Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2018 i Cruising World

It’s said you can’t buy happiness, but you certainly can purchase fun, which is exactly what Groupe Beneteau did this past July when it acquired Slovenian sailboat builder Seascape and its line of four sporty speed machines that range in size from 14 to 27 feet. Rather than try to cram as many creature comforts and appliances as it could between bow and stern, Seascape’s approach was to keep its boats uniquely simple but amazingly versatile, as I was to find out one fine blue-sky day in Newport, Rhode Island, last September. But more on that in a minute. First, here’s the back story. Seascape was launched in 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, by Kristian Hajnšek and Andraž Mihelin, sailors who had each waged a couple…

After reading “The Last Wave” (August/September 2018), Jim and Joy Carey’s account of a rogue wave hitting their boat off the Washington coast on June 17, 2018, I had to tell you my story. On June 16, 2018, my only brother who is not a sailor and I were going into our second week aboard Trilogy, my 1988 Sabre, and we had just spent the night in the marina at Gibsons, British Columbia. The forecast for the day was 15- to 20-knot northwest winds. That was music to my ears. We reached about 2 miles into the Strait of Georgia before I decided to turn left and go with the waves, which now were 6 feet, in 20 to 25 knots of wind. We enjoyed fast surfing off the waves,…

Spend enough time sailing and scouring weather forecasts, and odds are good that you’ll occasionally find a day (or three) that doesn’t quite stack up to expectations. Granted, we modern sailors enjoy incredibly high-resolution weather forecasts compared to all historical methods, but in an age of instant access to high-quality information, imprecision can be frustrating. Fortunately, the European Space Agency’s new Aeolus (after the Greek “keeper of the winds”) wind-sensing satellite, which was launched atop a Vega rocket from a site in French Guiana on August 22, 2018, aims to improve forecast accuracy by using sophisticated instrumentation to pipe down observations from sections of the planet that are not otherwise covered by the piecemeal Global Observing System, which is composed of surface-and space-based subsystems (e.g., satellites, buoys, weather ships, ground…

For those who can’t tolerate milk, or want to try a different spin on traditional Irish cream, I developed this dairy-free version (I think it’s even tastier than the original). One caveat: The ingredients might be difficult to find outside of a well-stocked grocery or health-food store. To prepare, follow the recipe as above, but substitute unsweetened almond milk for regular milk, coconut cream for heavy cream and sweetened condensed coconut milk for regular sweetened condensed milk. Adjust all to taste. (Both coconut cream and sweetened condensed coconut milk typically come in cans.)…

I grew up surrounded by nature. When I was a young child, my family and I lived on 10 acres of grass and trees. My days were spent running around the backyard playing make-believe and adventuring in imaginary worlds. Then, at age 10, my parents moved my siblings and me onto a sailboat. This move deepened my connection with the world around me. On the boat, nature’s whims became my reality, for the sea was my floor and the sky was my roof. In a house, I could go all day without feeling nature around me, but on a boat, inside or out, any little shift had a direct effect on my life. If the wind picked up, I could feel it funnel down through the hatches and sweep through…

Prepare yourself,” called Micha as he scrambled past, thrusting one arm through his foul-weather jacket as he dashed out into the cockpit. The wind whistling past the hull began to race faster and my heartbeat increased as I hurriedly stored the hot rope cutter and needles I’d been using to make new curtains, grabbed my coat and headed for the companionway. Moments later, my head popped out through the hatch just in time to see the 65-foot wooden mast from our 93-year-old classic yawl, Pantagruel, crash over the starboard bow like a felled tree. Timberrrrrr! In this second, our world and all our plans changed completely. It didn’t feel real. I half believed that if I closed my eyes and reopened them, the mast would still be intact and we…

It’s the equipment you hope you never need. A crewmember falling overboard ranks high on most sailors’ list of fears. Crew-overboard gear is an important part of any well-outfitted sailboat, and items such as the ubiquitous Lifesling or a horseshoe buoy can be spotted on the transoms of most vessels. These items, and a slew of others on the market, can all aid in getting a COB back on board — but what’s the right gear for your boat? Recently, we tried out some rescue items, and we have a few take-aways from the experience. The first is this: Don’t fall overboard. Even when you’re just practicing on a calm day with plenty of experienced sailors aboard, getting a person back on the boat is challenging. When offshore, wear a…

In the Wake of Florence Last September, Hurricane Florence devastated the Carolinas with a massive storm surge and record-breaking rainfall. Just a week after the storm, residents of New Bern, North Carolina, were already well underway on the cleanup efforts, and many marine facilities in the region are open. If you’re planning a trip south on the Intracoastal Waterway this year, be sure to read the Coast Guard’s Notice to Mariners and have the latest charts on hand. For more information and photos, visit cruisingworld.com/1812florence. Northwest Passage No-Go The crew of DogBark!, who have been documenting their journey north from Seattle and into the arctic, have had to abandon their plan of traversing the Northwest Passage this season. “With the season sliding by, we made the excruciating decision to turn…

When cruising, I enjoy the freedom that comes with my inflatable dinghy and motor, and switching to an electric outboard seems like a good direction in which to head. Recently, my husband, Tom, and I had an opportunity to test out a new electric outboard called the EP Carry, from PropEle Electric Boat Motors. Tom and I launched an 8-foot inflatable-keel Achilles dinghy into a harbor with a large protected mooring field and attached the lightweight EP Carry for a test run. EP stands for Electric Paddle; it’s designed for ship-to-shore transportation, not as an expedition motor. From the start, I could see that it’s clearly moving in a new direction with its long tiller arm that controls all the motor’s functions. Steering from amidships, you raise and lower the…

On our first circumnavigation, we didn’t even budget for clearing-in costs because they were so minor. Alas, they have skyrocketed. For example, it used to cost every vessel a dime to clear into the BVI; now, a St. Thomas charter boat pays hundreds of dollars per visit. Tonga was $4 and is now closer to $400 for the winter season. The Bahamas used to be $12, and now, it is $300 minimum for a 40-footer; some boats pay nearly $500 if they want to toss over a fishing line. There are countries that even tack on a $4-per-day liveaboard fee, in addition to a boatload of other landing, garbage collection and port security charges. In Funafuti, I was asked to pay $30 for a “navigation-light fee,” and shot back, “Are…

The anchor splashes into the gin-clear water as if to proclaim, “We’re here.” Not that there’s anyone around — and that’s fine by me. We’re the only boat on the east side of the lagoon in Tahaa, one of the quieter spots in French Polynesia’s Society Islands. Everyone else is making a beeline for honeymoon favorite Bora Bora, where you have to jostle with the charter catamarans for an anchorage. We’ll get there soon too. But for now, we gaze upon Tahaa’s vanilla-clad peaks, mesmerized by how the ever-changing light casts shades of violet and ochre upon them — as if Mother Nature were putting on a show just for us. I’m a far cry from Toronto, Canada’s largest city, where I grew up and started sailing on chilly Lake…

Decades ago, Doris Day sweetly reminded us: “Que sera, sera. The future’s not ours to see.” Perhaps not specifically, but the successful evolution of Homo sapiens is largely due to our ability to envision the future, anticipate contingencies and develop strategies to influence the outcome. I believe that this is the core element of sound seamanship, which might simply be termed “forehandedness.” While it is true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, no amount of preparation can absolutely eliminate every crisis at sea, for the oceanic experience is fluid in every sense of the word. Therefore, our imagination must extend into the realm of emergency management. And what are our most likely emergencies? An 11-year study conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard revealed that sailors:…

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS and TECHNIQUES SEAMANSHIP While full-time year-round cruising is the goal for some sailors, part-time voyaging is often more realistic, or even preferred. For the past few years, my husband, Seth, and I have been lucky enough to be part-time voyagers, working ashore for nine months at a time and sailing for three. It’s made for a perfect balance between everything we love about shore life and feeding our need for the open ocean, drawing canvas (well, Dacron) and new landfalls. Part-time voyagers, whether sailing for six months or one, face an important process at the end of each season: laying up the boat. If we do it well, we return to our boat, Celeste, in much the same condition as when we left it, which means we can…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE Recently, I received an email from a reader sharing the tale of her odoriferous holding-tank plight. She explained the tank had been added five years ago, and of late it had begun to smell. She wondered if adding ventilation might help. She was on to something. Holding tanks are a necessary (but important) evil, and with the range of no-discharge zones increasing with each passing year, the need to have one that functions properly, and doesn’t stink, is ever more critical. The bacteria that grow within holding tanks and sanitation systems produce, among other things, hydrogen sulfide gas. We’ve all smelled it; it’s that unmistakable, pungent rotten-egg odor. These undesirable anaerobic bacteria thrive in an oxygen-depleted environment, which is precisely what exists within most holding tanks. On the…

We’d set sail from a marina in Southampton, England, on a cool, blustery day last September, bound for an afternoon of yachting on the famous waters between the Isle of Wight known as the Solent. At the wheel of Märta III, a spanking clean, recently launched Oyster 575, my colleague, Cruising World advertising director Ted Ruegg, was wearing a smile that appeared to have been plastered on. Dodging fast ferries, towering cruise ships, laden tankers, Cornish crabbers and black-carbon-sail raceboats, Märta III was sailing fast and well, leaning into the fresh 25-knot southwesterly on a tight reach, with the speedo cresting at 10 knots flat. Cool. Our host for the day, Oyster’s chief commercial officer, Paul Adamson, urged me to duck below and have a listen. I did as instructed,…

In your August/September On Watch (“Transiting Neptune’s Stairs”), Cap’n Fatty Goodlander tells of the comedy of errors during his Panama Canal transit, partly due to his two pilots not doing their jobs, and because he did not have a canal agent. They make all the arrangements, and they provide experienced line handlers instead of a pickup crew. During my pleasant transit of the Panama Canal, I was docked at the Pedro Miguel Boat Club, 2 miles from the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side. My canal agent, Pete Stevens, informed me there would be a delay of three or four days to go through the last locks. Good! I loved the place: The clubhouse was an old wooden building surrounded by trees. In its large library, I read a good…

About 6,000 years ago — when the Pacific Ocean was unexplored and its tiny islands, scattered across a vast area of unimaginable size, lay quiet and uninhabited — a pioneering people from Southeast Asia pushed their double-hulled canoes from familiar shores and sailed deep into the unknown. For over a millennium they migrated east, toward the rising sun, settling on islands never before seen by mankind, raising families and building communities before a brave new generation set sail to explore farther beyond the horizon. And while the remote islands evolved over generations into the separate regions and countries we know today as Hawaii, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Rapa Nui (Easter Island), they remain connected by the wakes of their ancestors, like the lines…

The wind’s blowing 20 across confused seas as a 5-foot swell reminds us Hurricane Chris went by not long ago. It’s a great day for my dad, my nephew and me to sail the Nova Scotia coast. We steer a broad reach at 7 knots, and that takes the sting out of the gusts as we wend through lumpy seas like a skier through moguls. It’s not all good times; the sky’s gone the color of old nickels, and our boat skids awkwardly off every 10th wave. Still, there’s plenty to like for three generations of McCarthys aiming south from Shelburne onward to round Cape Sable for a night on the Bay of Fundy shore. A set of larger waves slides beneath Nellie, my trusty Beneteau First 42, and one…

Lucky enough to have learned to sail when I was a boy knocking around Maine’s Kennebec River in a small wooden centerboard sloop, I harbor a history of mixed feelings about boats. Most of these emotions are positive, even ecstatic. Feeling the wind and exploiting it in a moving boat — there is a profound sense of independence. And yet when I first learned it, this seemed too miraculous. I can recall feeling a premonition that sailing is too glorious to be anything other than temporary, like a lovely Christmas morning under a pretty tree that will be in the trash tomorrow. Will the day ever come when I will have to give up boats? Until now, the answer has been no. Yet when I have been asking this question…

SYSTEMS It seems sailors these days just can’t get along without some source of alternating-current electricity on board, either from shore power, which requires staying at the dock all the time, or by running an AC generator or possibly an inverter, which draws power from the boat’s direct-current battery bank. I love comparing today’s boats to what my wife and I used on board when we were cruising back in the 1980s. Our boat didn’t have any AC circuitry! We read at night using gimbaled oil lamps; we used a sun shower for hot water. Coffee was brewed using a French press heated on the propane-fueled stove-top, music came from a battery-powered AM/FM cassette player and we dried our hair in the breeze as we sailed. Oh, and our refrigeration…