Indholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2016 i Cruising World

“Dangerous situations can develop with great suddenness — so even when all looks well, watch out!”  It all started out so well, our little getaway last summer to the Elizabeth Islands and Buzzards Bay. Heeding the previous night’s forecast, which called for a lackluster northerly to slowly swing to the southeast and build in the afternoon, we cast off our mooring line early in the hopes we’d be well along our way before the breeze was on our nose. It was a good plan. The water was calm when we left Wickford, Rhode Island, and though the current was against us for the first hour or so, we made OK headway. Not really thinking about our speed over the ground, I figured that by the time we reached the mouth…

Boat at 50 with 10 Steps That Will Keep You There Until 80 Just another “how to go cruising” book? Not this one. The author, who voyaged with his family years ago, opens this story as a septuagenarian feeling drawn back to the sea and the cruising life. His personal account of how he and his wife got back out there is prescriptive, filled with stepby-step advice and philosophy aimed squarely at anyone who has reached retirement age but still harbors dreams instead of plans. “Exercise,” “eat right,” “change your attitude” and “stop buying stuff ” are all part of his mantra. But take heart — page 182 starts a section titled “Don’t Stop Drinking.”…

From textiles and woven goods to carvings, in every place we’ve sailed, people are making and selling traditional handicrafts. Commissioning local artisans to make specialty pieces or do custom work on board not only changes your living space, but it might also change someone’s life. In 2011 we visited Lape Island, Tonga, where the villagers were making beautiful woven handicrafts and investing the profits from the sales back into the community. When we returned in 2013, the people had raised enough money to build a concrete jetty, pave a walkway across the muddiest parts of  the village, and pay for all the village children to go to school. We asked them to weave a mat large enough to be installed as a headliner on board Kate. Working with local artisans…

Recently I decided to put granite counter tops in my kitchen. I went on angieslist.com and saw a list of companies that do that work. I then looked at what their customers had to say about the service they received; the comments were most revealing and helped me quickly cull the list. Within an hour, I was sending emails to three prospective installers with my questions, and a week later the job was done. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been as easy to find marine services. Obtaining repairs on my Catalina 34 has always been hit or miss, since there’s no reliable way to vet the repair companies or speak with their customers. But the developers behind a new app called Mariner Exchange hope to change that. Apple iOS device users can…

Once all the paperwork was done and the foundations were installed on the bottom of the ocean, it took only about a month for the first off shore wind turbines to become fully erected. And then, they were there: five of them, all in a line, standing watch over Rhode Island’s Block Island Sound like Don Quixote’s giants, spinning around and around with 240-foot-long blades to produce what will eventually become 90 percent of Block Island’s energy supply in the next few years. And should all go well with these five wind turbines, there’s already a plan in place for the next chapter of off shore wind energy. Deepwater Wind, the company responsible for building the first five off shore wind turbines ever constructed in United States waters, has…

Even if it weren’t for the grapevines of Minervois, Corbières and Limoux descending in rows down from the snow-topped Pyrenees and severe Massif Central mountains into the Aude Valley; even if it weren’t for the thousand-year-old stained glass, great Gothic arches, and layers of local marble and sandstone recalling the Paleolithic, Roman and medieval people who walked the hills and built the walls around us; even if it weren’t for the mild Mediterranean climate, encounters with the easygoing people of the Languedoc region, and the world-class delicacies they serve from their own backyard — even if it weren’t for all these things, I would come to the Midi just for the canal bridges. The 17th-century Canal du Midi, linking France’s Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, is a marvel. But the stone…

Scott Duncan says the team’s first-generation MiniNav featured a double-ended canoe design. Nav2 maintains this shape in her bow sections, which Duncan says off ers a good balance between reserve buoyancy and the ability to negotiate seas, but the team’s most recent ASV features a traditional transom and sheer line, with a length of 6.5 feet and a narrow-beam hull (20 inches at the widest point). A deepdraft keel (2.5 feet) provides stability and righting moment, while a relatively short rudder (roughly 8 inches deep) provides steerage. Duncan constructed the hull’s topsides and undercarriage using S-fiberglass and epoxy, which he hand-laid over impact-absorbing foam, leaving epoxy-coated foam for her watertight interior. The deck is also built using a foam core sandwiched between layers of S-glass, and carbon-fiber reinforcements are used…

When renowned marine photographer Onne van der Wal popped the question “Does everyone know what a histogram is?” and my hand was the only one raised to admit I didn’t, I knew I was in trouble. Van der Wal, one of about 45 top-end shooters in the “Explorers of Light” posse of professionals, sponsored by Canon cameras, was addressing a couple of dozen attendees at one of his regular photography workshops at his gallery in Newport, Rhode Island, last summer. The occasion was the introduction of Canon’s new 1D X MKII camera — at about $6,000, it’s worth more than my ancient Silverado pickup truck — and the group consisted mostly of ringers: photography writers dispatched to review the gear for their respective websites and publications. A final spot had…

Sitting quietly at the dock, the white O’Day 28.5 Jubilee, built more than three decades ago, doesn’t look like much of a game-changer. But that’s exactly what it’s been for more than 300 people who have been dealing with cancer — either in treatment or finished with it because there’s nothing else to be done. For the past two summers, Vermonters Suzanne Johnson and Glen Findholt have spearheaded an organization called Healing Winds to take those patients, along with their family and friends, sailing on the scenic waters of Lake Champlain aboard Jubilee, providing them with a brief but valuable respite from their everyday challenges. Says Johnson: “It’s really the one thing I know, from being a cancer patient, that families can do together, outside. When you’re going through…

Lemon meringue pie has always been a favorite of mine. So when my partner, Steve, requested it in lieu of a birthday cake one year, I was happy to oblige. Since then, lemon meringue pie has become an annual event aboard Kate, our Newport 41. One year, when the big day rolled around, I went ashore in search of ingredients. There were no lemons anywhere, but I did find some good-looking limes. Completely obsessed with the citrus, I forgot to buy extra butter to make the pastry. I managed to sneak ashore one last time, but the little local shop had no butter. I wandered through near-empty aisles, wondering what I could do to save the birthday dessert. Then I saw it: a lone package of coconut cookies. A tropical…

“In the midst of solo circumnavigation number six, on a long, singlehanded crossing from Darwin, Australia, to Durban, South Africa, there was no rest for the weary when the final few miles proved to be some of the most challenging. ” At 0500 Monday, August 22, our 53rd day at sea since leaving Darwin, Australia, the wind died, and Gannet, my Moore 24, and I were becalmed 10 miles from Durban Harbor, South Africa. Confident that the remainder of the 6,000-mile passage would be over in a few hours, I took advantage of the smooth conditions to fit the outboard bracket and electric Torqeedo onto the stern. The Torqeedo had not been used in months, not since I’d powered the last half-mile to the marina in Bundaberg, Australia. I was…

The gray dawn came reluctantly, with occasional drizzle that at times became torrential rain as increasingly heavy squall lines passed through. We’d left Niuatoputapu, Tonga, four days earlier aboard our Flying Dutchman 50, Small World II, and the leading edge of the cold front we had been racing ever since was finally over us. For several hours we’d been plowing through intensifying weather under triple-reefed main, staysail and reefed yankee. Just ahead lay our destination, Savusavu Bay, on the south coast of Vanua Levu, the second-largest isle in the island nation of Fiji. It had been an interesting trip. What had started out as a fairly boisterous passage with 20 to 25 knots of wind and 6- to 9-foot seas had mellowed to an easy broad reach in 15 to…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE When I recently asked a boatbuilder what type of portable fire extinguisher he installed aboard his boats, the response took me aback. “Does it really matter?” he asked. “Aren’t they all pretty much the same?” Given the alphabet soup by which fires and extinguishers are defined and designated (see “U.S. Fire Classifications”), his answer could be forgiven. However, there are significant diff erences between such designations. While fire classifications might be familiar to some, the ratings of fire extinguishers — for instance, 1A and 10B:C — are often enigmatic. For Class A fires, a 1 represents the equivalent of 1.25 gallons of water; 2 the equivalent of 2.5 gallons of water; 3 the equivalent of 3.75 gallons of water; and so on. For Class B and C fires,…

Crew Wanted for a Whale of a Time This fall, join an intrepid band of adventurers sailing Barba to northern Norway, above the Arctic Circle, to spend a season documenting the orcas. The crew plans to study whales through February, then spend March and April skiing and exploring the remote northern wilderness. Find out how to join the fun for a short or long leg at cruisingworldcom/1611barba. Video: Ocean Research Project Matt Rutherford and the crew of Ault are surveying ice, temperature and salinity for NASA in the fj ords of Greenland. “If you were to melt the Greenland ice cap, you would add 21 feet to sea-level rise globally,” says Rutherford. “We are horribly unprepared.” Watch the video at cruisingworld.com/1611rutherford. New Boats and Products Debut in Newport At this…

I spotted a lighthouse that looked as if it reached all the way to the floor of heaven.” That’s just one of many great lines in Jimmy Buff ett’s romp of a sailing yarn, A Salty Piece of Land. And it’s absolutely accurate, as we discovered upon sailing to the Amédée lighthouse in New Caledonia’s magnificent lagoon. Maybe it’s the contrast of the sheer white tower against the turquoise waters of the lagoon. Maybe it’s the mesmerizing spiral pattern of the 200-plus stairs we climbed to reach eagle-eye views. Or maybe it’s the fact that we got there by sailing our sturdy Dufour 35 from halfway around the world. Whatever makes it so special, the Amédée lighthouse is one of the iconic landmarks of the South Pacific. Built in 1862…

“Excessive? Perhaps. But, hey, just because I’m one of the lowest-cost vessels transiting the Indian Ocean this year doesn’t mean I can’t be the best prepared. ” By the time most American and European circumnavigators stare out across the Indian Ocean, they’ve already transited the largest, widest ocean in the world. They’ve also sailed halfway around our watery planet. Even more impressive, they’ve traveled down to windy New Zealand, been blown through the howling Torres Strait, and have waved at the nearby Roaring 40s and the Southern Ocean. Most have numerous gales under their belts. Thus they’re susceptible to a bit of a swagger. They figure they’re ready for anything. They’re not. The Indian, as we call it, is an ocean unto its own. Nobody ever considered calling it pacific.…

“It was while attached to one of these moorings, during a 35-knot wind gust, that we learned a valuable cruising lesson — and almost lost our boat to the South Pacific. ” We were clinging to the side of an ancient volcano, hanging on to the very edge of a mountain that fell away under our keel to a seabed that rested over 13,000 feet below. Just off our bow lay a ring of reef and a handful of tiny islands grasping at the surface. To our stern was the deep, unrestrained South Pacific Ocean. We were moored on the leeward side of Palmerston, an atoll home to about 60 people. Each resident belongs to one of three families, all connected by one man, William Marsters, an eccentric English trader…

a strong southerly breeze blew over the sleepy seaside village of Port Townsend, Washington, on the morning of June 23, 2016, just in time for the start of the second annual Race to Alaska (R2AK), a “human-powered” contest that takes racers to Ketchikan by way of Victoria, British Columbia, and the inside passage separating Vancouver Island from the mainland. While other teams synced their starts with the race committee’s gunshot, the Navocean team opted to let the fleet go before placing Nav2, their autonomous surface vehicle, into the still-ebbing tide. Nav2 immediately started fetching her waypoints while her creators followed astern in a RIB, hoping that the wind would hold and that their tidy ASV would beat the next tide cycle. as do many great sailing-related ventures, the Navocean…