Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Cruising World

What’s a sunset without a sundowner? Quitting time after a messy day in the engine room without an after-work beer? No matter how much storage a boat has, at some point, the liquid provisioning trickles out. Homebrewing—or rather boat-brewing—is the beverage solution for cruisers who enjoy hanging out in remote areas without beach bars or supermarkets. When we set out toward the Pacific seven years ago, we knew that booze would be costly in many areas (if available at all). Therefore, we filled up our boat with boxed wine, cases of beer and some rum in Panama. When we met a singlehander from New Zealand in one of our first anchorages in French Polynesia who invited us to try his homemade beer, our reaction was more amused than interested: What…

You know the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”? As a judge for the 2020 Boat of the Year (BOTY) competition at this past fall’s US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, I helped inspect and test-sail 22 brand-new current-model sailboats. And I came away thinking, Man, these aren’t the boats I grew up on. In the case of new boats, the saying is wrong: “Nothing stays the same.” OK, sure, today’s boats still have masts and sails, and the monohulls still have keels. But comparing the Hinckley Bermuda 40, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful and seaworthy boats of the 1960s, ’70s and even ’80s, with, say, the Beneteau First Yacht 53, which debuted at the show, is pretty much…

WEATHER What cruiser hasn’t blamed a meteorologist for a bad forecast when caught “unexpectedly” in a boisterous blow? “It was only supposed to be 15 knots, but that forecaster couldn’t get it right if Mother Nature shouted the answer.” Supposed to be—as if a forecast were instructions for atmosphere and ocean to follow. I have a whimsical theory, in fact: Impugned for ruined weddings and rough days on the water, clever and dedicated meteorologists created computer-derived weather forecasts packed into a digital file called a gridded binary, or GRIB file. These GRIB forecasts deflect hurtful sentiments away from sensitive scientists and onto emotionless computers—and that’s how meteorologists get the last laugh: The various computer models require an understanding of how the data should be interpreted. In other words, a faulty…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE When I mention “keelfastener maintenance” to vessel owners, many respond with a quizzical look, as in, “What’s there to maintain?” There have been a number of high-profile keel-loss stories over the years, including Mike Plant’s Coyote and, more recently, Cheeki Rafiki, to name just a couple. A keel loss nearly always results in a capsize and the loss of the vessel, and sometimes the crew. Keel attachment is, therefore, an issue to be taken seriously. Keel fasteners live a hard life, in tension supporting thousands of pounds, and alternately torqued from port to starboard with each tack. Then there’s the corrosive environment of saline-rich bilge water, along with crevice-corrosion-inducing trapped water between the keel and hull, all made worse by the fact that the most important part of…

CALLING ALL REEF LOVERS Simpson Yacht Charter offers two crewed Lagoon 620 sailing catamarans in the stunning and remote Anambas Islands situated between Malaysia and Borneo for summer season, from July to October 2020. Refit in 2019, Jyohana, with a crew of three, accommodates guests in three doubles with Pullman berths. Also refit in 2019, Primetime accommodates eight guests in four double cabins. Its crew of five includes an onboard divemaster. The archipelago boasts pristine waters, warm breezes, and excellent snorkeling and diving. Anambas itineraries start with clients boarding the boat in Singapore. Customs clearance takes place at the nearby island of Batam, followed by an overnight sail. The yachts are also available in other Southeast Asian destinations, including Thailand, in other seasons. For details, contact Simpson Yacht Charter (simpsonyachtcharter.com).…

We had to tack away at the last minute. Opus, a C&C 43, was just a few boat lengths ahead, and that was enough to make all the difference. The barge bore down on us both with the tenacity of a creature little inclined to slow down or change course. Our sails were sheeted in tight, playing the delicate balance of speed and point. The crew was quiet, eyes trained, muscles taut, minds wondering, Would we play chicken with a bird that big? It was day one of the 12-day 580-mile race around Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and our grit was already being tested aboard Kotuku, a Farr 1220. But that’s exactly what I love about the biennial Van Isle 360 race. Every day dishes up a new plate of…

Until recently, for most cruisers the word “corona” conjured images of a golden beverage best enjoyed with a lime wedge, preferably in range of a beach with swaying palm trees. The rise of the novel coronavirus has changed that for now. The infectious disease with a rapid international trajectory called COVID-19 is impacting cruisers in a variety of ways. In the Mediterranean, a cruiser at one of the Sicilian marinas popular for wintering over wonders if they’ll be locked in as countries block or quarantine arrivals from Italy. In the Caribbean, a cruiser with plans to fly home for a wedding worries about missing the big event if their travel record includes countries with growing infection rates. In the South Pacific, cruisers approaching French Polynesia after weeks at sea wonder…

All the moorings were full in Great Harbour, Jost van Dyke, in the British Virgin Islands, as cruisers and charterers alike gathered for the full moon party at Foxy’s. Fortunately, there was still plenty of room to anchor. Anchoring in a crowded harbor is enough to give even the most experienced skipper pause, but it shouldn’t—if you know where to look for a spot and what to do when you find it. Even when I first arrived in the BVI as a young charter-boat captain a few decades ago, Great Harbour was a popular anchorage thanks to Rudy’s and Foxy’s famous hangouts on the beach. And there were no moorings. A grizzled old skipper told me the secret to anchoring in the steady trade winds there was to “drop your…

Every spring, the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, sends out dozens of plebes on its beautiful dark-blue Navy 44 sloops to do a “Delmarva”—a circumnavigation of the shrimp-shaped peninsula that divides Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and is shared by Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. This 400-or-so-mile circuit covers the entire length of both bays and includes a 150-mile offshore passage between the two, a “little loop” that the Navy sails nonstop in about three days. The route offers round-the-clock training exercises in leadership and command, boat systems, navigation, safety-at-sea, and watch-standing protocols in all kinds of weather. Local sailors like this challenge too. Since fun should be part of the journey, I took a leisurely 10 days to sail the Delmarva in my own boat, a 1983 Island Packet 26…

NEW TECHNOLOGY, REVIEWS and PRODUCTS for the CRUISING SAILOR A true, versatile cruiser/racer, the Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 was named the year’s Best Performance Cruiser. The 2020 Boat of the Year fleet was diverse and intriguing, but with five very cool new models ranging from 31 to 35 feet, no single class was as large or competitive as the Performance Cruisers. In this size range, even for boats whose purpose tilts more toward the racecourse side of the racer-cruiser equation, it’s not enough to design a boat stripped and laid out for speed alone. No, nowadays, basic creature comforts and reasonable accommodations are not only desirable, they’re mandatory, and nearly every boat in this category will not only be a blast to spin around the buoys, but they’ll all also provide…

As designated ship’s cook while sailing in California, Florida, Europe and Scandinavia, and closer to home in Minnesota, I’ve become pretty adept at mastering the one-skillet meal. When I first started planning, provisioning and cooking meals on board, I could never seem to remember every single thing I needed to complete the meals I’d intended—likely because I never really followed recipes at home. I’ve since found that by stocking staple ingredients, then picking up other ingredients I need as I go, cooking aboard can be easy and enjoyable. § I prefer to use a cast-iron skillet, if available; if not, a sturdy stainless-steel pan will do the trick. Just prep the ingredients, add to the skillet, and you have only one pan to clean up later. It’s even better if…

I CAN HEAR THEM!” OUR SON, NIALL, CALLS triumphantly from the side of Totem. We’re swinging gently at anchor in Banderas Bay, Mexico. At about 20 miles wide by 14 miles long, the large bay is a migratory destination for humpback whales, and the pods are arriving in force. Whale song resonates through the hull at our location on the fringe of the cruising fleet clustered off La Cruz. The sound is much clearer underwater, so our teenage daughters, Mairen and Siobhan, follow him in, and soon all three are marveling at the cetacean sounds. For our 20-year-old boat-kid graduate’s homecoming during a holiday break from college, hanging out under the keel to listen to the whales is a poetic return to his roots afloat. Ten years ago, we departed…

MARINE PHOTOGRAPHY In the past decade, drones have completely revolutionized how we see sailing. Just a handful of years ago, capturing airborne images of a sailing yacht, a regatta or a harbor was exclusively the domain of professional photographers or well-heeled amateurs who could afford a helicopter and were equipped with a pricey long-lens camera to capture the moment. Now, literally millions of people around the world carry a small, unmanned drone that can be easily launched into the sky and commanded to take photos and video; some even have the ability to distribute these images live onto social media. Due to the nature of sailing and the constantly changing seascape in which it takes place, being able to achieve this aerial perspective is invaluable to telling the story of…

TENDERS I had never serviced the three air valves on my old 10-foot Caribe RIB dinghy since I bought it used, and it stayed suspended on davits on the stern of my schooner, Brittania, for months at a time. After all, I’m generally a firm believer in the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But as with most old inflatables, it was necessary to reinflate it from time to time when it lost a little air. Lately, though, I had noticed the bow section needing more air than the other chambers; it was time to find out why. The most obvious thing to look at first were the inflation/deflation valves. There are three separate chambers in my dinghy, each served by a valve, called a Halkey Roberts…

Summer’s arrival marks the oh-so-happy time to swap out the offshore foul-weather gear, full-on sea boots and warm insulating layers for the considerably greater comforts of lightweight foulies, fast-drying shirts and shorts, and—if you cruise on warmer waters than those surrounding my hometown here in Puget Sound—swimwear. Here’s a look at some of the best options afloat for sailors, based on performance attributes across a wide range of latitudes and temperatures. Let’s begin with quick-dry garments. No hyperbole—a Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily short-sleeve shirt is one of the first items that I pack for any day on the water, irrespective of the season or expected temperature. The shirts, which are available in men’s and women’s cuts, are built from 50 to 100 percent recycled materials and quickly wick away moisture,…