Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Soundings

See the Ocean Cleanup in action: soundingsonline.com/video/how-to Flush with $31.5 million in crowd-sourced funds from passionate individuals, as well as tech giants, Dutchman Boyan Slat has a plan to rid the world’s oceans of trash with a mobile drifting system. And he’s two years ahead of schedule. A design breakthrough and an infusion of cash from a campaign by the Ocean Cleanup Project, the foundation Slat heads, means testing of the first system will start in the Pacific by the end of this year. The first deployment in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is expected during the first half of 2018. “The plastic is accumulating,” Slat says. “It’s getting worse, fast. It stays there. It will not go away by itself. It’s persistent. And it becomes more harmful over time.…

Comfort, performance and sheer lavishness are qualities often attributed to luxury automobiles, but today’s sport coupes and express cruisers can lay claim to them, too. They have powerful and efficient engines, elegant and modern lines, comfy accommodations and plenty of space for entertaining and socializing. The past decade has seen heavy evolution in this class of boats. Remember when express cruisers and sport coupes garnered such unsavory nicknames as “Clorox bottle” and “floating refrigerator”? Models on the market today are svelte and beautiful, and they come kitted out with smooth, buttery upholstery, fine wood trim and loads of features, including outdoor air conditioning, sunroofs and electrically operated swim platforms. These boats are also fast, thanks to modern and efficient power plants. LOA: 41 feet, 7 inches • BEAM: 12 feet,…

The Katama 30 is a Wasque cousin, a more modern family boat in the same New England style. In 1999, a client contacted C.W. Hood Yachts asking for a 30-foot, commuter-style tender for a large sailing yacht. It would be powered with a jetdrive and be capable of 30-knot speeds, with overnight accommodations. “I was intrigued,” says Hood, who sketched some profiles. Standard propulsion would be a Yanmar 440 diesel coupled with an Ultrajet jetdrive, and it would be called the Katama 30. The boat’s name came from Katama Bay, on Martha’s Vineyard. “I always enjoyed sailing Dyer dinghies there as a kid,” says Hood. “It’s a shallow bay. We had this shallow-draft jetboat, so that’s where she got her name.” And the boat’s look was still New England. “We…

Every once in a while, a cruising family sails into an exquisite moment in the life of a boat and its people. When our two children were young, we sailed hundreds of days and thousands of miles together in northern New England — with islands and anchorages and adventures galore. Yet in the ledger of “perfect family days on the boat,” none of them topped the sparkling summer day the boy built his raft. That particular August morning was still, in a way special to the coast of Maine, when abundant sunshine warms arms and legs normally layered in clothes. Every color outdid itself: crisp white clouds, clear blue sky, emerald green trees. Lobster pot buoys glistened, immobilized on a placid sea. The awe-inspiring coast had traded its oftendaunting moods…

Aquatic AV Media Player The Aquatic AV AQ-MP-5UBT-S media player connects to smartphones and MP3 players via Bluetooth. It supports Apple and Android devices and is ready for Sirius XM satellite radio. An internal USB charges devices, and a surface USB socket connects flash drives and cables. A built-in 288-watt amplifier powers as many as eight speakers or a combination of speakers and subwoofers. A 3-inch LCD shows track data, songs, artists and more. $419. Aquatic AV, San Jose, California, (877) 579-2782. aquaticav.com LED Deck Lights Manufactured by Vision X, these Offshore and PitMaster series LED deck lights from Imtra are available with white or black housings and are rated for submersion to nearly 10 feet. Offshore models provide 3,300 to 11,000 effective lumens. PitMaster models provide 11,000 to 22,000…

June 1, 2017, was supposed to be a routine deadline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had set the date as the end of public comment on its draft strategy about navigational products and services for America’s ocean and coastal waters, as well as the Great Lakes. Yet in the days leading up to the deadline, rumors about the 2017 National Charting Plan spread online. Maptech and Landfall Navigation, which make chart products, stated that “NOAA wants to stop making NOAA charts” and “NOAA is planning on discontinuing the production of chart images used for printing detailed charts.” Several industry voices rose to rebut the allegations. “Having nautical charts available in a range of formats is key to boating safety, and we don’t expect paper charts to go away anytime…

If you’re anything like us, the many watercraft of Mystic Seaport are your favorite things about this wonderful place in Mystic, Connecticut. For almost 40 years, one man has worked behind the scenes at Mystic, watching over the fleet. Dana Hewson started his career at Mystic Seaport in 1977, when he was hired as the institution’s first full-time shipkeeper. He was soon promoted to vessel maintenance supervisor and after eight years took the reins as the director of the Shipyard Department and curator of watercraft. He has been vice president for watercraft preservation since 1989, sometimes also overseeing facilities or watercraft programs. When he retired this spring, Hewson stepped down as vice president for watercraft preservation and programs, and Clark Senior Curator of Watercraft. We couldn’t let him get away…

Paul Revere’s bell hangs in the tower above the 18th-century First Congregational Church in Essex, Massachusetts. Nearby, the 82-ton Evelina M. Goulart — an original, Essex-built schooner from 1927 — looms as a decayed apparition in the yard of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. The wonder that surrounds them both makes it easy to miss the H.A. Burnham shipbuilding yard altogether. Tucked along a residential lane, the yard is a peaceful place that tumbles down a slope to the water’s edge. Finding it feels a bit like stumbling upon a junkyard: In addition to piles of live-edge lumber, there’s a rusted fuel tank loaded with wood scraps, mooring balls, truck tires, cement blocks and foam bedding. The giveaways that this is the right spot are the sawmill and a pile of…

For more than 60 years, James Iams has been casting his artist’s eye around Chesapeake Bay, taking in the sights and spirit of the region’s creeks and rivers, islands and harbors, watermen and boats. In Waterman’s Shack (a 14½-by-12½-inch watercolor), the artist brings us into the scene to scan the big sky, feel the breeze and hear the cry of the gulls. We sense the strength and dignity of the fishing boat and skiff, the solidity of the wooden pier and the hardy, weathered shacks. It’s a scene dear to the artist’s heart. “I have been painting the Chesapeake Bay area almost my whole career,” says Iams, who is in his late 80s and lives in Timonium, Maryland. “I like the water. I like the boats. I like the scenery.”…

Castine, Maine, is picturesque in a way that leaves words like “quaint” and “charming” sitting in the corner with empty dance cards. The only reason most Americans have never heard of the place is the reflexive Angloorientation of U.S. history. Named for a French baron, Castine was established as a trading post in 1613, seven years before the Pilgrims waded ashore at what became Plymouth, Massachusetts. Castine was strategically situated on the Bagaduce River, just off Penobscot Bay. It was soon a nexus of international struggle that spanned two centuries and five nations, including the indigenous Wabanaki. In 1628 the French lost Castine to the British, but they got it back, only to lose it to the British again. They got it back again, only to lose it to the…

OCEAN SOS: The first Ocean Conference was held June 5-9 at United Nations headquarters in New York, and 193 member states unanimously agreed to a set of measures to begin reversing the decline of our oceans’ health. The conference was designed to raise consciousness of such issues as pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification and piracy, as well as the harmful effects of climate change. You can read the Call For Action at oceanconference.un.org Boston Whaler’s 240 Dauntless Pro is aimed at anglers who might consider a bay boat as their next fishing boat purchase. With dual casting decks, rod holders, a live well and a distinctive standard angler’s tower, this newest member of the Dauntless family has a serious bend toward the piscatorial. Standard power on the 240 Dauntless Pro is…

OWN ‘PAPA’S BOAT’ Pilar, a replica of Ernest Hemingway’s 1934 38-foot Wheeler sportfishing boat of the same name, is for sale. Shannon Boat Co., under the direction of founder and president Walt Schulz, spent two years shaping the replica to mirror the original Pilar, including replacing the cabin, raising the sheer and rebuilding the hull with new frames, planks and fastenings. She can carry as many as 12 guests for tours or fishing. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Shannon River Marine Heritage Foundation, which Schulz founded. The group helps veterans and people with disabilities experience the therapeutic benefits of yachting. The asking price for Pilar is $375,000. Shannon Boat Co., Bristol, Rhode Island, (401) 253-2441. sportfish-pilar.com A LIGHTHOUSE FOR RESEARCH On a clear day at Lime Kiln Light…

Are you a fan of Friendship sloops? Learn more here: soundingsonline.com/ video/boating-news In the late 19th century, Wilbur Morse, a boatbuilder in Friendship, Maine, was turning out an unprecedented number of working sailboats of similar design. As Betty Roberts writes in her history of the Friendship sloop, the boats were gaff-rigged with a clipper bow and a graceful (and practical) elliptical stern. Working craft, they were likely developed from the fishing boats of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and were used for most any kind of fishing, whether hand-lining for cod, seining for herring or hauling lobster traps. Though Morse is credited with building the most “Friendships,” fishermen all over Maine — Thomaston, Cushing, Morse Island, Muscongus — were building the versatile, capable and seaworthy boats. Most were 30 to 40 feet, built…

At first glance, they were just molds in a Rhode Island field, stored in the tall grass out back at Little Harbor Yachts in Portsmouth. Those wearing a big spray-painted X were destined for the scrap heap. But as Chris Hood looked them over that day in 1995, one of the shapes stood out. Hood, working at his uncle Ted Hood’s complex, went to get a closer look. “It was the starboard side of a boat, and I saw it in silhouette,” he recalls. “I fell in love with the look of the boat, the beauty of the lines. Sitting out in that field, it looked a little like a half-hull stapled to the wall. I saw it and said, ‘That’s it.’ ” Here was a boat worth building. That…

“What a beautiful boat!” That was John Dughi’s reaction the first time he saw a Wasque 26. “I had no idea what it was, and it took several days of asking to find out — and to learn how to pronounce it. Way-squee,” the New Jersey skipper says. Dughi now owns a 13-year-old Hood-built model. “Our pride and joy for three seasons,” he says. Big Red is a family cruiser and fishing boat. “She can be stripped and ready for fishing in minutes and then set up for a cocktail cruise just as easily,” Dughi says. Power is a 315-hp Yanmar diesel, and cruising speed is around 23 knots. The ride is pure Wasque, Dughi says. “The modified-vee hull handles the bay chop, and she rides ocean swells with aplomb.…

When shore power develops a “leak” on board and stray current is present, it will find all possible ways to return to its source. That source is, of course, shore-based, and ground is the boatyard or marina, so current will flow through the water as part of its path home. This can upset devices aboard other vessels and be potentially lethal to a swimmer. For many years on-board ground-fault circuit interrupters, usually as part of a receptacle, kept people safe from stray current. Just like at home, the boat had them in areas where shock hazards are present, and American Boat & Yacht Council standards mandated them in the galley, head, engine room and exposed weather decks. It was then decided that whole-boat protection, similar to the European standard, provides…

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 65 feet, 4 inches BEAM: 19 feet, 2 inches WEIGHT: 61,600 pounds DRAFT: 3 feet, 6 inches HULL TYPE: semidisplacement POWER: twin 725-hp Volvo Penta D11 diesels, twin 900-hp D13 diesels SPEED: 27 knots top, 24 knots cruise (base power) TANKAGE: 1,530 gallons fuel, 300 gallons water, 80 gallons waste PRICE: $3.28 million “Supersize me” could be the theme of the Grand Banks 60, which made its world debut at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show in Queensland, Australia. Going in a somewhat new direction for the builder in certain ways, the 60 retains characteristically salty Grand Banks lines, as well as modern, stylish good looks. And with a range of 2,000 nautical miles and a CE Category A rating, she’ll be able to go far in most…