Waves, despite their well-understood mathematical and physical properties, remain a rather subjective point of discussion among cruisers. There's the tendency to exaggerate, of course- we've all heard a story that goes something like "I was beating into a force 6, there were 14-foot waves coming over the bow....". (Force 6, of course, brings an average wave height of closer to 9 feet given unlimited fetch.)

The plans are ready! The four- and five-metre Almaguin runabouts, designed with first-time builders in mind, will be excellent fishing, utility or sport boats for inland lakes, rivers or calm coastal areas. They're built in taped-seam plywood and don't require elaborate jigs or fine carpentry skills. Have a look here, and please feel free to contact me if either of these boats interests you.

How do you spot an upside-down cat if the boat's white and the wave tops are white?

It's easier than spotting a capsized ballasted monohull, for sure (finding one of those often requires deepwater SONAR). But after hearing about the textbook rescue of a PDQ 32 that flipped near Fort Bragg, California a few days ago, one comment in particular caught my eye: