The old adage holds true: “One hand for oneself, and one for the ship.” Boaters spend a lot of time, money, effort and thought on preventing what is an exceedingly rare occurrence on larger cruising-sized vessels. One reason we all dread going overboard offshore is that experienced boaters recognize the extreme difficulty of first finding the victim — assuming anyone is on board to notice — and then getting that person back on board the boat. Just think of all the times you have had a hat blow off and then tried to retrieve it. How successful were you? I know I have lost a lot of hats, fenders and other items that blew off the boat, never to be seen again. Try jumping off your boat in a peaceful…
To the editor: Like most cruisers today, I carry and rely on a smartphone for many things: email, maps, weather radar — even phone calls! However, as someone who enjoys photography and who frequently sells illustrated articles accompanied by photographs, I have learned both the plusses and minuses of smartphone photography on board. The biggest advantage is, of course, that “the best camera you own is the one you have with you.” When a great photo presents itself, you don’t want to be regretting that you left your DSLR and its heavy bag back on the boat. Since many of us feel naked without a smartphone, we tend to carry one wherever, whenever. This means you won’t miss that shot of the amazing sunset, or the funny-looking dinghy at the…
Gone are the days when I used to measure the length of the bookshelves on boats I was checking out for cruising. I really did that! The book inventory required for a long-distance cruise was staggering: charts, cruising guides, almanacs, tide tables, radio frequency guides, language translation books, cookbooks, phone books, Ocean Passages for the World, World Cruising Routes, travel books, novels, road atlases, dictionaries, etc. It was very easy to find yourself struggling down the dock to a new boat carrying 300 pounds of books in multiple trips. Obviously, digital book and chart storage can eliminate much of this problem, and there are many additional functionalities that can be added by using smartphone, laptop and tablet apps. The wealth of knowledge that can be carried on board is fantastic,…
You’re anchored securely in a tropical lagoon you used to dream about … then the “real world” drags you back. No matter how magical the anchorage, there comes the time when you have to dinghy ashore to seek out Wi-Fi and an Internet cafe so you can pay the bills, find parts, check in with family and friends and, if you are really courageous, read the news. Today, voyagers enjoy a multitude of Internet benefits that make managing your real-world life much easier, but you best be aware of some new concerns. While voyaging, your online life will center around email. Almost every bill can be received via email. Many things that formerly were very difficult for voyagers to receive come via email. In addition, an email address is the…
Every year our team of judges looks at what’s new and innovative in the always-changing field of marine technology. We cast a wide net because that fits with the interests of Chuck Husick, who had a universal interest in marine technology — in fact, in all kinds technology! Chuck was involved in everything from helping to develop marine communications standards like AIS via his work with the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime (RTCM), to inventing a new type of raw water strainer fitting that was then manufactured by Groco Marine. So for the 2015 Husick Award, here are the nominated products: 2015 Husick Award judges Ben Ellison — Marine electronics writer, editor and owner of Panbo.com Roger Hellyar-Brooke — Marine systems expert installer John Kettlewell — Marine author and editor…
Every year our team of judges looks at what’s new and innovative in the always-changing field of marine technology for determine what product show win the Chuck Husick Marine Technology Award. We cast a wide net because that fits with the interests of Chuck Husick, who had a universal interest in marine technology — in fact, in all kinds technology! Chuck was involved in everything from helping to develop marine communications standards like AIS via his work with the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime (RTCM) to inventing a new type of raw water strainer fitting that is manufactured by Groco Marine and many things in between. After the judges considered all the nominees, they chose a final winner for the 2015 Husick Award: PredictWind, a web-based weather forecasting and weather routing service with tracking, departure…
OK — I just dated myself with that title, but "cool" is the only appropriate word, in my opinion, for this potpourri of charting goodness. Dock-to-dock Autorouting You've no doubt read about the wonders of Google's self-driving cars that will take you from point A to point B safely while you do important things like drinking coffee and using Snapchat. I hope boating never gets to that point, but Navionics has taken a step in that direction with a new component in Navionics+, an optional pay-to-subscribe feature available in their free Boating app, or included with their paid Boating app. Check it out here. It is available for iPhone and iPad at this time. We all have used chartplotters that let us create straight-line routes between various selected waypoints, but…
During and before hurricane season you will read and hear lots of information on what to do when a storm approaches, and how to escape and remain safe. However, the most important thing is to pay attention, so that whatever happens you have days of warning. With a longer warning period you might very well be able to move your boat to a more sheltered harbor, or possibly even far enough from the storm to avoid the worst of it. The primary early warning tool is the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) website (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/). Keep the site bookmarked on your cellphone, your home computer or wherever you'll be able to check it every day. The NHC is previewing a new website (http://www.nhcpara.noaa.gov/) with responsive design that will work better on phones and…
Remember when you used to read those magazine articles about voyaging off into the sunset to get away from it all? And now that you’re out there doing it, you realize that to stay out there you need to be more organized than you used to be, with more lists of things to do, and your job description has grown longer by pages. Voyaging is really about repairing your boat in exotic places, so you have to embrace it or the voyage will be short, unpleasant and not have a happy ending. Oil changes, filter changes, coolant changes, engine adjustments and lubrication, battery top-ups, pump maintenance and many other chores have their own schedules that will rule your life. When the hours are up, you will be doing your oil…
Have you ever found the perfect waterfront boaters’ bar? I’m still searching, but I know what it looks and smells like. It’s right on the waterfront — you can dinghy right up to it, hop ashore and stumble back to the dink at the end of the evening. The clincher: when you’re in the mood for mischief, you can bring up a story about your favorite anchor and before you know it there will be a near riot! Strong men and women have fled from many a boating forum in tears after near-death experiences in anchor threads. Why is this? Like one’s religion, or lack thereof, it is part nurture, part experimentation, part preaching, part experience and part blind faith. Most boaters move back and forth through these stages in…
