“The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.” — Sterling Hayden, Wanderer Sailors getting some voyaging experience on a Mahina Expeditions trip get a close-up look at marine life. Mahina Expeditions One thing rarely written about in magazine articles and books on long-distance cruising and voyaging is the time problem. Relentlessly marching on, with or without us, time does not pause while we accumulate the right boats, skills, experience and crew to do the great things we read and dream about. Relationships, family, finances and a whole host of other everyday things further whittle away at our allotted passage through life. Whether young, old, or in between, every long-distance…
Want to start an instant argument in a waterfront bar? Just bring up anchors and anchoring and you’ll regret changing the topic from politics. Nothing brings out more heated opinions than the best choice of anchor and how to use it. And don’t try changing the subject by asking how to rig a second anchor, or you might be thrown out of that bar by the bouncer. Being a safe distance from that bar and that cruising crowd at the moment, I get to now write a few carefully chosen words on the subject of how to choose, rig, and use that second anchor. 1 + 1 does not equal 2 First, the Number 2 anchor isn’t a Number 1. You can still find many books that tout the idea…
Having made 20 or so trips up and down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from Virginia to Florida I may be mistaken for an incorrigible ditch digger, but on almost every trip south I have combined offshore runs with ICW segments. Why you ask? Because it makes sense to utilize the best of both worlds. My first trip south was on a tight schedule and I needed to get from North Carolina to Florida in a couple of weeks. It’s 1,090 or so statute (land) miles of Intracoastal Waterway from Norfolk to Miami. Averaging 50 miles per day, you’re looking at three straight weeks of motoring all day, every day. And that assumes you don’t have any mechanical breakdowns or get stuck behind a broken swing bridge that won’t open, and…
An artist must first gather the materials for the job, and it is the same on board when contemplating the start of a jury-rig masterpiece. Unfortunately, there appears to be a wrinkle in the space-time continuum that causes expensive things to break when you don’t have the specific part or tool and the correlation with the distance to the nearest marine store. Because of this natural law, jury-rig artists must carry all sorts of universal repair supplies that can perform many different functions — often ones they weren’t marketed for. Over the course of more than 35 years of cruising I have collected a large quantity of these essentials that can be lumped together under the technical term “stuff.” Water belongs on the outside We were headed offshore from the…
The year 2013 was another year of great marine technology products. Some of those products were nominated by our panel of judges for consideration for the Chuck Husick Marine Technology Award, named for the late Ocean Navigator contributing editor who had a comprehensive grasp of and was a great advocate for marine technology. Following a nomination round, a final list of products was compiled. The finalists: • Imtra LED lights • Simrad HS70 GPS Compass • Spot Connect • What’s On My Boat? app • Fujinon S1640D Gyro-stabilized binoculars • Greatland Green Rescue Laser Flare • DeLorme inReach SE • Navico GoFree WiFi strategy • MaxSea TimeZero iPad app The winner Then it was time for our judges to cast their votes for the winner. The most votes for…
2013 was another year of great marine technology products and some of those were nominated by our panel of judges for consideration for the Chuck Husick Marine Technology Award, named for the late Ocean Navigator contributing editor who had a comprehensive grasp of marine technology. Following a round of nominations, the selected products were voted on and the top vote getters are shown below. These are the finalists for the 2013 Husick Award (with links to the products). We will announce the final winner soon. The Finalists Imtra LED lights Simrad HS70 GPS Compass Spot Connect What's On My Boat? app Fujinon S1640D Gyro-stabilized binoculars Greatland Green Laser Flare DeLorme InReach SE Navico Go_Free WiFi strategy MaxSea Time Zero iPad app The Judges Scott Bannerot - Voyaging sailor, author, saltwater…
To the editor: I enjoyed the very informative and well-written article by John Kettlewell about the registration situation in Florida (“A fog of regulation,” Issue No. 210, May/June 2013). I would like to add two points. 1. If your boat is at least 30 years old, and still has the same type of power plant, it is eligible for a greatly reduced fee as an antique vessel. For my 63-foot motorsailer, it dropped the fee from more than $100 to $5.25 per year! 2. Some water police may make an issue of a lack of a hull identification number (HIN). This number is normally molded into the upper, starboard part of the transom by the manufacturer. But if the boat has been rebuilt in this area, or (in my case) is a homebuilt…
Their dinghy exploration of the coral reefs over, it was time to get the dinghy back on board. The cable was hooked up to the lifting harness and the dinghy began to rise out of the water. Then — nothing. What now? Weighing some 900 pounds, give or take a hundred, there was no way to get the dink aboard without the crane. The nearest possible marine repair shop was almost 200 miles away from their location in the remote San Blas Islands of Panama. The only option being a long tow, the yacht owners began to make preparations and checked the weather, looking for a smooth window that would allow them to safely make it back to a marina where repairs would be possible. Sound unlikely? That was a real…
You’ve finally crossed the border into Florida after more than 700 statute miles of Intracoastal Waterway cruising and your mind begins to wander to thoughts of that upcoming Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas. But, your daydream is suddenly cut short when a marine patrol boat with blue flashing lights blasts up alongside and the uniformed officer waves at you to stop for a check of your papers and an inspection. Welcome to Florida! All too often this scenario is repeated in Florida as boaters find that the combination of popular winter cruising grounds, numerous law enforcement agencies with boats, and confusing laws and regulations create scofflaws out of even the most button-downed cruisers. Some of the least understood aspects of Florida boating law are the rules for reciprocity for…
John Kettlewell, one of ON's contributing editors has just released the sixth edition of his book The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) Chartbook, which he co-authored with his wife Leslie. The published by International Marine/McGraw-Hill. Full-scale, full color NOAA charts cover the 1,090 miles of the ICW. New to the latest edition are a marina appendix, along with fuel docks and anchorage points. Marinas are listed with GPS coordinates and telephone numbers. With the inclusion of major inlet charting and alternate route documentation, the book is well-equipped for navigation. The book was published by International Marine/McGraw-Hill. Here is a link to the new edition on Amazon.
