Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2019 i Cruising World

Far be it for me to question the skill of Mark Roye’s anchoring account in “Such a Drag” (January 2019). It is more an inquiry as to whether my own anchoring method might have saved him the problems he experienced. Long, long ago, after numerous experiments at anchoring, I decided never to anchor at night anywhere — even in a flat calm — without deploying my two-anchor method. Briefly, this means snubbing in the main anchor pretty much as Mark describes, until I am satisfied it is holding. Then, by use of a specially made short strop, I attach a second anchor to the same chain with a strong line from the shank, and heave it over. I then pay out more chain and snub the second anchor in using…

In the fall of 2018, we all had it rough; gale followed gale, cold fronts spilled rain and cruisers hid behind whatever they could, tucking into harbors and anchorages, covering miles sporadically at best. I’d raced southward down the Chesapeake, riding a series of 25-knot northerlies from the Sassafras River to Annapolis to Solomon’s Island. I then headed out to Tangier for a quick night before a run to Norfolk, riding 30-knot gusts that kicked up steep, confused chop and kept me glued to the tiller. By the time I left Norfolk, early in the morning as rain sprinkled out of the gray (not yet) dawn, I was worn thin. Between days at sea, my time had been spent either scrambling for boat parts or working on the boat. I’d…

We spend summers on our Hunter 31, Katie 3, cruising the coast and islands near our home port of Hamilton, Ontario. Last summer, after spending several glorious, sunny July days anchored off Beau Rivage Island in Wanderers Channel, it was time to start the multiday voyage home. § Our provisions were running low, so one calm day I decided to experiment with some sweet potatoes I had — they’d make a tasty snack. I also had an onion and a jar of jalapeno peppers, I could use them. Now I needed a dipping sauce. I scanned my galley lockers and discovered jars of Dijon mustard and horseradish … these would do. § As we sailed and savored the results, we marveled at how, with a little creativity, a few simple…

As the steel bow of our Tahiti cutter Beatrice surged into the swells, at the helm I felt a long way from the milder climes of mainland Australia as the foreboding mass of Tasmania’s South West Cape loomed large on our starboard bow. The Pilot book describes a voyage to “Tassie” as the Ultima Thule of Australian cruising so my cousin, Christian, and I had spent a year planning and keenly anticipating this three-week summer trip that would require about 300 nautical miles of sailing. We were amidst the fabled Roaring Forties with very little shelter along Tasmania’s unpopulated southwest coast. The previous day’s passage down the sheltered east coast from our departure point at the Oyster Cove Marina, near the island state’s capital of Hobart, took us through a…

SYSTEMS Working as a marine engineer I get called to inspect a lot of boats and have to make quick determinations of whether the engine is ready for sea or, in the case of a pending sale, to check the condition of the motor before purchase. To do this, I have devised what I call a fast Engine Technical Analysis to help find problems before they become a sea story. In essence, an ETA is an advanced system of inspecting a boat’s drive train. I perform these tests to help catch pending mechanical issues before leaving the dock. An analysis is much more comprehensive than a typical pre-departure peek at the engine. I visually inspect the motor, of course, but also take a series of measurements that become a base…

When replacing or installing either a manual or powered windlass, you need to factor in the size of your boat and the depth of the water where you’ll likely be anchoring. The larger the vessel and the deeper the harbors, the more likely it is that you’ll go the power route. And unless your boat already has a hydraulic system, an electric windlass drawing either 12 or 24 volts is the way to go. When selecting a windlass, first consider how hard it may have to work. The popular idea that the windlass only has to lift the combined weights of the anchor and the submerged length of chain is dangerously wrong. When the wind begins to blow and the sea builds, the usual tactic of powering forward to ease…

SEAMANSHIP It’s easy to assume that a sailboat’s rig will perpetually point skyward. It has a lot to do with advances in engineering, material science and design priorities adopted by today’s boatbuilders. But with this uptick in reliability comes the downside of complacency. Time, metal fatigue and corrosion are co-conspirators, and they’re why every skipper needs to know where they sail on the rigging-failure timeline. Most riggers generalize that the lifespan of a sailboat’s standing rigging is about a decade. This doesn’t mean that in the 11th season the mast is destined to go over the side. But it does mean that the trouble-free decade is astern and the likelihood of problems are on the rise. In terms of miles at sea, rigging lifespan is often defined as one circumnavigation’s…

PROJECTS Since the arrival of GPS, I haven’t had much use for the chart table on my brigantine schooner, Britannia. Most of our passagemaking navigation is done on the Raymarine multifunction display on the helm pod, then transferred to a paper chart on the saloon table roughly every hour. The chart table was only used to store things that didn’t have a permanent home and as a desk for my laptop. Considering that the chart table and seat took up over forty percent of the length of the portside saloon, it was not a very efficient utilization of space. The layout also left a lot to be desired. The space between the table and companionway ladder was a narrow 10 inches, and squeezing into the seat frequently resulted in accidentally…

Let’s address this immediately. The X49 was named the year’s Best Full-Size Cruiser largely because it was the sweetest sailing boat in the entire Boat of the Year fleet for 2019. And yes, that includes its bigger sister, the previously reviewed Xp 55. Here, in brief, is what the judges had to say about her. Tim Murphy: “This boat lit me up. Absolutely joyful. It would be a great passagemaker.” Ed Sherman: “Without question the best-sailing yacht we tested this year.” Alvah Simon: “Just fantastic. A joy. That’s what people who purchase this boat will be buying into, the joy of sail.” And just for the record, it wasn’t a rail-down, white-knuckle ride in a big blow that drew such expressions of awe and ecstasy. Quite the opposite. Winds on…

During the 2018 southern summer, my partner, Christian, and I did a two-month tour through the Cook Islands aboard Pitufa, our Sparkman and Stephens 41. Penrhyn, the northernmost atoll, was the highlight of our trip. Hardly any yachts come here, though the entrance to the big lagoon is easy. The anchorage in front of the main village, Omoka, which is a port of entry, is tricky because it’s deep, too murky to see the coral heads, and due to its location on the western side, it is exposed to quite some fetch in trade-wind conditions. In Omoka, internet access and basic supplies are available, but it’s best to stock up beforehand. Water is scarce and may not be available during dry spells. After getting our clearance and checking out Omoka,…

Carl Moesly, who died on December 28, 2018, at age 97, lived life his own way. His first boat, as a Depression-era kid, was made from a long piece of roofing sheet metal folded down the middle, and sealed and fastened at each end. He used an athwartship wooden strut to spread the sides apart, creating a metal canoe to explore his backyard — the undeveloped Fort Lauderdale estuary. His cruising began in earnest as a teenager when he built a 15-foot hard-chined sloop and sailed her to the Bahamas, beach camping from cay to cay. These early waterman experiences set the stage for things to come. In the early ‘70s, Carl and his wife, Jeanne, bought a doubleended Ingrid 38 cutter and set off on their first circumnavigation. Along…

1. ALBIN PUMP MARINE 5.8-gallon water heater • $750 • ALBINPUMPMARINE.COM What’s better than showering off with hot water aboard after an ocean swim? Nothing. Now with the new 5.8-gallon water heater from Albin Pump Marine, even if your boat is on the smaller side, you can still enjoy the comfort of hot showers. The square water heater features a nontoxic ceramic interior coating and will keep water hot for over 10 hours once disconnected from shore power. 2. DOMETIC plb40 • $849 • DOMETIC.COM If your boat is small or your onboard power needs are modest (say, weekends aboard), check out this portable lithium battery from Dometic. It can be charged via a 12-volt socket, a solar panel or AC shore power. The PLB40 provides 40 amp-hours of power…

Our daughter drives us nuts. She knows how much we treasure our summers afloat and then suddenly she tells us she’s expecting her first child in late July. Really? This is the 21st century and she can’t plan any better than that? We’d left the boat four years earlier to get her married off in early August. Now we’re going to interrupt our summer cruise again? The answer to the last question is, of course, absolutely. We are all in. We’ll just have to figure it out. We suspect we are not alone in this dilemma. My wife, Jennifer, and I are able to cruise all summer on Catamount, our Caliber 38, because 1. We are retired, and 2. Our two kids live happy and comfortable lives off on their…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE Amain component of fiberglass, or glassreinforced plastic (GRP), is resin, which on its own is brittle and not very stiff or strong. It’s reinforced with glass strands, sometimes called E-glass, or electrical-grade glass. The combination can be robust and may be used in myriad ways to make countless shapes and structures, from hulls and hatches to cabin liners and decks. At some point, however, for higher loads additional reinforcement is needed. In boatbuilding, this often takes the form of stringers or “longitudinals,” which run the length of the vessel and on which an engine might typically sit. Frames, installed athwartships, perpendicular to a vessel’s centerline, are also common and harken to the “ribs” of a timber vessel. In many cases the internal reinforcement for GRP is timber; for…

Amid the design stampede to bring every conceivable comfort of home aboard, I found the new Hanse 418 to be refreshingly straightforward in both looks and performance. Below, accommodations are comfortable. On deck, things are orderly. And under sail? Well, I’ll let Boat of the Year judge Alvah Simon address that one. “The helm was — I have one word here — sweet,” he told his colleagues during their post-sea-trial deliberations. The Judel/Vrolijk-designed 418 is built at the Hanse yard in Greifswald, Germany, and replaces the 415 in the middle of the brand’s nine-boat range. It shares the same slippery hull as its predecessor, but sports an updated interior and completely new deck layout that includes twin wheels, fold-up helm seats, a stout centerline drop-leaf table in the cockpit and…

Hand steering is one of sailing’s greatest joys, but the truth is that most sailors struggle to hold an accurate course for more than 30 minutes. This is why racing crews regularly rotate drivers, and why most cruising sailors carry an autopilot that can handle helm duties when the weather turns bleak, attention deficits lurk or other onboard responsibilities take priority over chasing the compass card. While autopilots have been steering recreational sailboats since Derek Fawcett introduced his original Autohelm in 1974, contemporary systems use solid-state components, cutting-edge processors and powerful algorithms to deliver significantly better performance and advanced features to aid in getting from Point A to B. Here’s a look at what’s on the market and the important things to consider when shopping for a new electronic hand…

Typically speaking, software development usually follows hardware innovations or unfurls in tandem with new equipment releases. Interestingly, the distinctive-looking SailTimer anemometer was created because of SailTimer Inc.’s already-existing SailTimer app, which calculates optimal tacks and tacking times to destinations. In 2011, they created their original SailTimer wireless anemometer, which features an innovative cup-style design that presents itself to the wind as a propeller when heeled over, allowing the device to accurately report wind information from all inclination angles. Now, SailTimer Inc. has released the SailTimer RB. Like the original, the SailTimer RB ($550) transmits its data over Bluetooth directly to smartphone- and tablet-based Android- and iOS-friendly apps. However, the RB version features a few significant hardware upgrades. For starters, a rechargeable lithium LFP battery has usurped the brass counterweight on…

OVER the past 25 years, I have balanced my busy racing schedule with several memorable voyages to remote regions of the world. While I look back with satisfaction at having visited several seldom-seen places, these experiences inspire me to explore some more unique destinations. Every expedition requires vision and considerable planning, but the adventure is always worth the effort. With this spirit in mind, I recently reviewed my ambitious cruises over the years to help me consider what might be next on my list. What follows are seven of my favorite trips, and three more cruising grounds that have risen to the top of my sailing bucket list. All of my major cruises have required at least a year to schedule and plan. Guidebooks, tales of adventure from years past,…

For the dreamer who feels like she is up against a wall. For the would-be ocean crosser who mostly just crosses his fingers that he’ll still have beer money this week. For the small boat owner who has nothing to look forward to but the far-off promise of anchorages beyond the horizon. For you, sailor of average means, I have almost no advice. Personally, I am flabbergasted when I reflect on just how much time, money and tears I committed toward achieving my own dream. Yet from the pages of sailing magazines to the lips of yard rats I have been constantly bombarded by bumptious descriptions of cheap refits, brief yard stints and lighthearted challenges accepted with a shrug, all resulting in glamorous, jubilant sailing. I have since discovered that…

VOYAGING Australia, for many sailors, marks the end of a long, exciting and at times arduous journey across the Pacific Ocean. It’s also the first stop with a large enough population and wealthy enough economy to support a market for yachts. As such, many European and North American cruisers end their trips, and sell their boats, in Australia. Amidst the postpassagemaking delirium and elation of completing a lifelong dream, a yacht owner must navigate the morass of Australian bureaucracy. This can be a pretty hard comedown after months of relatively free and easy movement through South Pacific countries and ports. All that is to say that a measure of foresight and preparation can go a long way in easing your crew and vessel’s entry into Australia. My wife and I…

There are two clear schools of thought when it comes to getting from here to there. For some, it’s all about the journey, preferably made on a seakindly vessel that can stoutly shoulder its way through anything Mother Nature might toss in the way. The happy and rested crew measures progress not by miles per day, but by number of books read, videos watched and sunsets savored. And then there are the crews that want to get there. Fast. Among the many choices they have is a whole line of good-looking, contemporary performance cruisers from the Danish builder X-Yachts. Last fall, the company brought a pair of new offerings to the U.S. Sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland — their flagship rocket-yacht, the Xp 55, and a smaller but equally impressive…

Jeanneau Yachts has been in operation for over 50 years, and they’ve been building models in their popular Sun Odyssey line for over two decades. Like all production boatbuilders, and especially the older, longestablished ones, they refresh yachts in various size ranges at fairly regular intervals in time to reflect changes in taste and technology, and to keep attracting new buyers. Over the years, Jeanneau has built at least seven or eight iterations of their 40-foot offering, so it’s only fair to ask, how different can each successive version be? The answer, stated emphatically with their new Sun Odyssey 410, is that an evolved, inspired design can be incredibly unique and atypical of everything that preceded it. The 410 is the third in a trio of new models — the…

FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN Charter transits of the Panama Canal, including landfalls in the San Blas Islands in the Caribbean Sea and stops in the Pearl Islands in the Pacific Ocean, are offered by San Blas Sailing. The crewed trips feature an 18-day itinerary. The first week includes stops in the San Blas archipelago. Next is a visit to the historic port city of Portobelo on the Panamanian mainland. Spanish colonial fortifications there are a protected UNESCO World Heritage site. The two-day transit of the Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal follow. After a stop in Panama City, the charter heads 40 nautical miles south to the Pearl Islands for wildlife viewing, fishing and beach combing. Peak humpback whalewatching season is from June through October; rates…