Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Soundings

In this issue, you’ll learn about this year’s dramatic increase in first-time boat buyers, and the rise in accidents that has occurred as a result of so many newcomers on the water (Focus, page 47). Safety experts say many of these people are making thoughtless mistakes, in large part because they don’t have enough education, be it formal training at a certification class or informal schooling from friends who have boats. Some of the most competent skippers I know learned the ropes from their parents, who taught skills as well as respect for a certain way of doing things, for the nuances of seamanship. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with these boaters, as they seem to value nautical tradition and know how to make a day on the water really…

Kristen Porter fishes commercially for lobster and scallops from his 42-foot Wesmac out of Cutler, Maine. For years now he has had a device on his boat—$3,100 out of his pocket to install it, plus another $60 a month for service—so regulators can track him and make sure he’s operating lawfully in scallop fisheries. “It’s burdensome,” says Porter, who is president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “You have to log in before you leave the harbor. If you forget and remember halfway out, you have to call and try to find somebody to help, or you have to go back and start over.” Now, Porter and other commercial fishermen may be required to get another tracking device, this time for lobster fishing. In early August, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries…

For most boat owners an onboard generator is a necessary evil. Yes it’s great to be able to power a host of electrical accessories and appliances when away from shorepower, but a genset can annoy with noise and vibration. Plus, its internal combustion engine requires maintenance and exhausts potentially dangerous carbon monoxide. House battery banks and inverters are alternatives to a genset, but the energy supply offered by heavy AGM (absorbent glass mat) lead acid deep-cycle batteries is limited and not practical on a boat equipped with power-hungry systems such as air conditioning and a gyroscopic stabilizer. But we are living at the dawn of the age of lithium. The energy to power our boating adventures may well soon be stored in lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries, rather than in…

LOA: 33’6” Beam: 9’6” Fuel: 100 gals. Water: 25 gals. Power: (2) 430-hp Mercury inboards with sterndrives As a professional athlete, Wayne Gretzky was widely known as “The Great One,” probably the most talented human being ever to lace up a pair of skates. Long retired after 20 seasons of play in the National Hockey League, he and his wife, Janet, now enjoy a vacation house on Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho each summer. New to the Gretzky’s dock is a custom-built, 34-foot powerboat that is quite a head-turner. “The couple was looking for a luxurious wooden powerboat capable of entertaining family and friends in comfort and style,” says master craftsman Jim Brown of Coeur Custom, an outfit that’s been crafting sleek wooden boats for nearly 20 years. “We’ve built…

It’s a bluebird afternoon in Newport, Rhode Island, the late-summer sun beating down on the crowded city, where tourists line the streets, crews wash and varnish yachts in the shipyard, and some boaters steal a few hours out of the weekday to escape to the water, everyone trying to soak in the last delicate moments of the season. The air is heavy with humidity and there’s barely a breeze, but Newport Harbor churns in the aftermath of Hurricane Henri, just enough sport to keep it interesting for the fleets of children sailing dinghies around the heavy boat traffic. By all measures, it’s as lovely an August day as one could ask for. Gleaming under the sun is the brightwork on the Hinckley 35 as we motor through the harbor and…

When the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island, was first established, I was a rough-around-the-edges teenager. Raised in Montauk, New York, I had no appreciation for fine sailing vessels or what made them go. Yet I followed my passion for boats to an old yard in Three Mile Harbor where an enigmatic little fin-keeled sloop called Jilt intrigued me. A yard worker mumbled “Herreshoff,” which was an altogether new word to me. I took a photo of Jilt and sent it to the Herreshoff Marine Museum, which had recently opened. Halsey C. Herreshoff replied with a handwritten letter saying that I had an eye for fast boats. Jilt was designed by the inventor of the fin-keel, his grandfather Nathanael G. Herreshoff, in 1899. That letter, and the museum, kindled…

Ernest Hemingway, also known affectionately as “Papa”—a nickname he picked up in Paris, France, in the 1920s—is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century American literature. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning author penned such well-known works as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, which acutely showcases Hemingway’s obsession with big gamefish and the sea. This photo illustrates that passion. It was taken in 1935 after a remarkable day aboard the author’s legendary Wheeler boat, Pilar, while fishing for marlin out of Bimini in the Bahamas. Pictured are Hemingway and his three sons—Jack, Patrick and Gregory. The catch is impressive on its own but is even more remarkable considering the competition anglers like Hemingway…

FAST COMPANY Here’s a quick note on the August issue, having just finished reading the whole doggone thing. I enjoyed so many of the stories, including “When it Blows” (Seamanship). Pat Mundus provides all you need to know about wind, and her advice is relevant for both sea dogs and airplane pilots. I’ve been a flight instructor for 40 years and I’m going to get this piece circulating to my students. Wind is always a subject I raise during a flight review. I also liked the story on the Jersey Speed Skiff (Classics). When I was 14, I ran the rowboat float at Pullins Boatyard in Rumson, New Jersey. I was enamored by the sight and sound of these boats. The owners would tie up, get some gas and go…

TUNA: IT’S WHAT’S FOR LUNCH Albacore, a member of the tuna family, is prized around the world for its tasty flesh, much of which ends up in cans, and ultimately, in salads, sandwiches and other fishy gastronomical creations. Harvesting these pelagic ocean wanderers isn’t just strenuous, it’s also extremely dangerous work. “Battlefish,” a reality series on Netflix, highlights the Pacific Ocean’s northwest albacore fishery and the seasoned fishermen from Oregon and Washington who each year battle high seas, long working hours and injury to bring these fish—and a hefty paycheck—home. Season one encompasses eight episodes, each filmed by videographers who are embedded aboard vessels manned by albacore crews who aggressively compete for their share of this lucrative fishery.…

It’s an odd fact of history that what’s believed to be the first nonstop cruise by a solar-electric boat from Washington state to Alaska—completed this past May and June—became a reality because of another boat built several years ago on New York’s Hudson River. And this has led to some thoughts about millionaires with lakefront property near Seattle. This is how it happened. In spring 2017, the Hudson River Maritime Museum began construction on Solaris, the first solar-powered commercial tour boat certified by the U.S. Coast Guard. Solaris was a Solar Sal 44 from the design headquarters of David Borton, who is based in Troy, New York, as president of Solar Sal Boats. New York-based naval architect Dave Gerr was brought in for design on the Solaris project, and Olympia,…

Drivers in some states can save 10 percent on automobile insurance if they complete a defensive driving course where they learn strategies to avoid accidents and minimize risks on the roadways. Experts say the concept of defensive driving is also needed on the water right now, given new and troubling U.S. Coast Guard data about injuries and accidents. During 2020—a year that saw a 13-year high for boat sales and a dramatic increase in first-time boat buyers hitting the waterways—the number of accidents increased 26.3 percent, to 5,265. The number of nonfatal injuries was up 24.7 percent, to 3,191. And the number of boating fatalities spiked 25.1 percent, to 767. “There is evidence that boating activity increased significantly during the pandemic,” the Coast Guard reported. “With the increased exposure, there…

There can be a lot of egos, yelling, screaming and surly behavior in the sailboat racing world, especially when a boat doesn’t cross the line in first place. But in wooden sailboat racing there’s an appreciation for the yachts that can outshine the race results—a lovely sheerline, rich brightwork or a newly constructed cold-molded boat that captures the spirit of classic sailboats. And then there’s Maine’s Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, the ERR, which Ron Zarella, the owner of the 49-foot racer-cruiser Blackfish, called “the Woodstock of the wooden sailboat racing world.” “He had never been here,” Steve White, president of Brooklin Boat Yard (BBY), says about Zarella’s first time at the ERR. “He came up here and he said, ‘I have never had so much fun.’” Fun is what the ERR…

It’s a busy day on the waterfront in Stonington, Connecticut, as the passenger steamer New Hampshire arrives at the Providence & Stonington Steamship Company in this 19th-century scene painted by John Mecray. Established in 1875 with the consolidation of the Stonington Steamship Company (founded in 1867 by the Stonington Railroad Company) and in operation until 1896, the company offered passenger lines from New York to Providence and Stonington aboard five steamers, which connected to major railroad lines. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, Mecray started his career as an illustrator for books and magazines, until he was invited to crew a 40-foot sailboat on a trip to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1972. Immediately captivated by the sea, Mecray began painting marine scenes on his…

A few decades ago, the once lovely wooden Herreshoff racing yacht Doris, built in 1904, was floating, hogged and peeling, in a secluded cove off a residential street on the lower Connecticut River. Yet despite the decay, the yacht radiated grandeur, as it harkened to a time when craftmanship counted and wind power drove international commerce and the recreational pursuits of those who derived their fortunes from it. Later, the classic beauty sat moldering and abandoned in a New London, Connecticut, shipyard, seemingly destined for destruction by chainsaw. At 78 feet, Doris was the largest wooden sailboat ever built by Nathanael Herreshoff and was significant as the first vessel built to the Universal Rule for Yachts, which determined a boat’s eligibility to race in the America’s Cup from 1914 to…

I had dug through historical records as part of the research process, but reached the point when I needed to go for a ride on a boat with a depthsounder. So, I brought along a portable model the day I boarded a boat run by CocoKite Tours in the Dominican Republic, transforming her into a proper research vessel. We thundered westward, paralleling the North Coast with native guide Francisco Paulino at the wheel of our 28-footer. We drove between breaking reefs about 300 feet apart when Paulino slipped the outboards into neutral. I dipped a pole into the water so the transducer could transmit data to my handheld. Twenty-seven feet. That was deep enough for a Navy frigate to pass through. Paulino throttled up, and into Port Jackson we went.…

The exterior profile of the Baltic 38DP makes one thing clear: This boat was built for the rugged waters from whence it came. Founded in 1973 in Bosund, Finland, Baltic Yachts began with a mission to build a new breed of robust yet handsome sailing vessel that would appeal to both racers and cruisers. Introduced in 1982, this sailboat was arguably the most successful production model in the company’s history. Based on a design by renowned American naval architect Doug Peterson, the Baltic 38DP has a length overall of 38 feet, a waterline length of 31 feet 6 inches, a draft of 7 feet 3 inches, and a displacement of 14,300 pounds, making it heavy, safe and inviting for offshore sailing. The boat was designed to meet many of the…

Onne van der Wal remembers what it was like to navigate through the soup back in the 1970s off the coast of his native South Africa. “We were using a little book by Mary Blewitt about coastal navigation, and it was all about radio direction finders,” Onne recalls. “You’d leave Cape Town, which was a certain radio frequency, and then go up the coast 60 miles to the next station, Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. The next one was Dassen Island. There was a lot of fog there. You tuned in a radio frequency and when it was at its strongest, that was the bearing. You’d triangulate it against another station’s frequency and put it on a chart. Then you’d say to the boat owner, ‘This is where…

LOA: 36’0” Beam: 11’0” Draft: 3’6” Weight: 17,000 lbs. Power: (1) 200-hp John Deere diesel Fuel: 130 gals. Water: 35 gals. Matt Monroe says his boat Hallelujah is often recognized. “One of the more interesting questions we had,” says Monroe, “was the day we were on a mooring at the Goslings, a popular spot for day cruisers. A couple on a boat idled up and asked if the boat was ‘the’ Hallelujah, the one that was once a service boat in Casco Bay. When we said ‘yes,’ they smiled and said, ‘The guys who ran that boat saved our bacon one stormy day!’” Hallelujah, a 36-foot Jarvis Newman hull, was built in 1977 and powered by a 210-hp Caterpillar 3208. Like most of Jarvis Newman’s hulls, Hallelujah was finished by…