000 miles), New York (7,000 nautical miles through dangerous Arctic waters) and Recife Brazil, roughly 6,000 nautical miles. Boating caught up with Davi on the final leg of his recent and most ambitious excursion—a 10,000-nautical-mile run from Palermo to Los Angeles, encompassing two oceans, four continents and more than a dozen countries on stops along the way. We joined Davi aboard his latest rig, a 38-foot Nuova Jolly RIB with twin Suzuki DF300B dual-prop outboards, aptly named Aretusa Explorer.

INSIDE THE ISSUE

TRAILERING SAFETY • We can’t all live on waterfront property. Most of us trailer our boats to the ramps when we want to go boating. If you’re one of the many millions who trailer, this test is right up your alley. How well do you know your boat trailer and trailering safety?

TRAILER TONGUE JACKS • Where would trailer boaters be without tongue jacks? Without these telescoping mechanisms, we’d break our backs trying to hoist the trailer tongue, or we’d have to roll out a floor jack every time we hitched up the boat. Here are three types of tongue jacks for today’s boat trailers.

5 THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR OLD SLALOM SKI

GRADY-WHITE FREEDOM 325

KAWASAKI JET SKI ULTRA 310

GH GEAR HEAD

DRIFTING IN THE FOG AT NIGHT • This boater kept his pride, but at the cost of a harrowing night.

TOWING A DINGHY • Bringing along a dink requires planning and technique.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WATER-SKIING • Celebrating the sport that started 100 years ago.

Q&A

ECOXGEAR JOURNEY SPEAKER

HOW TO REPAIR AND HELP PREVENT RUST DAMAGE ON A STEEL BOAT TRAILER • Put the brakes on boat-trailer corrosion with the three-part KBS RustSeal metal coating system.

TRAILER-LIGHT TROUBLES? • Quick checks and quick fixes

BOAT TRAILER ACCESSORIES • Today, trailer-boaters can choose from a wider range of trailer accessories than ever before. These items offer greater safety and more security while on the road, and provide appreciable convenience whether towing a trailer or backing it up, or just climbing in and out of the boat. Here are examples of eight types of towing accessories that you can easily add to your trailer.

POWERWINCH RC30 • Powerwinch—the standard in trailer winches for boaters for so long that the company name often gets used to describe the product it produces—offers new, remote-controlled trailer winches.

SPORTSWEAR WITH UV PROTECTION • Ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) is a measurement of how much ultraviolet light is blocked by a fabric. UPF 50, the most common rating on clothing tags, means the fabric will cut out all but 1/50th of the sun’s cancer-causing UV rays. Basically, 98 percent of the UV rays do not penetrate a UPF 50 fabric. For all-day fun in the sun, choosing lightweight garments that offer this protection is beneficial for comfort and long-term skin care.

JEANNEAU DB/43 • This new Jeanneau comes with either the twin diesel sterndrives we tested or triple gasoline outboards.

BLACKFIN 302 DC • Blackfin brings luxury to fishability and performance to durability with this new...