Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Cruising Helmsman

ACCORDING to the Boating Industry Association of Victoria the Victorian state government has been dragging its feet on delivering funding for Volunteer Marine Search and Rescue services. “Victorian boaters rely on a functional marine rescue service,” said Boating Industry Association of Victoria President, Mark Crockford. “We are concerned that funding for Volunteer Marine Rescue services in Victoria appears to be a low priority of the Andrews State Government. “There will be lives put at risk if we don’t get the funding situation sorted out this summer boating season. “Recreational boaters pay for this service out of the $27 million collected in marine licence and registration fees each year, so we have an expectation that sufficient funding will be provided.” The Boating Industry Association of Victoria was formed in 1961 and…

Your articles on gas installations on boats in the December issue of Cruising Helmsman brought back nightmare memories of how close my wife and I came to disaster several years ago when we purchased our recreational vessel. The boat was a 42 foot Huon pine motorsailer with the galley installed in the aft wheelhouse cabin at deck level and the gas bottles in a deck level locker just outside the cabin entry door. I had only had a brief look at the boat because on the day that I flew down from Canberra to Melbourne to check it out at Westernport Marina I was delayed by an airline disruption, which left me with only about an hour to inspect. This was enough, however, to gain my interest; enough to have…

Hi Phil, I can remember as a young child accompanying my parents in the early sixties on a trip with the Palm Island administrators to Fantome Island (January page 56). Walking up the then Main Street from the beach I witnessed the shocking reality of the effects of leprosy on the human body; a sight I will remember forever. I revisited the island settlement area with my wife in the early 80s while living in Ingham during a three year stint with a local bank. At that time we had an Embassy trailer sailer 18 foot, which we adventured in around the beautiful Palm Group. We now live in Innisfail and own a Holman and Pye Rustler 31 built in Tasmania out of Huon pine and launched in 1970 and…

Abel Tasman is a 23 metre Bermuda schooner derived from the elegant lines of America 1, which was designed by George Steer. With her clipper bow and tumblehome sides she was built in 1981 in Westerbroek, Netherlands and is now skippered by Antarctic and Arctic expedition support vessel operator, Roger Wallis. Abel Tasman’s steel hull is ten millimetres below the waterline and 8mm above which makes her ideal for passage making in high latitudes. We are waiting out a 30 knot easterly headwind in Austin Bay, tucked behind Cape Lady Franklin on the southwestern end of Victoria Island in the Beaufort Sea. Abel Tasman lightly snubs at her anchor one nautical mile offshore. It is blowing and doggedly choppy but AT’s 23m hull straddles three wave tops in one go,…

Some timely advice from prolific CH contributor Bruce Nicholson of SV Matilda, currently cruising SE Asian waters: “Most OpenCPN users who use a USB-to-serial adapter to feed the required information (GPS and AIS) into their PC will have found that after the upgrade to the next level of Windows their adaptors no longer function. While I am specifically referring to OpenCPN I know there are many other programs that use USB-serial adaptors; software like SOB, SeaMax, QuickCharts, MemoryMap, EasyGPS, proAIS, MapSource, Airmail3, and SailMail, to name a few. “The Internet is full of discussions about this problem, but no one really seems to know what causes it. Some companies selling USB-serial adapters appear to be dumbfounded, but they will happily sell you the latest and greatest. “Prolific USB-serial driver problems…

SAILORS from other yachts often show me their newly-found treasures over sundowners, curious about what they had found. This second article is one of a series describing more of the items commonly found by beachcombing sailors. Last month’s issue of the Cruising Helmsman discussed the shells of sea snails, so this article describes the molluscs known as bivalves. That is, molluscs with two shells rather than the single shells of sea snails. MOLLUSCS WITH TWO SHELLS Bivalve molluscs have two shells, or valves, joined together dorsally by a horny ligament called the hinge. The two shells are usually prevented from sideways movement by sockets and grooves (teeth) located on the hinge line of the shells and are held together by one or two adductor muscles. Most bivalves, including mussels and…

VESSI WATERPROOF KNIT SHOES Vessi Footwear has developed a lightweight shoe it claims to be fully waterproof. Its patented flash-knit technology results in a knitted fabric that is waterproof, breathable, moisture-wicking and stretchy, which Vessi claims is the alternative to heavy and outdated waterproof shoes. It has a four-way adaptive stretch for good fit no matter what the workload. Flash-Knit technology is composed of three functional layers: • shell layer: a form-fitting stretch elastic knit composed of a hybrid blend of polyester and nylon • core layer: a waterproof and moisture-wicking membrane, keeping feet dry, reducing sweat and the buildup of odour • inner layer: a comfort lining designed to mimic the feeling of wearing socks, soft to the touch and form fitting for comfort and support. In addition to…

WHILE the Clipper Round the world yacht race was in Sydney, the race, where anyone can circumnavigate the globe, held a corporate day for its antifouling provider Coppercoat. Coppercoat antifouling was introduced more than 25 years ago with its promise to keep a hull foul-free for years if not decades. For the Clipper organisation, however, the decision to purchase Coppercoat was not just for the decade or more service life and resultant savings in maintenance, but also for its performance advantages. Through Sir Robin’s personal experience of Coppercoat being used in the restoration of his famous 1968 Golden Globe winning ketch Suhaili, Coppercoat was purchased for the Clipper training fleet and, from the success of that decision, Coppercoat was invited to partner with the current 2017/18 event. ABS Technologies, the…

THE recently completed upgrade of Anchorage Marina at Port Stephens is intended to make it more enticing for cruising yachts by making it a destination for larger boats. Speaking at the opening of the new facilities at Corlette Point, Port Stephens Mayor Ryan Palmer noted it was a new angle on the traditional fishing and sailing that Port Stephens was known for: “it’s about quality, not quantity, boat owners can get away from it all up here, knowing there are now modern and secure facilities specifically for boats their size.” The upgrade includes two new marina arms with 22 berths catering for larger boats between 16 metres to 20 metres (55’ to 66’). Berths of this size had not been easily accessible in Port Stephens before now. The new Anchorage…

Ed notes: in this letter there are several spellings for the named product in question. I have retained the misspellings as it is relevant to the response following. The first misspelling is marked with the editorial reference (sic). Both letters have been edited due to space restraint. Dear Phil, I read ‘Longevity is cost effective’ (CH November 2017), about the use of Coppercoat as an antifouling. I think it was called Copper Boat Coat or something in the past. I used this product from about 1995 to 2011, the year I sold my self-built 31’ Jim Brown Sea Runner trimaran, Kind Empress, from where it was moored at Victoria Point, Moreton Bay. Coppercoat is of course only an emulsion of fine copper particles suspended in a two-pack resin. The underwater…

While the rigid inflatable has largely superseded the traditional tinny, they still share a common hull material: thin aluminium sheet. It is tough, long lasting and requires minimal to zero maintenance. However, it is prone to corrosion if left salty, wet and sandy, all common conditions for a cruising boat’s dinghy. I recently returned to my dinghy to find a beautiful fountain emanating from a matchstick-diameter hole in the bottom. I shoved a twig in the hole to stem the flow, motored back to the boat and hauled the dinghy out. The hole was in the bottom of one of the ridges, where the hull was both thin from being dragged up and down beaches and a bit corroded from the collection of wet sand that lay there. Judicious probing…

AKZONOBEL is a global coatings company with a long history and an active presence in the world of sailing, contributing to the performance of yachts for over 150 years through its International, Awlgrip and Epiglass brands. With a quick look at AkzoNobel's history, we can learn a little about the main driving forces behind their market impact today: collaboration and innovation. A HISTORIC PAST The company’s earliest roots can be traced back as far as 1646, but it was in 1881 that things began to get interesting in terms of antifouling. That was the year the Holzapfel brothers founded Holzapfel Compositions in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Not long after, they launched International; an antifouling product strong enough to protect oceangoing vessels in even the harshest of marine environments, branded with…

IT has been over 30 years now Australian multihull builder, Seawind Catamarans, has been supplying the world with its range of personal and charter designs. You would think they have the process nailed pretty well by now. If anyone still held lingering doubts they only need to check out the latest 40 footer: the Seawind 1260. A long-serving boat building team at its Vietnam production facility knows how to build strong yachts while increasingly upgrading quality and adding features to each new model they produce. WHAT’S THE DIFF? Seawind tend to break the European mould, they did it from its very first model. Noting the excellent weather Australians enjoy, Seawind designed cats opened up the interior saloon to the aft deck like no other. Most Euro models also strive for…

EARLY last year, the Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) body introduced a web-based geographic information system (GIS) to assist in the management of mooring sites in the state. The GIS system has been extended to display MAST managed navigation aids as well as those owned and maintained by both Tas Ports and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Over 500 aids are now displayed. Future enhancement will be made to include other infrastructure: jetties, ramps etc., onto the GIS. Users can choose between a topographic map or aerial imagery. Layers can be added by clicking on moorings or navigation aids, a facility layer is to be added at a later date. Zoom into areas of interest using the same onscreen controls as Google Maps. To view item details, just click on…

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity.”- T.E. Lawrence THE story of Donald Crowhurst and the saga of his participation in the Sunday Times Golden Globe race for single-handed sailors in the first non-stop journey around the world has variously spawned books, both novels and documentaries, poems, films, plays and songs. The next offering is a soon to be released movie ‘The mercy’ starring Colin Firth as Crowhurst and Rachel Weisz as his wife, Clare. The story is set in the 1960s, amidst the music of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the Cold War, the space race and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.…

OFF the coast of Cape Town on 18 March 1969, Bernard Moitessier fired an aluminium film can from his slingshot onto the bridge of a ship riding at anchor. The film can contained a simple message addressed to his Sunday Times correspondent: "Dear Robert: The Horn was rounded February 5 and today is March 18. I am continuing non-stop towards the Pacific Islands because I am happy at sea, and perhaps also to save my soul." And so Bernard Moitessier bowed out of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Many believed he could have won, but prize money and trophies were not for him. For Moitessier, ocean racing was an abomination. He entered the race but planned to snatch the prize without risking his freedom, “since the rules did not…

I am on watch, it is two o’clock in the morning and our steel ketch Zefr is rollicking along across the Banda Sea at seven knots, under a full moon and full sail. With my cuppa in one hand, I break open a bag of cinnamon wafers and the sweet spicy aroma fills my senses. As I crunch down and the wafer disintegrates into the cockpit, I am taken back to the little market laneways of Banda Neira where every little shop sells spices and sweets; where every sorté off the boat is a feast for all the senses. Crumbling stone forts and colonial mansions tell of a rich but violent history, delicious local specialities laced with nutmeg and cinnamon tempt us, local mosques wake us in the morning and,…

THINKING of finally buying your dream boat and setting off into a cruising lifestyle? Daunted by the actual details of looking for a suitable boat, or the costs of purchasing and setting the boat up for long-term cruising? Keen to cruise in exotic locations and sample differing cultures but lack the confidence to leave Australia, cross the Coral or Arafura Sea and travel through remote areas on your own? Then consider buying your next boat in Malaysia or Thailand. There is a robust market in South East Asia for all types of cruising boats for a number of reasons and bargains can often be found when boat-shopping in this region. Thailand and western Malaysia are usually considered the turn-around points for yachties not wanting to commit to travelling further west…