Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från PassageMaker

Snorkeling the lagoons in the leeward Society Islands is spectacular, as Becca and John Guillote found aboard their Valiant 40, Halcyon, on a transpacific voyage to the region. In this part of the globe, names like “Coral Gardens” and “the Aquarium” are accurate in describing this remote aquatic playground, where cruisers can swim with sharks in the pass, meet inquisitive rays on the flats, and float over bustling underwater cities full of reef fish.…

I love, love, love coconut shrimp. Anything that reminds me of a tropical getaway and an easy steel drum is bliss in my book. These shrimp are crispy on the outside with succulent, juicy meat inside. They taste like vacation, especially when paired with the Caribbean dipping sauce. I can’t say enough about that dipping sauce. It’s ridiculously good. I use 1 pound of medium-size, 36- to 40-count shrimp. It’s the ideal size for coconut shrimp to get them perfectly cooked in the center and golden on the outside. Smaller shrimp overcook quickly, and larger shrimp tend to burn before the center cooks through. I also use shrimp that are peeled and deveined with tails left on. The tails are optional, but they make it easier to bread the shrimp,…

Just over a year after unveiling its new range of motor-powered trimarans, the Neel-Trimarans shipyard in La Rochelle, France, has launched the Leen 56. Designed by Bernard Nivelt and Pierre Frutschi, the Leen 56—reportedly the first hybrid-powered trimaran—has narrow hulls that yield low hydrodynamic resistance. According to the builder, the boat is designed to be highly stable and fuel efficient in the open ocean. Conceived for both long-distance (transatlantic range) and coastal cruising, the Leen 56 also sports a flybridge with alfresco appeal. Key to any multihull design, especially trimarans, is the ability to provide expansive, level living areas for comfort and convenient flow. The Leen 56’s volume allows for a layout that’s friendly to onboard living and extended cruising. The standard layout has three double-berth staterooms with private showers.…

Trawler enthusiasts are a unique bunch. We’ll buy an 8-knot boat, and dammit, we’ll be happy going 8 knots. We value dependability, seaworthiness and toughness. We appreciate the stability of a displacement hull with a keel and a low center of gravity. We’re amenable to humble accommodations and utilitarian galleys. Our idea of a perfect boat is one where form follows function, much like those robust little ships that hunt for big fish in the cold, treacherous waters of the North Sea. So what are we to think of a boat built for similar function, yet resembling virtually nothing of what we believe a proper cruising vessel should look like? After a day exploring Puget Sound aboard the Life Proof Boats 35 Full Cabin, I’m thinking it’s everything I’ve ever…

Stainless steel, for all its virtues, is a relatively poor conductor of electricity. By placing the washer between the terminal and the point of contact, you are inserting resistance. Increased resistance creates heat. The added resistance won’t trip any breakers, but it might set your boat on fire. You can use stainless washers, but only on the side of the terminal away from the contact surface. For more DIY tips, visit passagemaker.com/tips…

Just two weeks into retirement, my friends Keith and Cindy were living their dream aboard a sturdy trawler. As they worked their way north for the summer, their confidence in handling the boat increased with each night’s stop at a marina. Unfortunately, that all changed as they made their first stop at a marina with swift currents running through it. On sheer luck, they arrived in the evening at slack current. The marina did not caution them about the current, as conditions were benign. They ended the evening securely tied bow-in, with their slip at the end of a long fairway close to shore. The following morning broke with a fresh breeze coming from shore. Keith dealt with it fine as he backed out of the slip and pivoted the…

I’d earned the right to hate everything about the Grenadines. Having paid $1,000 for PCR tests for Covid-19 and endured a two-week quarantine to get into the country, we’d just cleared in when a volcanic eruption covered the islands in a thick layer of toxic ash. Things were just starting to normalize when a tree branch fell with the accuracy of a well-aimed lance and pierced my foot, fracturing my bone. As I was starting to regain mobility, a series of minor medical issues sent me to the local clinic, where a life-threatening condition was misdiagnosed. And yet, neither natural catastrophe nor medial calamity was enough to send me barreling for home. That says something about the country. The 32 islands that make up St. Vincent and the Grenadines, part…

It was early evening, but the darkness felt like midnight. Our stout, 38-foot Marine Trader trawler Mazurka chugged along, a little toy boat in the middle of the biggest and coldest of the Great Lakes. We had spent the summer boating in the endless light of the 47th parallel. Now, in the last weekend of September, the black sky enveloped us. In the east, Mars shone like a beacon above the Apostle’s Sand Island, almost at the closest point in the planet’s orbit to Earth. My husband, Mark, sat at the helm. Our 6-year-old slept in the aft cabin. Our 10-year-old slept in the forward V-berth. Our 8-year-old daughter found the dark and the cold air exhilarating. Wrapped in a blanket, we sat together at the bow. She looked up.…

NAME David and Darcy Saiget AGES 63, 50 HOME PORT Cordova, Alaska CURRENT BOAT 1932 H.C. Hanson Sea Bear YEARS OWNED 4 BEGINNINGS David has been working on boats since the early 1980s, when he first ventured up to Alaska to seek a job on a fishing boat. He’s also a fisheries biologist, working off boats in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Darcy, too, is a fisheries biologist and has worked on boats in Southeast Alaska. THE BOAT Sea Bear was originally named Forester. She was built in 1932 for the U.S. Forest Service ranger boat fleet in Alaska, where she served from 1932 to 1964. As Forester, she plied Southeast Alaska waters for more than 30 years, conducting patrols, rescues and surveys. After leaving the Forest Service in 1964, she…

My editor does not dictate a specific type of design for each of these small forays into the cluttered mind of a boat designer/builder, but on a recent visit to my neck of the woods, he and I embarked on a discussion about classic boats. Some might say that I have little experience on that subject, but I have spent much time cogitating on it and making countless drawing board attempts to achieve it. There are flaws in the genre, as there seems to be no single definition of what a classic boat is. What some designers might see as a glass half full is certainly countered by the glass-half-empty designers who never will have a shot at the elusive classic label. Truth be told about boat design, there is…

Dear Editors: In an engine room I saw recently, a few potential problem areas in the design of the steering gear for the rudder caught my eye. First, the connection from the hydraulic cylinder shaft to the rudder arm was in single shear. This can cause a torque effect each time the rudder is steered that might bend or break the bolt. I do understand that if the bolt is sufficiently sized and the connection is very tight, there might not be a problem. The arm looked very stout, but still, I thought these important connections should always be in double shear. Second, the hydraulic cylinder looked to be mounted solid at the cylinder end. I hope not. When the rudder is steered 20 degrees from straight ahead, the end…

Planning a voyage to the islands? Our friends at Caribbean Compass recently polled their audience of experienced Caribbean cruisers for seamanship and lifestyle advice that first-timers can use. Paste these tips on your nav table before you go. Check for northerly swells. They can make many usually navigable channels and comfortable anchorages untenable, and eyeball navigation difficult. These swells are generated when major storms affect the mainland United States and roll out into the Atlantic. We watch the “surf” animations at stormsurf.com. If you see lots of south-facing arrows where you’re heading, you’ll want to adjust your itinerary. When entering and leaving harbors, forget the plotter—use eyeball navigation. And when relying on eyeball navigation, do not head east before 1100 or west after 1400, as the sun’s angle at those…