Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Cruising Helmsman

PETROL vapours are denser than air so any petrol leaks or vapours can accumulate in a vessel’s bilge, or in low parts of a cabin if the area is not properly ventilated. When petrol vapours mix with air within a specific concentration range, the mixture becomes explosive. Exposure of accumulated petrol vapours to an ignition source may result in an explosion and fire with potentially catastrophic consequences. POTENTIAL IGNITION SOURCES INCLUDE: smoking, naked flames or pilot lights communication equipment eg. mobile phones portable electrical equipment fixed electrical systems hot work eg. welding, grinding and cutting hot surfaces eg. exhaust pipes, flues and ducting static electricity sparks generated by mechanical means eg. hammers and other hand tools. Vessels with non-compliant, or poorly maintained, fuel systems are at a greater risk of…

FIVE South Australian armed forces veterans are preparing to take to the high seas, thanks to a program offered by The Road Home and the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia aimed at developing sailing skills while building confidence and social connections. Thanks to the support of Senator David Fawcett, major sponsor Northrop Grumman Australia and supporting sponsors Raytheon Australia and SAAB Australia, the program ‘Setting a new course’ offers current or former serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, with little to no sailing experience, the opportunity to undertake a five day accredited Royal Yachting Association (RYA) sailing program. “This is an exceptional opportunity for veterans to challenge themselves, learn a new skill and experience the satisfaction and connection that comes from working as a team – it’s the one…

I AWAKE at four in the morning after eight hours of blissful sleep, the longest period of uninterrupted slumber I have had for a week. Sailing Vessel Zefr has just completed the passage from Thursday Island, Australia to Debut in the Kei Islands of Indonesia. I lay there enjoying the stillness of the boat in its protected anchorage. Skipper Gary snores contentedly beside me. I start drifting off to sleep again when a very loud chant jerks me awake, Toto, we ain’t in Queensland no more. We are on the Wonderful Sail2Indonesia rally and there are almost seventy boats along for the ride. It was wonderful sailing, the sou’east trade winds pushed us along for the five day, 560 nautical mile journey from Thursday Island to Debut. The first melodic…

NOWADAYS most people’s perceptions of using an open boat to sail or cruise offshore, they would assume you are totally mad. Guess I grew up in a different era. In our teens we were undoubtedly inspired by Frank Dye and his amazing trips across the North Sea, Iceland etcetera in his 16 foot Wayfarer. We cruised our GP14’s along the east coast and managed to cross the Channel. During my generation, sixty years ago, life was slightly different. Health and safety had not been invented and, with having parents who had endured a world war, perhaps they felt we should take life’s chances. I was reading recently that two Devon sailors, Richard Mitchell and Will Hodson, had sailed a sixty year old wooden Wayfarer called Nipegegi around the United Kingdom.…

“DAD! Daaaaaaaad! The toilet is stuck!” That dreaded call every boat owner dad fears. Or, at eleven o’clock at night and you have guests, you have just gone to bed, book open at the page; then comes the soft, somehow embarrassed, knock on the door: “ehh, Frans? Excuse me, ehm the toilet seems to go really difficult.” You always instinctively blame the kids or the guests, right? You have to muster all your self control: “oh no! Well don’t force it. Let me try!” And there you have it, you get the picture! ‘It’, naturally, will not go down. In our family we even have a song for that. It goes a bit like that UB 40 song about the rat in the kitchen. But our one is called, ‘There’s…

THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) launched its ‘Special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate, last September. This marks the recognition of the ocean as a major challenge of climate change. “Talking about climate change without the ocean, it’s forgetting the heart of the climate machine,” says Françoise Gaill, CNRS, vice-president of the Ocean and Climate Platform. The world’s oceans are at the heart of the planet’s climate system, absorbing more than 25 per cent of the human-produced anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), every year from the atmosphere. The oceans also provide 50% of the oxygen produced on earth. Up tp date it has absorbed more than 90% of the heat resulting from greenhouse gas emissions, therefore playing an essential part in climate regulation. More than…

ON World Animal Day, cruise ship company Royal Caribbean International marked a milestone in its partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, focussed on saving the endangered hawksbill turtle species from extinction. A DNA extraction test will offer scientists and conservationists information to track and, ultimately, end the illegal trade of hawksbill turtle products. This is a significant breakthrough led by WWF Australia, Royal Caribbean and the US NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in California, USA. The project forms part of Royal Caribbean and WWF’s five-year global partnership to support ocean conservation and help ensure the long-term health of the seas. Hunted for the beautiful shells, the species is now listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, with the scientific community estimating as…

‘IN the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take’ - a saying that is all too familiar. Yet, the truth is, we do not often have dreams so crazy they scare us. I had never had a big dream before. I’d had goals that I wanted to accomplish, like renovating houses, finishing my master’s degree and building a muscle car; but these were not all-encompassing, life-changing dreams. They were the reason you got up and went to work, kind of dreams. Hell, you have to spend your money somehow. It was not until my wife and I decided to buy an old yacht on the other side of the world and take our three young boys on the trip of a lifetime that I realised what dreaming big…

ARE CATS LIGHTNING MAGNETS? Marine Surveyor Anthony Gates, whose haulout article featured in CH last month, is finding that catamarans attract far more lightning strikes than monohulls. A few weeks ago he dealt with five insurance claims for lightning damage. All five were cats. Discussions with colleagues have failed to determine a definite reason, but Anthony’s theory is that the mast on a mono is more or less over the keel, providing an easy pathway for the electrical charge to exit the boat. In cats the mast is over the bridge deck so there is no direct path. The current has to find its way across to a hull and then down to the water. Anthony often finds more damage in one hull than the other. The issue these days…

CORAL Sea Marina Resort in the Whitsundays has been awarded ‘platinum’ accreditation under the global Gold Anchor Scheme. This is the highest possible level of Gold Anchor accreditation. The marina is the first in Queensland to be accredited at this level. The Gold Anchor Scheme is an industry-based customer service accreditation scheme jointly managed by the Marina Industries Association (MIA) and The Yacht Harbours Association (TYHA). There are Gold Anchor accredited marinas in over 25 countries. Coral Sea Marina Resort, formerly Abell Point Marina, is a 520 berth marina at Arlie Beach in the Whitsunday’s region 1,100 kilometres north of Brisbane. The marina resort has over 20 retail, hospitality and tourism tenants, plus the newly acquired Coral Sea Resort Hotel has 77 rooms located on the absolute waterfront, all adding…

STATISTICS prove that hauling your boat out of the water and storing it ashore before a hurricane strikes greatly lowers the chance you will need to file an insurance claim after the storm passes. However, the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) also knows that it is often not possible to haul every boat out in time. For those boat owners whose options are limited to weathering a storm in a marina, here are four signs that boaters can look for to help them evaluate their own marinas and lower the odds for storm damage. What’s the plan? A marina should have a comprehensive hurricane plan that outlines who does what when a storm approaches. Slipholders should have to sign a pledge to secure boats properly, whether ashore…

ABANDONED, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear or ‘ghost gear’ contributes substantially to global marine pollution responsible for wide-reaching environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Until now there has not been a clear global picture of the quantity and type of fishing gear lost worldwide. Using data from 68 studies published between 1975 and 2017, Australia’s CSIRO researchers have produced the first global estimate of commercial fishing gear losses in our oceans. “The study estimates that six per cent of all fishing nets, 9% of all traps, and 29% of all lines are lost or discarded into our oceans each year,” explains Kelsey Richardson, a PhD student from CSIRO’s Marine Debris Team, who led the study. “The type of fishing gear used, along with how and where it is used, can all…

Twas Mangrove Bill, from Redland Bay, that caught the jet ski craze,He turned away the good ol’ dinghy that served him many days.He dressed himself in jet ski gear, resplendent to be seen,He hurried off into town and bought a shiny new machine.And as he pushed it out the dock, in air of lordly prideThe grinning wharf assistant asked: ‘scuse me sir, can you ride?” “See here young man”, said Mangrove Bill, “from wave break to the sea,From Mornington to Castlecrag, there’s none can ride like me!I’m good all round at everything as everybody knows,Although I’m not the one to speak, I hates a man what blows!But riding is my special gift, my chiefest, sole delight;Just ask a wild duck can it swim, a narwhal can it fight?There’s nothing clothed…

BIG DUFOUR LAUNCH FOR 2020 Debuting at the Boot Düsseldorf next year will be the Dufour 530. True to her designer Umberto Felci, the Dufour 530 style is distinguished by her hull recess and powerful rear sections. A lot of the design work has been dedicated to the transom, the extension of the recess and polyester cut-outs enhancing the engine air inlet and outlet, for a strong, yet simple, look. Positioned on the 50 foot segment, the Dufour 530 is 16.30 metres overall and 4.99 metres wide. This offers volume mainly beneficial in the owner’s cabin or the double cabin forward. It may also be equipped with skipper cabin. In the cockpit a special step between the cockpit seats and the helm area provides easy access to the side decks.…

“WE need to get you into Horta asap”, the message on our Garmin inReach read, “there’s a low forming north of you and, if you don’t get in by Sunday morning, you could experience gale force winds of 50-60 knots.” We were about 300 nautical miles from our destination of Faial, an island of the Azores archipelago, 900 miles off the coast of Portugal. We had less than 48 hours before the low was predicted to arrive. From our calculations, we would have to cruise on at least 6.5 to 7 knots the entire way to make it on time. While our Moody 47 cruised at a reasonable speed, what if something went wrong? She was a solid boat but we had three kids aboard, we did not fancy sailing…