Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Soundings

On Feb. 18, 1952, the Coast Guard rescued 70 men from the tankers Fort Mercer and Pendleton, which broke in half off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a brutal nor’easter. The story of Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernard Webber and his crew of three, who headed into 60-foot seas and 70-knot winds in the 36-foot Motor Lifeboat CG-36500 to rescue 32 crewmembers from the stern section of the 503-foot Pendleton, is the stuff of legend. Motoring out of the Chatham Lifeboat Station, Webber, Engineman Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Richard Livesey and Seaman Irving Maske sang “Rock of Ages” and “Harbor Lights” as they approached the Chatham bar, Coast Guard Capt. Russell Webster writes in an account in the U.S. Naval Institute magazine Proceedings. The men could hear the roar of towering waves…

Mighty square-riggers, rugged coasting schooners, speedy packets and lumbering barges — ships of all types filled the harbors of 19th century America, doing commerce, building a nation. And buzzing around many of them was the Whitehall, carrying goods and doing business between ship and shore. These clinker-built workhorse boats were used by “ship’s chandlers, newspaper reporters, insurance adjusters, agents, pilots, ruthless boarding house crimps and all others having business on the waterfront,” as one historian put it. In this highly competitive environment, speed and cargo capacity were paramount; whoever got to the ships first got the best prices and sold the most goods. The Whitehall rowed easily and moved quickly in smooth and choppy waters as it ferried goods and passengers to and from vessels. This “most famous of American…

It’s that time of year again. If you love giving gifts but hate the pressure of finding just the right ones for your crew and dockmates, we’re here to help. Take a look at the goodies we found — they’re not all nautical, but if you can’t find a perfect present here, you need saltier friends. The Daysailor If you’re lucky enough to have a few of these folks on your shopping list, your work is easy. Whether you know a racer or a loafer, it’s all about a good time on the water and babying the ride. You won’t go wrong with any of these gifts 1. ihome iBT9 Waterproof Radio, $100, ihomeaudio.com 2. Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Bourbon, $40, wyomingwhiskey.com 3. The Sea Chart, $40, bloomsbury.com/us 4. Aqua link PLB, $330, acratex.com 5.…

Revere IBA Life Raft Revere Survival has introduced a Coast Guard-approved life raft, the Revere IBA. Constructed with double buoyancy chambers, the non-reversible raft has an inflatable boarding ramp, a rescue light and an emergency equipment pack. The raft is available in models for four, six, eight and 10 people, and stows in a soft valise or low-profile fiberglass container. $1,800-$5,800. Revere Survival, Jacksonville, Florida, (866) 904-7360. reveresurvival.com Rechargeable LED Spotlight The RL-85-LED-CPR is a waterproof, rechargeable, 25-watt LED spotlight from Larson Electronics. The 7.4-volt lithium ion battery pack allows up to three hours of operation and recharges in three hours. The spotlight’s Cree LED has an advanced reflector and lens configuration to generate an output of 2,000 lumens and a range of about 1,000 feet. An AC and DC…

Sen. Marco Rubio has asked the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate the safety of the jetty at Miami’s Government Cut after a crash that killed Miami Marlins ace pitcher José Fernández, 24, and two friends. The three died when the baseball player’s 32-foot SeaVee, Kaught Looking, crashed into the north jetty at a high rate of speed about 3:15 a.m. on Sept. 25. “Florida leads the nation in the number of registered boats and, thus, unfortunately also leads the nation in boating-related fatalities [52 in 2015],” Rubio, who is a boater, wrote in a letter to Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul F. Zukunft and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy. Rubio acknowledged boaters’ responsibility to operate their vessels safely but added that…

About 12 years ago, a friend and I drove a 16-foot Zodiac Medline RIB roughly 60 miles from Essex to Norwalk, Connecticut. My experience with inflatables had been limited to small, soft-bottom tenders, slowly putting through mooring fields or going ashore for lunch, so the comfort and performance of our RIB opened a whole new world to me. A RIB could be my only boat. Many Europeans embraced the RIB as their primary boat as soon as manufacturers built models big enough to carry the entire family. RIBs are lightweight, seakindly, safe and remarkably fast. The buoyancy tubes, in addition to softening the ride in rough seas, give the boats uncommonly good transverse stability, which makes them ideal for plucking folks out of the water during rescues. All of these…

Cape Horn, looming in the background of this dramatic work by Russ Kramer, is one of the most dangerous places on Earth to sail. In 1888, without electronic navigation equipment or radio communications, it was even more so. The boat in Kramer’s 16-by-24-inch oil on panel is the schooner yacht Coronet — at 131 feet, one of the largest sailing yachts of the Gilded Age. It was a time when the Morgans, Astors, Vanderbilts and other pillars of wealth commissioned some of the grandest vessels in yachting history. Launched for oil tycoon Rufus T. Bush in 1885, Coronet began a round-the-world voyage in 1888 that made her the first U.S.-registered yacht to fly her country’s colors off the Horn sailing west-about. It’s this historic moment that Kramer depicts in his…

Gary and Mary MacDougal have summered on the Skillings River in Lamoine, Maine, since 1993. “Our home has a lodge-y feel that I like,” Mary says. With the couple “getting along in years,” she says, “we need to live in one place … where it’s warmer than [our home in] North Haven, Connecticut.” Their almost 1-acre Maine property has 215 feet of river frontage; a heavily insulated, shingled frame home with three bedrooms and two full baths; a detached two-car garage; a storage shed; and a deep-water mooring. It’s listed at $489,000. A deeded private road leads to the garage, where a wood ramp connects the driveway to the front door. The carpeted two-story house seems more spacious than its 1,600 square feet because of the great room’s three window…

Wellcraft’s new flagship center console, the 262 Fisherman, is 2 feet bigger than its predecessor, the 252. “It’s a completely different boat with an LOA of 26 feet, 4 inches and beam of 9 feet,” says Wellcraft vice president of engineering Christophe Lavigne. Offered for the past decade, the 252 measured 24 feet, 4 inches with an 8-foot, 9-inch beam. Below the waterline, however, the design remains the same. “It has a proven modified-vee hull that goes back to the early 2000s,” says Lavigne. “There was no need to change that. We wanted to maintain its salty fishing heritage but also offer the family everything for day boating.” Outfitting includes a mix of fishing and day-cruising equipment. The builder installed live wells in both cockpit corners, along with a pair…

Hurricane Matthew weakened as it marched up the Southeast coast of the United States and stayed just far enough offshore to spare an estimated 2 million people catastrophic damage from winds that early in its 11-day run as a hurricane reached 160 mph. “We’re blessed that Hurricane Matthew stayed off the coast,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in Jacksonville after surveying damage. Still, the hurricane took at least 38 lives in the United States — 19 in North Carolina, 12 in Florida, three in South Carolina, three in Georgia and one in Virginia. Matthew finally made landfall Oct. 9 at McClellanville, South Carolina, as a 75-mph Category 1 hurricane, its power sapped by 30- to 40-knot wind shear, dry air and lower ocean temperatures north of Florida. Along the way…

Charlie Dana has spent his personal and professional lives in yachting. A former commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Dana was a syndicate member of five America’s Cup campaigns between 1977 and 2003. In 1998, Dana and partners purchased Newport Shipyard, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, preventing its development as condominiums. Since then, the Rhode Island yard has improved and expanded to become one of the finest marine facilities in the world. With a full-service yard, ship’s store, restaurant and fitness center on the harbor, and a focus on megayacht service and repair, Newport Shipyard plays an important cultural role in the nautical life of Newport. It hosts several teams and regattas, including this year’s inaugural Candy Store Cup, which replaces the Newport Bucket. Dana is…

Macerator pumps are installed on the discharge outlets of tanks that contain water with a high percentage of solids, such as bait wells or holding tanks, and have a chopping blade to reduce the solids before they can reach the impeller and restrict flow. The pumps must be corrosion-resistant, so the head is typically made of reinforced plastic, and the chopping blade is stainless steel or bronze. The suction, or inlet, side of the pump is sized for the most common head hose, which has an internal diameter of 1½ inches (38mm). The suction hose bib includes a 1½-inch male NPT (National Pipe Thread) threaded portion — the most common pipe fitting for sanitation systems. This allows the pump to be directly mounted to a pipe tee or other female…

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 42 feet, 6 inches BEAM: 13 feet, 10 inches WEIGHT: 22,500 pounds DRAFT: 3 feet, 3 inches (half fuel) HULL TYPE: catamaran (asymmetrical hulls) POWER: Volvo Penta D6 diesel, 330-435 hp SPEED: 20-23 knots top, 16-18 knots cruise (435-hp diesel) TANKAGE: 180 gallons fuel, 100 gallons water, 80 gallons waste PRICE: $669,000 (330-hp D6), $689,200 (435-hp D6) CONTACT: Aspen Power Catamarans, Burlington, Washington, (360) 668-4347. aspenpowercatamarans.com Chris Wyman’s 40-foot Aspen C120 power cat gets 1.5 nmpg at 17 knots. Wyman, a former trawler owner who lives in Seattle, says the speed and efficiency puts destinations as far south as Olympia, Washington, or as far north as the San Juan Islands within easy reach for three-day weekends. “I’m used to getting good mileage but at much slower speeds [with…

A MEMBER OF THE WINDJAMMER TRIBE A fixture along the Maine coast for decades, Heritage is a 145-foot (LOA) coasting schooner built to historical specifications, with the heavy scantlings of a 19th century sailing vessel. Her double-sawn frame is constructed of lumber harvested from local forests, and all timbers are treated with a preservative. She was built to cruise in Maine's windjammer fleet and has a current certificate of inspection that's rated for 60 passengers on day sails and 30 on overnight trips. Measuring 94 feet on deck, Heritage comes with a full complement of sails, a suite of electronics and two pulling boats. She is propelled by sail only, and a diesel yawl boat is used for close-quarters maneuvering. Heritage is listed by David Jones Yacht Brokerage at Rockport…