Innehållsförteckning för October 2022 från Cruising World

We get a lot of inquiries from readers who want to share their experiences in the pages of Cruising World. Letters and emails arrive on an almost daily basis from all parts of the globe and from a range of mariners spanning amateurs to veterans, old-timers to teens, thrill-seeking singlehanders to families raising kids aboard. We read every single one of them. Sure, all of these letters speak to the popularity of a magazine that’s been around for nearly five decades and has grown deep roots in the worldwide cruising scene, but what’s really special about hearing from so many like-minded cruising enthusiasts on a regular basis is the stories they (you) tell. These are stories that always have and will continue to pump blood into the veins of Cruising…

It was late afternoon, and we were anchored in Great Harbour off Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. It had been a great day of sailing. There were eight of us aboard our chartered 39-foot catamaran: my wife, Sue, and I along with six of our best sailing buddies from the Chesapeake Bay. We were contemplating happy hour when trouble approached. A powerboat packed with a boisterous, all-male crew was headed our way. It slowed, then circled. We caught a glimpse of the name on the stern: Playboy. The boat drew up parallel to us, slowed, pulled ahead of us, and dropped the hook way too close. There was sudden activity aboard; the guys splashed their tender and piled in. We realized with alarm that everyone from the…

“Last week, Ezra and I shoved off from Marina Del Rey on a first-ever father-son cruise to nearby Catalina Island. Every parent knows the problem with an excited kid: Will the trip live up to the hype, or will my child swear off sailing and his weird, boat-obsessed dad altogether?” Find out in this latest installment by CW’s resident “noob,” David Blake Fischer. cruisingworld.com/thenoobfiles Bonus Features Calling All Galley Gourmets! Want to see your favorite recipe featured in our all-new Sailor & Galley? Drop us an email at editor@cruisingworld.com with the subject line “Sailor & Galley,” and tell us all about it. cruisingworld.com/sailor-and-galley Sailing Totem: First-Aid First Sourcing a medical kit suited to your cruising plans is a fundamental part of preparing to set sail. Here’s what veteran cruisers Behan…

When I was a kid, my dad and I watched an aircraft carrier break apart. At least, that’s what it looked like on his radar, which employed a cavity magnetron transmitter and a monochrome display. The year was 1988, and we were crossing Muscongus Bay, en route from Port Clyde to East Boothbay, Maine. We were aboard Windancer, my parents’ C&C 37, in classic pea-soup fog. § Looking at the radar display, we could see something enormous a handful of miles off our starboard bow. And then suddenly, our “aircraft carrier” dissolved. We rushed on deck and—some tense minutes later—discerned engines and voices through the murk. So much for a Nimitz-class carrier. This was nothing more than a flotilla of small powerboats we called “gnats.” § We arrived in East…

This past summer, at age 16 and with his sophomore year of high school just a few weeks behind him, Cal Currier knocked off a solo west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic Ocean—and in doing so may well have become the youngest sailor ever to accomplish the feat. At first glance, his straightforward 3,400-nautical-mile journey was textbook: a tidy 28 days from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, to Lagos, Portugal, including a 24-hour layover in the Azores. It seemed to require the sort of easy effort some of his classmates probably expended while scooping ice cream during their summer vacations in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. But initial looks, of course, are almost always deceiving. As is the case here. Tall, lanky, and with the sort of flowing locks old men dream…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE Halos in bottom paint around underwater hardware is a phenomenon I encounter on a regular basis. And just as often, I’m asked: “What causes this? Is it something to worry about?” The answers lie in an understanding of underwater metals and bonding systems. Most fiberglass sailing vessels rely on metal alloys for through-hull fittings, struts, rudder gudgeons, hinges and so forth. In most cases, these metals are connected by wires (part of the vessel’s bonding system) to a sacrificial anode or anodes, which provide what is commonly referred to as cathodic protection. From a corrosion perspective, the anode—often called a “zinc,” even though it can be zinc, aluminum or magnesium—is less noble, and thus more prone to corrosion, than the metals to which it is connected. As a…

One year ago this month, as director of this magazine’s annual Boat of the Year contest, I joined our judging team aboard the CNB 66 Escape in Annapolis, Maryland, to conduct our sea trials on Chesapeake Bay. The high-end, long-range cruising boat was owned by a vastly experienced German couple named Karl and Annamarie Frank, who’d been based in Annapolis the past several years while rambling up and down the East Coast. Generally, our test sails involve yacht designers and manufacturers’ representatives. It was unusual, though not unprecedented, to go sailing with a couple on their own boat (our earlier dockside inspections occurred on a newer sistership model of the CNB 66). When it happens, though, it’s always interesting and enlightening. Karl Frank was clearly one hell of a sailor…

Nineteen,” my wife counted, staring up into the night sky. She was leaning against me as we sat in the starboard cockpit of Migration, our 46-foot Cross trimaran. We were anchored at San Benedicto Island in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, 350 miles off the Pacific coast of Mexico. “Twenty,” she said, a few minutes later. “There, just to the right of the mizzen.” I squinted toward where she was pointing and finally saw the small dot moving among the stars. That night, like most nights in the largest marine-protected area in North America, the sky was glorious. Both the Southern Cross and the North Star can be seen hanging low in the star-strewn sky. So many stars. And so many satellites. I forgot the exact count that night, but we spotted…

Confession: I have an irrational fear. Not of heavy weather, but rather of having salt water back-siphon into my vessel’s diesel engine. Weird, right? Actually, not so weird. On new diesel installations, I’ve found that a common cause of premature engine failure is exhaust-related. Thus, a decade or so ago, when I installed a brand-new Perkins M92B in our 43-foot ketch, Ganesh, I paid careful attention to its exhaust system. I not only repeatedly rubbed it with hundred-dollar bills, but I also consulted various marine engineers and exhaust experts, including “Diesel” Dan Durbin, formerly of Parts and Power on Tortola, the guy who wrote the excellent “Please Don’t Drown Me” technical paper for Northern Lights. I’m totally anal about my exhaust system. For example: I have a custom drain on…