Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2021 i Cruising World

Want to talk about a coincidence? When I first spoke with Spike Lobdell, president of New England Science & Sailing, he’d just accepted US Sailing’s Outstanding Community Sailing Program Award for 2013. We met during a break at a US Sailing summit in San Diego and chatted about the program he helped launch in Stonington, Connecticut, how it had begun as an idea for a different sort of inclusive yacht club, and how it had evolved into a community sailing center with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math education for kids, as well as learn-to-sail programs for adults. Then this spring, out of the blue, I got an email from him offering an update on the program, which this summer will mark the 20th season of community…

1. NORTH SAILS PERFORMANCE OFFSHORE GEAR • $700 (TROUSERS), $750 (JACKET) • NORTHSAILS.COM The renowned sailmaking company has launched a technical sailing clothing line that includes a range of foul-weather gear. The Offshore collection features a jacket (or smock) and trousers constructed from Gore-Tex Pro fabric, which offers highly waterproof and breathable protection. A four-layer, durable, nonabsorbent laminate reinforces the knees and seat. 2. RHEOS REEDY • $78 • RHEOSGEAR.COM Rheos has been making floating eyewear designed for life on the water since 2016. A new partnership with lifestyle brand Southern Tide has resulted in a range of new frames that are functional yet fashionable. The rugged frames are made out of a lightweight nylon, and the scratch-resistant lenses are available in a range of tints. 3. ACR BIVY •…

A well-traveled friend once told me, “If you haven’t eaten with locals in their home, you haven’t fully experienced a place.” I used to think all that was required to check a country off your list was to exit the airport for more than 24 hours or step off the boat onto land. But my friend had a point. Could one really claim to have been somewhere after simply sightseeing and eating in restaurants? I started ticking off the places I’d visited, and was shocked to realize that by my friend’s standard, I’d hardly been anywhere. But one can’t just cruise into a new port, knock on someone’s door and declare, “I’m here for dinner!” In most towns, you’d have to spend considerable time and make yourself available to folks…

GEAR As sailors, it’s romantic to think that our locomotion comes from the wind, but most skippers, when pressed, admit to motoring a fair portion of the time. Like it or not, your boat’s propeller is a key element of the propulsion system, and just as there are myriad considerations involved when ordering sails, decisions abound when selecting the prop that best suits your wallet and sailing plans. FIXED-BLADE OPTIONS As the moniker implies, fixed-blade propellers are typically cast out of an alloy such as manganese bronze or nickel, bronze and aluminum. Individual propeller blades stem from a central hub, which in turn attaches to the sailboat’s prop shaft or saildrive. Depending on the manufacturer, these blades typically are pitched in a way that propels the boat forward or backward…

EWOL: ewoltech.com, 410-317-8104; from $2,120 Flexofold: flexofold.com, 781-797-0809; from $980 GORI: gori-propeller.com, 401-847-7960; from $650 JProp: betamarinenc.com, 252-249-2473; from $2,500 Kiwiprop: kiwiprops.co.nz, 877-549-4872; from $1,350 Max-Prop: pyiinc.com, 425-355-3669; from $1,900 Michigan Wheel: miwheel.com, 800-369-4335; from $550 Variprofile: spw-gmbh.de, 401-847-7960; from $800 Variprop: spw-gmbh.de, 401-847-7960; from $1,200 Volvo: volvopenta.us, 800-522-1959; call for pricing…

Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World By Andrea Pitzer (2021, Scribner; $29) Ice. Desolation. The sea. For some people like me, this collection of words attached to a story makes it irresistible. Icebound is about William Barents, a Dutch explorer who at the end of the 16th century tried to go over the top of the world to reach China via what was then thought to be a warm polar sea. He and his small crew sailed from Amsterdam in a 60-foot wooden sailing ship with a 16-foot beam stuffed with trading goods, and the food, tools and clothing needed for a voyage, only to end up at a desolate, rocky island hemmed in by ice and lousy with polar bears. Their exploits were recorded for posterity in…

I’m not sure which I prefer more: organizing and stowing food supplies after a major provisioning run, or trying to make a fabulous dinner from meager supplies the night before a restock. Either way, the only thing better than eating dinner on the boat, surrounded by stunning water views, is cooking a tasty meal on board. § Summer dinners are always better on our Hunter 31, Katie 3, when we’re cruising Canadian waters from Burlington Bay to Rockport, Ontario. One evening when provisions were low, the dinner dance began. I searched every storage locker as well as the bowels of the icebox to see what Katie 3 would surrender for one last pre-provisioning meal. I placed the seemingly incompatible ingredients on the counter and contemplated the best course of action.…

It is a common misconception that the first America’s Cup—a race around the Isle of Wight way back in 1851—was a fair-minded head-to-head contest between Great Britain’s single-best sailboat and the schooner America. In fact, Great Britain fielded 14 vessels—sloops, schooners, and cutters, large and small—in the belief that certainly one of the fleet would excel in whatever the day’s conditions and send the Yanks home properly humbled. On the appointed day, the Royal Yacht was positioned to watch Britain’s champion steaming toward the swelling crowds at the finish line. Queen Victoria asked her tender, “Are the yachts in sight?” “Only the America, may it please Your Majesty.” “Which is second?” “Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second.” With those historic words, the defining nature of the America’s Cup was…

Choosing the right propeller is complex, but the most important variables for selecting the correct prop are your boat’s make, model, LOA and displacement, the engine’s horsepower rating and its maximum rpm, as well as the transmission’s reduction ratio. While most of this information is easily ascertained, determining the reduction ratio can be challenging. But, Prior says, “the best method to get the actual ratio is to use your cellphone camera and take a photo of the plate on the transmission,” adding that this beats hanging upside down and trying to read this information using a mirror and flashlight. For the DIYer, online calculators exist that can help crunch the numbers. “After that, it gets into the art,” Hutchison says. His advice: Ask an expert.…

SYSTEMS I first got a whiff of the composting-toilet trend a couple of years ago when my Instagram feed exploded with stories of cruisers replacing their regular marine toilets with modern composting versions. It didn’t even occur to me that one day we would join the composting-toilet movement too. Then, after 10 years of trouble-free use, we started getting blockages in the head. This new development, along with a pervasive “toilet funk” in the cupboards—not so much stale salt water but an odor more like a dirty public bathroom—led us to believe that after a decade, the hard sanitation hose that connected the toilet discharge to the overboard seacock had deteriorated. But we also needed to address another fault in the system: the lack of a reasonable-size holding tank. When…

It’s a gorgeous day on Longboat Key, a sliver of a barrier island off the west coast of Florida sliced between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, all of it straight out of a chamber-of-commerce brochure. The breeze has filled in from the southwest, but not too much, hovering at 10 knots or so. Which is just great, because the sandwiches are made, the cooler is packed, and we’ve got just the right activity for this sunscreen afternoon. We’re going sailing. Skipper Steve Spurr is at the helm of his Pearson 365, August West—so named for the protagonist of an old Grateful Dead song called “Wharf Rat,” significant of nothing, slapped on the transom by a previous owner—and he backs her out of a tight slip with the easy…

I really enjoyed the tools article by Marga Pretorius (“What’s In Her Bag,” April 2021) and appreciate her insights. Without question, I picked up a few hints, so in the interest of sharing, let me offer one. Never, never, ever use a Phillips screwdriver for anything! This tool was developed for one-time screw installations by unskilled labor. The head is designed to slip if too much torque is applied. Fine for putting a screw in, not so good for removal. After years of stripping screw heads while restoring Japanese and European motorcycles, I finally learned of JIS drivers. These look like Phillips and come in the same sizes, but the crosshatch is just different enough to keep them from stripping the screw head. All those years when I thought Japanese…

There are two situations that accelerate vessel maintenance: one, using your sailboat too much, and two, using it too seldom. For the past six decades of living aboard, I’ve erred on the too-active side of this equation. During the past 20 years of our cruising lives, my wife, Carolyn, and I have averaged between 5,000 and 8,000 ocean miles annually. That’s a lot of wear and tear on our sails, chafe on our running rigging, and hours on our Perkins diesel. Now, totally unexpectedly, we find ourselves staying put, tethered to a mooring at the Changi Sailing Club in Singapore due to the new normal of COVID-19 international-travel restrictions. The result is, simply put, electrical issues. That’s right—I used to wear a rigging knife, but now I’m thinking of getting…

AFTER TWO DAYS of air travel from Port of Spain, Trinidad, a layover in Paramaribo, Suriname, then to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, our motion finally came to a halt. The airport shuttle stopped in the arts district of Amsterdam Noord on a quiet street that ran between the former NDSM shipyard and a waterfront canal. My husband, James Burwick, our five kids, and our driver off-loaded bags out of the van onto a sidewalk next to docks adjacent to the Rhebergen Multihull Yachts yard. Sweet-smelling summer wildflowers taller than my three youngest children stretched along the verge; the sun was shining, butterflies fluttered, and bees were buzzing. On the ground next to us, our entire lives were packed into four duffel bags, one tool bag and a camera bag. The kids…

Unlike fixed-blade propellers, feathering and folding propellers are often designed so that the pitch can be adjusted, perchance it doesn’t perfectly match your vessel, engine and transmission right out of the box. Depending on the prop, this adjustment is typically made by changing a screw(s) or swapping out the prop blades. These adjustments can usually be done by a diver while the boat is in the water. Some general rules of thumb as to when to change the pitch involve engine rpm: If the prop doesn’t meet the engine’s ideal rpm, the blade’s angle needs to be reduced; conversely, if the prop is exceeding the engine’s rpm metrics, the blade’s angle of attack needs to be increased. As a cautionary note, overpitching a propeller can cause the engine to overheat,…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE Lithium-ion batteries are a hot topic in the sailing community these days, and many sailors wonder if they’re a practical option. They actually come in a variety of chemistries, each with its own set of advantages and potential pitfalls; lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP, options are getting the most traction in the cruising-under-sail and powerboat ranks. While there are other lithium-ion batteries that offer greater efficiency and energy density, the LFP variety represents the greatest balance of safety and performance. When compared with AGM (absorbent glass mat) lead-acid batteries, the primary advantages of lithium-ion are efficiency-based, especially the ability to be charged very rapidly, several times faster than AGM chemistry. They can also be deeply discharged, down to 10 or 20 percent state of charge (compared with AGM’s 50 percent…