Innholdsfortegnelse for December 17 i Cruising Helmsman

THE World Sailing Speed Record Council has officially ratified Lisa Blair’s circumnavigation of Antarctica, a 183 day long journey. Lisa’s solo and unassisted circumnavigation was not short of challenges, with seven metre seas and 40 knot winds leading to the dismasting of her 50ft yacht, Climate Action Now, just 72 days in. Lisa avoided injury but was forced to detour to Cape Town to assess damage and conduct repairs, before returning to her point of dismasting to continue the circumnavigation. Navico was a sponsor for the record attempt and provided two separate B&G H5000 autopilots and Zeus² navigation displays for safety in case of one system failing. “The interface of the B&G Zeus displays made it easy for me to keep track of where I was the whole way around…

MY friend the slack tide, a 15 knot breeze, gorgeous multi-coloured rocks of Cape Voltaire, the white of our sails and the deep blue of the Indian Ocean; whales breaching, mackerel on the boil, screaming, diving, seagulls; Mystique on autopilot, Jon and I with cups of tea in hand and grins on our faces. Ahhh, the moments that make the nail-biting angst all worthwhile. A third of the way into our four month voyage from Wyndham to Derby we had managed to get ourselves a more powerful outboard with a longer prop and a new house battery for Mystique. Both had arrived on the fortnightly barge from Darwin to Kalumburu. We had power enough to run our chartplotter and our autopilot. Not spending hours everyday at the tiller had increased…

DO you have gas appliances on your boat? If you do, how long since you have checked all the fittings, connections and appliances? Was it installed by an authorised licensed gas fitter? Is it up to current standards? Would your insurer approve of your installation or would they knock back a claim in the event of a failure and the fire that failure caused damaged or destroyed your boat? These are just some of the questions you must ask yourself. If you are building a boat or refitting an older one, particularly those boats that have previously been using methylated spirits or kerosene and you wish to change to liquid petroleum gas (LPG), there are plans to be made such as where to place the cylinders, how they should be…

BOATERS and professional captains alike know that one of the most dangerous hazards at sea is colliding with a partially submerged shipping container lost from a container ship. The severity of such an impact, coupled with the reported large number of container losses each year, leave the impression that many containers are lurking in the ocean and releasing tons of floatable debris. The majority of containers are constructed in 20 foot lengths and called TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) by the shipping industry. 120 million TEUs were shipped in 2013 alone and ocean transport has been increasing annually. Ninety per cent of packaged cargo is transported by container ships, approaching US$5 trillion of value per year. CONTAINER LOSSES Although container ships are the safest and most economical means of cargo…

NEHAJ UPDATE In the November issue CH, Jim Duff wrote a great piece regarding Susanne Huber and her continuing solo circumnavigation on board Nehaj. Thankfully Huber has kept in touch and here is her latest message to Jim describing the passage through the North West Passage above Canada. Sorry, my Pactor communication is totally stranded, I hope conditions will improve soon! My good friend Ingeborg will mail this update to you, thanks a lot! After waiting in Weld Harbour for a frustrating twelve days suddenly the ice at the Tasmanian Islands cleared briefly on the 2nd of September! Two days later this chance was gone, again 9/10th blocking the islands and all of Franklin Strait. This day might well have been the last possibility for the last five yachts. All…

A lot of people have been asking CH what sort of trailer sailer is Mystique? Suzan replies: she is an 8 metre trailerable yacht built by Rob Sewell of Bairnsdale in 1993/94. She is a modified Norwalk Islands Sharpie built from marine ply and covered in fibreglass. The main differences topside to the original design are the single, deck stepped, stayed mast. The cabin is 30cm longer with the cockpit correspondingly shorter, which works really well. The hull is V shaped rather than flat and has a couple of extra chines and a skeg. She draws 2m with the swing keel fully down; retracted she draws 45cm. The keel weighs about 300kg, most of the weight due to lead concentrated in the bottom. Mystique is well equipped, enabling us to…

MUSTO SHOES ON THE MOVE While yacht design is evolving continuously, so too is the technical clothing to keep up with new demands. Musto engineers are confident its latest sailing shoe, the ‘Dynamic Pro II’ is a significant progression in detail and design. Using diverse technologies Musto has created one of its lightest, effective pieces of performance footwear to date. A single layer, mesh construction provides ventilation, drainage and rapid drying while a durable, shock-absorbing midsole combined with a ‘Grip Deck’ rubber and ‘Grip Flex’ tread ensure multi-directional traction on deck, no matter how wet, angled or slippery. Drainage is paramount at sea, which is why Musto claims its XPL drainage system eliminates water pooling inside the shoe. This also ensures the shoes dry quickly to reduce the chance of…

A BETTER HORIZON SCAN Frequent CH contributor Bruce Nicholson says he can’t claim credit for this idea, but has been using it successfully since someone taught him many years ago while working in the South China Sea. “It is a big ocean out there and searching the horizon for lost equipment or, god forbid, someone overboard takes a keen eye. At the time, we were looking for a buoy about the size of a tender that had gone missing sometime overnight. Normally we could have tracked it to a twenty-five square metre patch of ocean because it reported its position regularly. Unfortunately the battery must have run down and all we knew was that it was somewhere in the South China Sea. We had a fair idea where, but we…

THE cruising area of South East Asia offers a myriad of treats. The temptation to linger longer is usually front of mind. One of the problems of keeping your yacht in the area is when you need to find a berth or mooring or, more importantly, you are requiring some work to be done. A large diversity of languages exists as does the capabilities and quality of the various marine trades and facilities. This is where Marine Directory Asia is of use. Initially started in 2004 the guide to all things maritime is now available and searchable, online. It has developed into the largest database of marine businesses, marinas and boatyards in the Asian region. Marine Directory Asia connects yacht owners, managers and marine businesses throughout South East Asia. It…

TED Dansey has been named the winner of Australia’s leading maritime art awards: ANL Maritime Art Awards and Exhibition, run by the Melbourne Mission to Seafarers Victoria (MtSV). The awards showcase artists who have created pieces based on the theme, ‘the relationship between humanity and the sea’. Since their inception in 2002, the awards have grown significantly in size and recognition, “the charity relies on the support of the artists, the sponsors and the art community in raising funds for work of the organisation established in 1857,” said Mission to Seafarers Victoria chief manager, Sue Dight. “We are thrilled with the response of the artists to the theme with both traditional and contemporary works. This year a total prize amalgamation of $29,000 will be awarded to artists across five categories.…

EVERY year hundreds of thousands of local and international visitors flock to the Whitsundays, one of Australia’s most beautiful and popular tourist destinations, of which Queenslanders are justifiably proud. Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour were jumping off points for people wanting to visit the islands, to swim, snorkel and dive; to relax and sunbake on white coral beaches or to dig their toes in the fine white sand of Whitehaven Beach. Tourism is the mainstay of the region so any disruption is a major concern. In March 2017 Tropical Cyclone Debbie made landfall as a category 4 cyclone with winds of more than 80 knots (150 kilometres per hour) and gusts in excess of 110kts (200kph) wreaking more destruction than was expected due to its slow transit through the region.…

THE latest Jeanneau 51 has taken a lot of the ideas used in the big sister 54 and utilised them into the shorter version. Indeed as I walked down the marina arm at Middle Harbour Yacht Club, I saw the yacht, Beyond Cool, at the end with a big ‘60’ stuck on its prow. This is to signify the 60 years Jeanneau has been building boats, but it was hard to get the impression out of my head that this was not a 60 foot yacht. This impression is reinforced by the interior as well. Just like the Jeanneau 54, this new model was designed by naval architect Philippe Briand and designer Andrew Winch. The 51 is the smallest in the Yacht range from Jeanneau. The concept is to present…

GAS is arguably the most dangerous element on a boat. If you want to arrive safely and sleep soundly, make sure your gas system is up to standard. It might cost a few ‘bring out another thousand’ (BOAT) units, but better to be right than alight. TRUSTING OUR SENSORS We were aboard our Catalina 470, Barrenjoey Light in Keppel Bay Marina, ready to continue our voyage south to Sydney after several months aboard cruising to the Whitsundays. Ruth and I were just enjoying a cup of tea prior to going to bed ready for an early start in the morning. The gas alarm started to beep. Never mind, that has happened before. Reset the gas monitor and in all likelihood it will prove to be a false alarm. Several minutes…

THINK OF THE RESALE Whether you are thinking of selling your boat or keeping it, damaged gelcoat can make a difference in the way potential customers or indeed owners feel about their yachts. One simple solution is to cover the damage with a thin shim of polished stainless steel, which not only prevents further chafe damage but also hides any grooves already present. Or they can be stuck on before any damage is done. They come two to a pack in two sizes: 150mm x 50mm and 225mm by 50mm. Each pad can be stuck on flat or bent over toerails, coamings or cabin tops to ensure protection wherever you require it. Wear And Tear pads are supplied with a self-adhesive backing ready for immediate fitting. The pads have an…