Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i Cruising World

Twenty-six days after sailing Del Viento away from the arid tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, we dropped our 66-pound Bruce anchor and 300 feet of chain into 140 feet of water. It was the end of the longest passage we’d ever made. I’d not slept well the night before, and upon making landfall, I tried to record my first thoughts and impressions. I detected jasmine and gardenia and an earthy must in the air. I worried we’d never retrieve our primary anchor if it got stuck down there. Then, I thought of penises. We’d sailed 3,000 miles to reach this place, a narrow anchorage cut into the small island of Fatu Hiva, smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s one of a group of 15 islands that…

Ask six manufacturers where marine electronics are headed, and you’ll usually get six different answers. That wasn’t the case last fall, however, at the 2015 National Marine Electronics Association Conference and Expo, where the industry buzzword was straightforward: “integration.” Not so long ago, the “wired” sailboat might have sported a GPS; instruments displaying wind, speed, depth and engine data; a stereo; possibly an AIS monitor; and maybe additional gear at the nav station down below, all with their own screens and knobs. Today those stand-alone devices are quickly disappearing, and in their place, manufacturers are rolling out networked instrumentation packages that can increasingly combine data feeds and display the results on a variety of screens, both on your boat and in your pocket. Typically these systems employ sensors that talk…

The Moorings 2016 brochure offers details about destinations, itineraries and the new fleet, including the Moorings 4000 sailing catamaran, the 433 power catamaran, and monohulls like the 45.3 and 51.4. To view an online version or obtain a print copy, log on to the company website (moorings.com). NEWS and NOTES on SAILING -VACATION OPPORTUNITIES In fleet-expansion news, the Moorings 5800 crewed sailing catamaran has been added in the BVI and St. Lucia. Two bareboat 5800s are also available in the BVI. Also for charter are the crewed 514 power catamaran in the BVI and St. Lucia. The company will add the 434 power cat to the Athens, Greece, fleet in June 2016. For details, log on to the company website (moorings.com). Let Someone Else Drive Mojeka, a Moody 54 DS,…

WHERE YOU’LL FIND the BEST USED BOATS on the MARKET Is an exceptional example of the classic Little Harbor 54. She is ready for her next Bermuda race or family cruise to the Caribbean. Her sailing characteristics are impressive whether in heavy or light conditions. She is extensively equipped for extended offshore cruising; CHASSEUR is also fully compliant to ORC Category One racing requirements. A finely detailed cruiser, she is also race-ready. In excellent condition, stored indoors in RI and easy to be seen. Price Reduced to $495,000! PLEASE SEE OUR AD ON PAGE 112 Kadey-Krogen Yachts 1 Lagoon Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871 410-862-8972 | www.kadeykrogen.com Wellington Yacht Partners info@wellingtonyachts.com Rhode Island: 401-683-6070 | Florida: 954-527-4230 www.essexcredit.com/cw…

For the last few years, Mick, Bee and Toots the cat have sailed a yellow-hulled, redensigned ketch over the chilly waters of the Gulf of Maine, Labrador Sea and Davis Strait. They run this 36-foot ferrocement double-ender with wine-red sails as a true wind ship, the engine rarely in use. Since 2002, the boat has crossed the Atlantic four times, once the hard way, leaving for the Caribbean after cruising the Outer Hebrides and Ireland. But all the charms of the tropics haven’t kept them from returning to Labrador and Greenland in search of true adventure. The remote, unpopulated northern latitudes are a demanding area to sail, still incompletely charted, especially on digital plotters. The good ship Hannah serves them well. They find the heavy-displacement hull is more comfortable in…

Something special unites the three boats gathered in our gorgeous anchorage off New Zealand’s Great Mercury Island. All three are small and modest but sturdy vessels; our 1981 Dufour 35, Namani, is the newest of the three. It also has the biggest cockpit — a rare thing in today’s cruising society, where popular misconception seems to hold that anything under 40 feet isn’t suitable for leaving the coast. Yet two of those three boats have sailed halfway around the world from Europe (with children aboard, no less), while the third is crewed by two brothers from North America. It isn’t just the size and age of our vessels that brings us together in an unofficial club of sorts. None of us have a working anchor windlass either (not to mention…

1. SPERRY SHOCK LIGHT BOAT • $85 • SPERRY.COM This ultra-lightweight shoe weighs only 6.7 ounces and has a removable EVA footbed for comfort underfoot. Perfect for quick trips ashore in the dinghy, it features nylon and mesh uppers that promote fast drying, and the stretch laces allow for easy on and off. 2. ZHIK ZKG • $90 ZHIK.COM The Zhik ZKG is not your typical boat shoe. Its street-ready look belies its made-for-thewater construction. The uppers are made of perforated neoprene, which allows the foot to breathe and water to drain out quickly. The soft, nonmarking soles are easy on teak yet provide a high degree of traction. 3. HELLY HANSEN 5.5M • $100 • HELLY HANSEN.COM This performance sailing shoe is designed for protection, agility and comfort on…

Imagine your boat entering the calm, turquoise water of a lagoon. Outside, the swells you just sailed through explode on the fringing coral reef. In this cruising paradise — typical in the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans — the water is so clear that at 20, 40 and even 60 feet deep, the bottom holds no secrets. At the anchorage, this transparency reveals a mostly white-sand bottom interrupted by stand-alone coral structures, called bommies, that rise like cactuses from a desert floor. Yikes! Ranging in size from a basketball to a minivan, these bommies can abrade the galvanizing of your chain. They can foul your anchor. After just a bit of swinging, your rode can wrap bommies until your scope is effectively reduced to 1-to-1 (which can then pit extreme…

In 2014, my wife, Alisa, and I found ourselves in the Tuamotu Archipelago for the third time. After a tough passage from New Zealand, we parked our 45-foot cutter, Galactic, in our favorite uninhabited atoll and got down to some serious tropical living with our sons, Elias and Eric. Each day featured a perfect mix of snorkeling, beach walking and coconut harvesting, all amid the soul-easing colors of an atoll — sea in a dozen flavors of turquoise, deep-green palms, beaches the color of the sun. We had five months of wandering around the quieter corners of French Polynesia to keep us content before we would tackle the passage to Chile and our long-standing dream of sailing to Patagonia. It had been seven years since we’d sailed away from our…

SEAMANSHIP Mark, Sandy, and their sons, Simon and Owen, are preparing to make landfall after a long passage. According to the cruising guide, the harbor that will be their port of entry for clearing customs requires boats to tie up stern to to a quay, or Med-moor. This technique involves securing the boat perpendicular to the harbor wall using stern lines and ground tackle. As they enter the harbor, a call to the harbor master on the VHF gets them an assigned berth where a dockhand will help with their stern lines. Mark first makes a look-see pass to make sure they can fit between the boats adjacent to the berth. He also checks to see what type of cleats or bollards are on the quay, and he ensures that…

NEW TECHNOLOGY, REVIEWS and PRODUCTS for the CRUISING SAILOR French sailboat builder Jeanneau might well look back on 2015 as the Year of the Yacht. First it launched its new 64-foot flagship to introduce the Jeanneau Yacht model line, and then it followed up with a 54- footer bearing the same DNA, which made its North American debut at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland. Like its big sister, the 54’s lines were drawn by longtime Jeanneau collaborator Philippe Briand, with a contemporary (and comfortable) interior fashioned by designer Andrew Winch. With this vessel, Jeanneau is going after a particular corner of the market: younger sailors who look for all the comforts of home whether they’re off to their slope-side condo or their summer home on the water. Erik…

Heading down to the Bahamas? Getting there is only half the fun. There’s local food to try, music to hear, festivals to attend, and then there’s boat business: shopping for provisions and boat parts, filling the water tanks, doing the laundry, sending the mail. It can be a long list. How do you get around? Simple. You hitchhike. In the Bahamian out islands, hitchhiking is a common mode of transportation for locals and visitors alike. It’s easy and safe, and it works. Every time. Three rules: 1) Cars drive on the left, so stand on the proper side of the road. 2) Stick out your left hand, palm down, and make a motion as though you were patting the head of a large dog. 3) This is the best rule,…

Last November marked the 15th annual Cruisers’ Thanksgiving celebration, hosted by St. Marys, Georgia, residents for those heading south. The gathering is held at the Riverview Hotel, which has been in the Brandon family since 1920. Jerry and his wife, Gaila, have graciously offered up the hotel since the event’s inception. As Jerry tells it, back in 2001 a storm blew through, forcing several boats to seek refuge in the harbor. That night in Seagle’s Saloon, the hotel’s pub, the sailors asked if there might be a restaurant open for a Thanksgiving meal. Sadly, there was not. Southern hospitality being what it is, however, several of the local residents at the pub offered to share their holiday turkeys and hams that night, and the sailors agreed to bring side dishes.…

We cruise in Mexico, known for its cold cervezas, warm inhabitants and hot temperatures. The weather typically starts heating up by April or May, which is when we find ourselves becoming less inclined to cook aboard our Westsail 42, Outrider. Our thoughts then turn to meals and snacks that require minimal fuss and little to no cooking. § Enter vegetables, particularly marinated ones. Readily available in bigger towns, fresh vegetables of some sort can usually be found in smaller villages too. Properly treated and carefully stored, many last for long stretches, providing fresh produce on board most of the time. § Marinated vegetables are easy to prepare, and they don’t require cooking unless you’re so inclined. They offer versatility and variety: speared with toothpicks and served as an appetizer; threaded…

Isla Mujeres (Spanish for “island of women”) is a colorful little jewel off the northeastern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a stone’s throw from Cancún. It got its name in 1517 from Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a conquistador who discovered a variety of female idols there while pillaging for Mayan slaves to take to Cuba. Getting to Isla Mujeres is no simple feat for sailors, and clearing customs is another puzzle, but the rewards merit the challenge. Coming from the Florida Keys, sailing to Isla Mujeres is tricky, because it requires crossing the winding Gulf Stream twice, and the Yucatan Channel can dish up some nasty waves. Luckily, an ideal weather window opened up shortly after our arrival in Key West, so my husband, Ken, and I slipped off the…

As our 31-foot Cape George cutter, Ganymede, sailed across the Strait of Belle Isle with a brisk one-reef breeze on her starboard quarter, I thought to myself that we were leaving the wildest, loneliest place we would ever visit. Though it has a few concentrations of population, Newfoundland is generally sparsely settled in comparison with Nova Scotia or Maine or pretty much anywhere else we’ve ever been. Even the acres upon acres of steaming, remote rainforest on the south coast of Panama host more towns and villages than Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula, where the ghosts and bones of abandoned whaling and cod-fishing camps are easier to find than harbors with actual people. Our last few stops in Newfoundland — Quirpon, Cape Onion and Savage Cove — seemed to have more…

PROJECTS Silverheels’ new Schaefer System 3100 jib furler arrived in two big boxes full of unfamiliar parts, with a manual depicting 46 assembly steps. My first thought was, “I’ll never be able to do this. I’d better call a rigger.” After 32 years, the bearings in Silverheels’ old jib furler were so worn it took a sheet winch to reef in a blow. It was high time for a new furler, and here it was. At first glance the instructions were intimidating, but I already had two strikes against hiring a pro to assemble it for me: budget and pride. Curiosity was the third — wanting to see how it all worked. So I took a deep breath, reminded myself of the old maxim “The way to succeed at anything…

There are few companies in the boatbuilding universe quite like Oyster Yachts. For over four decades now, the iconic British brand has been crafting long-legged luxury cruisers manufactured to high standards to roam the watery world. For 2016, Oyster has introduced its new 475. At just under 49 feet, it’s the smallest in a current range of nine models topped off by a massive 118-footer. We tested the boat on Chesapeake Bay as a nominee in this year’s Boat of the Year contest, and judge Tim Murphy, who doubles as our resident marine-industry seer, provided this historical perspective: “Founded by Richard Matthews, who sold the firm in 2008, Oyster is a new company with an old name. There are few companies that were created so closely to one man’s image.…