Innehållsförteckning för September 2020 från Cruising World

“If the boat’s well-cared-for condition wasn’t selling point enough, the lights on the trailer worked.” Earlier this summer, with the world turned all topsy-turvy, our Sabre 34 on the hard, and the future looking about as clear as a brackish creek after a soaking rain, we did the only thing that seemed sensible at the time: We bought another sailboat. It’s a beaut—a 1965 O’Day Daysailer I, with a dark blue hull, white deck and varnished floorboards that admittedly could benefit from some TLC eventually. And if the boat’s well-cared-for condition wasn’t selling point enough, the lights on the trailer worked. I’ve never had a trailer with lights. An omen? Perhaps. We’d been looking for a while for a small, trailerable fiberglass sailboat, one that’s easy to maintain and could…

Dan Spurr has always been one of the best in the business, but in a couple of paragraphs in “Evolution by Design,” he really swung and missed. What I mean is: “Stodgy British designers of the past century and their now-old-fashioned (though sea-friendly, one should note) concepts….” Hey, Dan, that’s just history. You might not like the fashions of the past century, but the designers were certainly not stodgy in their time and place. They had superb craftsmen and materials to work with and sophisticated yachtsmen as clients. And, apparently, they didn’t feel the need for “home fashion” in their yachts. And who hasn’t had, or at least wished for, a great cruise on a boat with a “cabin in the woods” down below? Why the put-down? § In any…

Familiar Caribbean cruising routes and a family’s sabbatical adventure are the setting for this novel about relationships, marriage, depression, abuse and survival. While these are challenging themes (it’s not a lighthearted read), the message is ultimately about the value of dialogue—timely!—and finding the inner strength to overcome adversity. Sea Wife is also a page turner with dark foreshadowing of a crisis that unfolds scene by scene. While luring readers forward, common challenges facing new cruisers are surfaced: worrying about sailing skills (then finding sailing isn’t necessarily the hard part of cruising; even bigger obstacles await); bridging a relationship from shore to sea; the intensity of sharing a sailboat’s spaces together 24/7; facing fears (and realities) of disaster at sea. Some passages read like cautionary tales, others as joyful recollections of…

1. ePROPULSION SPIRIT 1.0 PLUS • $1,999 • EPROPULSION.COM If you’re looking for an electric outboard motor for your tender or even a small daysailer, check out the new Spirit 1.0 Plus. It’s a 3 hp motor that is lightweight (24 lb. for the motor; 19 lb. for the battery), compact, and can stow in its own bag. At half throttle (about 3.7 knots), the motor has a 10-hour runtime, and the battery is waterproof to IP67 standards and can float. 2. HENRI-LLOYD MAV HL MID JACKET • $175 • HENRILLOYD.COM This midlayer jacket is not only comfortable, but it’s good for the planet as well. The men’s Mav HL Mid Jacket features high-wicking, quick-drying, stretchy polyester fleece construction that offers good thermal insulation while staying comfortable in a variety…

“No visit to Greece would really be complete without feasting your eyes on Santorini, an island so striking that it is regularly featured to represent the entire country.” Santorini is probably the most photographed island in all of Greece, and it is easy to see why. The ancient and still-active volcano that forms the archipelago rises dramatically from deep sapphire seas with impressive rock and ash sandwiched together in great horizontal bands of black, gray and red. Each compressed layer is evidence of past eruptions, from the Minoan eruption—one of the world’s largest volcanic events in recorded history—blowing away the west side of the island around 1645 B.C., to the most recent burp in the mid-1900s. These contrasting layers climb the island’s steep cliffs to meet rich fertile soil plateaus…

To better familiarize themselves with the geography of potential camping spots, Amy Tunney and Steve Stone often take time to scope out potential islands to camp on, dipping into coves and up creeks to see what might work on a future voyage. Luckily a great many potential camping islands are under the auspices of either the Maine Island Trail Association or the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. MITA (mita.org) has arranged permission from over 200 island owners to allow access to the association’s members. Many allow overnight camping. In exchange, MITA runs spring and fall cleanup programs and generally keeps a close eye on things. Accordingly, island owners have come to value their relationship with MITA, and the number of islands designated for camping has increased over the years. For beach…

PROJECTS It’s easy to be satisfied enough with cruising sails. Seasonal sailing and a nearby sail loft minimize the consequences of any problems. Offseason, local sailmakers inspect and repair. They might report that those sails won’t last forever, while pushing a glossy brochure featuring impressive new technology into your hands. But cruising sailors are…frugal. For seasonal sailors who are careful with their canvas, cruising sails can work well enough for a decade or more. However, shift to a sabbatical cruise in the Caribbean or extended voyaging through the South Pacific, and the consequences of worn and torn sails grow quicker than wind in the leading edge of a squall. In 2015 we were enjoying the wild, far side of the world on our Stevens 47, Totem. The Indian Ocean offered…

The end of our cruising season signals the start of a flurry of activity aboard Outrider, our Westsail 42, as we prepare her for storage on the hard in Mexico during hurricane season. The to-do list is a rather lengthy one, with my husband, Jeff, and I sharing many of the chores. There are, however, a few delegated to me, one of which entails the removal of all perishables and nonperishables from the boat in order to keep cockroaches and other critters at bay during the five months we’re gone. A few days prior to departure, I take inventory of all remaining foodstuffs, then plan my last few meals accordingly. Keeping the necessary ingredients aside, I give all remaining items to marina employees or boat workers. I must say, it’s…

ON THE EVENING of October 17, 2008, 30-year-old Dustin Reynolds drove his street bike a short distance from his house on the Big Island of Hawaii to meet with some friends at a local sushi restaurant. After a couple of hours and a good meal, in the early hours of the next morning, Reynolds hopped back on his bike, anticipating an uneventful ride home. At approximately 1 a.m., a drunk driver in an oncoming pickup truck suddenly swerved into Reynolds’ lane, and despite his quick reflexes and a drastic swerve to the right, the truck hit him with such force that his left arm was ripped off, landing more than 50 feet away. Traumatically injured, he was thrown from the bike, which went into a ditch, and he found himself…

Make a Hurricane Plan As the summer heats up, so, unfortunately, does hurricane season. To help you make a storm plan for your boat, we’ve put together articles, how-tos, and a list of resources. Check it out at cruising world.com/how-to-prepare-boat-hurricane-season. Cocktails with Cruising World! With the world more or less locked down in the spring and early summer, we took the opportunity to catch up with cruising sailors in far-flung places during our Cocktails with Cruising World webinar series. Each edition features hosts CW editors Mark Pillsbury and Herb McCormick in a video chat Q&A with some of our longtime contributors. Guests have included Behan and Jamie Gifford, Wendy Mitman Clark, Carolyn and Cap’n Fatty Goodlander, and Andreas Heide (above). Check them out at cruisingworld.com/story/people/cocktails-with-cruising-world. A Bright Side to Lockdown…

The US-built Global Positioning System revolutionized navigation in 1983 when it became available for civilian use, ushering in an era of pinpoint-level positional accuracy. While the benefits of this technology are myriad, what would happen if another technology started transmitting on frequency bands that interfere with the accuracy of GPS? According to a BoatU.S. press release dated June 25, 2020, this scenario could be about to begin unfurling. Satellite-communications company Ligado Networks (née LightSquared) recently received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to begin constructing and operating a terrestrial-based industrial 5G network that will use a slice of the L-band frequency (1 to 2 gigahertz). BoatU.S. and the Keep GPS Working Coalition (of which BoatU.S. is a founding member) believe that Ligado Networks’ 5G wireless network will increase interference with…

For many East Coast sailors, the Bahamas serves as their first foreign port as cruisers. This relatively short leap (from South Florida, anyway) has many first-timers making list after list and studying weather patterns and Gulf Stream conditions for weeks ahead of time, yet still thinking they might be missing something. If you are planning your first voyage to the Bahamas, relax—frequent CW author and creator of The Boat Galley (theboatgalley.com) Carolyn Shearlock has developed a digital course just for you. In Get Ready to Cruise the Bahamas! ($39; resources.theboatgalley.com) Shearlock will take you through step-by-step all you need to know, from the paperwork and legalities, to where to get weather info, how to keep in touch, provisioning and more. Included in the course are downloadable forms, checklists and spreadsheets,…

“We are happy that we consciously choose Singapore over Malaysia or Indonesia. Carolyn and I even discussed sailing nonstop back to the US, which is less than four months away as the fish swims. Instead, we stayed put.” To live is to live in uncertain times. As captain, it is my job to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Some shipboard preparations are, of course, easier than others. I was sitting at the nav table, and my wife, Carolyn, was standing beside me. “Here’s our last will and testament,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’ve already emailed Roma a copy, but this is the one that’s signed by witnesses and notarized.” Roma is our daughter, a third generation liveaboard until she went off to Brandeis University. She currently resides…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE It’s a question I’m asked with surprising regularity: “What should I do with a seacock I’m not using?” It actually borders on the maniacal. There are two primary approaches to dealing with this conundrum, and the first is simple: Retain the seacock while making certain it is sound, and remains that way indefinitely. A seacock that is in poor repair is among a vessel’s greatest raw-water liabilities. If it’s seized open or corroding, it could lead to catastrophe. All seacocks should be maintained in good working order regardless of whether they are in active use, be easy to open and close, and be free of all signs of decay or corrosion. Bronze, a copper alloy, will turn green with what’s commonly referred to as verdigris; it’s completely normal…

“It was something Patrick had no control over that did him in: contracting the coronavirus in South Africa this past spring while with his wife, Rebecca, on their Valiant 40,Brick House.” Patrick Childress was one of the most annoying people I’d ever met. You know the type—the kind of guy who does whatever strikes his fancy as interesting or worthwhile ridiculously, effortlessly well. Building an addition on a house. Shoring up a 27-foot stock production boat and sailing it around the world alone. Not only repairing the blisters on a seriously pocked cruising boat, but also producing an exceptional YouTube video series of professional quality on the project. To top it all off, he was married to a beautiful woman, they’d retired early, and together were in their second decade…