Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Soundings

Thirty-five years ago this past April 14, Maersk Line’s Capt. Ngoc Nguyen was a frightened 13-year-old crammed aboard a 35-foot fishing boat with his mother, three younger siblings and 60 other refugees fleeing their Vietnamese homeland six years after Saigon’s fall. The refugees had gathered aboard the fishing boat in the evening, but the Vietnamese coast guard found out about their plan, forcing a premature escape with just enough food, water and fuel for two days. They made a desperate nighttime sprint from Cam Ranh Bay into the South China Sea with a gunboat in hot pursuit. “We had to leave in a hurry,” says Nguyen, 49, recounting the ordeal from Denmark, where he lives with his wife, Kim Anh, and two sons, Jimmy, 18, and Kevin, 13. “We didn’t…

Wesmac 46 LOA: 46 feet, 3 inches BEAM: 14 feet, 5 inches DRAFT: 4 feet, 11 inches (hull) POWER: 1,150-hp Caterpillar C18 diesel FUEL: 800 gallons (two tanks) KEEL: built-down SPEED: 32 knots top, 26 knots cruise PRICE: $1.5 million CONTACT: Wesmac Custom Boats, Surry, Maine, (207) 667-4822. wesmac.com When we count our blessings, time spent in Maine is near the top of our list. There are few coastlines more spectacularly beautiful, but a down-to-earth, no-nonsense sensibility is the state’s enduring hallmark. You can see that reflected in its boats, too, where form follows function in the region’s native Down East designs. As a result, there are few ugly boats in Maine. From small shops such as Peter Kass’ John’s Bay in South Bristol, which builds rock-solid, highly coveted boats…

Jonathan Nye is a lifelong sailor, but like so many others, he found that there came a time when the relative advantages and comforts of powerboating began to take hold, especially when his wife, Karin, became involved in the decision-making. But like many sailing converts, Jonathan and Karin wanted an aesthetic that would remind them of a proper sailing yacht. Not just any powerboat was going to do. While looking around the Northeast in the spring and summer of 2014, the Nyes found a 36-foot Newman hull that was available at the Newman & Gray yard. They looked at a number of other options while talking to Josh Gray about his vision for transforming Wendy Jean (the official name of the bare hull). Although there were many good used-boat options,…

Lip seals are the most common shaft seal aboard boats. They are designed for sealing out salt water, engine coolant, engine oil, hydraulic fluid and transmission fluid. Lip seals work on rotating shafts, such as pumps, and with linear applications, such as steering rams, and sometimes against very high pressure. Sealing is achieved in two places: the shaft surface and the outer shell of the seal in its housing. A thin lip faces the fluid, and any pressure from the sealed direction exerts a tighter fit and blocks migration along the shaft. The outer edge of the seal forms a gasket surface, and fluid is blocked from going around the seal. In some applications, such as engine crankshaft seals, small ridges on the lip called sipes assist in redirecting fluids…

Tom Anderson grew up on a quiet street in Noank, Connecticut, enjoying expansive views of the Mystic River from his family’s 1845 Greek Revival home and taking part in the local sailing scene. “[It] suited my parents just fine for over 60 years,” says the 68-year-old Stamford, Connecticut, sailmaker. Anderson’s great-great-grandfather, Robert Palmer, built the house. “Probably for workers in his shipyard on Noank’s Morgan Point, which employed some 500 workers in its heyday.” Anderson has reluctantly decided not to update the property and retire there. He and his brother, who co-own it, are asking $895,000 for the three-bedroom, two-bath home and onebedroom, one-bath guest house, which sit on a 0.2-acre lot. Furnishings are negotiable. Low hedges mark the property’s boundaries, and flagstones lead to the front door of the…

Four men who ventured 300 miles off Colombia’s west coast in a 23-foot skiff to fish were set adrift when their boat’s engine failed. When a ship spotted the boat in the central Pacific two months later, only one of the fishermen remained. The crew of the 618-foot bulk carrier Nikkei Verde found 29-year-old Colombian Javier Eduardo Olaya on April 26 in a lightly traveled expanse of the Pacific 2,150 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. “The Pacific is vast and inherently dangerous,” says Lt. Cmdr. John MacKinnon, of the Coast Guard’s 14th District in Honolulu, in a statement. “This mariner had great fortitude and is very fortunate the crew of the Nikkei Verde happened upon him, as the area he was in is not heavily trafficked.” The Coast Guard says…

Sara Faulkner describes herself as a “real-life Valley Girl from L.A.” On the other hand, during Hurricane Katrina she helped rescue 48 people in one night — so don’t let your mind rush to images of Cher Horowitz from Clueless just yet. Faulkner was the first female graduate of the Coast Guard’s Rescue Swimmer School, and she was nominated by the International Maritime Organization for its “Exceptional Bravery at Sea” award for rescuing three people from a sailboat during a storm with 45-knot winds and 15-foot seas. As she approached the boat during that operation, a wave lifted the stern and swept her underneath. The 63-foot sailboat came down on top of her twice while she was trapped between the rudder and the screw. It was a close call, but…

Only 30 miles downstream from bustling Washington, D.C., lies Mallows Bay, home of the largest maritime burial ground in the Western Hemisphere. Here, in this somewhat peculiar, remote spot off the Potomac River, more than 100 World War I-era wooden steamships and other abandoned vessels rest eternally, cast off as obsolete, their working lives abruptly curtailed. Despite the scrapyard nature of the place, Mallows Bay has a serene beauty. Home to vibrant and diverse wildlife, including bald eagles and osprey, beaver, muskrat and river otters, the area is also a haven for kayakers, anglers and other recreational interests. But to truly understand and appreciate the amazing tale of this place, you have to peel back many layers of history. A Call To Arms The saga of the Mallows Bay ghost…

Pemetic was completed in 1974, one of two JN36 hulls finished by Jarvis Newman. Ted Horton, the current and third owner, purchased her in Miami in the fall of 2012 and brought her to Newport, Rhode Island. Several long-term projects were apparent to Horton when he purchased her, but his initial intention was to tackle them over time while enjoying the boat. It soon became clear that a larger restoration was in order, including replacing the fuel tanks. Horton was familiar with the Newman & Gray yard, and its reputation with Jarvis Newman hulls made it his choice for the work despite the distance from his home base in New York and Rhode Island. Although Pemetic was very simple systems-wise, when she was opened up it was obvious there were…

Journey Rear-view System Journey is a wireless rear-view system for rowing, towing, waterskiing and other applications. Portable and mounted in seconds, it transmits real-time video across a distance of as much as a third of a mile for as long as five hours. The screen is sunlight-readable, and the camera and monitor are submersible. The camera is offered with a tight, standard or wide-angle lens. $499. Hyndsight Vision Systems, Peterborough, New Hampshire, (844) 733-7233. hyndsightvision.com Boarding Ladder Sensor The Intelliboat Ladder Sensor automatically alerts you when the boarding ladder is in the water. The compact, waterproof, easy-to-install system is wireless and gives audio and visual alarms when the engine ignition key is turned, reminding you to bring the ladder aboard before getting underway. The manufacturer says it won’t interfere with…

If there’s one thing that brings people together like the dinner table, it’s a boat. It’s where you can disconnect from the day-to-day and reconnect with your loved ones. Whether it’s the perfect day with the family or a cocktail cruise with friends, there’s no place you’d rather be than on your boat. Leisurely BBQs and days spent on the water are times and memories that can’t be made anywhere else. MarineMax Vacations, the fastest growing charter company and a division of MarineMax, offers you the industry’s newest, most luxurious fleet from the world’s most experienced boating company and voted the best BVI Charter Company, 2015! We know boats, but that is really because we are boaters ourselves. We truly understand how meaningful it is to be out on the…

BAD BEACHING When a 27-foot sailboat lost its rudder off California’s Santa Cruz Island in May, the solo sailor made a soft landing on a sandy beach. Trouble is, the island is part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. This prompted a response from the Coast Guard and environmental agencies to ensure there was no pollution. The sailor was rescued, and the boat was towed away without incident. The latest yacht from Paul Mann Custom Boats launched this spring. The 60-foot Caught Up is a 41.5-knot, twostateroom, two-head, cold-molded Carolina sportfisherman built for a Florida couple with plans to “travel great distances and fish often,” says company owner Paul Mann. Powered by twin 1,550-hp MAN diesels, the convertible fishboat includes a walk-in pantry and laundry/storage area, as well as…

A team of scientists and investigators have found the voyage data recorder from El Faro, the cargo ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin last fall with all 33 hands on board. Using undersea robotic vehicles, the team — from the National Transportation Safety Board, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Coast Guard and ship owner Tote Services — found the data recorder in 15,000 feet of water, 41 miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked islands in the Bahamas, the NTSB says in a statement. “Finding an object about the size of a basketball almost three miles under the surface of the sea is a remarkable achievement,” says NTSB chairman Christopher A. Hart. The VDR was still attached to El Faro’s mast, which the ROVs found on the sea floor several hundred meters…

When Chris-Craft made the commitment to change to fiberglass construction, it did so in a big way. America’s biggest boatbuilder was losing market share in the early 1960s, and fiberglass was the reason. Chris-Craft salesmen continued to preach the virtues of wood while companies such as Hatteras, Bertram, Boston Whaler and Sea Ray were showing off glass boats to an audience that was eager for the flashy new lowmaintenance designs. In 1962, Chris-Craft set up a fiberglass R&D center in Pompano, Florida, and a Fiberglass and Tooling Activity Division in Holland, Michigan. The company put longtime designer and engineer Bill Mackerer in charge and work began on a fiberglass cruiser in the strictest secrecy — not even the dealers were told. Shop windows in Holland were sealed, and doors were…

Life is too short to own an ugly boat. I have been drawn to that evocative phrase since childhood. When the time came recently for me to find what will likely be my last boat, I realized that what I wanted was even more than the simple beauty this phrase conjures. I wanted to be captivated. I was raised on the coast of Maine, in a family that included several owners and builders of wooden boats. My grandfather owned a 30-foot wooden lobster boat, built on Matinicus Island and purchased from the heirs of its builder, and the image of her graceful sheer line stays with me still. When I was growing up, my uncle Jack worked in East Boothbay, first for Paul Luke’s boatyard and later at Goudy &…

The scene is typical of Midcoast Maine. A snug harbor, lobster and fishing boats, wharves along the shore and the sturdy buildings of the village’s sturdy inhabitants. Blue water beckons beyond, and pine-clad islands dot the horizon. But there’s more. As with so many of Sally Caldwell Fisher’s works, there’s a story behind the scene. This is home, New Harbor, the Maine village where the self-taught artist and her husband raised their family. Greg Fisher worked as a lobsterman and tuna fisherman, and the kids played in the streets and knocked about the harbor. The houses, the sheds and barns, the wildflowers — it’s all familiar, part of her life. “There is always a lot of water activity, always things going on in that beautiful harbor,” Fisher says. The Michigan-born…

FROM WORK TO PLEASURE Wanderbird is a 53-year-old North Sea fishing trawler that was converted to a long-range expedition vessel. The 90-footer features a traditional ketch auxiliary sailing rig, fine wood interiors with a cozy galley, the strength of a working fishing vessel and a range of 6,000 nautical miles. Wanderbird was built in Maassluis, Holland, and launched in 1963 as a beam trawler for a Dutch fishing family. She was worked until 1990 and most recently was offered for charter adventures. She is listed at $475,000 by David Jones Yacht Brokerage in Rockport, Maine. davidjonesclassics.com CLASSIC COLLECTION Wooden classics, vintage racers and other antique boats are coming to Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum June 17-19 for the 29th annual Antique & Classic Boat Festival and the Arts at Navy Point…