Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Soundings

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumns.” — George Eliot Fall. Is there an easier season to love? The sticky haze of summer has faded to a pleasant memory. You rediscover your favorite sweater and briefly consider (and discard) the idea of socks. The scent of hardwood smoke perfumes the air, and stately maples commence their pageants: red and gold leaves waving so long against crisp blue skies full of high, white cirrus. If you listen closely to an autumn breeze at night, it sounds like gathering whispers, rumors of winter. Wait — don’t think about winter yet! Although retail is already flogging Christmas displays, and the season of run-amok pumpkin spice…

1. INTERNATIONAL RULES: The fog signal for a power-driven vessel underway and making way would be: A. 1 prolonged every 2 minutes B. 1 prolonged, 2 short every minute C. 1 prolonged every minute D. 2 prolonged every minute 2. INTERNATIONAL RULES: A vessel shall have its operating lights on: A. in restricted visibility B. from sunset to sunrise C. any time deemed necessary D. all of the above 3. You are backing from a dock in international waters and see that other vessels are approaching. You should sound: A. 1 prolonged B. 3 short C. 1 long D. no signal 4. INLAND RULES: A light that shows through an arc of not less than 180? nor more than 225? from right ahead to abeam and no more than 22.5?…

For me, the words damage control conjure claustrophobic scenes from the 1981 German U-boat film Das Boot. Begrimed men, stripped to the waist in rising water, struggling to plug gushing pipes that depth charges ruptured, all while the prying ocean tries to entomb them in their fragile biosphere. Admittedly, this article takes a rather less epic view of flooding because, thankfully, most of us only encounter the more humdrum elements of prevention and preparation. Serious hull breaches from grounding, collision or naval gunnery are special cases for another day. (But I do recommend the movie if you haven’t seen it.) Flooding is always a serious matter, but one reason it belongs in the pantheon of “things that went wrong that should not have surprised me” is that most boats are…

Somewhere along the Maine coast, a man trudges through thick mud as the tide forces the river to retreat toward the ocean. Slicing the mud with his tined, handheld hoe, the digger’s eyes scan the scene beneath him for his squiggling adversary — Glycera dibranchiata, the common bloodworm. Spying one on the move, he plucks it from its hidey-hole and plops it into a holding bucket. Millions of bloodworms are harvested each year in Maine and Canada, then wind up at tackle shops, where they’re divvied up by the dozen and sold to eager anglers as bait. However, few worms receive the loving care that Dee Tochterman, of Tochterman’s Tackle in Baltimore, gives her bloodworms. Her reputation for having some of the best worms on the East Coast has earned…

All-Weather Stereo Infinity’s INFPRV315 stereo receiver is an all-in-one unit with no black box to install. It has a 3½-inch TFT screen, large buttons, a rotary volume-control knob and 50 watts of power over four channels. It comes ready for wired and wireless remote control and includes AM/FM broadcasting, a weather band, U.S. and European tuning, Bluetooth audio streaming with ID tagging, USB input and auxiliary input. The unit has three pairs of RCA preouts, including a separate subwoofer output. $299. Prospec Electronics, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, (843) 849-9037. prospecelectronics.com Live Well Lights Measuring less than an inch in diameter, TecNiq’s M90 vibration-proof and shockproof live well lights are available in white, blue, red and green. The LED lights have a lifetime warranty and are rated for 50,000 hours of…

I love this design — fitting maximum livability in a minimal but functional package. Sam Devlin has done a great job [“Sketchbook,” August, “The ‘Tiny House’ Concept Takes To The Water”]. Reuben Trane via Facebook Great design, however, let’s make sure we get this right. Boats are what inspired the designs, storage and use of space in the tiny house movement. Bill O’Gara via Facebook SEEING BACKWARD A sharp-eyed reader who had just visited Castine, Maine, pointed out that the photo of the town’s waterfront with the August issue’s “Local Knowledge” was flipped, so everything in the image is backward. The image we received for the story had been scanned incorrectly. The correct image is shown above. NOTEWORTHY NOTE Although I subscribe to several magazines, Soundings is my favorite by…

Who doesn’t love an upgrade? You check in at the airport and go from cattle-car economy to first-class luxury. While upgrading your boat may not be as superficially thrilling as receiving a complimentary first-class seat, the investment can boost your boat’s long-term value and your on-thewater enjoyment. Here’s the latest from electronics and engine manufacturers, making it tempting for you to do everything from a VHF radio upgrade to a complete repower. SI-TEX NAVSTAR MFDS The 10- and 12-inch NavStar multifunction displays from SI-TEX combine radar, sonar, chart plotting and entertainment functions in a compact but rugged enclosure. The new displays are SI-TEX’s first to operate with either touch-screen or knob and button controls. Inside each unit is a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, which allows a four-way split-screen view and…

The night gyrated in bright strobe as lightning shattered the blackness, flashing white cracks into hell. Rain began tentatively as large, heavy drops, but that quickly changed. “Well, at least we can see the lights on the shore!” I yelled. “It’s not a whiteout.” I wished I hadn’t said that to my wife, Mel. Almost immediately, a roaring waterfall engulfed Chez Nous, our 53-foot motorsailer. It seemed to be solid water, with nothing visible anywhere except within the interior of the boat. We couldn’t even see our decks. I couldn’t describe the sound — or the feeling. Our ears started to pop. And then came the train. “It’s a tornado!” Mel yelled. The boat began to lurch, veer and — from what we could feel — spin. The wheel’s spokes…

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 30 feet, 7 inches BEAM: 11 feet, 2 inches DRAFT: 3 feet, 1 inch WEIGHT: 9,600 pounds HULL TYPE: deep-vee PROPULSION: twin gas inboards (original) TANKAGE: 175 gallons fuel, 18 gallons water Life doesn’t stay the same. Boats don’t, either. Dug Stowe has had his Bertram 31 for almost 20 years, and it has made the transition from a “fishing with the guys” boat to a family cruiser that’s a perfect fit for his companion, Kerri, and their 2-yearold daughter. Stowe, who is 48 and lives is Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, bought the iconic deep-vee boat 18 years ago as a fishing platform to replace his center console. “I didn’t have a specific goal in mind when I bought it; I just wanted a stock Bertram 31 that ran well…

Raven Marine began more than 20 years ago as a yacht management company, overseeing pleasure craft in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area. Today, the full-service facility handles yacht maintenance and repair, as well as taking on major projects. “Very extensive refits … that’s what we do,” says John Nassichuk, 62, the yard’s general manager. Areas of expertise include mechanical and electrical systems, diesel and gas engine installation and maintenance, plumbing and sanitation, and ancillary items, from watermakers to outboard engines to dinghy booms. Refits are popular these days, Nassichuk says. “We see people from their 40s on up, people who have a real heart for a particular kind of vessel and want to outfit it as their own.” Price is one reason. “A person can buy a good used boat…

LOA: 40 feet, 4 inches • BEAM: 12 feet, 6 inches • DRAFT: 2 feet, 6 inches • DISPLACEMENT: 17,500 pounds • POWER: twin 370-hp Yanmar 8LV • TANKAGE: 300 gallons fuel, 100 gallons water • BASE PRICE : $860,000 • CONTACT: Reliant Yachts, Newport, Rhode Island, (401) 741-1000. reliantyachts.com The stunning simplicity of Reliant Yachts’ X40 express just might redefine the term “classic” as it applies to boats. “For a yacht to be truly classic, it needs the context of time to establish historical merit,” writes company principal Jim Ewing. “But for any yacht that has achieved classic status, the fundamental principles most certainly were impeccable use of scale and proportion, attention to detail in both styling and performance, and the execution of the build.” Of course — and…

Although you may be reading this in mid-October, the magazine’s November cover date brings back my New England mind-set, with visions of boats hauled and buttoned up for winter. But here at the bottom of the Bay, the last quarter of the year is still boating season. There is great cruising into November, and the peak season for striper fishing is just getting going. If you are still in the water and yearning for a longer season, come on down. If you fish, think about taking part in the December striper action with one of the many guiding outfits in this part of the world. Outboards: Back To The Future As kids, many of us had outboards on our first commands; I still dream of that 13-foot Boston Whaler, although…

Swallowing The Anchor Author Paul Rodgers made his last single-handed voyage after nearly 20 years spent crossing the world’s oceans alone. In Sailing To Purgatory, Rodgers takes us on his journey from Venezuela to Cape Town, South Africa, via the Caribbean islands and St. Helena Island. He describes the storms, seas, wildlife and people he encounters along the way. The story takes an abrupt turn when Rodgers becomes mixed up in one of the largest drug busts in British history. He is arrested and sent to prison after being accused of running a trafficking ring that used small, oceangoing vessels to smuggle drugs into the United Kingdom. Rodgers maintains his innocence. (Olympia Publishers, $11) Tales Of The Sea A collection of 15 tales for the armchair seafarer, Astounding Sea Stories…

Bottom fouling. It’s a problem as old as boats. The Phoenicians and Greeks smeared hulls with pitch mixed with wax or tar and applied it hot. Or they mixed arsenic and sulfur with tar in hot oil and burned it into the hull with an iron — a method the ancients called “ship painting.” “Marine Fouling and Its Prevention,” a 1952 report that Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution prepared for the Navy, sheds light on these and other methods in the history of antifouling coverings and coatings. The Romans used lead sheets fastened with copper nails over a corrosion-preventing layer of paper or cloth. While that process did keep ship worms at bay, seaweed still fouled the bottom; even still, the method remained popular well into the Middle Ages. (Leonardo da…