Cruising World March 2016

Seeing that we’re in the depths of our cold, dark winter here in Newport, Rhode Island, I feel like talking about warmth and light — and how I’ve satisfied the need for both aboard our Sabre 34 for the past several years. In some ways, living aboard a sailboat in New England, in the winter, is the easy part. Once the boat is at the marina, wrapped in plastic and tied off with a spider’s web of lines to ride out the seemingly continuous northwesterly gales, you’re not going anywhere. At that point, you can pretty much just tap into shore power and live like a king until spring. On Jackalope, my mainstay heater is a DeLonghi oil-filled radiator that I’ve had for several seasons now. It took some searching…

NEWS and NOTES from the CRUISING COMMUNITY For those of us lucky enough to have known Jon Eisberg, a fabulous photographer and wonderful writer whose work graced these pages on multiple occasions, this past holiday season was far less than wonderful. At 65, having just wrapped up a full autumn of sailing adventures, Jon passed away peacefully — and unexpectedly — on Christmas Eve at his seaside home by New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay. And the world, in many ways, was very suddenly a lesser place to be. § Bobbing in a slip adjacent to his home, his beloved Chance 30-30, Chancy, tugged at her lines. A delivery skipper and professional photographer who made his own schedule, Jon kept her in the water year-round, ready to go. When the itch to set sail became overwhelming,…

A New Chapter for Morris Yachts The ranks of American boatbuilders just got reshuffled. Hinckley Yachts started the new year off by announcing it has purchased Morris Yachts, its neighbor in Mount Desert Island, Maine. In a press release, Hinckley says it plans to continue the Morris boatbuilding and service operations under the Morris Yachts name. Hinckley notes, “Both companies build fine quality yachts within a quarter mile of each other in Trenton, Maine, and with the new arrangement about 380 craftsmen, engineers and technicians will provide a deep pool of talent for the building of world-class yachts.” Morris owners will also be able to tap into Hinckley’s East Coast service yards, which stretch from Maine to Florida. cruisingworld.com/1603morris Get In the Loop with the Latest News from CW Have…

My family has been boating on Lake Superior for seven years in our 36-foot trawler, and we plan to do the Great Loop in the future. Being a powerboater, I do not subscribe to many sailing magazines. Yours, however, is the one magazine, power or sail, that I anticipate the most. The article “Warning: Side Effects May Include ... ” in the October 2013 issue (read online at cruisingworld.com/1603warning) is one of the best articles I have ever read. I have read and reread this story many times, and yes, I am willing to take the risk of lesson two and cast off one day. Thank you for publishing the many great tales of people and their adventures. — Scott Kellett, Via email A HARD CHOICE Concerning the article “Contending…

On Saturday, January 9, 30 boats headed out of Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, on a 26,000-mile circumnavigation with the World ARC. From their first stop in Santa Marta, Colombia, the fleet will then head through the Panama Canal and on to the Galapagos and South Pacific. Some rally participants plan to go only as far as Australia, and more will join the rally there in time for its second half, which leaves Darwin in September 2016. After stops in the Indian Ocean, the boats will be in South Africa for the holidays and Brazil for Carnival before completing the loop back in St. Lucia in April 2017. The international fleet represents 18 countries, and the boats range from a 36-foot Albin Stratus to an Oyster 62, along with 12 catamarans.…

If you’re planning on cruising Maine this summer, make note of these changes to the foghorns. The Coast Guard is installing Mariner Radio Activated Sound Signal (MRASS) devices (right) at 17 lighthouses along the Maine coast, and they should be functional by this spring. The MRASS system is basically foghorns on demand, and will replace the aging automatic foghorns typically found at select lighthouses across the country. To use an MRASS device, a mariner simply keys the mic on his or her VHF radio five times on channel 83A. The foghorn will then sound with its regular characteristics for one hour. The range to activate the signals is typical for VHF radios, roughly 10 to 25 miles. The 17 lighthouses to be equipped with MRASS join others across the country…