As the Americas cup currently being contested on the high seas off the coast of Spain, the image of sailing has always been that it’s the domain of the well to do, a sport of kings. Most sailors, however, are average joes who ply the waters in smaller sailboats and skiffs.

But until recently, the investment in a sailboat, monthly slip rental and fees, and time to maintain a boat made sailing prohibitive to all but those who make the sport of sailing a way of life. Not anymore. From a company in Great Britain comes a small, 2-person catamaran called the MiniCat.

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Here at CG, Golf gadgets are always popular. Anything that can help straighten out that hook or slice always seems to catch our eye. And as a golfer (or even baseball player, football kicker, hockey player, or soccer forward), practicing fundamentals at home is often a problematic affair. Sure there are a host of aids to help – from pitch backs to inflatable soccer goals, to even golf nets, but the hassle of setting up and storing them while not in use is often a detriment to investing in them. And leaving them out to the mercy of the elements can greatly cut short their operational life.

Well, Nick’s Net Works has a great design for a net that attaches to your garage door and can be collapsed into it while not in use.

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If you take your golfing seriously (or just like spending a load of money on golf gadgets) and want to know everything there is to know about your golf swing then this watch could be the answer.

The golf swing analysing watch records a load of statistics about your swing, including:

1. Tempo
2. Rhythm
3. Backswing length
4. Club-head speed
5. and the time

The stats are accurate up to 1/100th of second, so if you’re at the level were honing your timing to that extent would make a difference then what are you waiting for.

You can get the golf swing analysing watch for $399.95 from Hammacher, which is a paltry amount of money compared to all the additional prize money you’re sure to win*.

* -Golf is a game of skill and boredom so we cannot be held responsible if you’re crap at it, watch or not

There are some of us who like to take a leisurely jog through the neighborhood, sweating much less than the proverbial bucket while a certain segment of the community prefers to pound the pavement on a religious basis, cutting out all noise and distraction from the outside world by tuning in to their beloved iPod nanos. Music, after all, has been known to inspire humans to achieve simply much more than they thought they could in the first place, which is why sporting apparel giant Nike has taken their iPod alliance another step further by introducing the Nike+ Apparel that comes in the form of a running T-Shirt complete with a waterproof barrier to keep your iPod nano safe from the elements.

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With summer coming within a few weeks, there are many swimming aides out there for doing laps without going to the local pool. From the expensive to the creatively affordable - we recently reported on The Home Swimmer. Many of these promise to give swimmers the tools to meet goals ranging from weight loss and building muscle tone to distance and hard core swim training. Adding to the mix is the ExerSwim, which seems to be a more portable knockoff to the Endless Pool.
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We do seem to feature quite a few pool gadgets and golf gizmos and this next product combines the two, Pro-Chip Island Golf.

To play the game simply float the island in your pool and then try to chip the balls onto the green. As each ball has a velcro cross they should stick to the float rather than bouncing off into the water. It comes complete with 12 balls which should minimize the time you need to go paddling on ball retrieval duties (or the bumber of times you push the kids in the pool and tell them to “Go fetch”).

The full kit (minus golf club) costs $49.95 from Solutions.

There are so many options around if you are one of those people whom for some reason or another wish to monitor your heart rate. It may be that you are an athlete who likes check their heart for recovery purposes or maybe there is an health issue and a heart rate monitor is an essential even possibly a life saving piece of equipment. Either way getting the most accurate heart rate monitor is a must.
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The Battle of the Bulge has just taken on a new dimension, even for casual exercisers who prefer to perform their own system of performance metrics in order to gage their progress. This view is in line with sports science which has already proven that only a structured, progressive exercise program will be able to deliver the greatest benefit to your health while maximizing your physical performance. Unfortunately for the layman, learning, remembering and actually putting such programs to practice could prove overwhelming - hence the need to find the correct balance of activities that encompass strength, flexibility, cardio, and functional exercises. The Progio Training Companion is one such device, offering you fitness, rehabilitation, and sport-specific workouts in addition to keeping track of your results, monitoring your heart rate, and keeping you motivated in a single portable device that fits comfortably in your hand.

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