Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2018 i PassageMaker

We powered the length of mountainous Loch Glencoul in Scotland through numerous lobster floats and, with considerable care and a bow watch, picked our way through a narrow rock-strewn channel into Loch Beag. We anchored in flat water at the head of the loch with the wind funneling down the glen in front of us and holding us off the boulder-strewn shoreline. We spent the day exploring the majestic glen and then settled in for a quiet night. It turned pitch black. The wind veered 180 degrees and rose to gale force, driving a heavy rain up the loch. We were swinging uncomfortably close to a dangerous lee shore with nasty seas rapidly building as the wind blasted straight down the 3-mile-long loch. We had to get out in conditions…

When I began toying with photography as a hobby 15 years ago, my brother gave me for my birthday what I was too cheap to buy for myself: an earlyrelease consumer digital camera. The device was boxy and unimaginative in its design, features, and usability. But it was also magical, allowing for the instant feedback that photographers have desired since the first in-camera photograph was captured 200 years ago. Much has changed since I received my first digital camera. The 16-megabyte memory card was almost immediately a relic; today’s 512-gigabyte cards can record data, including massive 4k video, at dizzying speeds. Digital cameras can now process simultaneous algorithms for face detection, light interpolation, and motion, all in a variety of frame rates and sizes. But no matter how evolved the…

We had been exploring Ireland’s wild Atlantic coastline in between hiding from one gale after another. The next gale was on its way. On a rising tide, we motored well up the Ilen River into totally protected waters and dropped anchor in the center of the river. There is a 16-foot tide in this part of the world. From the chart, I could see there would be extremely limited swinging room at low tide. I should have used a Bahamian moor to limit our turning circle but did not. The wind changed direction and swung us out of the channel on a falling tide. Before we had time to respond we were stuck fast. The retreating water eventually left us laid over on our side in a few inches of…

As I write this, news outlets are reporting that Russia has spoofed GPS signals in their coastal waters to “relocate” multiple commercial and civilian vessels to a place about 20 miles inland. Just a gentle reminder to routinely trust but verify your electronics, and always be prepared to navigate home without them. Which brings us back to one of our simplest and most useful pieces of navigation equipment for all weathers: the magnetic steering compass. We do not know when or where the first person tied a string to a piece of magnetite and realized that it always pointed in the same direction—and that such a thing might be useful for boats at sea. There is evidence to suggest that this knowledge may have evolved independently in Asia, the Mediterranean,…

Explain your regular job, employer, and duties therein? Well, I have several “regular jobs” outside of my contributions to PassageMaker. I teach U.S. Coast Guard licensing classes (up to 200 tons) for masters, mates, and able seamen. I also teach navigation and weather classes to both professional and recreational mariners, which is how I came to write for this magazine. Otherwise I work on the water, currently on highspeed passenger ferries that operate in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. What’s your favorite part about working for Victoria Clipper? That’s a tough question! They’re great boats and a great company. Our routes through the Salish Sea are beautiful and present interesting daily challenges from the standpoints of navigation and weather. I’ve always preferred passenger vessels because I like working with…

Carrying gasoline on board can be a pain, to say nothing of the danger. It is highly flammable, usually different from the fuel of the main engine, and requires special stowage—and your insurance company will not be happy about it. But as gasoline outboards have long been the most viable option to power your tender, carrying gasoline on board has been a necessity for many cruisers. Yanmar is trying to change this, though, with the introduction of a 50-horsepower diesel outboard. While it sounds like a simple solution to have a tender outboard that not only uses the same fuel as the mothership but also is a safe alternative to gasoline, there are downsides to this new Yanmar unit, the Dtorque 111. The primary issue is that it costs about…

In 1989 we were exploring hot springs a mile or so inland from Lago de Izabal, Guatemala, where our 39-foot sloop Nada was lying to her 45-pound CQR on an all-chain rode in soft mud. Our children were quite young. Without warning, ferocious 40- to 50-knot winds came down off the mountain and a Mayan boy ran up to tell us Nada was blowing offshore. I rushed back to find her half a mile or more off the beach. We had a rowing dinghy, which was no use in those winds. Two guys in a cayuco—a big dugout canoe with a large outboard—offered me a ride. Nada was dragging beam-on to the steep seas that had sprung up, with the leeward side decks awash. The guys tried several times to…

F ull disclosure: As is noted elsewhere in this issue, David Burch, the author of Introduction to Electronic Chart Navigation, is a friend, mentor, and former employer. However neither Dr. Burch nor Starpath have paid for this review. Electronic charting has come a long way since the early days of outdated charts, rubber duckies, and “lotsa beer” navaid icons. What was once a novelty has largely come to replace paper charting for routine navigation. There are a number of books on the street for commercial and military mariners who are required to use professional ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) on board ships, mostly written to be used as textbooks in required classes. At the other end of the spectrum are a few “intro to” books which are well…

If you aren’t in Florida or the Caribbean at this time of year, your boat is probably put away for the winter and you are dreaming of (and maybe even planning) your next adventure. If you’d like to play out your daydreams, might I suggest this unique Lego set, The Old Fishing Store. This brick creation from the “Lego Ideas” line is just the sort of diversion that you know was designed for the snowbound boater or angler. Lego Ideas is a clever way for Lego to nurture community involvement and creativity. The “Ideas” sets are submitted by community members and then voted on by members. Designs that receive support from 10,000 people are then considered for production by the Danish toymaker. The Old Fishing Store was designed by Lego…