Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Soundings

As I write this, two weeks have passed since Hurricane Dorian tore away from the Bahamas after pummeling the island nation with sustained winds of 185 mph. It was the most powerful storm on record to strike the Bahamas and is being called the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. The photos taken in the wake of the storm are heartbreaking, particularly the images of residents forced to evacuate and those who remained on the hard-hit islands of the Abacos and Grand Bahama. I’ve had the privilege to cruise the beautiful waters of the Abacos with my family, and to enjoy the company of the warm and welcoming people who call this part of the world their home. Many of my colleagues at the Active Interest Media Marine Group…

A statewide agency that oversees Rhode Island’s coastal areas has injected itself into what was already a cantankerous local debate about access to moorings in one of the Northeast’s most popular ports, Newport Harbor, creating an even bigger controversy that could affect local and transient boaters in the summers to come. About 900 moorings are in Newport Harbor, and the city categorizes them as private or commercial. Some 600 of the moorings are private, which means locals can put their own boats on them. The other 300 moorings are commercial, which means they’re open for rental to transient boaters. This past year, there’s been a lot of discussion and, well, argument about the private moorings. Around 600 locals are reportedly on a waiting list to get a private mooring for…

In June, the 85-foot pilot schooner Elbe No. 5, known to many of us as California’s ex-Wander Bird, collided with the 462-foot container ship Astrosprinter on the Elbe River near Hamburg, Germany. The schooner was 136 years old and had just completed a $1.7 million restoration. She had 43 people on board, all of them rescued by five response boats that were nearby for another accident. The historic schooner sank shortly after being towed to a shallow area. Her demise is a sobering opportunity to review some fundamentals about avoiding ships in narrow channels and rivers. Because of draft and limited maneuverability, ships in those types of waterways often cannot deviate from their track. They cannot stop easily or even slow down like a smaller vessel can. Because a ship’s…

I will never forget the first time my dad and I went fishing together in a boat. It was March 1977, I was 7 years old and he had just read a local newspaper article about the spring yellow perch run in the nearby Severn River. The clipping was pinned up on the corkboard by our telephone in the kitchen for weeks. Dad was amped because a few months earlier, in the dead of winter, he’d driven to Annapolis, Maryland, whipped out his Sears, Roebuck & Co. store card and, to my mother’s chagrin, brought home a 12-foot Gamefisher skiff with a 9.9-hp, 2-stroke Ted Williams outboard. It was our family’s first boat. And it was ugly. Really ugly. So ugly, in fact, that we eventually called her Old Greenie.…

BILL GARDELLA Rex Marine, Norwalk, Connecticut Some folks think less gas is better, because ethanol in E10 gas absorbs water. But filling the tank leaves less space for moist air and less space for explosive vapors to accumulate, so it’s safer. You don’t want to fill the tanks all the way: If you fill them to 95 or 100 percent on a cool day in the fall, when it warms up in the spring, the gas can expand, run out through the vent and form a puddle on the ground under the boat. Our standard is to fill to 80 percent capacity. Same with diesel, but less for safety than to minimize condensation; all kinds of stuff can grow in water sitting at the bottom of a diesel fuel tank.…

Laurie McCoy couldn’t make the sounds stop in her mind: the deafening wind, the smashing of trees and debris, the air screeching like a train whistle through the cracks, the water sloshing into places it shouldn’t be. Simply seeing the news coverage of Category 5 Hurricane Dorian relentlessly lashing the Bahamas in September brought those sounds, and more, back for McCoy in a way that made her feel like Hurricane Irma had returned to haunt her all over again. “Laurie feels that she has PTSD,” says her husband, Ken Reynolds, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. “She’s been crying all week.” The couple, from Canada, experienced the shock of Dorian’s destruction while watching the increasingly dire reports emerge from the Bahamas. As with countless other boaters, they’d cruised there and adored…

Maarten Platje has frozen a moment in America’s maritime history in his dramatic work “Opening Shots, USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere.” It shows the War of 1812 sea battle in the open Atlantic that put the young United States on the world map and that gave the American frigate Constitution her nickname, Old Ironsides. “It’s the early stage of the battle,” Platje says, “just before the ships were close enough to exchange broadsides.” Guerriere, in the foreground, flies the British flag, which streams out in the stiff breeze. Constitution has just fired her bow guns, with the splash of the shot visible between the ships. Less than an hour later, the once-proud, 36-gun Guerriere was a ruined hulk, battered into surrender by the innovative, heavily built 44-gun American vessel. Hopelessly…

Two shipwrights shape the stem for an 18-foot sailboat while a wooden workboat slides down the rails at Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway in Martha’s Vineyard. The scene looks the way it might have a hundred years ago as a Hinckley Sport Boat 40x appears from behind two classic schooners. With her Downeast styling, the 40x fits in among the wooden beauties, but her looks belie thoroughly modern epoxy-infused carbon fiber and Kevlar construction—a combination of style and technology for which Hinckley is known. The Sport Boat 40x is a pilothouse design introduced on the heels of last year’s Sport Boat 40c, a center console that was the builder’s first-ever boat with outboard power. The 40x has a profile similar to the jet-powered Picnic Boat 40 that Hinckley began delivering…

MEMORY LANE One of the photos by Onne van der Wal in the story “Shore Thing” (October) brought back so many good memories; it’s as if I heard one of my favorite old songs. The picture was taken at the dock of the sailing pavilion at MIT. The birthplace of college sailing and the 2018 National Sailing Champions, MIT is now the steward of the Buzzards Bay 30 Mashnee that was built in 1902 and designed by L. Francis Herreshoff, who was special student at MIT. So many great boats were created by graduates of the School of Naval Design. I learned to sail at MIT many years ago. In 1999, I saw an advertisement for the Stone Horse, a classic cutter-rigged pocket cruiser by yet another MIT graduate, S.S.…

Pacific Asian Enterprises has begun construction on a brand-new model, the Nordhavn 41. The 41-footer, to debut in early 2020, will replace the builder’s popular 40, which holds the world record for the fastest circum-navigation by a production powerboat. With a low profile, the new design will be CE Certified Category A Ocean, for winds up to 40 knots and waves over 13 feet. Twin Kubota 75-hp diesels marinized by Beta will be standard. Nordhavn says these engines routinely run 20,000 hours in generator applications. Stabilization will come from ABT Trac 220 stabilizers with 6-square-foot fins and a 4,000-pound lead ballast keel. The Nordhavn 41 will be available with one or two staterooms. A 12-foot center console tender can be accommodated on deck and an 800-pound davit is standard. The…

In man-overboard scenarios, time can be the difference between a happy outcome and a tragedy. The sooner passengers on board become aware of the situation, the sooner they can respond. In fact, statistics show that early notification is crucial to improving the odds of rescue. To increase early awareness, more boat owners are employing wireless man overboard systems. Today, there are systems to meet a variety of needs and budgets, from very affordable compact units that can be monitored from a cell phone to more sophisticated gear that can monitor up to 15 people. Here’s a look at a few of the newer systems that have come to market recently. Weems & Plath’s CrewWatcher This is a cylindrical Bluetooth beacon that’s just 3 inches tall and 1.5 inches in diameter.…

Between uber-cool tech and uber-uncool changes in the environment, one thing is for sure: You simply can’t fish like you did in the past. At least, not if you want to be a successful angler. It seems like every year, there are new tactics and gear to adopt. Fish that used to be here pop up way over there. And if you keep trying the same old same old, you’re likely to wonder how those inexperienced young guns seem to outfish you day after day. It’s necessary to bob, weave, change and adapt, no matter how strange a new idea may seem. Flounder are a great example of a reason to embrace change. Once upon a time, they were thought of mostly as a bay species, but today, the best…

For Herbert Bain, September 17 was just a typical day in the Bahamas. It had been a little more than two weeks since Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Abaco Islands, leaving unprecedented wreckage. Marsh Harbour still looked like the apocalypse, but where Bain stood, doing his job as dockmaster for Atlantis Marina at Paradise Island, it was 86 degrees and sunny with a full winter boating season on the horizon. “All the islands south of Nassau, none were impacted,” Bain told Soundings by telephone. According to the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, while damage to the Abacos and Grand Bahama is substantial, nearly all of the 700 other Bahamian islands got lucky. After the gray skies returned to blue, the other islands went back to business as usual. And…

Dan Kirsch and Sandy Williamson, Outer Reef 610 Dan Kirsch has been on boats since he was 6 months old and remembers building an 18-foot cuddy cabin from a kit. Larger boats came later, including a 37-foot Silverton his father owned. Eventually, Dan and Sandy Williamson, who had their first date on a boat, would cruise that 37, and other boats. In 2017, they bought an Outer Reef 610 Motoryacht, Sandana. They’ve been living aboard and cruising ever since. One of the misconceptions about living aboard, Dan explains, is that it’s like camping out. “We’re extremely self-sufficient on this boat, but it doesn’t mean we rough it. When we decided on the Outer Reef 610, we incorporated features that enhance our comfort and independence aboard.” Sandana’s electrical system is a…

The sailboat carrying 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg to New York City in late August appeared from behind a black barge steaming up the Hudson River. The cheers that erupted from several hundred people under leaden skies along the Battery Park waterfront lent the arrival from England as much a sense of religious advent as of a media event. Thunberg waved from the bow as the 60-foot Malizia II interminably tacked back and forth across the Hudson, continuing along the final leg of the journey without any assist from fossil fuels. The crowd included sign-waving child and teen climate activists, camera-wielding members of the international press, old curious sailors, and middle-agers in Birkenstocks. One man arrived in a homemade, solar-powered car. “No more coal, no more oil, keep the carbon…

She was 97 years old, but her age didn’t matter. For at least one judge at the 37th Antique & Classic Boat Festival in Salem, Massachusetts, picking the winner was almost predestined. “Can we just go ahead and name her the most beautiful schooner in the world?” Queene Hooper Foster asked the other judges. She was referring to Malabar II, a 1922 John Alden-designed 42-foot LOD wooden schooner. Her beautiful lines and pristine condition drew loads of admirers. By the end of the first day, the judges had voted her the best sailboat at the festival, and by the end of the weekend the spectators would do the same. The gaff-rigged schooner is a testament to a nearly lifelong commitment from her owners, Jim and Ginny Lobdell of Vineyard Haven,…

It’s a call that always comes sooner than hopeful relatives are prepared for. Loved ones pin their hopes on one last flight, and the U.S. Coast Guard sector commander—the man or woman responsible for calling off a search—knows it. He or she has to tell the family that nothing was found, and that the Coast Guard is giving up. Deciding to quit a search is the worst part of the job. When the Coast Guard suspends a search for a missing boater, hearts that were breaking now fully break, and the news is met with more than tears. There is often also anger and confusion. The anger can’t be helped, but the confusion can be eased. Most people lost at sea stay lost. It’s a harsh reality that the Coast…

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING SECOND WIND: THE SNOEK REFIT If you’ve had your hands on any sort of boating magazine in the past 30 years, chances are good you’ve seen more than a few of Onne van der Wal’s photos. The Newport, Rhode Island-based photographer was born in the Netherlands and raised on the sea in Hout Bay, South Africa, where he learned to sail. He is one of the most respected marine photographers in the world, first making a name for himself when he crewed and shot photographs on Flyer, a Dutch entry that participated in the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1981-82. After years of crewing on other people’s boats, van der Wal craved his own sailing craft to love, and bought a 1972 Pearson 36 sailboat to…

The rain was coming down, washing the docks and eliciting squeaks from the soggy shoes of serious boaters. They were out in force, wearing foul weather gear and smiles while moving through the Newport International Boat Show in Rhode Island. Among them was a guy in a yellow slicker looking over the Tiara 43 LS in its world debut. “I’ve always known about Tiara, but I was never really interested in the brand, mostly because I didn’t want a cabin,” he said. “But this boat? It has my attention.” For five decades, the Michigan-based builder was best known for offshore cruisers with inboard engines and serious cabins for overnighting. Then, two years ago, the company launched the Tiara Sport series, a line of outboard-powered day boats that look as fast…

LOA: 52’0” LOD: 38’0” LWL: 33’6” Beam: 11’6” Displ. (approx.): 12 tons Sail Area: 1,100 sq. ft. A stiff westerly pinned Ziska to the linear dock of Boat Haven in Port Townsend, Washington. Dusk was leaching into darkness when the decision was made to move the 52-footer to a better spot for the last night before the 2019 Race to Alaska. But the move was easier said than done when all hands in town were preparing for the fifth running of the tortuous, 750-mile route that takes competitors to Ketchikan, Alaska, propelled by wind, muscle and wit. Luckily, out of nowhere, a small tug and a tiny inflatable materialized to pull and push this doll of a cutter, all 12 tons of her, against the wind and current. Once she…

Located in Converse Point, one of the most exclusive private neighborhoods in Marion, Massachusetts, this home offers excellent views of Sippican Harbor and Buzzards Bay. In addition to 240 feet of coastal frontage, there’s a private dock with deep-water access, private beach and an outdoor deck that hugs the entire waterfront side of the house. A circular drive and stonework lead up to the custom house that sits on 2.4 acres. With 5,500 square feet of living space, it’s oriented to the water, offering views from most rooms. The main living level has a living room with vaulted ceilings, a stone wood-burning fireplace and a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. On the same level is a family room that was custom designed for a pool table. The newly remodeled kitchen has…

A Boston Whaler Sakonnet hugs the rocks, putting a pair of anglers at the center of some serious fishing action. When this image came out in a 1962 company sales brochure, there was no other boat like the Boston Whaler in the world. She’d come to life starting in the late 1950s, when boatbuilder (and Harvard graduate) Dick Fisher, working with the now-legendary naval architect C. Raymond Hunt, combined a new building material with a radical hull design to create a 13-foot prototype. The odd-looking, polyurethane-foam-based craft with a tri-hull bottom and a single outboard engine survived a grueling, 120-mile sea trial, running from Cohasset to New Bedford in Massachusetts. In 1958, Fisher began selling the boat under the Boston Whaler name. In 1962, the single-outboard fleet expanded with a…