Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i PassageMaker

Humid, grey, misty, unseasonably cool. These are not typical descriptors of a great weekend anywhere, but on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, give me rain, sun, fog, or storm: It all works for me. This region is not home, but I have spent enough time there to count it among my favorite destinations. From its people—open, sincere, and generous—to the natural beauty of its rivers, coves, and bridges, the variety found from Providence’s red brick industry to Newport’s quaint, old-century vibe always makes for a happy return. It’s also a boating paradise, which doesn’t hurt. On a day in late August, a friend toured me by boat around Narragansett Bay. After we rounded the Borden Flats Lighthouse and headed into Bristol, he backed off the throttle so we could take in…

Speaking with just a hint of Inspector Clouseau, the shoulder-shrugging French lock-keeper had a point. “Monsieur, your bateau is too aiy to go under zee bridge. You ‘ave to go back.” From where I was standing on the flybridge of our 55-foot steel trawler, Nomade, there definitely looked to be no way in this century that its 11-foot, 6-inch-high upper extremities would shimmy under the supposedly 11-foot, 6-inch-high bridge at the lock entrance. And so, we found ourselves in the sweet French village of Thaon-les-Vosges, miles from civilization. And stuck. Before we’d set off on this grand adventure, heading from the English Channel to the Mediterranean Sea using the labyrinth of French canals and rivers, we’d been warned that Nomade might be too vertically-enthusiastic to squeeze beneath some of the…

www.AquilaBoats.com PMM: Tell us about your company’s history building power catamarans and why you decided to get into this segment of the cruising powerboat market. AQUILA: In a short period of time, Aquila has established itself as one of the leading global brands of power catamarans. There are two schools of thought on designing power cats: take a sailing cat and do the best one can to make it a power cat, or design a purebred power cat. Quite clearly Aquila is a purebred power cat brand. Aquila Power Catamarans launched through a partnership between Sino Eagle Group and MarineMax, the world’s largest powerboat retailer. Through collaboration with development, design and manufacturing firms including J&J Design Group and Seaway, the team set out to develop a new purebred power cat…

CARVED: OLD IRONSIDES COLLECTION Carry around a little naval nostalgia with this homage to U.S. ships of yesteryear. Carved, a little company out of Indiana, has spent a few years perfecting all-wood and wood-andpolycarbonate cases for mobile devices. Featuring clean designs and durable construction, the Old Ironsides Collection sports white or live oak veneers fashioned from accidentally unearthed timbers from the once famous Charlestown Naval Yard outside of Boston. Available in several styles for a wide variety of mobile devices, but check often as inventory may be temporarily sold out of your favorite. Priced from $46 to $156. Visit: www.carved.com/ironsides CARTOLINA Show off your Melville fandom with this simulated scrimshaw iPhone case. Made from lightweight, high-quality polycarbonate, the case is scratch-resistant and features a wrap-around design that continues the artwork…

The owner of this boat deserves applause for having the right stuff. Not only does this owner have some key yet often overlooked tools, but everything is well organized and easily accessible. The first item of interest is an infrared pyrometer. Pyrometers are great tools for checking and monitoring engine room temperatures to make sure nothing is overheating while the boat is underway. (For an in-depth look at pyrometers, check out the Troubleshooter column in the January/February 2015 edition of PassageMaker.) The black item hanging top-center is a strap wrench, which is ideal for working a variety of filter types without having to carry multiple tools for multiple-size filters. Just behind the strap wrench is a bundle of tapered wooden plugs for emergency use to stop a leaking seacock, throughhull…

There is but one entrance by sea into this country, and that is at the mouth of a very goodly bay, 18 or 20 miles broad… Within is a country that may have the prerogative over the most pleasant places known, for large and pleasant navigable rivers, heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation. -CAPT. JOHN SMITH, 1608 Along its 200-mile length you’ll find rich landscapes ranging from marsh grass-speckled white sand beaches to scenes of industry and urbanization. Some parts are so remote and wild that you’d have to strain to find any evidence of humanity, while other parts are so crammed with people that you’d be hard-pressed to find any natural shoreline. It’s this diversity in landscapes and scenes, along with a…

Blue Bottle Coffee and Slingshot are two of the leading producers of pre-packaged cold brew coffee available in grocery stores. Another, Oregon-based cold-brew pioneer Stumptown, sells a ready-to-drink brew for mixing or drinking straight up (pictured), as well as cartons of their brew, premixed with a splash of milk and cocoa: call it chocolate milk for grown ups. While these pre-made cold brew concoctions are tasty, check out our simple DIY cold brew tutorial for nofuss ways of brewing your own.…

My dock is located about three miles up Cape Cod’s Bass River. Half of the river is charted by obsolete NOAA surveys, while the rest is not charted at all. This, in combination with the river’s many shoals, means that I’ve had to get my damaged propellers fixed at the end of every season. This season, however, after recording my sonar logs of Bass River and using the resulting SonarCharts from Navionics, my propellers did not need fixing for the first time in 15 years. My friend Peter is an avid fisherman, even more so than I am. Using the same process I used to prevent groundings, he was able to chart to the minutest detail the structures and fish holes in his favorite fishing grounds. He now claims to…

Around tea time one May afternoon, three cruising couples gathered to share snacks, thoughts, and camaraderie. These couples have a significant number of miles under their keels, and the topic turned to some of the long-gone seamanship skills that today’s boaters should resurrect to maximize safety and fun on the water. One subject consistently surfaced: the need for helmsmen to get their eyes off the nav screens, especially while underway. They share their thoughts. CLEAR EYES AND EARS Double-tapping the eyes-off-the-screen note, it is wise to have a crew member periodically get out of the pilothouse or enclosed cockpit to get a “feel” for the surroundings. Doing so can reveal information about the seas, wind, currents, surge, approaching weather, or other important elements that cannot be discerned by looking at…

While the Vietnam War raged, hippies tried LSD, and the Doors released their eponymous debut album, cartoon magnate Bill Hanna sat under a flapping tarp in the Lindwall Boatworks yard, tenderly sanding teak on his DeFeverdesigned Galatea. It was 1967 and construction on Hanna’s 48-foot trawler was well underway. Brought to life by Paul “Sugar” Lindwall at his yard just off the breakwater in Santa Barbara, California, Galatea was the fifth passagemaker bred from the mind of famous marine architect, Art DeFever. Considered by many to be total game changers, these DeFevers were some of the first offshore cruising yachts designed to look like work boats, featuring displacement hulls endowed with a graceful sheer and a high bow. Designing them, handing them off to shipwrights, and earning a royalty was…

Ken Kesey once said, “you’re either on the boat or off the boat.” Well, Kesey actually said “bus” instead of “boat,” but I’m taking literary license for the sake of boaters everywhere. He meant it metaphorically, but in teaching cruising fitness we mean it literally, too. We have showcased many on-the-boat exercises that you can do without needing to carry bulky equipment on board. Many of our on-board exercises require only a small footprint of space and they are simple to modify to suit your level of fitness. However, the limited space within does not offer much in the way of aerobic exercise. We are proponents of getting off the-boat exercise as much as you can to optimize cardiovascular fitness. Biking and kayaking are two of our favorite ways to…

TOTAL TIME: 60 mins SERVES: 10 “Hey, honey, do we have anything that we can trade for a lobster?” That certainly caught my attention. I was in the galley of our boat while Dave was out on deck, talking to a fisherman who was staying at a fish camp near where we were anchored in the Sea of Cortez. While they had plenty of fish and canned food to eat, they were hungry for something different. With just a slice of beer bread left over from the previous night’s dinner, I took it up on deck and handed it to the fisherman. “Would you take a loaf of this in trade for a lobster?” we asked. The fisherman’s eyes lit up and I knew we had a deal. I told…

Turn to PAGE 106 to learn how to make your own cold-brewed concentrate. Cold-Brew Makes about 3 cups 2/3 Cups coursely ground coffee 3 Cups water Mix ground coffee in roomtemperature water, stir, cover, and soak for 12 hours. A mixing bowl works well for soaking but we use a French press as it will soak, cover, and separate the grounds without requiring multiple containers. Ensuring that all grounds are removed, use as desired. Not as difficult as sewing your own canvas. Certainly easier than cooking up a soufflé. Cold-brewing coffee isn’t for everyone (you know who you are, traditionalists), but it is a simple, versatile, storage-friendly way to enjoy your favorite ritual. Here’s how. After steeping ground coffee in room-temperature water for 12 hours, thoroughly strain the water. For…