Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Cruising World

My husband and I have cruised the Maine coast for more than 30 years in our 28-foot Ralph Winslow Four-Sum wooden sloop. She was built in Camden, Maine, by Elmer Collemer in 1953 (the same year my husband was launched). When we bought her, she was sound, but she needed cosmetic work. The care and feeding of a wooden boat was a new endeavor for me; I blithely offered to repaint and varnish everything belowdecks. Needless to say, it was not as simple as I had expected. But when it was finished, we took pride in our beautiful vessel. We named her Opus, partly for the artistic connection, but mostly for the Latin translation of “work.” Opus does not feature a cutting-edge galley. She’s a true Maine-coast vessel, with a…

Get the ditch bag. If worse comes to worst, we will get off the boat, but not until it hits the rocks,” Liz Kennell recalls her husband, Bob, shouting over the 60-knot winds that had plucked their anchor from the sandy bottom, and which were now tossing Arapesh, their Beneteau 411, toward a limestone-fringed cut near Fowl Cay, in the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays. It was January 6, 2016. Months before, the recently retired Canadian couple had joined the annual migration of cruisers hoping to trade a winter in the north for the warmth of the Exumas. Like the Kennells, many of those same cruisers — spread out along the 130-mile-long Bahamian island chain — were now in full survival mode. Kathy Barth, a Seven Seas Cruising Association commodore, and her…

TWO YEARS AGO, when I set out to cross the Pacific aboard my Cal 2-27, Mongo, my plan was straightforward: go cruising for a year, sell the boat wherever I ended up, and fly home to California to resume my life. I’d purchase another boat using my savings and the proceeds from selling Mongo. But after my year of voyaging (see “From Fallujah to Fiji,” Nov. 2015), with a pricey dismasting along the way (see “Dismasted in Paradise,” Oct. 2015), there wasn’t much left over. In addition, engineless 27-footers like Mongo don’t exactly fetch a premium on the open market in New Zealand, which is where I sold her. ONE OF MY VERY FIRST GOALS WAS TO UNPLUG LOOPHOLE FROM THE DOCK, AS DEPENDENCE ON SHORE POWER DEFIES MY EVERY…

A thin breeze skittered across the Gulf of Maine, and a low cloud ceiling stamped out any moonlight, making for a dark night aboard my dad’s J/44, Southern Cross. My wife and I were standing watch with nothing to look at save a few distant lights. While she enjoys excellent vision, I suffer from severe red-green color blindness, which made it hard to determine whether I was looking at bow and stern lights, multiple vessels, or both. Given that in August of 2006, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) as we know it today wasn’t yet widespread among recreational craft, we spent the next few minutes trying to discern the nature of the scene before consulting the radar, getting on the VHF and waking our captain. We eventually determined that these…

NEWS and NOTES from the CRUISING COMMUNITY A 15-foot wooden tender, in three separate pieces, sitting on a seaweed-covered launch ramp. That’s how George and Lindsey Hill started their morning one day last October, preparing for their favorite regatta of the year. The couple bolted their home-built nesting dinghy together as kids skipped rocks across Massachusetts’ Westport River. Forty-eight other craft, all equally as unique as the Hills’ classy, varnished pulling boat with its lug rig, began to appear on the sandy riverbank. This was the Hills’ seventh time at the Archipelago Rally, held annually across Rhode Island and last fall in Massachusetts. For those in southern New England who love just messing about in boats, this late-season event induces giddiness. “I never had a lesson. I just played around in boats,” says George,…

It was only once my boyfriend, Matt, and I were underway from Santa Catalina, Panama, to Coiba National Park, a protected island group 30 miles to the west, that I began reviewing my dusty notes on the place. Months back, I’d highlighted “tiger sharks,” “saltwater crocodiles,” “former penal colony.” All good reasons, typically, for a swift change of course. But I’d also dog-eared full-page photo spreads of empty white sand beaches and people suspended underwater next to 12-meter whale sharks. The possibility of swimming with one of those gargantuan spotted fish was enough for me to accept Coiba’s less desirable features with the mantra “Out of sight, out of mind.” Something about Coiba’s dark history, desolate beauty and lack of people makes it feel like one of the most remote…

1. CHATHAM PEEL • $200 • CHATHAM.CO.UK Part of U.K. footwear brand Chatham’s new Made in Britain line of deck shoes, the Peel is crafted out of premium leather and features a memory foam cushion that should make it quite comfortable for extended wear. The brand’s collection also includes a full range of traditional and technical sailing shoes for men, women and kids. 2. COSTA RAFAEL• $190 • COSTADELMAR.COM Having the right sunglasses can make a day on the water so much better, not to mention healthier for your eyes. Costa’s new Rafael style features a frame made from a durable, lightweight bio-resin that will hold its shape in extreme temperatures. Three side vents help alleviate annoying lens fogging. 3. B&G VULCAN 5 • $420 • BANDG.COM If space is…

On Sunday morning, February 21, 2016, my palms felt sweaty as my husband, daughter and I drove past Savusavu Bay, located on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji, and saw rows of sailboats heaped in mangled piles on the rocks. The three of us sought out Hotspur, our 41-foot Tartan Off shore Cruising Ketch, among the wreckage. “There she is!” said Carolyne, our 16-year-old. She pointed to our mooring. “I don’t believe it,” said Jim. There in the midst of what remained of the fleet, Hotspur bobbed gently right where we’d left her. With the exception of a wayward solar panel, Fiji’s strongest cyclone ever recorded had spared our boat. We’d expected Tropical Cyclone Winston to hit Savusavu late Saturday night and prepped our boat the day before. Winston…

BOATBUILDING The Cruising World Boat of the Year contest tries to identify the best new offerings in a range of classes based on quality, value and performance. As the contenders are shortlisted, the judges’ focus naturally narrows down to specific differentiating features. Thus it’s only when the contest is over, and the stacks of files and photos are collated, that we can get an overview of the state of the industry; identify new trends in design, construction techniques and materials; and explore the many small but innovative new features that we believe will survive the test of time. SIMON SAYS “Cockpit efficiency and deck flow were markedly improved this year due to the cruiser/racers.” The most obvious trend this year is that very few production boats are currently made in…

Coral is the foundation of living reefs, which are among the most diverse and biologically complex ecosystems on Earth. According to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (coralreef.gov), these ecosystems support 33 percent of known marine fish species. Coral thrives near the equator and where the water is clear, warm and shallow — the same places we sailors like to drop the hook and jump in the water. We all know we’re doing right by our skin when we wear sunscreen. However, did you know we might be doing wrong by coral? All sunscreens wash off our bodies while we swim, and some of the most popular sunscreens contain chemical UV filters that have been found to kill the symbiotic microalgae that coral requires to live. According to two peer-reviewed…

I guess it’s true that everything is owned by somebody. Even the view. Despite strident opposition from sailing and boating groups, it appears that Florida is going forward with anchor bans in prime staging areas for transiting the Gulf Stream. At press time, the Anchoring Limitation Areas Bill, CS/HB 1051, was on Governor Rick Scott’s desk awaiting his signature. And based on the celerity with which the bill passed the House and Senate, and the lack of meaningful debate, he will likely sign it into law, to take effect July 1, 2016. The bill applies to anchorages in Miami’s Sunset Lake, areas of Biscayne Bay, and the Middle River in Fort Lauderdale. The apparent inspiration for the bill was the desire to accommodate water skiers who complained that anchored boats…

NEW TECHNOLOGY, REVIEWS and PRODUCTS for the CRUISING SAILOR There’s a lot to love about today’s big and beamy sailboats. Sporty twin helms open up the cockpit, overhead arches keep sheets out of the way of lounging crew, and down below, the hard chines that are de rigueur in current design thinking provide interior volume that lets you live and entertain as comfortably on the water as you do at home. Still, I have to admit my heart fluttered a bit when I stepped aboard the Hallberg-Rassy 43 Mk III. It is, after all, quite traditional by design, though it’s built using the very latest materials and outfitted with top-of-the-line gear and hardware. Covered with an abundance of teak abovedecks and rich, warm mahogany below, the HR 43 is lovely…

ZOE 2004 FANTASI 44 PH $429,000 ZOE, a pilothouse Fantasi 44, carries the tradition of Swedish boatbuilding beautifully. Her interior in satin varnished teak is impeccable and her systems clean and well engineered. She features two comfortable staterooms, a large galley, and raised salon with autopilot remote and engine controls that allow her to be operated safely from below decks in inclement weather. PLEASE SEE OUR AD ON PAGE 96 . Swiftsure Yachts 2500 Westlake Ave. N., Suite F | Seattle, WA 98109 Tel: 206.378.1110 | swiftsureyachts.com | Email: info@swiftsureyachts.com…