cruising outpost #22 spring 2018

200 PAGES OF CRUISING AND SAILING ADVENTURE!

CruisingOutpost.com

Isabella Stefania A Born Sailor Takes Nashville By Storm

A DUMMIES’ GUIDE TO

FRENCH POLYNESIA A SUMMER IN

GALICIA SAILING THROUGH

ICEBERGS JESSIE & LUKE CROSS THE ATLANTIC

HITTING A REEF IN From The Creators Of

Spring 2018

Issue #22

CUBA CRUISING

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In th

there isis issue less tha n

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And we did it O N PURPO SE! Most o th e magazin r boating es h 65% adave over s.

Person Responsible for This Bob Bitchin bob@cruisingoutpost.com

Editor at Large Sue Morgan sue@cruisingoutpost.com

Boat Show Queen Jody “Bitchin” Lipkin jody@cruisingoutpost.com

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This Issue’s Cover: Our cover girl this issue is a long-time sailor who is making it big right now in Nashville with her new album “Live Today” just releasing as you read this. We’ve known her since she was seven years old. You can read her story on pages 96-99 Next Issue Goes On Sale June 3, 2018 Printed in the USA

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Contents

The first novel ever written on a typewriter? Tom Sawyer!

Issue #22 Spring 2018

13

Special Stuff in this Issue A Dummies’ Guide To French Polynesia Bob Bitchin The Adventure Continues, Iceberg Alley Jessie Zevalkink I Screwed Up and Hit a Reef in Cuba The Remote and Barbarous Marquesas Islands Summer In Galicia Night Vision Bill Cook A Sailor Girl Takes Nashville - Isabella Stefania Southport Yacht Club Cruising the Black Sea’s West Coast Paradise in a Coconut Lost at Sea This Place: Bahia Marina St. Pete Cruisers’ Party

13 40 48 55 64 76 96 100 104 140 152 156 162

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Regular Stuff in this Issue Attitudes Bob Bitchin Outpost News Another Way Tania Aebi What’s Out There: Monohull -Dufour 412 What’s Out There: Multihull - Leopard 50 What’s Out There: Power Cruiser - Helmsman 31 Lifestyle Latitudes & Attitudes Bubba Whartz Book Review Capt. James Cash Life Aboard Robin Stout Talk of the Dock Zuzana Prochazka I Found It at the Boat Show Weather Lee Chesneau Tech Tips Captain Martell Bosun’s Bag Mackie White Cruisians

8 22 36 70 72 74 84 114 138 146 148 160 165 170 174 186 197 198

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Periodical Postage paid at Berry Creek, CA and additional mailing offices.

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Attitudes

A backward poet writes inverse.

By Bob Bitchin

So today’s edification shall be on safety at sea. Everyone is for it and no one is against it... except, possibly, me.

Ya see, the people in power always seem to think that they can legislate safety, and the fact that they know nothing about how said safety legislation will affect real people just doesn’t enter into their alleged minds. Case in point: wearing of life jackets or PFDs (personal f loatation devices) while boating. Now how could anyone be against that? Most people would agree this is a good thing, right?

In the past the regulators have tried to make it a law that people on a boat must wear a PFD at all times. Of course, all politicians jump on board that vote-getting train, as they believe no one could possibly be against such a law.

Sometimes I think it is a prerequisite for a politician to be an idiot to be elected, and I am serious!

Well, I am! I mean, sit back for a minute and imagine this scene: Jody and I pull into a nice harbor for the night. We drop our hook, check that we are not in any traffic lanes, and get ready to spend a quiet evening. We make our way to our aft cabin, and as will happen at times, being a warm evening we opt to sleep au natural.

(That means naked.)

Now, when you get two people of the opposite sex sans clothing (that also means naked), they may tend to get a little frisky. (Don’t worry, I won’t get too graphic here, so read on!)

It is at this point a couple harbor police are drifting past our aft cabin, where we lay unadorned (that means naked as well). They, of course, notice right off the bat that we are criminals! After all, we are not wearing our PFDs (yes, that also means naked)! This not being so egregious an act as to require SWAT, they board the boat. Soon we find ourselves handcuffed and on our way to the hoosegow, and we had not planned handcuffs for the evening!

Is this because we were being kinky? No, no I say! Nay, as we all know, the difference between sensual and kinky

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is very simple. It is sensual to use a feather duster, but it’s kinky to use the whole chicken!

But alas! There was no poultry involved! We were NOT wearing our PFDs. People passing laws need to use the brains God gave them. I won’t go into how stupid it is that motorcycle riders can go to jail for not wearing a helmet, and I am not going to get into the seat belt controversy. Yes, it does save lives, but as it turns out, the real reason the law is so popular is that the revenue from these laws finance more law enforcement. God only knows we need that, right?

NOT! The more people who pay a fine for illegal use of a feather duster, or not wearing a PFD, or felonious existing, the more people we can have enforcing those laws! Then we can generate even more $$$$, and isn’t that what politicians think life is all about?

Ahh, but there is a good part to all of this. At this point the law is NOT in effect (except in some local judiciaries), and the real beauty of our lifestyle is, if they do pass such a law, all we have to do is untie a couple lines, go for a little sail, pull in somewhere the law doesn’t exist and drop a hook!

America is the land of the free as long as you have the $$$ to enjoy that freedom. So far, we are pretty well off if we have a boat. It’s not like on the streets where ever y time you look behind you ya see a police car. Not yet, anyway.

There are some great advantages to living on a boat, and amongst them is the ability to change your location if you don’t like where you are. Security used to mean a safe place to live your life which, when you live on a boat, means to be mobile. Mobility - the spice of life!

So the next time you want to break out the old feather duster, feel free! They haven’t outlawed them... YET!)!

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A Dummies’ Guide To French Polynesia The Basic Who, What, Where, Why & When Of The Most Beautiful Cruising Grounds On Earth

By Bob Bitchin

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A Dummies’ Guide To French Polynesia

The Marquesas Islands

sia

ne y l o P h renc

F

The Society Islands

The Tuamotu Archipelago

The Gambier Islands

The Tubuai Islands The Society Islands

Bora Bora

Sous le vent

(Leeward Islands)

Taha’a Huahine Raiatea

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E

very sailor who has ever dreamed has dreamed of sailing or cruising in French Polynesia. The tales of Captain Cook and the Endeavor are what brought most of us out of childhood and into the Moorea “age of sailing.” To sail into the lagoon at Bora Bora, hide in a small anchorage in Huahine, or reprovision in Papeete is all a Tahiti dream, but it is a dream that is attainable and a lot better than most people realize.

French Polynesia consists of five archipelagoes in the south-central Pacific Ocean. There are about 130 islands located between latitudes 7° and 27° S and longitudes 134° and 155° W - a total land area roughly equivalent to that of metropolitan Paris and London combined. However, they cover a section of the ocean five times as large as France.

The archipelagoes of French Polynesia are the Society Islands, Tuamotus, Gambier Islands, Marquesas Islands, and Tubuai Islands. For hundreds of years, sailing to these islands has been known as the “Milk Run,” as it is usually a downwind sail!

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The Island of Tahiti

Papeete, which is the main city on the island of Tahiti.

A Cruising Ground Designed by Disney?

It is French Polynesia’s largest city and is located in the I’ve been sailing these islands for well over 20 years, Society Island group. Over half the population of French and the amazing thing about this huge group is the Polynesian lives in Papeete and it is the only island that diversity of the island types. It’s kinda like a training has direct flights from the mainland. This is where you do ground for cruisers. your final clearance.

If sailing from the Americas you usually arrive first Ever since the days of the tall in the Marquesas Islands. These are ships, the islands have been very all volcanic islands, like Hawaii.

Our first “Share the Sail protective to assure that they don’t Then, as you sail west, you find the Tahiti” in 1999 get sailors “stranded” there. So they Tuamotu island group. This is made have a regulation that, when you up of 78 atolls, with only one lone sail into the country, you must have volcanic island just before you reach either a cash bond or a return ticket the Society Island group. And when to your homeland in order to clear you get to the Society Islands you find in. What we did was to buy one-way beautiful atolls surrounding volcanic tickets to American Samoa online islands. These are known as the as we entered the islands, and then most beautiful islands in the world, cancelled them when we left, paying with Bora Bora, in the Sous le vente the interest only on the tickets.

(Leeward) islands, as the crown jewel.

French Polynesia is a cruiser’s dreamland.

When cruising French Polynesia you can usually do Everywhere you go, with the possible exception of the city your entry at any island, but you will have to proceed to of Papeete, you will find the Polynesian culture is strong.

Papeete to finalize your clearance. You usually have 90 Each island group has its own flavor. days from the day you land on your first island to get to

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Lost Soul anchored in Nuku Hiva

Ua Pou, located just 3 miles south of Nuku Hiva

The Marquesas

On Nuku Hiva you will find it easy to do your initial check-in. Also, you will find Rose Courser’s Keikahanui Inn. Rose, and her husband Frank, sailed to Nuku Hiva over 30 years ago as she was doing her doctoral thesis on the origins of the tattoo, and the Marquesas Islands seem to be the center of where tattoos originated. The Tapa cloths that they have stored there, some for over 100 years, are designs that they tattoo on people of influence on the islands.

The first European visitors arrived July 21, 1595 when Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira stopped at Fatu Hiva and named the islands Los Marquesas after the wife of the Viceroy of Peru. James Cook, likewise, visited the southern

This island group is the farthest from any continent in the world. They are between 400 and 600 miles south of the equator and approximately 1,000 miles northeast of Tahiti. There are two groups. The northern group consists of Eïao, Hatutu, Motu One, and the islands clustered around the large island of Nuku Hiva: Motu Iti, Ua Pou, Motu Oa and Ua Huka. The southern group consists of Fatu Uku, Tahuata, Moho Motane, Terihi, Fatu Hiva and Motu Nao, also known as Thomasset Rock. They are clustered around the main island of Hiva `Oa.

The Tuamotus

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Black pearls from ehe Tuamotus

A typical Tuamotus entrance group in 1774. However, it was the commercial shipping and the whaling ships that brought the epidemics that killed nine out of ten Polynesians. On Nuku Hiva alone there were over 50,000 inhabitants when “discovered.� They currently have less than 3,000 inhabitants due to disease from the early visitors.

The Tuamotus

The second group of islands people usually visit are the Tuamotus. A hundred shades of blue in lagoons surrounded by white-sand atolls with verdant green foliage; these are what sailors have dreamed of for hundreds of years. The Tuamotus are in the center of

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French Polynesia and are composed of 78 atolls with one raised coral atoll, the Makatea, and a large number of coral reefs. The most visited atolls are Rangiroa, Tikehau and Fakarava. Black pearl farming is common in the lagoons and is considered as one of the treasures of the archipelago, so don’t wait until you get to Tahiti to buy pearls!

Navigating is a lot more difficult in the Tuamotus.

These islands can be as much as three miles off their charted positions. The reefs are too low for radar navigation, and entering a lagoon MUST be done at or near high noon so you have good visibility. Also,

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It’s like going back in time 50 years! caution should always be observed when entering these lagoons as the entrance channels often shift, and the depth readings on the charts can be off.

Once inside a lagoon there are coral heads to watch out for, but the clear waters of the lagoons are warm and make a perfect anchorage once you get settled in.

Travel between the islands is fairly safe and a visit to the Tuamotus is what “makes the voyage” for most of the cruisers who visit.

The Society Islands

We saved the best for last - Tahiti and the Society Islands!

Starting with the island of Tahiti and Tahiti-Iti, which sit just eight miles from the island of Moorea, this is the center of the

island group. The island of Tahiti is still “kind of” a paradise, but 50% of the people who live in the islands live in the main city of Papeete. However, it’s easy to access by air from almost anywhere on Earth, and there are lots of fast shuttles between islands. With plenty of shopping for re-provisioning, Tahiti is a good island to visit and to use as a base to visit other islands, like Moorea. Moorea has some of the best preserved historical sites in French Polynesia.

But the real beauties, as far as Jody and I are concerned, are the Sous le vente, or Leeward Islands. This group consists of the western part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. They lie south of the Line Islands (part of Kiribati), east of the Cooks, and north of the Austral Islands

Bora Bora - the most beautiful island in the world!

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One of the over-the-water bungalows in Bora Bora

(also part of French Polynesia). Their area is 395 km with a population of over 33,000.

The islands in the Sous le vente group are Manuae, Motu One atoll or Bellingshausen, Mopelia, Maupiti, Tupai atoll, Bora Bora, Tahaa, and Raiatea (which possesses the largest city and local capital of the Leeward Islands, Uturoa), and the easternmost island of the group, Huahine.

At high tide it is divided in two, Huahine Nui (big Huahine) to the north and Huahine Iti (small Huahine) to the south.

For the past 20+ years Jody and I have been lucky enough to sail the islands of this area. We sailed there on Lost Soul in 1993, and have been back chartering five times. If there is a paradise on Earth, this would be it.

The Anchorage in Huahine

Okay, so this is kinda unfair, teasing you with this look at the best cruising grounds on Earth. Why? Because we will be doing one of our Share the Sail Flotilla Charters (which we started doing in this same area almost 20 years ago!) in the Sous le vente this summer.

So if you’ve dreamt of sailing in paradise, might I suggest you join us? We have 10 great boats from Proteus Charters, thru the folks at Dream Yacht Charters, and over 50 of our readers will be sailing with our staff thru the islands of Raiatea, Taha’a, Huahine, and of course, the island of dreams, Bora Bora. The trip takes place in June/ July, and you can get more info at www.cruisingoutpost. com/sharethesail.

Huahine - the island less traveled

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Cruising Outpost News

Outposters News If It’s Gonna Happen It’s Gonna Happen Out There Issue #22

Evening Edition

Spring 2018

Some days my life is just a tent away from a circus!

Another Lost at Sea Rescue

First it was two women and two dogs, now it’s a man and his cat. The unidentified 54-year-old was a Polish sailor headed to South Africa from the Comoros Islands off the coast of Mozambique when he became lost. He had set sail in May to take a 1,200-mile journey in the boat he made himself, but veered far off course in the Indian Ocean. Apparently, his boat broke down shortly after he left port due to a problem with the mast. He was unable to communicate with anyone on land because his instruments had been destroyed. He was finally spotted by a yacht crew near the French island of Reunion and was rescued by the French Coast Guard. He had been adrift for seven months. The sailor and his cat were able to survive by eating half a packet of Chinese soup each day and fishing, according to the South African news agency ECNA.

The Caribbean is Coming Back!

Every day we are getting reports that the Caribbean is recovering from the devastation that took place during last year’s hurricane season. However, they need cruisers to come back and start sailing there. It is one of the best ways to help build their economy.

Chartering is the biggest business and brings in the most tourism dollars. Our friends at Conch Charters, The Moorings, Dream Yacht Charters and a dozen other charter companies have all announced they are ready for you. You don’t need to delay that trip you’ve been wanting to take any more. They need our help to make a complete comeback, and meanwhile, you’ll get to cruise the islands like they were 20 - 30 years ago!

Road Town, BVI before & after

Nautical Trivia The coxswain is a sailor who has charge of a ship’s crew and is usually responsible for steering.

But why the name coxswain? Why not helmsman, driver or steering dude/dudette? Where did the name coxswain come from?

(Wanna cheat? Answer is on page 34)

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It’s not for everybody, but that’s the beauty of it.

Don’t let life inhibit your adventure potential. Break free from uninspiring daily routines to reconnect with the open-water, where the sweet sound of buzzing lines and the irresistible scent of salty ocean breezes captivate your seafaring soul. With the helm in your hands and the world at your feet, you’re free to play by your own rules and frolic between uncommon coordinates. Come aboard, embrace the exotic, and let Sunsail whisk you away one nautical mile at a time.

Bareboat | Skippered | Flotillas | Sailing Schools Call 800.437.7880 or visit sunsail.com

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Cruising Outpost News

Sail Tahiti with Other Outposters

Share the Sail in French Polynesia has added another boat, so there are a few cabins still available for you to join us, and 50 other Outpost readers, for some fun in the sun. It all starts June 28th in Raiatea in the Sous le vent (Leeward Islands) of the Society Island Group often referred to as “Tahiti.”

We’ve got a seven-day and ten-day option to sail Raiatea, Taha’a, Huahini and Bora Bora. You will enjoy a native dance and luau, and a beach party with the Eric Stone Band live. The cost is as low as $2800 pp for double occupancy in a private cabin with en suite head. We have also arranged for some special air fares to help get you there. Get info or sign up at www.cruisingourpost.com/sharethesail.

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Cruising Outpost News

Excercise? I thought you said “extra fries.”

SeaTech Systems Sold

SeaTech Systems, a retail division of privately held NavCom Digital owned

by Steven Bowden and Pamela House of Galveston, TX, has been sold. The company has been purchased by Richard and Devon Thurtle Anderson of Seattle, WA. SeaTech Systems was started in the early 1990s in order to represent Nautical Technologies of Bangor, Maine that produced the Computerized American Practical Navigator (CAPN) navigation software. The CAPN was the first Microsoft Windows PC based program to integrate digital charts with GPS positioning. It became the official navigation software of the US Navy and Coast Guard as well as a popular system for commercial and recreational mariners.

SeaTech Systems was expanded in the late 1990s to integrate navigation, communication, and weather systems on marine computers. This included new communications technologies including Pactor digital data over HF SSB radios, Iridium and Globalstar satellite phones, as well as long-range WiFi and cellular products. They also pioneered some of the first data systems and marine kits for satellite phones.

The Andersons are natives of the Pacific Northwest and avid boaters that have cruised from Alaska to Mexico aboard their sailboat, Mobert. Richard has an extensive IT background including technology sales for Dell Computer.

Devon is an award-winning attorney who practiced complex commercial litigation up and down the West Coast.

Steven Bowden commented, “Richard and Devon are great representatives of the new generation of tech savvy entrepreneurs.

They have the experience, backgrounds and enthusiasm to make real contributions to the future of marine electronics.”

Richard Anderson said, “Devon and I were former customers of SeaTech Systems when we were outfitting our boat for blue water cruising. We’re very excited about the opportunity to continue their reputation for competitive prices as well as excellent service to the cruising community.” www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Paducah Loves Loopers

If you’re cruising the Great Loop or making plans to, you’ve got a new destination on the Mississippi River - Paducah, KY. The city of Paducah has recently opened their own 340-foot transient boat dock in an effort to welcome boat travelers to the area for a pit stop.

Loopers who spend months traveling the Great Loop need a place to stop frequently. Whether they need to fill up on gas, stretch their legs, or sleep in a bed on land for an evening or two, the UNESCO Creative City of Paducah is ready to provide a break from life on the river. From the dock it’s just a short walk into historic downtown Paducah. Amenities of the transient boat dock include both diesel and marine grade gasoline and free temporary mooring every day between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Reservations for an overnight stay can also be made.

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Cruising Outpost News Ocean Cruising Club Announces Awards

The recipients of these awards are selected from among those nominated

by OCC members. The Club’s premier award, the OCC Barton Cup, named after Humphrey Barton, founder of the OCC, goes to Germany’s Susanne Huber-Curphey, the first woman to navigate the Northwest Passage singlehanded.

The OCC Lifetime Cruising award, a new award for 2017, goes to British sailor David Scott Cowper, for tackling the world’s most difficult sea routes while completing six circumnavigations. His last circumnavigation took place via the Hecla and Fury Straits in which he, accompanied by his son aboard the specially designed aluminium motorboat Polar Bound, became the first to navigate this passage since its discovery in 1822.

This was his third circumnavigation in Polar Bound.

The OCC Seamanship Award, which recognizes acts of bravery or extraordinary seamanship, goes to Lisa Blair for her solo circumnavigation of Antarctica, which included a dismasting. She had sailed three-quarters of the way around the world solo, non-stop and unassisted in support of climate action, when her mast came down in storm conditions. After a four-hour battle in freezing conditions she was able to save her Open 50 yacht Climate Action Now and her life. For additional awards please visit the OCC website www.oceancruisingclub.org.

And the Point is...

People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point.

The glass is refillable.

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Cruising Outpost News Know what rhymes with Friday? Beer!

Leatherbacks Making a Comeback?

Leatherback turtles are the world’s largest sea turtle species (2,000 lbs.) and have been on the Endangered Species List in the U.S. since 1970. However, an arm of NOAA has received a petition from the New Jersey based Blue Water Fishermen’s Assoc. which they found provided “substantial scientific and commercial information” that might warrant moving the Northwest Atlantic Ocean’s leatherback population to the “threatened” rather than “endangered” list. NOAA has about eight months to decide the status of the turtles.

Join Us at the Pacific Sail & Power Boat Show for a Cruisers’ Party April 21st!

For the 20th year we will be joining with Sail America and our sponsors and hosting the Cruisers’ Party and Seminars at the Pacific Sail & Power Boat Show in Richmond, California. The show opens April 19th and runs through the 22nd. This is always a fun event with music, dancing, free pizza and beer (while it lasts!!), and a raffle with the proceeds going to the Educational Tall Ship Foundation and Call of the Sea Foundation.

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Cruising Outpost News

Scouting’s High Adventure

More than 1,400 teenagers from across the United States were able to sail and live aboard sailboats for a full week in the Bahamas during the summer of 2015, thanks to Scouting’s Sea Base program. Bahamas Sea Base is a branch of Florida National High Adventure Sea Base, organized in the early ‘70s in the Florida Keys by Sam Wampler, to give kids an opportunity to learn to sail. Today, Bahamas Sea Base is managed by Steve and Kim Cansler, both USCG captains, married for over 30 years. Native Kansans, Steve and Kim have lived on their 43’ Beneteau in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys for more than 13 years. If your group is interested in participating, keep in mind 2016 and 2017 both sold out, so book early: http://www. bsaseabase.org

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Cruising Outpost News New CEO at West Marine

Doug Robinson has joined West Marine as the new Chief Executive Officer. He brings with him three decades of specialty retailing experience, most recently as President, International Operations and Development with Lowe’s. More importantly though, he is an avid sailor and a lontime West Marine customer. He’s also a supporter and participant in the Leukemia Cup Regatta which West Marine has supported for the last 22 years.

His goal is to help West Marine become one of the best retailers in the country.

It All Makes Sense Now Did you know that DIET stands for “Did I Eat That?”

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Cruising Outpost News There’s a Doctor in the House!

And This is Why We Do It

Sailing a boat calls for quick action, a blending of feeling with the wind and water as well as with the very heart and soul of the boat itself. Sailing teaches alertness and courage, and gives in return a joyousness and peace that but few sports afford.

George Matthew Adams

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It was a Record-Breaking boot

boot Düsseldorf, the world’s largest boat and water sports show, set records this year: 1,923 exhibitors from 68 countries (2017: 1,822) presented yachts, boats and accessories for all water sports activities on 2.3 million square feet of exhibit space.

With 247,000 visitors from 94 nations (2017: 242,000 visitors) in 16 crowded exhibition halls, boot 2018 confirmed its position as the sector’s leading international trade fair. The participation of international visitors increased as well with the majority coming from the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and France. Most of the trade visitors from overseas were from the U.S., China and Australia. There was a generation shift as well, with the visitors to boot being considerably younger. boot managed to successfully combine the features of a classic boat trade fair with the appeal of an up-to-date trend and fun sports event. The new Beach World, a 13-feet-long flat water pool and the standing wave “THE WAVE” proved to be big attractions for young visitors.

photo: Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann

Harken has announced its appointment as U.S. distributor for DrSails, the manufacturer of a revolutionary all-in-one adhesive for emergency sail and boat repair. Strong and flexible, this fast-curing, shock resistant adhesive bonds to almost anything...sailcloth, fabric, fiberglass, composites, and metals. DrSails cures above and (drum roll please...) UNDERWATER - perfect for repairing hulls below the waterline. The two-part adhesive is packaged for easy mixing without measuring. Simply squeeze the packs, cut-and-apply. Or use the multi-use syringe applicators for more precise applications.

DrSails® adhesive is the answer when you’re sailing and need to make a quick repair. The self-mixing tube makes it easy to apply without mess, and the adhesive (in air) achieves 85% of its cure strength in 25 minutes.

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Cruising Outpost News 90 Years and Still Going Strong

For Sale: Piano

Lightly used by elderly school teacher to earn enough $$$ to buy a boat.

Here’s Another Great Bargain It costs $0.00 dollars to be a decent human being.

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Weems & Plath, one of the oldest marine companies in the United States, is proud to announce its 90th anniversary. Over the course of those 90 years, it has always been headquartered in Annapolis. What started modestly in the home of Captain Philip Van Horn Weems and Margaret Thackray Weems on State Circle (only three miles from the business’ current location in Eastport which overlooks Back Creek), has grown into an international company with hundreds of dealers worldwide.

Since 1928, when Captain Weems opened what was then named Weems System of Navigation, Weems & Plath has served the boating and navigation community.

The early days were dedicated to navigation and weather instruments. Always with an eye toward innovation, Weems & Plath has continuously added products to their line while staying true to its roots of traditional navigation. Today, the company offers over 400 products, including a new line dedicated to boating safety.

Over the course of their 90th anniversary year, Weems & Plath will sponsor a trivia contest on their web site, weems-plath.com, with fascinating questions about the rich history of the company and its founder. For example, did you know that Captain Weems is the center of a Time & Navigation display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C.?

Weems & Plath will also launch a photo contest in the spring, which asks customers to submit photos of any past or present Weems &Plath products they own which will be shared on social media for the public to vote on. To find out more, follow Weems & Plath’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/WeemsAndPlath.

Weems & Plath’s President, Peter Trogdon said, “We are very grateful to our customers who have remained loyal and have helped us reach this milestone. I believe that our longevity is due to the fact that our customers know that we love boating and want to create products that will make boating more enjoyable and safe.”

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Cruising Outpost News Update on Conditions in the BVIs

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Go Gill

Gill, the leading global brand for technical sailing clothing, announced that the British parent company has acquired Gill North America Ltd. The acquisition is part of Gill’s ambitious growth strategy. The move is also part of the wider plans designed to strengthen its brand position in the marine apparel market and continue the significant growth seen in 2017.

I acted my age once. It was boring.

According to Waggoner Cruising Guide, the British Virgin Islands are still heaven. The greenery is coming back and much of the damage has been cleaned up. Also, there are plenty of places up and running, with more getting added every day, to make a trip there well worth it. Stores for provisioning are open on Tortola and Virgin Gorda, and the beach bars and restaurants will welcome you with open arms.

If you want to plan an itinerary, some of the places they recommend are as follows: The Bight at Norman Island for snorkeling. The Willy T is still closed but Pirates on the beach is open for lunch and dinner.

Peter Island, where the mooring balls made it through the hurricanes with no problem.

Leverick Bay in Gorda Sound where the bar, restaurant, grocery store and even the spa are open for business.

Anegada for the best lobster dinner and most beautiful beaches in the islands. Most of the resorts have reopened there.

Jost Van Dyke where Foxy’s is back open along with Hendo’s Hideout, the Soggy Dollar Bar, Ivan’s Stress Free Bar and possibly Sidney’s Love and Peace by the time you read this.

The situation is improving day by day so there’s no reason to wait. Get out there and enjoy a big slice of heaven.

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Cruising Outpost News

Nautical Trivia

(Answer to the question on page 22) This term dates back to the 15th century. A “swain” was a boy servant in charge of the “cox,” which was a small boat used to transport the captain to and from his ship.

“Ghost Ships” Wash Up in Japan

It has recently become quite common to find fishing boats filled with corpses and skeletons, which the locals call “ghost ships,” washed up along the shores of Japan. The ghost ships, which are made from wood and are not very seaworthy or supplied with modern navigation equipment, are coming from North Korea. It’s believed the fishermen are military or civilians sent out to fish and not allowed to return until they have a very large catch. Because they are inexperienced, the boats end up capsizing in the choppy waters. Last year more than 40 ghost ships washed up, probably the result of a campaign in North Korea to increase fishing harvests in an effort relieve their food shortage.

Nutrition Lesson of the Day A balanced diet is a beer in each hand.

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Cruising Outpost News ACTIVE PIRACY REPORT from the ICC A Narrative of the Most Recent Attacks (as of press time) January 31, 2018 - Lagos Anchorage, Nigeria: Duty AB on routine rounds onboard an anchored tanker noticed two small boats tied up to the anchor chain and one robber on the forecastle deck. Duty Officer on bridge notified. Alarm raised and fog horn sounded.

Seeing the alerted crew, the robber escaped. Nigerian Navy patrol boat notified. The patrol boat arrived and searched the waters around the tanker. Crew searched the tanker. Nothing reported stolen.

January 31, 2018 - Godau Port, Vietnam: Two robbers armed with knives boarded an anchored bulk carrier. They took hostage the Bosun, threatened and injured him with a knife and then tied him up. The Bosun managed to free himself and informed the Master who then raised the alarm and crew mustered. A search was carried out and ship’s stores were reported missing. Incident reported to Port Authorities who boarded the ship for investigation.

The Bosun was sent ashore for medical treatment.

January 31, 2018 - Puerto La Cruz Anchorage, Venezuela: Seven robbers armed with knives boarded an anchored tanker and took hostage the duty AB on routine rounds. They threatened him with a knife, tied him up to the windlass rail and stole his safety shoes and portable UHF radio. Another crew near the accommodation noticed the robbers and raised the alarm. Crew mustered and a search was carried out and the duty AB was released. The paint store was found broken into and ship’s stores stolen. Attempts to contact the Port Control were futile.

January 30, 2018 - Kutubdia Anchorage, Bangladesh: Five robbers armed with knives boarded an anchored bulk carrier. They threatened the Duty AB, who managed to escape and raise the alarm. Seeing the alerted crew, the robbers escaped with stolen ship’s stores. The incident was reported to Bangladesh Coast Guard who boarded the ship for investigation. Later, the Coast Guard managed to recover the stolen stores and delivered to the ship.

January 23, 2018 - Conakry Port Terminal, Guinea: Crew on routine rounds onboard a berthed container ship noticed two persons attempting to climb onboard by using ship’s line. Alarm raised and crew mustered. Seeing the alerted crew, the intruders aborted and moved away.

January 27, 2018: - Port Au Prince Inner Anchorage, Haiti: Unnoticed robber boarded an anchored product tanker, stole two mooring ropes and a messenger rope and escaped. The theft was noticed during routine rounds. Local Authorities notified.

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Another Way Stories of inspiration and hope are good things, they should be more visible. If we look closely at the real worlds around us, away from screens and speakers, they’re there, quietly plugging away at the positive while the negatives hog the limelight.

There’s a young man in town who has such a story, living in an awesome way a version of the dream that fills the pages of this magazine. Kai is eighteen, graduated from high school last year, got accepted to college, then deferred for a gap year, which many young people have been doing recently. An industry has sprouted up alongside this youthful desire to expand horizons outside of academia. Before slouching off to four years of study, one can fork over lots of money for packaged experiences to enhance pricey higher education.

Not Kai, he is different. He isn’t taking his gap year to have others help him find himself, he knows exactly what he wants, always has. I’d already heard about him years ago when his father stopped by to pick up a copy of my book as a Christmas gift for a son who was wild about sailing. Apparently, already when he was a little kid, he’d built himself a small sailboat out of insulation foam and scrap lumber and sailed it across their pond. His mother later showed me pictures of this adorable and impressive craft, then told me about the passage from my book he’d excerpted for a high school project—the section where my boat and I were engulfed by a wave, the closest we came to curtains, and still pulled through. The ocean called to him relentlessly as he grew up, unswervingly wanting to head out to sea as soon as he could.

“As soon as he could” was the minute he finished high school last spring. Before summer even began—it’s a small town and I’m fly tape for boat-related news—somebody told me he’d bought an old Cal 27 for a thousand dollars and parked it in the family driveway to start working on it, which soon led to hearing from his mother. She and I knew each other peripherally, through other friends, but the first time we ever talked on the phone, it was about rotten plywood core. She’d been helping him feed bow

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light wiring through the foredeck when he voiced concern over substantial mushiness between the fiberglass layers.

She was nervous, could I please come over and check it out, see his boat, tell her everything would be okay?

So, I did. And, was introduced to the concept of a pop top, a sailboat with a whole cabin that lifted up on brackets to provide headroom while at anchor, like Coleman or Volkswagen campers. I thought it was a joke, an inspired modification by someone who liked camping and crack, and had never been away from a dock. But, no, for a hot minute in the seventies, pop top sailboats were a thing.

Before I could express too much dismay over this goofy idea, we looked at the rot, at the rest of the boat, the impulse purchase of a kid who just wanted to get going.

It required oodles of money and hours, from restoring the canvas walls and windows of the pop top, to getting new sails and rebuilding a hunk of rust hiding an obsolete gasoline engine. He’s a handy gearhead, rebuilt his first car, knows how engines work, but even his youthful optimism expressed doubts about getting the beast running. Couldn’t even get parts for it anymore.

His mother went to fetch some water and we hung out in the cockpit overlooking her gardens, talking about the expense and time he’d have to invest. A pop top. I couldn’t get past this flaw to envision more, but didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer. Then, he mentioned he’d also had a thousand dollar offer accepted on a Pearson 27 that seemed to be in better shape with more equipment, like sails, spinnaker pole, anchor and rode. Maybe he should get that one, he thought out loud.

I agreed, without hesitating. Even if it required the same amount of work, he’d be ahead of the game with a traditional molded cabin design. Ixnay on the pop top for offshore sailing. When I suggested he should really consider heading down the intra-coastal to Florida, get to know his ride and make further necessary repairs underway, instead of heading offshore to Bermuda and the Caribbean in November, he listened. The fact that he was able to take advice bode well for everything that

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followed. He was not a stubborn teenager governed by pride and thinking he knew best, he was somebody who wanted to make a dream come true and knew he still had a lot to learn.

This was June. By October, he’d sold the Cal, gotten the Pearson, rebuilt the Atomic, rebedded all the deck fittings, beefed up the rudder stock, caulked, cleaned, repaired woodwork, antifouled, rewired, all on weekends and evenings after working on a construction site with his contractor father. I’d go over and visit, bringing boatrelated supplies, equipment and books for him to borrow, talking and watching and vicariously realizing again what it meant to be an eighteen-year-old with a boat and places to go, people to meet, a huge adventure swollen with opportunity to live, learn and often be wet.

In August, totally on schedule, the boat was hauled to Maine and launched. He still drove home to work during the week, back out to the coast for weekends of more glasswork, engine work, caulking. In midOctober, Kai set sail, right when he said he would. Headed south.

In a matter of days, this determined eighteenyear-old who can’t legally drink or rent a car yet crossed the Gulf of Maine to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to the Cape Cod Canal, to Cuttyhunk, to the Long Island Sound. Solo.

Between fixing his engine, plugging leaks, and staying in close touch with a weather routing family friend, he grabbed every little weather window to get south as fast as possible. Down Long Island Sound, past New York City, outside to the C&D Canal, down the Chesapeake, Intracoastal Waterway, outside to Florida from

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Beaufort. Few sailing dreams include cold winds and water, no dawdling for Kai. Two months later, he was walking on his first Florida beach. Soon after that, he was anchored in the waterway and working on cleaning super yachts to refill the cruising kitty and learning what happens when your dinghy flips in strong winds. A little over three months later, he slipped past all the other Floridian sailors who’ve been waiting years for the right weather window, and crossed the Gulf Stream. Midway, his prop got fouled by a net, just one more problem to solve on the way to the Bahamas. With six months left of gap year, he is now cruising the Abacos where being wet is more bearable than in Maine. He is finally meeting the cruising crowd who help each other out all the time, fish and snorkel for dinner, share meals, anchorages and the stories of how they got there, deciding where to go next.

On a thousand-dollar boat. Living the dream.

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Sailing Across An Ocean...

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The Ultimate Pre-Marital Test Night Shift in the Gulf of St. Lawrence The St. Lawrence River was our highway to the Atlantic Ocean. The mouth of it, in which we’ve worked diligently to meet, has channeled us eastwards through the Gulf of St. Lawrence where ďŹ nally, there is gracious room for us to sail, but it has brought with it many hazards. This sea washes up along the shores of half of the Canadian provinces, surrounding us just beyond their horizon in all directions.

Underneath the surface lies the northern section of the Appalachian Mountains, which extend from central Alabama all the way to Newfoundland.

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By Jessie Zevalkink

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Sailing Across An Ocean... The Ultimate Pre-Marital Test

Abundant in wildlife. Absent of homo sapiens. We are lucky to be sailing past these magical landscapes that so few do. We are, however, alone in a world of unpredictability. Inconsistent winds. Inaccurate forecasts. Perplexing currents. This gulf tests the few who choose to sail through.

I reach my peak of anxiety as the sun sinks.

Another breathtaking setting sun I find little appreciation for. I try to stop and like it, to love it,

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try to marvel in its hot pinks and purples. Instead I notice the steam pouring from my exhales, the instant temperature drop and the jolting shiver that shakes me from my toes up. Night time is coming again.

The moon is nearly bright enough to light the pages on my book. If I concentrate hard I can almost make it through a sentence. A sentence is all I read before looking up to scan the horizon. I feel immediate guilt if I’m not looking ahead. I’ve vowed to myself to remain

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Iceberg Alley

alert during each watch, I do what it takes to keep that vow. This crisp evening brings with it clear skies, grand visibility, and 37 degrees; a pleasant surprise after I’ve finally become confident in the fog. It all feels too Titanic familiar.

A satellite passes overhead. I start to think about space. I stop thinking about space. I understand that maybe there are some things meant to be misunderstood.

I set the thought down with intentions to pick it up later.

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I receive another text message including a photo of an iceberg the size of Bass Pro Shop that’s run aground off the coast of Newfoundland. A kind reminder of what lies ahead. I’m not sure how to respond. Am I supposed to say, “Thank you”?

I hum to stay awake. It comes out by default as “The Little Mermaid.” When I finish humming Disney I upgrade to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On Forever,” bringing me back to Titanic thoughts. I stop humming this song.

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Sailing Across An Ocean... The Ultimate Pre-Marital Test At 3:00 a.m. I meet a painter. The artist takes a brush and walks the horizon with deep blood oranges. She walks back and forth blending it into navy, and then into black. Layers are added again and again warming the seam. On the opposite side of the canvas, the moon tucks beneath the covers.

This morning’s sunrise is the greatest present. I want to unwrap it forever.

St. Pierre & Miquelon Just off the south coast of Newfoundland we spot puffins and the duo makes me hyper and happy. They distract me the short distance between us and the iceberg limit. We await in St. Pierre and Miquelon, two French islands situated off the south coast of Newfoundland that remain under French control. I was not aware we would be stopping off in France until just as few days ago!

An enormous low pressure system is passing over the North Atlantic, and here at the dock we feel the wrath from its outer isobars, Desirée leans over with 40-knot gusts. The list of chores and tasks aboard Desirée grows like bamboo. Every day we trim it down. We eat fresh bread. We drink French wine. We hike the marvelous hills.

We tactfully prepare our passage plan around the Avalon Peninsula and up to St. Johns, NFL. Without speaking of it, our nerves begin to show.

Timing a North Atlantic crossing is a delicate balance of statistics and luck. We are gambling with icebergs and hurricanes. Go too soon and there is too much ice. Go too late and risk a hurricane. The route we have chosen to take is not highly suggested due to these factors; in fact it’s not even listed in several ocean passage textbooks. We sit on the edge, feet dangling one direction and the weight of our torsos heeled back, feeling our way through each obstacle using our best judgement. The reason we are going this route is simple - it’s the shortest distance from A to B - not to be mistaken by the easiest, as its history of crossings teaches us.

The Canadian Ice Service was created after the sinking of the Titanic. Today this service uses airplanes, satellites, and radars to post daily reports tracking the paths of bergs. The chart does not give exact positions of icebergs, and can’t possibly as they are always moving, drifting, melting, breaking apart. Degree by degree, boxes

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Iceberg Alley overlay a chart. Each box contains the number of bergs reported within that area. Boxes along the south coast read 4, 7, 6. The berg count increases up to 97 once you reach the north side of Newfoundland. Iceberg count this year is three times above average.

In our early stages of planning, radar was a conversation we had time and again.

Luke and I opted to sail without radar and agreed it was just another distraction; another drain on battery, another excuse for our eyes not on the horizon. All we can do at this point is promise each other diligent lookouts.

We sail away from St. Pierre after the gale passes three days later, rested and wide eyed.

The Avalon Peninsula 21:00 – We’ve entered the iceberg zone on night watch. We are in the region where seven have been reported.

The sun has set…again…like it always does. I Can’t see anything…again. It’s foggy and windy…again. We turn off our running lights to eliminate the back glow, in hopes of seeing just a few more feet ahead.

There is lightning. It flashes roughly twice a minute, I’ve never seen anything like this. As it flashes you can’t see anything aside from a wall of fog and birds swooping around the mast. This is, without question, the spookiest place I have ever been. Fog, wind, lightning, blackness, circling birds, and the possibility of seven icebergs. We drop all canvas besides a second-reefed main to slow down. My tummy twists sideways communicating its stress. I tremble through the cold fog, staring harder than I have ever stared before. We agree to take shorter shifts tonight. Luke relieves me and I go down below to try and rest.

21:35 – Laying in the port bunk with the lee cloth.

Waves rocking us from the side. I wish I could say it feels like being rocked in a cradle, but it doesn’t. My body is flexed to stay in place. I’m doing better burning calories than I am sleeping.

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22:15 – I smell ice. I think about the fact that I smell ice for another hour, maybe longer, and I don’t say anything. I don’t trust that it is possible. I tell myself that it is not possible. You can’t smell ice. But I do.

It’s exactly like when you open a chest of ice at a gas station and stick your whole head in on a hot summer day. You know the smell. The birds are still circling, their voices echo through the wet air.

12:00 – My eyes are glued to the blackness at midnight shift. We move forward under power at three knots, cautiously. I may as well be asleep because looking ahead is completely useless. We are traveling blind. We are gambling. This is torture. A

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Sailing Across An Ocean... The Ultimate Pre-Marital Test few minutes pass and I think we are really stupid.

Another few minutes pass and I feel like an arctic explorer. I hate this. I love this. This goes on for the next three hours. This is the most painful shift I have had yet.

2:15 - Breathing slowly. The lightning ends. The wind remains at our back. Fog conditions remain the same. I refrain from waking Luke early just so I can have some company. I play some soft music, desperate to find a way to see the joy in this situation.

3:00 – We switch shifts again. Not long now until light. For a moment we sit together in the companionway watching the eastern sky start to change color. My anxiety lifts for a few minutes by having Luke awake and next to me. We stare into the darkness. I give him a detailed report of my watch.

3:15 – I squint my eyes to focus on the horizon.

My eyes freeze in their sockets. I squeeze Luke’s arm; my fingers form a vice-grip with alarming pressure. I extend my opposite arm full length and

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point, “Look…….look.” My seriousness is relayed in my grip, not my soft voice.

We pass a wall of white 1/4 of a mile away, off the port side. It’s an iceberg.

It’s a god damn iceberg.

A huge-god-damniceberg. A chunk of glacier the size of a hotel silently drifts in and out of sight. We stare harder than we’ve ever stared at anything in our lives. We are silent. We stare more.

It disappears into the fog within a minute.

I defrost my frozen sockets and turn to Luke. I am just a little girl from Michigan. This is hard for me to wrap my head around. I feel the exact same way I did when I was 12 years old, in the front row seat at the movies watching “Titanic” for the fi rst time. My eyes round as grapefruits, my arm hair standing on end, all the research, the books, the movies, incomparable to an electrifying, in-person encounter.

We spend the next hour staring into the abyss.

Looking for more. Looking for anything. I am invigorated. I find energy from an unknown place.

Oddly relieved that we have finally seen one, this torturous night watch becomes our greatest.

All the “what ifs” going through our minds: What if we didn’t adjust the course a few degrees to starboard an hour ago? What if Luke hadn’t dropped the sails to slow us down?

What if it was directly in our path?

At what point would we have been able to see it through the fog? What if we’ve passed more and didn’t see them? Why did I question myself in smelling ice? What the hell are we doing out here?

We talk through all the questions that no longer matter. I eventually exhaust myself and have to leave Luke alone for sunrise.

4:00 – I lay down debilitated.

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Iceberg Alley

 Quiet-Smooth operation  Low wind energy production  Marine grade - 5 yr warranty  12-24-48V / 13 lbs  165,000 installed since 1995  Made in the USA

emotions about a piece of ice. I can’t get over it. It took my breath away.

It froze me just as solid as it. It was magnificent. It was petrifying. It put in perspective what I have been willing to risk. I have absolutely no proof. No video. No photo. It was just a minute in time that only Luke and I will remember. These conditions created one of the most epic iceberg sightings I could have ever imagined.

Being able to share something like that together is exactly why we are doing what we are doing.

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By the next shift change, Luke has made the decision to re-route us to the nearest town.

I am pleased knowing he feels the same way I do. In Trepassy, Newfoundland, we will review our radar-less iceberg tactics. I want to get on the phone with the Canadian Ice Service. I want to know more. I want to know everything. I am iceberg obsessed.

Iceberg sighting no. 1 – check.

Six hundred more miles of iceberg alley to go.

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I Screwed Up And

By Ron Moler

Ganymede under sail This would be my sixth trip to Cuba aboard my Northwind 56, Ganymede. We first sailed into Veradero in June of 2013 and I fell in love with Cuba, its people, its old time beauty, the music, the marina, its traditions, and finally, its independence. So I kept sailing back, from my home port of Isla Mujeres, Mexico to the Hemmingway Marina, staying anywhere from two weeks to a month.

The one trip I hadn’t done yet was sailing to the south side of Cuba. Although planned on three separate occasions, mechanical or weather got in the way and we ended up in Havana. Not the worst thing that could happen, sailing to Havana, but I was determined. I wanted to check out Isla Juventad, Cayo Largo, and end up in Cienfuegos. And if all went well, my big plan was to sail to the Cayman Islands and then on to Panama to plan for an eventual trip through the canal and finally, Marina del Rey, my home port.

I pitched the idea of joining me on this adventure to my friends Peter Adee and his wife, Kathy Paddock.

My girlfriend, Margo, was aboard as well as my sailing partner, Rick.

My usual sail plan for getting to Cuba is to leave late in the afternoon and sail all night to arrive in Cabo

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San Antonio late morning. After taking on fuel and water, we were off. The first half of the trip was as expected, northeasterly winds 15 knots, seas moderate, all aboard settling in. But as the night grew darker, the winds started kicking up, the seas became confused, and we were suddenly on a wild ride. Ganymede is a 30-ton, ocean-going, bluewater boat and was handling all the ocean could throw at her. Her crew however, was not doing as well. With waves crashing over the bow, sheets of green water pounding the dodger and bimini, we were getting wet.

Worrying about my friends Peter and Kathy as this was a first for them, I quickly learned they were as tough as the boat. Peter fell easily to sleep while Kathy stayed in the cockpit, huge smile on her face, totally loving the experience. Still, when Margo asked me if we had options other then sailing directly to Cabo San Antonio, I dug out the charts to have a look.

The only option that I could think of was to get to the lee side of the island and to sail into Bahia De Corrientes, a large, sheltered bay. The downside was that we couldn’t legally check in there, but from past experience I knew the Cubans are very forgiving when a boat is seeking shelter.

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Hit A Reef In Cuba Finally, cutting through the darkness we began seeing the light from the most westerly lighthouse in Cuba. I changed course and headed for the bay. We dropped anchor three hours later in a beautiful, idyllic spot. We had the place to ourselves and spent the day swimming, sunning, reading, eating, drinking, and doing everything that cruising is about.

Lovely as it was, we still had to legally check in to Cuba and spent the next day circling around the west end, arriving in Cabo San Antonio early afternoon. As I had been to Cabo San Antonio many times before, we were greeted as old friends and quickly went through the entrance requirements. Visas in hand, I suggested to Peter, Kathy and Margo that they take a taxi to Havana and when the weather settles down a bit, Rick and I will sail the rest of the way.

The next morning, as part of my crew was on the way to Havana, Rick and I got a favorable weather report so we decided to set sail for Havana.

I optimistically figured 20-24 hours for the 160-mile upwind sail. My ace in the hole was having a strong engine, plenty of fuel and lots of experience between Rick and myself.

The first six hours the seas were calm with just enough wind to keep us moving at eight knots. And then, as if someone hit the wind switch, our ride became increasingly wild and uncomfortable. The seas were growing, the skies were darkening and the boat started pounding.

Once again, waves were breaking all the way back to the flag on the backstay.

We were soaked and miserable when suddenly there was a large metallic bang. Crawling out from under the bimini, the problem was readily apparent and in our face. The boom sail-car had slammed into the end of the boom breaking the plastic piece that holds in the track bearings. The sail-car had come off its track, spilling the bearings everywhere. The good news was, WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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the large bowline knot connecting the sail to the car was jammed in the clue of the sail. Although the sail shape was now imperfect, it was holding.

I saw Rick hovering over the anemometer display.

The expression on his face said it all; the wind was now blasting at over 30 knots.

The pounding was getting worse, so I changed my heading to have a better angle on the waves. We’d been hard at it for over 25 hours and still had a distance to go. My tacks into the wind were moving us along, but every time I tacked away from land we’d get into the Gulf Stream and even bigger waves.

Finally, after 30 hours we were 15 miles away from Hemmingway Marina.

I elected to drop the main and motor the rest of the way; tough going as every time we’d motor up the side of a swell the whole boat would vibrate and almost stop. Then, on the other side of the wave it would speed down, almost burying the bow.

Around five o’clock that afternoon we saw the outer sea buoy marking the entrance into Hemmingway.

As the entering procedure is to call the marina before heading down the entrance channel, I’d been trying to raise someone for over an hour with no luck.

Exhausted as we were, our minds started to go to the dark place. “What if the marina is closed because of the storm?” All the cruising books say there is that possibility. And just when the fear was getting real, the friendly voice of Jose, the dock master, came through, welcoming us to enter. What a relief.

We motored south into the channel and made it to the Customs dock. Still, the wind was playing havoc with us.

As I pointed Ganymede’s bow toward the concrete dock the wind blew it harder at it. Leaning on the bow thruster and with full reverse power, I backed her out to circle around and try again. This time I was better positioned, but the wind blew up a fender and the side crunched into the dock. At least we were tied up and stopped.

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I think the Customs and Immigration guys felt sorry Cuba for the first time. The boat was ready, food and for us, as it was the quickest turnaround ever. They drink were on board, and the marina bill was paid. boarded the boat, checked out my papers and sent us on I had promised, almost guaranteed, an easy our way. Waiting for us as we entered finger two of the downwind sail from Marina Hemmingway. The day marina was Jose, the dock master, with a huge smile. started perfectly: great weather, winds in the right “Welcome back Ganymede.” It sure felt good to be safe direction, everything that’s great about sailing. We and in the marina. And believe me, after 32 hours of made it to Caya Lavisa and after a couple of sandy not sleeping, I had one of the best sleeps ever. bumps we were anchored. Caya Lavisa is a popular The next day Rick and island resort reached by I gave the boat a hard-core ferry or private boat. It’s cleaning and inspection. a great spot to just hang Once again Ganymede out and enjoy its beautiful proved what a strong beaches, clear water and machine she is. Other then good, inexpensive buffet the broken sail-car, she had meals. I flew my drone, done a lot better job battling the rest of the crew went the storm then her crew. paddle boarding and Later, we met up with exploring, and a good time Peter, Kathy and Margo had by all. who were having a blast Two days later we set exploring old Havana. sail for Cabo San Antonio, We made a plan to celebrate on Ganymede that night.

90 miles to the west. It was another perfect day to be Margo’s daughter, Sara, who is a medical student in sailing with smooth seas and a nice wind out of the Havana, joined us with her fellow med students and we south. Later that day, however, Rick looked around and had a blast dancing, eating, and drinking. yelled to me, “Ron, what the f$#@ is that reef marker For the Cuban students this was quite the occasion doing on our starboard side?!! as it was the first time they’d been allowed to visit I think I’ve sailed this course many times and yes, a foreign boat. For reasons I’ll never understand the as we were sailing west, the reef marker should be Cuban government, up on our port side. Instead until now, forbid Cubans of thinking about the Ganymede on the rocks from visiting boats in situation clearly, I did the Hemmingway Marina. opposite. Taking control Some argued the logic of the helm, I turned behind the rule was to stop towards the reef marker Cubans from fleeing. Hard thinking I just need to get to believe as most of the outside the marker and Cubans I met were mostly we’ll be fine. This was content to stay in Cuba. not to be. I felt the first Now it was time to bump on Ganymede’s keel. evaluate: keep sailing east My brother was down round the tip of Cuba and below and when we first head to Panama, stay in touched the look on his Marina Hemmingway, face said, “What the hell?” perhaps through the And then, BAM! We hurricane season, sail north to Fort Lauderdale and check hit the reef hard, really hard. My brother went flying, back into the USA, or just head back to Isla Mujeres cupboards opened up, the sound of glass breaking was where Ganymede has been for the last four years. terrifying and then the motor suddenly started losing Finally I made the decision I’d sail her back to power. We were stuck hard!

Mexico. I recruited my brother Bruce, his wife Belva, I was stunned and having a hard time accepting and the 22-year-old daughter of a good friend of mine what just happened, but I knew it was bad. Rick reacted Hunter Treuhaft. They arrived courtesy of Alaska Air, first, quickly checking the bilge; He yelled up, “Were excited by the upcoming adventure and seeing a bit of not taking water!”

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My brother scrambled up the companionway ladder.

It was instantly clear from there gestures and His face said it all. He was in pain yelling, “I think I pointing, we were stuck on a ledge and there was no broke my thumb!” way we could get off moving foreword. They indicated Finally regaining some reality, I launched myself that we needed to turn the boat westward if we had any down the companionway and opened up the engine chance at all to break free. compartment. One of the main cooling hoses had Our first serious attempt at freedom was passing popped off it’s fitting and saltwater was pouring into them a heavy rope, which they attached to their small the turbo. It was amazing that the engine continued to boat. I suspected this was impossible as their boat was run, but just barely. no more then 20 feet with a small gas motor. They gave I grabbed my tools and a spare hose clamp to try it a try, but at 30 tons she didn’t move an inch. and get the hose back on. No luck, the engine was Next, they climbed aboard and all of us working vibrating too much. I yelled up at Rick to shut down the together started developing a plan. Rick, who has lived in engine so I could get the hose on. “No way!” he yelled Mexico for over 30 years, did his best to communicate, back, “It may never start again!” but language-wise it was tough going. They yelled and He might be right I thought, so now what? In the pointed and yelled some more, especially at each other, all meantime the shackles holding the dinghy to the davit in fast Cuban Spanish. I did what I thought they wanted cables had broken me to do, reversing lose and the dinghy the boat and then The crew working on was about ready to foreword, but nothing getting off float away. The good was working and news was, we were with an engine not sinking, the rig running at about 50% was still standing and power and shaking everyone on board badly, progress was remained calm. non-existent.

With the engine Still, the Cubans barely running and stayed engaged and the bow thruster weren’t going to give unable to turn us up. One of them took out of whatever one of my anchors was blocking us, and swam it out, it was time to start burying it behind a thinking about our options. Our first thought was, could reef. We attached one of our big anchor rodes to it and we kedge the boat with our heavy anchor and recently looped that around my big Lewmar electric genoa winch. rebuilt windlass. Rick jumped into the dinghy and took This would have to work pulling the boat sideways, the bow anchor while we fed him chain. Unfortunately, using the mother of all sailboat winches to do it. the angle we needed to turn was too great and the chain The winch strained, the Cubans pulled on the rope, kept binding. Now what? and everyone yelled. More then once they were forced I started looking around. Just where the hell were to let the rope go, allowing it to snap back and hitting we? I could barely make out land in the far distance. I one of them on the leg. He started bleeding, but he guessed we were five miles or so from shore. Looking didn’t hesitate for a second. at my charts, there was nothing within 20 miles that Belva found our big water bottle and started passing either resembled a village or town and I already knew it around. Another try on the winch with the big 77 I was about 31 miles from Cabo San Antonio. The one straining, growling, and finally, some movement. The bit of hope however, was a small Cuban fishing boat anchor came lose. The Cubans were on it immediately, working the reef. resetting in a new spot. The winch pulled and then We waved, and they saw us. They motored over and suddenly quit. As I had feared, the over-heating it turned out they were lobster divers all wearing masks protection device tripped and we were down a winch. and snorkels. They knew we were in trouble and with We brought the rope to the starboard winch, and with a no hesitation they jumped in and swam to our boat. The lot of yelling, it started turning. first thing they did was dive under Ganymede to see Meanwhile, everyone on board was pitching in, what the dumb ass gringo had gotten himself into.

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and grabbing flashlights, winch handles and whatever else needed. Bruce, in serious pain, never missed a beat and Rick was proving to be the reliable guy he is known for. I, besides working the winches and engine, started really seriously thinking about options. We would lose the light in an hour or so, and we were still bumping on the bottom. I’m thinking, do we motor to shore in the dinghy? Set off the EPIRB? Use the satellite phone to call for help, but who?

Still, we continued cranking on the big winch until it also overheated. Again, the Cubans didn’t hesitate and with us manually cranking the winch and all of us straining on the rope, she suddenly started to move. Not much at first, and she was still bumping on the corral bottom. I’m thinking, is it possible, could this nightmare be over?

Again, more yelling as they tried to find the best way through the reef. I looked at the depth gauge which had been stuck at 7.5 feet. Yes, the gauge was showing deeper water: eight feet, nine feet, ten feet. And then we were free. Unbelievable.

The Cuban divers stayed in the water, guiding us into deeper water where we dropped our big bow anchor.

Even though we were off the reef, I knew from the feel of the wheel the steering was damaged. And the poor engine, which never quit, thank you Yanmar, was running very rough. Time to take stock.

Rick grabbed me and said, “These guys just saved your ass and the boat; give them all the money you’ve got on board.” He was definitely right, so I grabbed what I had, Belva and Bruce dug into their pockets and we rewarded these amazing Cuban divers for really an amazing job well done. Now it was all smiles. The Cubans were thrilled I believe, for two reasons. One, the money, but more importantly, they had succeeded in getting the boat off the reef. And even after it was all said and done, one of the divers dove back into the water and swam three beautiful lobsters over to us.

With big smiles they waved good-bye, and I started the process of getting us home.

Finally I was able to shut down the engine to attempt a repair. Once the fog in my brain started to clear, I could easily see that I now had broken motor mounts in addition to the badly leaking cooling hose.

With the spare hose clamp I got the hose connected back on the engine and, to my relief, the engine started and wasn’t leaking. Still, she was not the smoothrunning Yanmar she had once been.

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Belva and Hunter concentrated on cleaning up the broken glass while Rick and Bruce started stowing things for the rest of our journey. And just what would the rest of the trip look like? We had another 150 miles or so to get to Isla Mujeres, on a boat that just spent three hours on a Cuban reef.

I asked myself, if I didn’t check out properly at Cabo San Antonio and just set a course directly for Isla, would there be consequences? Second question was, could the engine running as it was, if we had no wind, be able to keep going for another 20-25 hours? Third question, the steering, was it functional enough to also be able to make the journey and what about the autopilot? And finally, just how much damage had been done to the bottom of the boat?

I decided it was best not to stop, as the boat was moving along, the seas were relatively calm, and we had wind out of the southeast perfect for sailing her home. Still, it was a tough trip. There was lots of vibration from the engine which I assumed was now out of alignment. The alternator on the engine that kept the system charged underway died, and coupled with the oil pressure gauge telling me I now had zero oil pressure, it was, indeed, stressful. And then my own brain worked overtime throughout the entire trip questioning over and over how could I have let something like hitting a reef happen. I was a competent sailor, wasn’t I? So, needless to say, there was not a lot of sleep on board that night. And then, almost as if I needed a final reminder on the challenges of sailboats, the dinghy, which was now being towed, lost her 20 hp Yamaha outboard, plus my favorite ball cap blew off.

Finally, after 23 hours we motored into the El Milagro Marina. I had used the Satellite phone to call ahead, letting the marina know when we’d be arriving. It was incredible! My friends at the marina came out in a panga to greet us carrying cold beers for the entire crew.

Finally getting into the slip, the wonderful Mexican dock guys took over, pushed us all aside and got us tied up.

Eric, the owner of the marina, met us as we jumped off with a bottle of exquisite rum. And if that wasn’t enough, we were treated to an excellent lobster dinner that night.

The next morning I woke up with a terrific hangover.

The night before was a total celebration of having Ganymede back at El Milagro. I think the more tequila I put down the more I apologized to everyone who took part in getting us off the reef: my brother Bruce, his wife WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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Belva, Rick and Hunter. Without them and the Cubans I’d still there, or at least my boat would. But we had gotten off and we had made it back and we were now feeling a state of gratefulness.

The next day I wandered down the dock to see my beautiful, strong boat back where she belonged. What a relief! David, a local mechanic, quickly came down. I started the engine as he directed. He immediately told me to shut it down, he knew what was wrong, but first he checked the oil. Sigh of relief when the oil came up non-invaded by seawater. He quickly gave me his findings: turbo frozen, inter-cooler filled with pieces of filter and salt, three broken engine mounts, all fixable, could have been worse.

I suited up with tanks and dove under, expecting the worst. I wasn’t disappointed. The rudder was now banana shaped and a large portion of it jagged and missing. The keel looked as if a giant great white had taken a bite out of it, but it was the lead keel that saved us; it’s massive shape and size took the impact. She was damaged but repairable, another big relief.

What was to be learned from this experience? First, overconfidence. As I had sailed this part of Cuba before, I thought I knew the best course and where the dangers lay.

Clearly I didn’t. Second, when we first saw the reef marker and realized we were where we shouldn’t have been, a pause was in order. I should have taken a breath, thought about the situation for a moment, and then decided on course of action. I didn’t. I reacted. It’s a valuable lesson, one that I hope I’ll never forget. Also, do not under any circumstances, challenge the weather gods. Wait and relax, There is always a better day to leave.

Finally, to the Cuban divers who’s quick action and resolve got us off that reef, I will always be grateful and hope one day to return to Cuba and thank them properly.

In the end, despite the extensive damage to the boat and the shock that we were all in, we hung together as a crew. No recriminations, no pointing fingers, a sense of humor to the end, we were all a family working together to get us home safe - a life lesson on what is important in the end. And, we SURVIVED!

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The Remote a Marquesas Islands o

The voyage through the Marquesas archipelago and on to Hawai’i was the last leg of our journey across the “Polynesian Triangle” from New Zealand in the southwest to Hawai’i in the north. We had arrived in French Polynesia in June and had spent four marvellous months sailing in the Society Islands and the Tuamotus.

The Marquesas lie about 500 nm northeast of the Tuamotus and, although populated during the same wave of migration through Eastern Polynesia in the thirteenth century, they speak a different language and have a fiercely independent culture. The Marquesan people have long 56 Cruising Outpost

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resented the neglect of the islands by politicians in Tahiti and even floated the idea of separating from French Polynesia and establishing a direct relationship with the government in Paris.

We left the Tuamotus in squally E- ESE winds in the company of two other yachts; our Canadian friends on Lady Carolina were bound for Oa Pou in the northern Marquesas, whereas we and the Italian yacht Cattiva were bound for Fatu Hiva, the most southerly of the Marquesan Islands. It was a tight beat on a starboard tack to maintain our northeast course to Fatu Hiva, and with heavy rain and gusts up to 33 knots it was not a pleasant sail. www.cruisingoutpost.com

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e and Barbarous s of French Polynesia

by Suzy Carmody

After four days we sighted Fatu Hiva and the next morning we dropped anchor in the Bay of Virgins on the west coast of the island. Other cruisers had told us that the Bay of Virgins was one of the prettiest anchorages in French Polynesia and it was truly breathtaking!

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The Remote and Barbarous Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia

by craggy basalt cliffs and surf pounds the black shingle shoreline. Through a narrow gate in the cliff slopes, a green fertile valley is visible. Most anchorages in the Marquesas are generally small and deep, and even in the bays on the leeward sides of the islands, the swell manages to wrap around and get in. A stern anchor is usually needed to keep the bow into the swell, lessening the boat roll and

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reducing the chance of colliding with your neighbours!

The village of Hanavave on Fatu Hiva boasts beautiful gardens with all manner of verdant tropical owers and plants bursting with life.

Bougainvillea and hibiscus provide shade and vibrant colour, and frangipani and tiare, the national ower, add a rich sweet bouquet.

Fruit trees growing wild along the roads and in the forest are drooping with mangoes, grapefruit, bananas and breadfruit in abundance. The bark of the breadfruit tree is used to make paper known as tapa which is painted with local designs and is somewhat of a speciality of Fatu Hiva. In the village there is one small shop with almost empty shelves, but people are friendly and happy to trade tapa or sacks full of fruit for sunglasses, makeup or even whiskey!

A walk up to the waterfall was a must. The route follows the road for about one km, then turns left along

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The Remote and Barbarous Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia

a dirt track and crosses a couple of rivers before branching off to the left again through the jungle. We got a bit lost at this point, but eventually found the right path marked by stone cairns which we enthusiastically added to so no one else would miss the path! The waterfall was about 25 meters high with a moderate flow into a wonderfully cool, dark plunge pool - bliss after the humidity of the jungle.

After a week we departed Fatu Hiva bound for Hiva Oa, the largest island in the southern group. Tahauku Bay is the nearest anchorage to the main town of Atuona. It has limited space and 18 boats were already tucked in there.

Small buoys dotted between the rows of boats mark the position of the bow and stern anchors, but with so many boats in close proximity, it is almost impossible to set anchor without crossing someone else’s lines. Every day dinghies are buzzing about lifting and resetting

anchors, pulling up old chains and active chains and bits of stray rope. Confusion reigns, yet they say there is plenty of room for at least 10 more boats!

It was a 30-minute walk into Atuona, where there were several magazins or general stores and an internet cafe – our first wifi since Makemo in the Tuamotus.

While in Atuona we visited the Espace de Paul Gauguin and were very impressed with the extensive

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collection of paintings. Of course, they were reproductions, but the quality seemed extremely good and the gallery was well lit, well laid out and cool – it was very enjoyable. Afterwards we walked up the hill to the cemetery to see Gauguin’s grave which lies under a Frangipani tree with a sculpture beside the simple headstone.

It was an overnight crossing to Oa Pou, an island in the northern Marquesas just south of

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Nuku Hiva, so it was early in the morning when we arrived. The bay at Hakahau is wide and it is known to be rolly due to the strong swell which wraps around the headland from the east. It seemed a nice peaceful anchorage at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, but the next couple of days were disturbed by pile driving as they were building a new wharf. Nonetheless, we liked the village. There was very good artisanal centre and an amazing restaurant offering a buffet of dishes cooked by the ladies from the village where you could pile your plate high and get internet all for 500CFP ($5) . . . superb.

We were really looking forward to arriving in Nuku Hiva where friends that we hadn’t seen since Tahiti and the Tuamotus were gathering for the crossing to Hawai’i. Taiohae Bay is huge and even with 50-plus boats anchored there when we arrived, there was WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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The Remote and Barbarous Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia

still space for plenty more. The weather for the first few days was overcast with strong bullets of wind, frequent rainstorms and a moderate swell which made the anchorage quite uncomfortable.

However the skies cleared in time for the Fete Patrimoine, a day celebrating Marquesan culture including food, dancing, carving and other handicrafts.

The young men prepared a Marquesan four, a pit filled with hot rocks in which meat and vegetables wrapped in leaves are buried in and left for five-six hours to cook. At midday we feasted on roasted pig, goat and bananas – it was chewy, but tasty.

The culmination of the day was the evening dance performance. It was a dry run of a performance which would be presented by the Nuku Hiva group at the Marqeusan Arts Festival in Hiva Oa in December. An excited audience had gathered at the pae pae and cheered as a hundred dancers entered the grassy arena. Both men and women performed the Pig Dance, the Warrior Dance, the Bird Dance and various other Marquesan favorites.

The men were dressed in fearsome costumes and seemed

to take the principal role in most the dances. The women provided a soothing counterbalance to the fierce intensity of the male dancers. It was quite a spectacle to watch as the sun set behind the mountains and the drums pounded and the voices intoned the repetitive chants.

We left Nuku Hiva for a couple of days to visit Daniel’s Bay, a really picturesque spot at the mouth of the Hakaui Valley. The first order of business was to fill up the water tanks as the water available dockside in Taiohae is not potable. The few taps which do have potable water are a long haul from the dinghy dock, and we needed to fill up some 30 five-gallon jerry cans. The village tap in Hakatea in Daniel’s Bay is located in a wooden shed that

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looked like an abandoned cattle byre. The water is said to be potable but we filtered it just in case.

The highlight of Daniel’s Bay is the walk up the valley to the Vaipo Waterfall, said to be the third highest in the world. The path, known as the “royal road,” was constructed in preEuropean times and follows the river passing by a network of ancient rock walls, platforms and other religious structures.

The valley had a real atmosphere of the spirituality and sacred rituals which were practiced there several centuries ago. The walk up the gorge to the waterfall was spectacular.

Mid-December is the time when the cyclone season shifts from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere and it is when boats leave French Polynesia bound for Hawai’i. We departed the Marquesas from Anaho Bay on the northern side of Nuku Hiva bound for

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Hilo with buddy boats Desire and Libby. Our goal was to make as much easting as possible in the first week before turning NW to beat up to Hawai’i on the northeast trades. For five days we had great sailing in 15- to 20knot easterlies, but after we crossed the equator into the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone) the weather became squally with strong gusty wind and heavy showers.

Once we reached 4o 30’N we had a good sailing angle for a starboard reach directly to Hawai’i.

The weather settled down and we enjoyed a lovely week of fast, comfortable sailing.

When arrived in Radio Bay in Hilo, we had a wonderful welcome from four other boats that had made the crossing ahead of us. On New Year’s Eve we all welcomed New Year and celebrated our safe arrival in Hawai’i.

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A Summer In Galicia, Spain Daria & Alex Blackwell

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On the first of July we packed up Aleria, our Bowman 57, and headed down to Galicia in northwestern Spain for a summer of cruising the rias. We hopped down the west coast of Ireland, where we’ve been for several years now, and were about to set off from Dingle for the crossing of Biscay, when the forecast shifted to little or no wind for the foreseeable future. This is a fairly unusual situation for the west of Ireland, to say the least. We motored to Crookhaven and took a couple of days off to visit the wonderful Mizzen Head Museum in the old Marconi radio station in brilliant sunshine and bright blue skies. This is where the first trans-Atlantic (Europe to America) radio transmissions were achieved.

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A Sum me r I n G a li c i a

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Finally, the forecast brought better news. We were to get a northwesterly breeze of about 15-20 knots filling in from 0600. We made our way out of the moonlit harbour and set off on the 500-mile sail across the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay. Three days later we arrived in Portosin in the Ria de Muros y Noia, dropping anchor at precisely 0600. We even had our first 200+ mile/24-hour day ever. It was glorious.

Sometime during the final 12 hours, when we motor-sailed due to a change of wind direction, our exhaust burst, but we didn’t realize it until after we’d anchored. When we lifted the floorboards and saw the creeping thick layer of greasy soot, our hearts sank. Our adventure was beginning with an ordeal.

Pshaw! Nevertheless, good attitude prevailed. Three days later the bilges were clean, the cushions washed and dried, and the exhaust fixed. We were now really ready for a nice, long, sailing experience.

For the first fortnight we joined a rally of 60 boats from the Irish Cruising Club, sailing in company among the Rias, making four group stops along the way. The marinas were brilliant in accommodating so many Irish yachts arriving at once. Great fun!

Lots of singing, lots of ‘craic’ – good times as only the Irish can do. We also organized an Ocean Cruising Club raft-up where 10 boats and 21 people joined in, with four yachts anchored together hosting the party. Then we spent the next six weeks recuperating while cruising on our own.

We learned that technically, there are six rias in Galicia, but only four are included in the Rias Baixas designation. The rias are estuarine sea inlets, with rivers feeding into them at their heads.

Three of the Rias have islands protecting their waters from the onslaught of the North Atlantic.

These islands are part of a National Park system and permission is required to anchor and go ashore.

The Rias Baixas have seen significant development in the last decade with much invested in the marine infrastructure. A string of marinas have been installed reminiscent of Scotland (but with better weather and lesser currents). It is an idyllic cruising destination and many Celtic and Mediterranean yachties are bringing their boats there for prolonged periods, some staying on permanently. Galician people are Celtic in origin and have their own language (Gallego) which is distinct from Spanish. The food, mainly seafood tapas, is extraordinary. The local white wines, known as albariño, are crisp and refreshing.

Everything is delightfully affordable.

After the cruise in company, we returned to the Northwest corner just inside Cape Finisterre, anchoring in the Ria de Corcubion, a small ria with www.cruisingoutpost.com

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an ancient town flanked by a modern and nicely developed city called Cee. There is no marina in Corcubion, but the anchorage is protected with good holding. The locals were welcoming and there was plenty to do ashore. We walked sections of the ‘reverse Camino,’ which pilgrims walked from Santiago de Compostella to Finisterre to see the ends of the Earth, before working our way south.

The Ria de Muros y Noia was famed in medieval times as the destination for the pilgrims from the British Isles heading to Santiago by the sea route. Noia was the primary port, but has silted in and is no longer accessible except by the shallowest draft vessels. Portosin and Muros are now the main yachting centres. Both have relatively new marinas that have breathed life into the region. The Real Club Nautico de Portosin was a fabulous marina. Their wonderful staff, led

by Carmella, are English speaking and cheerful, helping out with anything a visitor may need. They organized a trip to Santiago via Noia and we were presented with our ready-toframe nautical pilgrim certificate.

At the mouth of the Ria Arousa, the largest ria, is the Illa Salvora. We explored the castle museum overlooking the anchorage, petted wild horses roaming the deserted village, and ogled the stunning granite rock formations en route to the lighthouse. In A Pobra do Caraminal, a town on the north shore with a well-organized marina, we meandered along the parklike shoreline walk and ancient walled estates that remain private to this day. We visited, Xufre a vibrant fishing port on the Illa de Arousa connected to the mainland by a bridge. Niko, the owner of a yacht haulout facility, is a sailor himself and even keeps a loaner car for the use of his visitors.

The Ria de Aldan, a small inlet off the Ria de Arousa, proved really rewarding. It was full of mussel rafts (Galicia is one of the world’s largest producers of mussels) but no marina. The anchorage has good holding, and we met a couple from the Balearics who spend every summer at anchor there to escape the crowds in the Med. They told us to walk up the hills to O Hio where we saw the most spectacular carved crucifix, or cruceiro, thousands of which mark the camino routes to Santiago. The views

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over the length of the ria and the village of Aldan, with its beach bar and fine restaurants, were amazing. The water in Aldan is the warmest of the Rias, which are otherwise too cold to swim in.

The Ria de Pontevedra, and the Illas de Ons at its mouth, were our next stopover. These islands have the last remaining permanent resident population. We picked up a mooring in deep water at the main village. The restaurants became very crowded when the ferries arrived. We didn’t stay long, instead moving on to Combarro, a special village with a good marina. We stumbled into an area where the shops and restaurants were carved into the rock walls, and numerous granaries known as horreos, lined the shore. It was a bit touristy but great fun.

The last of the rias we explored was the Ria de Vigo, which itself offers weeks’ worth of cruising. The Illas de Cies are stunning topographically with the best beaches and most breathtaking vistas. They also get more than a million visitors every year from one ferry company alone. Most come for the remarkable fine white sand beaches. We discovered that the farther from the beach we wandered, the fewer people we encountered; off season, when we returned for a brief visit, we had the beaches all to ourselves, like a private retreat.

Inside the ria we found a beautiful anchorage off a long stretch of sand protected by hills called Ensenada de Barra. We quickly discovered why it was so popular. It has a view of the Cies islands and is the most famous nudist beach in Spain.

We made a point of visiting the many marinas in the Ria de Vigo. The marina in Cangas was small and friendly, right on the harbour front with a great fresh market nearby. The marina in Moaña was larger and welcoming to visitors and again, right in the town. A British couple, who lived on their boat there for years before buying a flat to protect their EU residence after Brexit, stopped by for a chat. The marinas in Bouzas and Punta Lagoa, excellent for winter storage or haulout, are large facilities but far away from everything. Aleria is overwintering in Punta Lagoa under the watchful eye www.cruisingoutpost.com

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of our friend Alberto Lagos, of the legendary Astilleros the fort were stunning as were the views from the Virgin of Lagos wooden boat building yard in Vigo. While there he the Rocks statue high up on a mountaintop on the outskirts is ticking some of the jobs off our to-do list. of the town.

Across the ria on the southern shore is the city of Vigo While there, our friend Alberto took us by car to his with its industrial waterfront. Don’t be fooled. The tiny favorite place in Galicia. Not far from Baiona, in the Real Club Nautico de Vigo was right in the heart of the Santa Tecla Mountains, the ruins of an ancient Celtic city old city and had charming ambiance. We stayed for a have been unearthed. Thousands are believed to have week exploring the winding lived there in round stone old cobblestone streets, structures with thatched interesting architecture, roofs and magnificent views markets, fine restaurants, over the Río Miño and into parks and churches.

Portugal. We walked among The most interesting the ruins in awe and delight. destination on this coast was In our two months in the city of Baiona (Bayona Galicia, we felt welcome in Spanish). It was the home despite not speaking a word port of the Pinta that sailed of Galician or more than with Columbus on his first ten in Spanish. We had the trip to the New World; there good fortune to return in is a replica of the Pinta that October to sail for another is worth visiting. There are two weeks, which is the two marinas in Baiona. One advantage of keeping the To get to Galicia from the US: Head east is the Puerto Deportivo, a boat in the water. The to the Azores and then onwards a bit more city-run marina with very winters are wet, but sailing basic facilities. The other is possible year round. We until you reach the northwestern corner of is the Monte Real Club de fell in love with Galicia. We the Iberian Peninsula – shouldn’t take more Yates de Bayona. The latter can’t wait to return. than three or four weeks.

Alternatively, you is situated on the grounds ~~~~~~~~~~~ of an ancient fort that was Daria and Alex can, of course, also fly there and charter a acquired by the state and Blackwell are co-authors boat. Either way, Galicia is well worth the now boasts an upscale of Happy Hooking - The visit. Perhaps we’ll see you there!

Parador Hotel.

Art of Anchoring, Cruising The clubhouse of the the Wild Atlantic Way (of MRCYB was magnificent Ireland) and Onyx the and the facilities were first class. It used to be off limits Cruising Kitty. They serve as the Port Officers for the to non-members but now welcomes visiting yachts to its West of Ireland for the OCC and the Ireland Cruising marina. It was right in the center of the city with easy Station for SSCA, in which they are Commodores. You access to everything. Restaurants abound, concerts take can read more on their blog aleriasadventures.blogspot. place in open air, and bicycle paths lead all around the bay ie and website www.coastalboating.net. For more on to the beaches at the other end. The views from the walls of their writing, check out www.whiteseahorse.ie. www.cruisingoutpost.com

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What’s Out There?

The Dufour 412 started out in 2012 as the 410.

Since then it has evolved into what many consider one of the best cruising designs available for the cruising sailor who is looking for both speed and comfort.

In the six years they have been improving this design they have developed a boat that is fast, easy to handle, sails well in light winds, and meets the requirements for those who plan on spending plenty of cruising time aboard.

The running rigging has been set up for ease of handling with all lines leading to the cockpit for safety. The cockpit itself has been designed to allow

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Cruising Monohull

plenty of comfort while keeping all of the controls easy to access.

Below deck you will find a comfortable and spacious interior. The designers have managed to give cruisers plenty of storage while still providing a feeling of openness. The large “L”-shaped galley gives the illusion of a much larger vessel. Looking around the main saloon you can see all the small touches that have made Dufour one of the better known cruising vessels.

Dufour Yachts have been a staple for the cruising lifestyle for many years, and the new 412 is a design that any serious sailor should consider for world cruising.

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Dufour 412

Get all the facts: http://www.dufour-yachts.com/en/ Dufour 412 LOA 41’ 10” LWL 36’ 6” 5’ 10” / 6’ 8” Draft (shoal/deep) Beam 13’ 9” Displacement 20,326 lbs.

Power 40 hp diesel 52.83 USG Fuel Fresh Water 100.32 USG www.cruisingoutpost.com

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What’s Out There?

The new Leopard 50 is a cruising catamaran with quite a few new innovations and enhancements, both to the exterior and interior. The new exterior and interior designs are the next generation of Leopard Catamarans’ style and functionality.

This cruising design offers the familiar continuous hardtop, along with the option to choose a flybridge, which is called the Leopard 50L This layout is ideal for anyone looking for more outdoor living space.

Most of the new design work has been done ‘under the bonnet’ with advances made in the construction and

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Cruising Catamaran

geometry of the new 50. The use of carbon infused ring frames in the most critical areas is now successfully being applied in this Leopard to offer the best possible mix between comfort, space and performance. Cruisers who equally value all three of these qualities will not be disappointed.

This new 50 was designed to replace the venerable Leopard 48, a mainstay of cruising cats. If you’ve been considering a cruising cat in the 50-foot range, this is one you should look into. For more information you can go to leopardcatamarans.com.

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Leopard 50 Cruising Cat

Get all the facts:

www.leopardcatamarans.com

Leopard 50 LOA 50’ 6” LWL 48’ 11” Draft (Board Up/Down) 5’ 3” Beam 26.5’ Power two 57 hp Fuel 243 gal Fresh Water 185 gal Displacement 41,888 lbs Max speed under power 13 kts www.cruisingoutpost.com

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What’s Out There?

The Helmsman 31 Sedan is a modernized and redesigned version of the venerable Camano 31.

Helmsman Trawlers has retained the best features of the Camano while changing others for the better.

Some of the things that haven’t changed include the unique Bob Warman hull which performs well through a wide range of cruising speeds up to 15 knots, the salty look and sturdy, long-lasting construction methods, and the ease of handling in close quarters. As before, the bridgedeck and flybridge offer three pedestal seats and the boat has a real engine room with excellent engine access.

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Power Cruiser

In this new version Helmsman replaced the V-berth with a luxurious private stateroom featuring a pedestal berth and plenty of storage.

They also added a separate shower compartment and increased salon headroom, moved the galley up to the salon level, increased refrigerator/freezer size and added much more galley storage.

The greatly upgraded interior design and generous use of real teak and teak veneers makes this a comfortable and homey boat to go gunkholing or long-distance cruising. For much more information visit helmsmantrawlers.com.

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Helmsman 31 Sedan

Get all the facts: www.helmsmantrawlers.com Helmsman 31 Sedan LOA 31’ Draft 3’ Beam 10’ 6” Power Hyundai 270 or Volvo-Penta D4 Fuel 150 USG Fresh Water 100 USG Waste water Tankage 30 USG Weight 12,000 lbs www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Embracing Night Vision

By Bill Cook

We Americans love our toys. That love starts at a tender age, but as we mature it often grows stronger, more costly, and sometimes for no good reason. As a career optics geek, I frequently visit various binocular forums which seem to overflow with comments from observers who want to compare totally unrelated instruments for equally unrelated ways. As often as not they ask questions, the answers to which they don’t have the experience to fully comprehend.

One point forever eluding this crowd is that if each “improvement” to come along in the last 65 years offered a verifiable one quarter percent advantage, today’s hand-held binoculars would weigh as much as a postage stamp, would offer a jitterfree 2,000 “power” image, could focus on the end of your nose, and would allow the observer to see events three days before they occur. It would seem that sometimes our need for one-upmanship can overshadow rational thinking.

Enter the Boater’s World The boater’s world is rich with gadgets that weren’t even available to consumers a generation ago: electronic compasses, GPS, image stabilized binoculars, and night-vision gear. And, for those spending much time on the big water, some of these devices can push the desire to own them from the realm of one-upmanship to that of safety and peace of mind—from a cool gadget to talk about to a life- or hull-saving device worth its weight in gold.

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Night Vision

Generation 1

Generation 2

Generation 3

Humble Beginnings Although the concept of image-intensified “night-vision” instruments can be traced to 1895, they didn’t become a reality until 1929. At that time, experimentation accelerated and just 10 years later such devices were being used by the German Army in the early days of WWII. Even so, with its dim, grainy, monochromatic image, night-vision gear didn’t come into popular use until the 1970s, and then mainly as tools for military use.

Today, these instruments abound in various sizes, resolutions, light intensifying capabilities, and life expectancies having prices to match. Do you have $200 to

spend? The market has a model for you. Do you have $8,000 (or more) to spend? The same market has an instrument for you. But...

DO You Need One? It should be understood that the image in the best night-vision gear—regardless of aperture or “generation” of components— will not match the view through even a midquality binocular used during the day.

The image is

monochromatic and grainy; just how grainy depends on how much you’re willing to spend. Sometimes you may even see a few tiny “dead” intensifier (photocathode) cells scattered about in the image.

Even so, it should be remembered that while NO night-vision device

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Embracing Night Vision

will allow anyone to see in total darkness, the presence of a few stars, a tiny sliver of moon, or a couple of outdoor security lights on the horizon might be enough to see the magic.

Showing Off When I was trying to illustrate the advantage of night-vision gear to my family, a winter storm provided the perfect opportunity. The only lights around our house were the headlamps from a powerline repair truck and a small f lashlight at the top of a power pole.

I had one of my sons walk to the end of a 35-foot hallway and close all the doors at that end of the hall.

The shades on his window were open but the headlamps were 150 feet away and struck the window at a 45-degree angle.

With the door closed, the only light entering the hallway was coming under the door with most of it being blocked by fibers in the carpet.

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My wife, eldest son, and I were at the other end of the hallway, yet we could see the patterns of our younger son’s shirt and could count the buttons. And when he tried to be silly, we could easily see changes in his facial expressions at 35 feet in a totally darkened house.

Pay Attention Some people shun the notion of the various “generations” of the product.

Although not caring much about the changes going on in product development, one very important aspect indicated by its generation is what the term means in terms of its longevity.

The heart of any night-vision device is its image intensifier. They have a limited useful life which is documented as an MTBF (Mean Time Cruising Outpost 79

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Embracing Night Vision

Between Failure) rating. This is important to know because when the intensifier reaches its half-life, its gain and resolution have dropped to the point of “failing.” So, what are the specs for that part of the product?

Gen 1: 1,000 hours of operation Gen 2: 2,000 to 2,500 hours of operation Gen 3: 10,000 to 15,000 hours Gen 4: sold to consumers

(no longer recognized as a 4th generation by the US Army)

It should be plain that when the device is not in use, it should be turned off! In addition, the figures above are from America’s most notable source ...

Wikipedia. Although the data relates fairly well to other sources —“YOUR mileage may vary!”

The Rubber Meets the Road Probably the most important thing to advise consumers about is that before spending your money you should invest a good bit of time reading about your options, as some instruments that look and feel exactly alike on the outside 80 Cruising Outpost

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sport a 100% price difference, depending on the generation and resolution of the intensifier, and have a plethora of modifications on the inside.

For example: do you want a Gen 3 CGT, ST, MS, HPT, AG, AGM, HS, or ... M-O-U-S-E. Despite questions asked of me concerning “recommended” binoculars I steer away from as fast as possible; people have different needs, can accommodate different aberrations, and the market stays in flux. With nightvision gear, all those variables are many times more complex. www.nightvisionoptics.com/ index.html www.nightvision4less.com/ www.atncorp.com/nightvision www.opticsplanet.com/nightvision3rd.html Reading found on some of the websites above will help you with a selection, but probably one of your more important considerations will involve the size of the instrument and its means of carry.

I believe those with the agility to afford to live the “cruising lifestyle” shouldn’t settle for less than a generation 3 device. Although, for whatever reason, www.cruisingoutpost.com

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one might opt for a head mounted device so as to keep his or her hands free (cruising the Amazon in the rainy season or sailing amid the Minerva reefs might accentuate that need), most would find the convenience of a small unit such as the AN/PVS 14 more than adequate.

What’s on the Horizon My time in the optics shop at Joint Base Lewis—McChord was largely spent in reconditioning hundreds of night vision devices.

However, it occasionally entailed testing and restoring thermal instruments as well. In doing so, I saw the next generation of consumer toys.

Being the consummate optics geek, when I had time I did a little testing of my own.

Having been in the field since water was in the experimental stages I am not easily impressed.

However, to say I was very impressed with some of these thermal instruments would be a dramatic understatement.

I asked a friend to place his hand on a large wooden support beam for 15 seconds. Five minutes after he removed his hand, I was not only able to see exactly where his hand had been, but the resolution was crisp enough to see tiny fissures in the beam which were cooler than the places where his hand had actually made contact with the wood.

Don’t hold your breath, but it’s coming!

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40 | 43PC | 45 | 50L - 50P | 51PC | 58

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SAIL and power 40-58 feet See the review of the

New Leopard 50 (Page 72-73)

www.leopardcatamarans.com | info@leopardcatamarans.com

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Lifestyle A Look at Why We Do What we Do

Ever wondered why people love the boating lifestyle? Well, here in the Lifestyle section folks from all over the world give an insight into what it’s really like out there. If you have a photo you think tells a good tale, why not send it to us? We prefer you send a digital pic, in as high resolution as you can. Tell us who took the pic and where it was taken.

We will probaby throw it into our “digital pile” and pull it out someday. We won’t send you any money, but you will be famous worldwide! Email to: Lifestyle@Cruisingoutpost.com.

By George Johnson of Jessica Johnson, New York Harbor aboard Makin Memories

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The perfect crew in Brazil

By Glenn Smedstad of daughter Siri Elisabeth Smedstad, taken in the Oslo Fjord, Norway

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By Bill Hughes, Syvros, on the island of Lefkas, Greece

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By Jason S

By Joseph Smith, on Oologah Lake, OK, teaching his daughter, Isadora, to sail

By George Howard, S/V K’Plaah anchored in Lundstrom Cove on Lake Roosevelt, WA

Bermuda diving - Captain Bill heads out to sea in search of plunder

By Bob Feld

By Carl Schuetze of Cynthia on the bow of Neshuma, cruising the channels around Bocas del Toro www.cruisingoutpost.com

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By Brian Duckett, Berkeley Marina, San Francisco Bay

By John, Flamenco Beach, Isla Culebra, SVI

By Brian Davidson

By Deena Mitchell passing through Angels Gate

By Debbie Lhotka of Gill and granddaughter out for a Saturday sail

By Doug Stotts of Lanikai, a Hunter 44DS at Two Harbors, Catalina Island

By Ed Collis of a foggy morning in Toronto

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2/4/18 11:06 AM

By Danny, San Francisco

By Danel Bowman of Jake and Sydney, Trellis Bay

By Kevin & Barbara, somewhere in the Caribe

By Brent & Janet Schulze, Catalina Island

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By Deon Brugmann at Eastwood Lake, Dayton, Ohio

By Charles of his boat at anchor, with dinghy deployed, on the Magothy River

By Chris & Heather Hunter on board the Aloha 34, Genie

By Captain Joe, cruising in Canada - the crew not only had to endure the harsh environment, but also the attack of Big Bird!

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2/4/18 11:09 AM

Bobbie Vurro aboard the Edna Mae, Key West, Fl

By Rob, Smith Mountain Lake, VA

By Rose Corser, Keikahanui Inn, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas www.cruisingoutpost.com

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By Alexander, under the oaks in Madisonville, Louisiana on the bank of the Tchefuncte River

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By Frank Petty of Meg relaxing on the beach at Grand Case

By Jessica, crewing in Maine

By Terri Potts-Chattaway of fun in the bay

By J. C. Welch

By Cindy Fletcher Holden

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2/3/18 6:03 PM

By Ben Muri, taken along the ICW, New Smrna Beach, FL

By Cliff or Giselle with her fresh fish, Sea of Cortez

By Amy Norton, first bare boat charter

By Garry of S/V Sobraon at Koh Lanta, Thailand

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Cruising Outpost 93 2/3/18 6:05 PM

By Heather Shine, selfie of her and her dog sailing in Puget Sound

By Jeff, Marie & Abby aboard Plau, Caribbean

By Dave, Deep Bay, BC

By Jeffrey Kolod of wife Deb, enjoying the morning sail leaving their Fort Jefferson anchorage

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2/3/18 6:05 PM

By Jamie Alyssa Brown, Vis, Croatia

By Ian Davies of an Anageda sunset

By Jim Guthermsen, St. Barts

By Jasminen Snodgrass of Smokey Joe

By David Horton www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Isabella

This Month’s Cover:

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Stefania

Story & Photos by Molly Porter , Diana & Wolf , Cover Photo by Marty Wayne

A Sailor Girl Takes Nashville By Storm Isabella Stefania has grown up on the outskirts of the “Windy City,” Chicago, Illinois. She is a sailor as well as a country girl at heart. She got a taste for adventure from her parents who are avid sailors. Sailing, riding ATVs, SCUBA diving the beautiful green waters of the Caribbean or watching a beautiful sunset, the one constant is her music.

We met Isabella when she was about seven years old, when she came to the Chicago Boat Show with her parents. It seems that “Dad” and Bob Bitchin (our ‘steamed Publisher!) had a lot in common, both riding Harleys for a few decades.

Isabella’s sound, an original blend she’s dubbed island-country, not only conveys her music style but exemplifies the natural beauty and easy going spirit that is Isabella. Though

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Isabella Stefania

she’s just getting started, her rapidly growing fan base indicates great promise for the future. Her original song, co-written and produce by Doug Kahan, “Love’s Not Like That” is receiving great reviews and leaving her fans begging for more.

Isabella’s love for performance began as a toddler. As a dancer, she felt at home on stage and also experienced the joy and excitement of pleasing her audience. Isabella worked diligently and became very accomplished as a dancer and later as a volleyball player. Sadly, an injury all but ended her days of dancing and volleyball, but her love of music was there to fill the void.

Isabella focused her attention on learning guitar, writing and improving her vocals. Her hard work paid off when a family friend referred her to Bernard Porter, Founder and President of PCG Universal in Nashville, Tennessee. Porter invited her to attend PCG’s annual summer boot camp so she and her biggest fans, her parents, made the trip to Nashville. Porter witnessed

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A Sailor Girl Takes Nashville By Storm

Isabella’s talent fi rsthand and was eager to begin molding this incredible piece of clay. Isabella was invited to attend the elite development program at PCG as an emerging artist, and so began the process of uncovering her underlying potential.

“She’s exactly what we look for in an artist, the whole package, truly talented. Her sound is really refreshing and new. She’s got a great voice, strong writing potential, a hard worker and she’s beautiful inside and out. Isabella is a pleasure to work with and I know she’s got what it takes to achieve great success in this industry,” comments Porter.

Isabella began working with Porter and his team of coaches and providers in 2016 and her progress has been remarkable. Having earned the privilege, she recorded her first single, as well as her first music video, directed by award-winning film directors Michael Stryker and Josh Stever, for “Love’s Not Like That.” She continues to develop her skills as a singer/songwriter with monthly trips to Nashville and performing every chance she gets.

No one knows what the future holds, but one thing is certain, Isabella’s love and skill for making music will continue growing. With that, her desire for more adventures and the ability to help make the world a better place will be fulfilled.

As she likes to say, “Life is not meant to be lived in one spot. Ships in the harbor are safe, but that isn’t what ships are made for.”

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With her undeniable talent, strong work ethic, natural beauty, unwavering passion and a fresh, new sound all her own, Isabella Stefania is sailing for uncharted territory…wind in her hair, sun on her face, songs dancing in her head like stars on the water.

Isabella would like her music to inf luence all ages, whether it’s a feel-good sing-along tune or one that speaks to the heart of her beliefs. Her devotion is to being authentic and tr ue to herself and being a positive role model for young women.

Whether she’s deep beneath the waters of the Caribbean or riding cross-country on a Harley, one thing is for certain; there’ll be a song taking shape in her head and we’ll soon be singing along to another easy-going country classic.

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The Nascent Southport Yacht Located at the intersection of the ICW and the Cape Fear River where the currents can be as strong as the docktails, Southport, NC is a quaint, seaside town with art galleries, shops, pubs, restaurants and all the other sorts of things you’d expect from such a Norman Rockwellian tourist destination. It’s where “Safe Haven” and “Under the Dome” were filmed (to name a few), and it was named Coastal Living’s 2015 Happiest Seaside Town. It’s host to the North Carolina 4th of July Festival, which brings some 50,000 people to town.

With all that water stuff in its favor, what Southport did not have was a yacht club that focused on boaters getting off the docks and on the water.

Sure, there were other boating organizations, but in recent years they’d become more social than boating-oriented. That’s all fine. But Eric Hoffman, Sam Johnston and Jeff Fisher — longtime Southport pals and boaters — wanted more. They’d spent many hours on B dock of their marina imagining a yacht club that promotes all aspects of yachting and provides social, educational and boating activities.

They finally put a foundation under their dream.

Now three years old, the Southport Yacht Club has enhanced the boating community in the area and brought together like-minded boaters and boat-lovers.

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Lessons Learned in Starting a Yacht Club Eric was the founding Commodore and this year he handed the reins to Sam. Jeff has moved out of the area but is still a member.

The club currently has four volunteer flag officers that oversee various functions—a Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore and Secretary/ Treasurer. The Board of Directors includes the flag officers; the Fleet Captain who’s appointed by the Commodore; the immediate Past Commodore, and two board members at large. All eight board members have voting privileges. In addition, volunteer committee chairs attend the board meetings and offer their proverbial two cents on issues, but they don’t vote. They chair the communications, cruising, education, fleet, membership and social committees.

The club has three clear and oft-articulated missions: to promote a Corinthian spirit whereby members not only participate in club activities, they help plan and execute them, too; to get people off the docks and on the water; and to promote safe boating.

The club is all-volunteer, so the busy club calendar requires lots of coordination.

Eric and Sam have learned a few things about starting a club. For instance, it’s important to identify those who believe in your mission. There’s a lot

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Club’s Cruising Agenda

By Cheryl L. Serra, additional photos by Sandy Gibson of work that needs to come together to start a club and keep it financially sustainable. You need likeminded individuals to help shoulder these tasks.

It’s also important to understand what you want the club to be and to ensure that all bylaws, events, communications, etc., reflect the mission and vision of the club.

They also say you must encourage participation in club events. With regard to cruising, for instance, having cruises that allow people to enhance their skills and gain confidence during cruises of varying length and difficulty allows members to share their expertise. The result? Everyone learns.

How Cruising at the Southport Yacht Club has Evolved The club’s cruising program has evolved since Mike Gibson took over as Cruise Committee chair over a year ago. Under his guidance, there is an array of cruises—the upcoming cruise to Charleston, SC will require more than 20 hours on the ocean by sail, while one planned in late summer is to Bald Head Island, which can be seen from the marina where most members keep their boats.

Mike says the cruises allow cruisers to experience other places with boating friends who are on the same wavelength. He notes that every

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marina or anchorage they’ve visited “is filled with happy, friendly people who enjoy boating as much as we do.”

Mike’s own cruise-lust began when he read “Flirting with Mermaids” by John Kretschmer and a couple of Bernard Montessier books about long distance bluewater passage making. He enjoyed the cruising information in Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine and TV Show. He and his wife, Sandy, also briefly met Bob Bitchin at the Annapolis Boat Show. He soon was watching cruising channels on YouTube and thinking about how he and Sandy would take Syringa, their Beneteau 473, to some of the places he saw. His reading list expanded to reading about couples who had sailed the world together, like “Gentlemen Never Sail to Weather” by Denton R. Moore and “Cruising in Serrafyn” by Lin and Larry Pardey.

“Now I probably subscribe to 40 channels and contribute financially to a handful,” he says. “There are people cruising that I truly hope Sandy and I meet somewhere in our travels. So, until we set sail for more distant horizons, our cruising grounds are primarily Cape Lookout to Charleston. SYC provides the cruising fun and experience that Sandy and I look for even though we aren’t doing it full time. It’s preparing us, and I think we’ll be better cruisers overall.”

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The Nascent Southport Yacht Club’s Cruising Agenda Looking back on his club cruise planning experience, Mike notices that some club members are focused on racing and/or day sailing. Sailors are more likely to anchor out and power boaters seem to prefer a dock.

In addition, “Closer destinations are more well-attended. Closer means less expensive if you’re using fuel and easier to plan based on weather windows.

We’ve learned that organizing a large group to arrive at a marina as transients is difficult. Most marinas don’t want to talk to you too far out from your arrival, probably because they know everything depends on weather.

Personally, I have learned more about anchoring and weather routing.”

Having the cruises on the Southport Yacht Club agenda ensures club leadership is receptive to the needs and desires of its diverse membership, Sam says. This year the club facilitated a PHRF racing series for sailboat racers which compliments their signature Lone Palm Regatta, a less competitive sailboat race in which many of the power boaters participate. There are

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many social events for boat owners and social members. All the events help members grow their boating repertoire, tip back a glass or two and share stories and laughs.

Many members of the club lived a cruising life, often for months or even years at a time, before joining. Others hope to do it. And when they’re able to untether to embark on the cruise they’ve been dreaming of, they’ll

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be better prepared than they were before they joined the club.

The cruises Mike Gibson plans vary in terms of length, distance and activities. For instance, a cruise to Myrtle Beach might include the opportunity to golf, while one to Wilmington might include visits to a museum, and one to Banks Channel might be like an adult recess, complete with a ton of water toys.

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SoulMates Cruising West Coast of the

By Chuck and Patty Ritenour/Ridgway

SoulMates docked in Odessa, Ukraine

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g

The Black Sea

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t does not occur very often, but some days in cruising, politics run roughshod over what a cruiser may want to do. Such was the case when we left Russia heading around Crimea to Ukraine. The Russians were quite helpful and told us Crimea is quite beautiful, has great cruising

grounds and they said we could visit with our Russian visa. BUT, they said due to an embargo, if we went to Crimea we would not be allowed into Ukraine, perhaps not into Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and we’d get fined in any EU country and most

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Somewhere in here is the copper foil we needed!

certainly in the USA. We had contacted the American embassy in Kiev who responded that if we went to Crimea we would not be allowed into Ukraine. So with three days left on our Russian visa and bad weather coming, we left Anapa for the 350nm run to Odessa.

As we left Anapa the Russians gave us seven pages of Notice to Mariners for the Black Sea. Chuck took one look and felt overwhelmed, but as they say, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at time. So Chuck opened OpenCPN (a chart plotter navigation program) and plotted one of the coordinates for each one. If they were close to our route he plotted

more. It turns out if you stayed in the TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme) all the way around Crimea and the suggested routing to Odessa, you would miss them all. Generally, we do not run in a TSS as we are a small sailboat and really do not like mixing it up with big ships, so as SoulMates approached the east end of the TSS around the south end of Crimea, Chuck decided he would run just inside it. Bad idea. Just past the entrance the VHF radio came alive with “SoulMates SoulMates, Russian Coast Guard.” Chuck, not being totally stupid, replied “Russian Coast Guard, SoulMates now turning

Wine flowing at the largest wine cellar in the world - Milestii Mici winery, Moldova

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SoulMates favorite smoked meat dealer in Odessa

X degrees to port into TSS.” Nothing more was heard.

Arriving off Odessa the chart plotter showed a single TSS to a traffic circle with three different routes into Odessa. Chuck thought, “what the heck,” as he headed to the traffic circle, took it on the wrong side and said to himself, “we are a small sailboat, who would care if we just cut across them and follow the coast line in.” Well, they did care as the VHF came alive again with, “SoulMates SoulMates, this is Odessa Port Control, what are your intentions?”

Chuck responded that we were headed to Odessa Harbor at which time Port

Control said, “You are to turn XX degrees to starboard and in 1nm turn YY degrees to port and continue on a course of ZZ and call Port Control when you reach a certain point. Long and short of it, we were to follow the TSS into the port.

Under the direction of Port Control we were directed to the yacht harbor and as we came in, a young lady was standing on the dock motioning us where to dock. As we slid SoulMates up to the dock the young lady caught our dock lines, helped us tie up and said, “Welcome to Odessa. I am Oksana the dock manager and please get your papers

Oksana with fuel filters and Chuck as he was filling out paperwork to depart Ukaine

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On the dock in Salina, Romainia, on the Danube River

together. I will take you to the police.” Chuck took one look and said okay. Patty took one look at Chuck and thought, if she had said follow me off the end of the dock, he would have gone.

The police were very nice and helpful, but one person went through our passports page by page, then another guy came in and asked if we had stopped in Crimea.

Finally, a guy with lots of stars on his shoulder came in and asked about the Crimea. Now, sometimes Chuck does things right and this was one, as he had brought along the log book that we recorded in every 12 hours. They did go through it and when satisfied, welcomed us to Ukraine.

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Freighter sunk off the entrance to the Salina Canal, Romania

Odessa is beautiful, but like all ports, the city is at the top of a hill. A staircase with 192 steps leads from the bottom to the city. Walking it once was required, but twice was one time too many so Chuck asked Oksana how we could get to the top. She laughed and said, “We Ukrainians take bus 5.”

Once on top you find a wonderful city with turn of the 20th century buildings, a huge market, some of the best smoked meat in the world, and a tourist destination for people from the Balkans. We needed a few boat parts and asked Oksana who said, “Well, take this bus to... no, forget that as you cannot read the signs, so go get a taxi and go to here,” and wrote down an address.

We lucked out and got an English speaking driver who took us to the chandlery, but when we could not find what we were looking for the driver said, “Okay, let me try,” and we traveled back roads and alleys and found most of what we needed; all except the Racor fuel filters.

All over the Med we had been trying to find copper foil for our SSB and everyone said go to Ukraine. So, we asked the driver and he took us to a market place and a metal shop. The owner said yes and climbed up and over and came back with a huge roll of copper that was about 6” wide. We asked for 12m and only 3” wide. The cab driver said no, you can buy 12m but full width. Okay, so we got our copper foil, but it’s a lifetime supply.

Back in the harbor we gave Oksana the keys to our boat and asked if she could find us Racor r12p fuel filters, then headed to the train station for an inland tour of Ukraine that included Kiev, Livi, Moldova, www.cruisingoutpost.com

2/3/18 9:45 AM

Transnestia, and Krakow/Auschwitz. It was a bittersweet trip as we saw and met great people and a lively country, especially in Livi, but the Kiev museum dedicated to the mass starvation of the Ukraine population in the 1930s and Auschwitz, left a heavy burden on our hearts.

Back in Odessa we told Oksana that we were ready to leave and she came to Constanza Harbor - in background is an SSoulMates with five fuel filters. How or shaped entrance that more than one boat missed where she found them we do not know, in a hard blow and hit the inner breakwater but Oksana is one of the best dock managers ever!

Leaving in the early afternoon for an overnight an English speaking guide was difficult, but a local guy sail to Salina, Romania, we arrived off the channel and found us one and we spent a day visiting two of the 25 were met by a big ship that had sunk when its anchor gave villages in the delta, eating native tree fruit we picked and way after many days of riding out a storm. The channel seeing and learning about this wonderful wetland. leading to Salina is actually part of the Danube River Sailing on down the coast in Romania, we stopped and Salina is at the headwaters of the Danube Delta, one in Constanza and hired an older, English speaking cab of the largest and best protected wetlands in the world. driver to help us find cooking gas. We had to have a new It was after tourist season when we arrived and finding connection made and watched as a machine shop took a

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Constanza, Romainia beachfront

Patty with the young woman who owns beach bar in Constanza, Romainia

block of copper and made it for us. But more interesting that they would give us small boat sailors the courtesy to was the conversation with our cab driver and another eat with them. The Russians were extremely kind to us younger Romanian who had diametrically opposing when they found we had sailed to Russia, and yes, that views. The older man wanted a return to hard core lead to pictures and vodka. socialism where the government gave you everything that Varna is also home to a large sailing club for kids it determined you needed, and the younger person had and the instructor is a ham/WinLink operator. As Chuck created a business on his own, had grown the business slid SoulMates onto the dock, he came up and said, and was now hiring people and wanted nothing from the “Welcome KI4SRY, I am LZ4BU, my name is Ivaylo and government except to get out of the way.

I have watched your journey around the Black Sea on In Romania you have to check in and out of every Ship Trak”. Ivaylo invited us to the club house and said port with multiple stops. anything we need, let One young policeman them know. We got to The Danube Delta was helping me find the talk with the kids and various locations just to watch them sail and get a stamp, and ridiculed race in Opti and Lasers, the system as he had and what great sailors trained in the west and a lot better than we are. said there is no reason for But then, they are Black this except to make some Sea sailors. A few other people feel important. local sailors took the Our journey south time to come down and continued and we had come aboard SoulMates just a few stops left. We and share some stories, knew the weather was Raki, Vodka, and changing. Arriving in great Bulgarian food Varna, Bulgaria, Chuck and wine. saw a sign for a tall ship As the tall ships regatta that was arriving left, it was really late in in a week. He said, “we the season and we had are staying,” whereas to get out of the Black Patty reminded him of Sea as the fronts were the weather and that it was time to get out of the Black now coming through every few days. However, there is Sea. But the tall ships won the day and even Patty was the only UNESCO site on the Black Sea, Nessebar, who impressed when nine tall ships arrived, some at 300 feet. some say is the oldest active city in Europe. The stop was What a festival! Sailors are drawn together somehow, to be one night, but weather forced us to stay. One blowy, regardless of language or nationality. At more than one raining evening the dock manager came to SoulMates and restaurant we ended up eating with some of the crew from gave us six fresh fish for dinner. Where he got them we various ships and various nations, and were so honored have no idea, but how nice and how typical of Bulgaria.

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we run the Bosphorus in the dark? We decided to Our last stop on the Black Sea was Tsarevo, where we would check out of Bulgaria and head back to Turkey. The run the Bosphorus. Our concern was not the big boats, as we could see them on AIS, but the little cruising guide said the protection was good, but it was fishing boats running with no lights and the unlit not. We again had to wait out a front and the surge was such that we had SoulMates trussed up as if she were part few channel markers there were. With spotlight in hand, Patty took the port side and Chuck watched of 50 Shades of Grey. the starboard and we With a half-decent headed into the Bosphorus weather window we after calling port control headed east again. We for approval. Surrounded were going to pull into by lights everywhere, it a small Turkish fishing was a bit intense as we village for a night and headed south. then move on, but the weather was again As the first signs of light appeared, we neared changing and we wanted Istanbul and headed to a to be in Istanbul and tied marina to check in. We up before the front hit, looked at each other with so we did and overnight SoulMates tied up in Varna, Bulgaria big smiles. We had done it! sail to the mouth of the We had circumnavigated Bosphorus and arrived at 0300. Our options at that point were: not good, bad, the Black Sea and what and an incredible voyage.

The sights, the sounds, the food, the culture, and the and ugly. One of those decisions all long distance education we got was beyond our wildest imagination. sailors face on occasion, do we go into a strange But first and foremost were the people, and we could harbor in the dark and anchor for the night? Circle not have done it without their help. As we sit now and in the open ocean with building seas and avoid the reflect back, it was more than incredible and yes, we freighters coming in and out of the Bosphorus as want to do it again. well and the many fishing boats in the area? Or do

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My First Sailing Marathon When blondes have more fun, do they know it?

By Lea Ann Rock

Nomad Making Way

D

avid and I are well into our second decade of cruising. We sail on our Tayana 48, S/V Nomad, with our one crew member, Gypsy Jazz Rock. We have made numerous trips to the Bahamas and actually live in the turquoise water most of the year.

Last year, at the ripe old age of 55, I became a Type 1 Diabetic. The doctors do not know why this happened to me. Type 1 Diabetes is treatable, but there is no cure.

David and I have decided to not let this disease determine our future. We will continue our cruising life which we enjoy so much. I hope by writing

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about what we are doing, others out there might feel empowered to live their dreams regardless of their physical challenges.

David has always been a runner and has completed marathons and triathlons. I told him while we were still state-side, the Gulf Stream crossing and trip to George Town would be my marathon. I really didn’t know if I would be physically capable of making this trip.

After a rough crossing to Bimini, we waited out a weather system at Bimini Sands Resort. We pulled out of Bimini Sands on a Saturday to spend the night anchored

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Black Point next to North Bimini. This would set us up for our next run to the Exuma Islands.

We awoke on Sunday to a beautiful sky. The moon was on one side of Nomad and the sunrise on the other. A sailor could not ask for a more beautiful day.

The winds were light and we would have to motor-sail, but we were fine with that after our rough Gulf Stream crossing. After we upped anchor we noticed there were boats all around traveling in the same direction as Nomad. I thought of Eileen Quinn singing about “capable little cruisers.”

As the morning moved to afternoon, we heard the other cruising boats chatter on the radio. They were all planning to anchor in the Great Bahama Bank for the night. We have done this many times, but not tonight. A friend early in our cruising life told us, “Make hay while the hay making is good.” We had calm winds, a full moon on the way, and a perfect night to cross the Tongue of the Ocean and continue on past Nassau and the White Bank.

We were going to make about 30 hours worth of hay!

Black Point Anchorage

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My new sarong & Gypsy’s bandana

On one of his system checks, David discovered we had a dead battery bank on the starboard side. The port side battery bank was fine. This did not make sense because we had been running the engine, solar was working and we had even used the diesel generator. What could the problem be?

David is the best mechanic in the world. Honest!! In a prior life many years ago, we owned a FAA certified repair station. David can fix airplanes, fly airplanes and fix almost everything that even thinks of breaking on a boat. I tell friends it is like traveling with Crocodile Dundee. Others have called him MacGyver. Whatever the name, I knew he would figure out the problem.

We’d had a very rough Gulf Stream crossing and rough crossings usually equate to broken things on the Getting fuel at Emerald Bay

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boat. In this case, the heavy duty battery switch that tells the battery banks what to do had broken. The screws that hold the switch together on the inside had snapped. David pulled the switch apart, replaced the screws, made it a little better with washers, and boom, we were 100% again.

See, he is a miracle worker!

As we approached Staniel Cay the big motor yachts began to appear. This area is very fun to spend some time, swim with the pigs and eat at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Today, we kept going to reach our goal of Black Point. Black Point is a wonderful settlement in the Exuma Islands. The water is gorgeous on the bank side and the ocean side. Wherever you look the view is unbelievable.

The people of Black Point are very proud of their fishing abilities, weaving skills and their church choirs. We had been on the go for 30 hours, but dropped the dinghy to take a walk. Also, I really needed a shopping fix.

After a fun trek to the ocean side beach, we walked back into Black Point. Ladies sit on their front porch, weave palm fronds and make baskets. I had been wanting a Bahamian bag made from the woven palm leaves, found the perfect size bag and made my purchase.

We ran to the grocery store and then it was time to go back to Nomad.

As we sat enjoying “tea time,” we watched an amazing sunset. There was nothing between us and the sun. We were blessed with a gorgeous green flash. We have seen so many in the Bahamas. I am always surprised when people think they don’t exist. You just have to be in the right place. The Bahamas is always the right spot.

Valentine’s day, we awoke early and were out the cut and on our way to George Town. Everyone got a Valentine’s present including Gypsy. She loved her hot pink bandanna as much as I loved my new sarong.

It always feels so good to get back into swimsuits and sarongs after being state-side. It must be the way a nudist feels when they are trapped in clothing while working in an office. I think any day that begins in a swimsuit is going to be a pretty darn good day.

As we motor-sailed to George Town, David played the guitar and I listened for the sound of our fishing lines. Many years ago our son, J.D., worked as a sport fishing captain. I swear this kid can smell fish. David and I had never had fishing success in our cruising life.

Well, when you need help, then go to a professional. We asked for help, took notes and purchased some of J.D.’s equipment. It was money well spent. Now, Nomad always has fresh fish on board. We used the lures J.D.

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2/2/18 2:48 PM

Fun on Black Point Beach

told us would ensure dorado and tuna. Guess what? We snagged two Dorado before we reached George Town.

We stopped at Emerald Bay Marina before reaching George Town to fill the diesel tank. In really calm weather, this is an excellent stop for fuel.

The price is reasonable and the access to the fuel dock is simple.

Finally, we reached the entrance to George Town. I can’t count how many times we have been in and out of Conch Cay Cut. Day entries and night entries are all the same to us. We were home and ready to end our marathon.

I did really well with my first cruise as a Type 1 Diabetic. It is not easy traveling with this disease, but it would be much harder to live on dirt state-side. Out here, I feel like I can do anything.

Whatever disability you have, live your dreams. You only get one life, and it would be a shame to be so safe and secure you die of boredom.

䐀漀攀猀 夀伀唀刀 䄀渀椀琀ⴀ䘀漀甀氀椀渀最 䰀愀猀琀

㄀ ⬀ 夀攀愀爀猀㼀

䌀伀倀倀䔀刀䌀伀䄀吀 䐀伀䔀匀℀

Emerald Bay Marina

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眀眀眀⸀挀漀瀀瀀攀爀挀漀愀琀甀猀愀⸀挀漀洀 椀渀昀漀䀀挀漀瀀瀀攀爀挀漀愀琀甀猀愀⸀挀漀洀 ㌀㈀㄀ⴀ㔀㄀㐀ⴀ㤀㄀㤀㜀 Cruising Outpost 117

2/2/18 2:49 PM

Our Smitten Kitten Adventure

By Chris & Janet Waln www.brilliantstarcruises.net

Anse Colombier

L

ast fall, friends invited us to charter with them and another couple on a Festiva Sailing Vacations crewed catamaran out of St. Maarten. We said, “Yes!” and then we waited...

Day Zero: Travel went smoothly, if slowly.

We boarded Smitten Kitten, a Lagoon 44, crewed by Patrick and Pascale, 12 hours after leaving Central Florida. Patrick and Pascale, a multidecade, husband and wife charter team from SW France, quickly showed themselves to be top-drawer, and they reinforced that view throughout the charter. We The Crew particularly appreciated their willingness to answer endless questions. They were a major part of our most excellent experience.

Night One: We stayed in the marina surrounded by cruising boats similar to our three or grander. Many were

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there for Heineken Regatta #37. Dinner put travel behind us. Light squalls lullabied. Lights were out early...

About the food... We felt we were continuously dining at a Michelin Three-Star Auberge. Chef Pascale’s menu took full advantage of their culture and the Caribbean context. Patrick’s grilling revealed a kindred spirit. Pascale’s willing inventiveness at handling allergies and dislikes was most welcome. Our meals were plentiful, creative, wonderfully seasoned and playfully plated.

Dining starts with the nose followed by eyes and palate.

Pascale and Patrick addressed each with skill and aplomb.

Day One: Off to the Prickly Pear Cays off SW Anguilla for snorkeling. By rule, the anchorage is only accessible to captained yachts -- bareboats prohibited. After seeing the sinuous, shallow, swell-full passage, we know why.

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2/2/18 2:49 PM

A “light” breakfast

HOOK & MOOR

From there, it was up to Small Bay with its cactus-covered, bird-filled cliffs and then south to Crocus Bay for the night. Tradewinds lifted by Anguilla soared over us, leaving only intermittent ripples and late sprinkles. Not having to captain or cook had us all chillaxin sooner and more thoroughly than usual. Will we ever go back to bareboating?

Day Two: We were back at the cliffs for a snorkel before sailing back through the Cays to Rendezvous Bay. The wind -- absent the week before -- was coming back with authority! We were sailing... and what sailing!

Rendezvous Bay was nearly vacant, gin clear, with maybe six inch swells. We swam to the beach and chatted with some folks who needed more sunscreen...

Even at 76-80° the UV was merciless. We slathered on 70 and wore SPF 50 long sleeves.

After lunch we sailed to the somewhat crowded anchorage at Marigot, St. Martin. On the way in we saw Casa Blanca with a crew known to our friends. Patrick and Pascale offered to host them for cocktails and appetizers, and they joined us once we had anchored.

Routine settled in. Generous cocktails, generous, appetizers, tropical breezes, NO bugs, generous meals, inspired desserts, intermittent short-lived squalls,

The Hook & Moor boat hook helps you thread a mooring rope through a mooring ring with ease. Uses your mooring line directly and works as an ordinary boat hook when the hook head is in its locked position.

WWW.NEROPES.COM

Rendezvous Bay

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Cruising Outpost 119

2/2/18 2:49 PM

Grande Case

Beautiful Nautical Jewelry Custom Craftmanship Created in the Hawaiian Islands 866 Iwilei Road, Honolulu, HI, 96817 855-353-9995 info@aumaris.com

hours of boat talk, and quiet sleeping gently ended by scrumptious aromas to go with Bonjour...

Day Three: Grand Case was next. Carnival (ala Mardi Gras) was the day, and fortunately our first choice for dinner was booked. Pascale took care of Plan B. We invited Patrick and Pascale to join us at Le Cottage, which translates with some difficulty to “The Cottage.” The menu was similar to Smitten Kitten’s -French with Caribbean grace notes. The service was like SK’s -- attentive, but unobtrusive. All the while, Carnival marchers drummed and paraded along the street fronting the restaurant. The food, wine and company were exceptional. Bravo, Le Cottage!

Bravo, Grand Case! -- It was so jammed Gendarmes were turning people away at the highway.

Leaving Le Cottage, we joined the marchers as far as the landing to head back out to Smitten Kitten before a squall put a damper on us.

Day Four: If we didn’t bolt for St. Bart’s we wouldn’t get there this trip. The wind speed was manageable. Waiting a day would put it on the nose, a Former Volvo Ocean Race competitors

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2/2/18 2:50 PM

SPINNAKER SLEEVE Safest, oldest, proven spinnaker handling

The Heinekin Regatta no-no for catamarans like this one. So, it was up, eat, and away for Anse Marcel Marina to take on ice and water.

In and out, we watched and were cautiously regarded by dozens of iguana on the rocks, in the trees, and moving slowly between.

Reaching for St. Bart’s was sailing you needed to be a sailor to enjoy – At 10+ it was rolly, sometimes wet, SERIOUS SAILING EQUIPMENT and a fast blast. The motion was unusual to us monohull 1 800 874 3671 | atninc@hotmail.com folks, but we adjusted pretty quickly. www.atninc.com We reached Gustavia in time for our island tour with taxi driver Florian. St. Bart’s is much more ATN_SPINN_Cr_Out_2012_FINAL.indd 1 10/29/12 developed than we remembered -- the magazines QUALITY MARINE advertising high-end watches tell the story in just EQUIPMENT SINCE 1981 a word. In 2008, they were in French and English.

They’ve since added Russian...

For comfort’s sake we reanchored in Anse Colombier where the Rockefellers’ first Caribbean mansion decays. The swell all but disappeared, but the AUTOMATIC FEATHERING PROPELLERS trades squeezed between two peaks strengthened and eddied. This was our most restless anchorage yet -- for LOW DRAG the boat.

4:47 PM

MAX-PROP UNDER SAIL

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Gustavia Bay

LEGENDARY REVERSE 2, 3, 4 & 5 BLADE DESIGNS 425-355-3669 info@pyiinc.com www.pyiinc.com

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Cruising Outpost 121

2/2/18 2:50 PM

Isla Fouroche

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Day Five: It was too agitated to snorkel, so up anchor and off toward St. Martin we went, with a stop at Isle Fouroche for the last good snorkeling. From this volcanic remnant we headed for Isle Pinel. Patrick offered me the wheel, and with a little instruction for the response differences between catamarans and monohulls, off we went. With the freer and stronger wind we were making 12+. Yeehaa!

As we approached Isle Pinel, Patrick opted for the less confused entrance. We were in a scenic lee in quiet waters minutes later. After a hike ashore, drinks appeared.

The plan for the next day was to ghost the Heineken Regatta Round Island Race whatever direction they were going.

Day Six: Clockwise! We reached downwind of bareboats chartered for the race. It was scenic and over too quickly. Our 11 knots seemed fast until a 36- to 40foot catamaran came slashing through the fleet under plain sail at 25+/- knots. Its rigging hummed. Spray from the wave piercing hulls ripped away to leeward -- then they set a Code Zero and they were g...o......n.........e!

Patrick was actually grinning!

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Isla Pinel

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2/2/18 2:50 PM

It’s All Here...

n, Boat i ne Di Golf & E S G

A PACK

Small Bay

golf

We returned to Simpson Bay Marina under conditions nearly identical to our arrival evening. Racers chattered around us. Charterers from other boats headed up the dock as if escaping. We lingered till we had to go to dinner. Dinner was okay. No place would have fared all that well after Pascale and Patrick. Bravo Smitten Kitten!

Day Seven: Breakfast had a tad of regret mixed in the juice. Even so, as Patrick and Pascale move on with their lives, we will be looking for where they crew, as Polynesia calls them back.

A Note: The very nearby Atrium Hotel has a relationship with Festiva, and so we were able to kill time there until we got caught back up in gears of travel. We ate at Greenhouse next door -- very good food actually.

Good thing; our plane ran out of food.

After the high-tech low-stress process of reaching the boarding gates, things became old Caribbean again -- jammed, hot, loud, delayed, multiple gate changes, passengers ignoring boarding order...

Smitten Kitten - Our home for the trip!

marina & rv park

inn & waterfront dining

home

Port Ludlow Marina is open year round & offers: • Boat In and Golf Packages Available • 26 miles of walking trails • Waterfront Dining • Covered Pavilion and BBQ Fire Pit • Fuel Dock and Pump Out • Free WiFi • Marina Store

www.PortLudlowResort.com • 360.437.0513

Mystic Knotwork .com

Our hosts, Patrick & Pascale

Retailers Welcome WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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Cruising Outpost 123

2/2/18 2:51 PM

A RECORD ROMP TO ABACOS

By Matthew M. Fouts

S/V Amitie

A

and low current location. Six hours out from Newport, mitie, a 2013 Jeanneau 509, recently completed an winds were gusting over 40 knots with a temperature estimated 1100-mile passage from Newport, RI to Marsh hovering around 38° F as Amitie raced along from 10 Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas in less than six days. She left to 14 knots with a double the docks on or about 0830 reef in the mainsail and on Friday, November 10 in The crew triple reef in the headsail. a blustery 25- to 30-knot Despite protestation by breeze from the northwest. the go-fast Canadian crew After casting off dock lines, member, David Hill, the crew member from Dublin, skipper decided to drop Ireland, Patrick Bridgette, mainsail and further reef was left standing alone on the headsail, maintaining the docks and had to deftly 9-12 knots of boat speed. jump aboard minutes later Apart from heaving to at the fuel dock. Patrick for an hour to fix a cable could not help but wonder if jumping out of the steering this was an omen of things quadrant, the Jeanneau 509 to come. performed flawlessly.

The skipper made the Mahi mahi and wahoo silly decision to depart based were caught en route by the world famous Cuban handupon a weather forecast of 20-30 knots for a cold, blustery, broad reach down the coast to Hatteras, with a planned Gulf reeling Jeff Finkelstein. A wonderful nighttime sight were the phosphorescent torpedo-like porpoises darting in our bow wave.

Stream crossing 120 miles south of Hatteras at a narrow

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2/2/18 2:51 PM

Patrick at the helm The entire passage was completed in winds not less than 20 knots with an ETA into Marsh Harbor completed through the often treacherous Man ‘O War Cut at 0300 with anchor down by 0330. The four-person crew was well rested due to the reliance upon expert helming by Otto Peelat for more than four days. When asked how Otto felt through a reliable interpreter, Dr. Peelat merely whirred that Kenny Read better watch his back since Otto is gunning for his position aboard Comanche. Skipper, Glenn Walters, rolled his eyes in agreement.

Setting off to get some lobster

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Cruising Outpost 125

2/2/18 2:51 PM

Diesel Dilema

By Mark Nooney

W

e were looking forward to a pleasant overnight anchored in Shaw’s Bay off the Wye River. We planned on grilling off the back of our Hunter 31 and watching the 4th of July fireworks light the sky from nearby St. Michaels, MD celebration.

Lack of sufficient wind had us motoring into Shaw’s Bay. My first mate and wife, Jeanne, was on the helm.

About 10 minutes before setting the anchor Jeanne shouted forward, “I didn’t do that.” I was on the bow and didn’t understand her comment. I walked back and she told me that the sound of the engine had changed (Jeanne has great hearing). We checked the flow from the exhaust, the tachometer reading, as well as our headway; all seemed about the same as usual. I went below and pulled the stair cover engine access. There was nothing to report, except our newly developed and annoying slow drip oil leak from the front of the Yanmar. The leak, discovered a couple days prior, had not changed either. All was well.

We dropped anchor and enjoyed our evening as planned.

The next morning we woke to another beautiful Maryland summer day. After a leisurely breakfast and securing the boat, we shoved off. With my first mate on the helm I raised the anchor. Jeanne set the iron jenny for

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cruising speed to navigate out of the narrow channel from Shaw’s Bay to Prospect Bay (roughly two miles). The wind was blowing out of the south, directly on our nose, at a calm eight knots. I checked the engine and there was our oil leak, dripping at the same rate it had all weekend, steadily collecting in the cup below the drip.

In the narrow channel, we took our place under power, mainsail up, with the myriad of boats heading for their next destination. We anticipated taking about two hours, once out into Prospect Bay, to sail a six-mile scoot north to Kent Narrows, our home port.

I was sitting in the cockpit and started to smell fumes, but with so many boats passing us, I wrote off to exhaust fumes from the other boats. After about 10 minutes, the smell was getting stronger so I decided to check the engine. I popped the stairway access panel and realized there was diesel in the bilge! I had a cup and oil absorbent pad there for the oil drip, but seeing red was not a good sign. I stayed calm but the smell of diesel nearly knocked me over. The supply hose after the engine fuel filter was spraying diesel. The armor mesh surrounding the hose was the only thing holding it together. We had a problem.

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2/2/18 2:51 PM

䈀漀挀愀猀 䐀攀氀 吀漀爀漀Ⰰ 倀愀渀愀洀愀

䘀甀氀氀 匀攀爀瘀椀挀攀 䴀愀爀椀渀愀 泰 䌀愀氀礀瀀猀漀 䌀愀渀琀椀渀愀 眀眀眀⸀戀漀挀愀猀洀愀爀椀渀愀⸀挀漀洀 戀漀挀愀猀礀愀挀栀琀挀氀甀戀䀀礀愀栀漀漀⸀挀漀洀 䠀愀甀氀 伀甀琀 夀愀爀搀 泰 㘀 ⴀ吀漀渀 吀爀愀瘀攀氀椀昀琀 眀眀眀⸀戀漀挀愀猀戀漀愀琀礀愀爀搀⸀挀漀洀 戀漀挀愀猀礀愀挀栀琀猀攀爀瘀椀挀攀猀䀀礀愀栀漀漀⸀挀漀洀

I moved quickly to contain the spray. I had a roll of the oil absorbent pads in the locker next to me. I grab the pack and tore a large sheet in two. I wrapped the pad around the spraying hose and slowed the amount of vaporized diesel that was escaping.

I called up to my first mate, “How far before we can get under sail?” She replied “At least a half mile, the tide and the wind are against us.” She asked if she should cut the engine rpms down. I responded with a resounding, “Yes!” She knocked down the engine to 1600 rpms. I changed the first pad with a fresh one and called up to find out how long before we could kill the engine. Her response was, “At this speed, forever”! Ouch!

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㤀뀀㈀ ᤠ⸀ 㔀ᴠ一Ⰰ 㠀㈀뀀㄀㐀ᤠ⸀㐀㔀ᴠ圀

Cruising Outpost 127

2/4/18 12:22 PM

We were crippling along, wind on our nose, making progress at only 1-1/2 - 2 knots by tacking with the mainsail. I found the emergency sealant tape that I had stored in the nav desk and wrapped the hose with the tape and the spray turned into a drip. With a new pad and tape on the drip, the flow was slowed.

This tactic was successful, and we could go a while longer to get to our first tack. Five pads and 30 minutes later, we made it out to Prospect Bay, turned north and killed the engine. We had a few hours to make a bandage to get us to the dock.

Sailing up to Kent Narrows was pleasant enough, except for the metallic taste of adrenaline left in my mouth. I took the helm and Jeanne made lunch. We ate our lunch keeping a sharp lookout on the 4th of July boat traffic in Prospect Bay which was heavy. I went below after a couple of tacks to ascertain the damage and devise a short term solution. We would both need to be on deck to bring Dream Too into the slip. Docking at our yacht club is not for the faint of heart, even in the best conditions.

After wiping up the sprayed diesel residue and removing the tape, I wiped down the hose. The inner hose must have split do to age. Thank goodness for the mesh armor or we could have had a major diesel incident inside the saloon. I used the emergency tape again and thoroughly wrapped the hose with three separate pieces of tape wrapped in opposite directions. I used Velcro straps to secure the oil absorbent diaper around the hose. The goal was to have enough absorption so we would be able to navigate the docking procedure.

My wife is an incredible sailor. She has a knack for keeping the wind and sailing in tight quarters. We sailed into the tight channel from the southern approach

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leading to Kent Narrows. Neptune was with us. We had light traffic heading for the narrows bridge on a busy 4th of July weekend. As we entered the outer marks a 50’ Hatteras came up behind us. With Jeanne on the wheel and me on the VHF, I contacted the captain and let him know our intent. He hung behind us as a rear guard until we made our final approach to the dock.

Thanks Captain!

Once we got to the last mark, we dropped sails and fired up the engine. The wind had been increasing throughout the afternoon and was behind us and blowing at 10 to 12 knots. We changed positions for our docking; I was on the wheel with Jeanne getting lines readied. We made it home safely and without a major incident. The bandage contained the diesel during our docking and saved us from a costly towing bill.

Guess it’s time to change all the old hoses!

What We Did Right Got under sail as quickly as possible Used emergency management to contain the leak and be able to continue for a short period.

Had absorbent pads (and a lot of them) Had emergency tape Relied on teamwork to get us home Used the VHF to advise other boats of our situation Used my knowledge of containing a spill and hose Split bandaging What We Did Wrong Not checking and replacing an older hose in the fuel line Not responding to the “Sound changed” with a more thorough investigation Not using my chemical resistant glove sooner Not checking the fume smell sooner.

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2/2/18 2:52 PM

Delivery or Cruise?

By Capt. Robert Beringer

T

here’s no time like November to head south on the East Coast. Cool, dry, bug-less weather, uncluttered anchorages, and a dearth of summer tourists make for an unforgettable ride down America’s saltwater freeway. Almost every day I cross the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Jacksonville and I see the boats, hundreds of them, heading to warm waters, flying the ensigns of many nations.

Responding to a friend’s text request for crew, I dropped what I was doing and drove up I-95 to Charleston to jump aboard Mark Sheldon’s 1976 Tartan cruising ketch, Gingernut, which he had relaunched after an extensive refit in Gloucester, MA. Mark is a lifetime sailor and USCG veteran who had gone all in, selling his residence and moving aboard, intent on an open-ended cruise through the Bahamas and beyond.

After a hearty lunch at the City Marina where we traded tall tales of the sailing life, we jumped in the dinghy to motor out and received a reminder that no matter how

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2/2/18 2:52 PM

experienced and skilled you are, the ocean will humble you whenever it can. The painter slipped off the bow, wrapped around the prop and left us to drift with the ebb on the Ashley until we grabbed hold of a friendly boater’s hull and bummed a sharp knife.

Appropriately chastened, we boarded Gingernut and prepped for departure. Mark pointed at the name on the hull. “It’s slang for a feisty red-headed woman,” he said with wry smile. He showed me around and it was clear that the boat is a great source of pride for him as he personally did most of the renovations while on a mooring or careened against the wharf. The centerpiece of his efforts was literally that, a center cockpit wheelhouse that he added, with all new electronics, hydraulic autopilot that tracks like a dream, and something I’ve never used before, a circular clear view screen in the windshield that would soon come in very handy.

I made the case to go offshore and make it back to my Florida home forthwith, but was overruled by Mark. “This,” he stated peremptorily, “is a cruise, not a delivery.” Oh oh, better cancel those appointments I had for Thursday and Friday.

The old diesel chugged complacently, pushing us through the gentle, low country of South Carolina at six to seven knots. The scenery was sublime, there was so much to see; it’s easy to forget that this is a freeway, not a walk in the woods. Vessels are coming at you holus-bolus and some of them aren’t paying attention. Depending on the tide and wind, some parts of the ICW have razor-thin margins of safety, and it bears close watch at all times.

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Also, no matter where you are, you’re always approaching the next bascule bridge. Florida alone has 68 of them, many with restricted opening schedules.

Any boat with more than nine feet of air draft must be prepared to stand by until the next “scheduled” opening.

The swing bridge at Lady’s Island opens on the half hour and we waited amongst several boats for a tug and double-wide barge to squeeze through.

The bridge tender recognized the delay and graciously held the open position for us little boats to squirt through.

Rules of the Road Effective VHF communication is paramount on the ICW and there are specific rules of the road that everyone must know and follow—the primary one being to stay away from tugs, barges, and ships because they’re big and restricted in ability to maneuver. At one point we passed a dredging tug that was making a sharp turn. It was over 100 yards long and resembled a train; we gave that thing an extra wide berth.

And it’s not only tugs. Cutting into the fuscous waters of the Savannah River we were hailed on the VHF: “Green-hulled sailboat entering the river from the north, this is the up-bound container ship to your port. We ask that you stand by while we transit your position before you cross.” Ahead of us there was nothing, but looking hard to left I gasped when I saw the leviathan approach our path and pass a down-bound ship with similar cargo. Despite steering for the wake, Gingernut rocked hard and sent unseen items crashing below in the saloon.

Gingernut is a work in progress. She still has no working fridge or shower, so at mile 583 we pulled into Thunderbolt Marina for ice, showers and wifi, and met dockmaster Josh who was super-friendly and helpful.

At the fuel dock we met the crews of Sea Squirrel and Frui Vita, two of the boats participating in the Sail to the Sun Rally, an annual flotilla of snowbirds who gather in Virginia and make their way to Miami. It was supertempting to stay the night for laundry and fellowship at the Wyld Dock Bar, but the Bahamas beckoned and we were off with the favorable tide.

I started my watch just as Audrey Hepburn’s “Moon River” drifted by to starboard. It is not, as she sang,

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2/2/18 2:53 PM

Introducing the All-New Waterproof MRD85i Marine Stereo

iPod Dock

“wider than a mile,” but it was a great song and looked like a nice place to anchor.

The sky darkened and threatened rain. Turning into Hell Gate at mile 601 I was reminded why it got that name: very narrow and lots of shoals. Cold rain pelted the deck and that usually means slickers, but the wheelhouse was warm, dry, and very easy to get accustomed to. The clear view screen whirled away and did an excellent job, its only drawback being that it’s small.

The nav aids started blinking about 1800. We ran out of day and dropped anchor in Birthday Creek as a norther, with 25-knot winds blew all night and wrapped the rode around the keel.

Before I joined him on this cruise, Mark had asked if I was a good cook. I’m not, and I knew what that meant: great traveling and lousy eating. We took turns in the galley “warming” various rechauffes, anything that would keep us alive, but you can only eat out of cans for so long.

You may have heard that recently the Office of Coast Survey considered removing the infamous “magenta line” from future US charts. It had been in place since 1912 as the “recommended route” and was considered obsolete, in some cases actually leading boaters to shoal water.

Collisions have also occurred from helmsmen blindly following the line instead of using eyeball navigation. But after a public comment period it was clear that mariners overwhelmingly wanted to keep it on future NOAA charts.

On a noon watch I learned fi rst-hand what had motivated them to consider the removal. In Sapelo Sound near Blackbeard Island, a very large powerboat

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Cruising Outpost 131

2/2/18 2:53 PM

overtook us to starboard and drifted closer and closer, until I could see what newspaper a young woman was reading in her cabin. “Hey captain!” I shouted into the mic, “should I put out my fenders?” The helmsman, unaware of his collision course, lurched away and accelerated off, mumbling something into the VHF. I guess we had been on his magenta line.

Sailors’ Delight Gingernut entered the St. Simons River and we turned west into another one of the 1001 reasons I love the water: sunsets that make time stand still. The sky erupted into a roaring conflagration of almost every color in the spectrum. We approached the anchorage and I waved at Mark to slow down while I got some incredible shots. We glided on the glass that perfectly reflected the fiery show as a wedge of pelicans silently floated by. I held my breath, the upper clouds faded, then the lower, and just like that it was gone forever— there’ll never be another one like that. Time to get the anchor down.

The morning forecast called for northeast winds of 20 knots, gusting to 30. We crossed a feisty St. Simons Sound and entered the very shoal waters of Jekyll Isle within one hour of low tide. We drew five feet and the mud f lats were close and wide. The depth sounder went down, down, and then ---. We ghosted along, grateful there was not another coat of paint on the hull, incredulous that we were still in motion. Up ahead there was another ketch sitting on the bottom at the Jekyll Island Club. From the dock the crew stared, expectant that we too would touch, but somehow we carried on just inches off the bottom and made it past

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the fixed bridge and into deeper water.

Next time we wait till half tide rising!

More Humble Pie St. Andrews Sound heaved into view and Mark, feeling frisky despite the forecast, decided to head outside for a sail. We were emboldened by a parade of pleasure craft heading in that direction, until we saw at R32 that they all turned back toward the ICW. After an awkward moment we carried on and obtained yet another harsh lesson from King Neptune and Mr. Murphy.

The inlet is well marked but narrow, and we had to really goose the diesel to keep from drifting out of it. The waves were big and we crabbed to maintain course. At 1000 I handed the helm over and headed down for some breakfast—which I would not be eating that day as Gingernut repeatedly slammed down on the bottom, sending me and most everything on the shelves to the cabin sole.

With alacrity I returned to the wheelhouse and Mark coolly asked me to take the helm and tack the boat over while he reset the sails and we headed back in. No argument from me. But Mr. Murphy was not done with us. As every sailor knows, when you do a lot of rocking, the engine may start knocking. At 1015 I heard the awful sound of the diesel struggle, sputter, fade, and die.

Now it was potentially a dangerous situation. Waves broke on the sandbanks to port and I concentrated on progressing safely, keeping the sails full. But I was upset that two experienced sailors had gone out into the ocean so poorly prepared. Truth is, we let our confidence lull us into a bad scene and we justly deserved this humble pie.

I fault myself for not speaking up beforehand. The list of things we failed to do are too numerous to list and we’re both lucky we didn’t wind up on a sandbar.

But the little boat tracked well, we had a beam reach and I used the chartplotter to line up the markers as Mark dove into the engine compartment to switch fuel tanks and bleed the filter. At R34 we jibed and made for the ICW and the lee of Little Cumberland Isle. At 1045 the engine returned to life and we carried on.

The coastal marsh floated by as we pushed along on the current past the last of the sea isles: Kings Bay, St. Marys, Ft. Clinch and Fernandina. The sun was low and we dropped anchor near G5 by the Kingsley Plantation,

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the best looking 200-year-old house in Florida, and slumbered while the last of the norther blew itself out.

A beautiful autumn day greeted us in the morning and we were off early. Sisters Creek Bridge opened and the mighty St. John’s stretched out in front. Even in the daylight it was hard to see the entry to the ICW. Pushing hard, we made our way into Jacksonville Beach and the fuel dock at Beach Marine, where I said farewell to Mark and wished him fair winds as he carries on to the Bahamas.

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2/2/18 2:54 PM

The Breaker

By Matthew M. Fouts

I am a breaker.

Every crew, on every ship, on every sea, has at least one breaker. It is the breaker’s solemn duty to break as many things on the boat as possible. Surely you know an individual among your own crew who can tangle a line as easy as look at it, who can foul a tackle, or a propeller, or an atomic four drive shaft with the casual grace of a ballet dancer. If you can’t identify somebody like that amongst your crew mates, it’s probably you.

Don’t worry, friend. You are in good company. I, too, count myself among your ranks. And there is no shame in it. Just as Shakespeare delighted in his words and Mozart reveled in his piano, we do amazing and inspiring things with scratched chrome plating and broken shear pins.

The term “breaker” has a nebulous etymology. Some experts date the origin of the term all the way back to the Indo-European term “brak” which seems to have been a reference to some kind of destructive incarnation of the godhead, much like Shiva the Destroyer in Hinduism.

The first definite depiction of a breaker can be found on the walls of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Rutintutin, which display a repetitive hieroglyphic sequence depicting the pharaoh on a boat, with a broken mast, screaming at one of the crew. The Spanish armada

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was rumored to have been lousy with breakers, at least two for every ship in the armada. The first written reference in English appears to be from the 1788 logbook of a Royal navy commander who complained in his diary “...that this bloody breaker of things broke every thing on my bloody ship!” He went on to complain that his petition to have the man hanged by the neck had been turned down.

My own journey began at the tender age of three or four, when I realized that if you silently drop one end of a jib sheet into the water so that you can pretend you are fishing, you can do all sorts of interesting things to a Johnson 9.9 horse outboard motor. My old man spent his weekdays proofing copy machine owner manuals and dreaming about sailing his San Juan 26 up and down the Chicago coast. But he spent this warm summer Sunday pulling strands of jib sheet out of the motor’s lower unit while I roamed around the yacht club grounds, stepping on ants. I think he got the motor working again just in time to take the boat back out to her mooring and drive home through the frustrating Sunday night traffic. Half asleep in the back seat, I had mixed feelings. I felt bad for ruining the old man’s day. But I also felt strangely uplifted, as if I had found a purpose in the world.

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The family boat Not long after the “Jib Sheet Incident” I buried a treble hook in another kid’s arm. What shocked me about the whole thing was not so much the blood, but the surprised reaction of the nearby adults. I mean, honestly, they let an awkward child swing a casting rod around on a public dock; what did they think was going to happen? I felt bad about hooking one of my friends, but I was seriously impressed by the number of people who were affected.

Nobody could get the hook out. They had to take him to the emergency room. His parents went, obviously, and my parents went, and I think a few other parents went, for moral support, I guess. They didn’t get back until long after dark.

I quickly learned that if you want to make a big score, you have to act responsible for a while. Eschew the low hanging fruit. Then, when no Cokes have been spilt and no glasses sat on in about a fortnight, they’d let their guard down. Maybe they would let you carry a block of ice from the ice house to the dingy, and if you didn’t drag it through an anthill or break it into shards, they would become truly complacent, perhaps a little a proud. Then, they would trust you with something truly valuable, like carrying the binnacle compass across the parking lot on the first morning of a two week cruising vacation. Whoops.

Do not ever trust me to carry a binnacle compass.

There are, of course, a whole host of things that don’t break apart easily, like hats, aluminum coffee cups, tools.

These things have to go over the side. Anybody in my line of work can tell you, over-the-side is actually the preferred method of breaking things. If you smash something, it’s gone. There is nothing left for them but to accept the fact.

However, when a beloved item goes overboard, it’s not exactly gone. It’s perfectly intact, just out of reach, forever.

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刀愀琀 䜀甀愀爀搀猀

䬀攀攀瀀 瘀攀爀洀椀渀 漀昀昀 礀漀甀爀 戀漀愀琀℀ 刀漀琀愀琀椀渀最 搀椀猀挀 攀愀猀椀氀礀 猀氀椀瀀猀 漀渀 礀漀甀爀 搀漀挀欀氀椀渀攀猀 愀渀搀 愀渀挀栀漀爀 挀栀愀椀渀⸀ 䌀漀洀瀀愀挀琀 礀攀琀 瘀攀爀礀 攀昀昀攀挀琀椀瘀攀⸀ 䄀瘀愀椀氀愀戀氀攀 椀渀 琀栀爀攀攀 猀椀稀攀猀Ⰰ 椀渀挀氀甀搀椀渀最 挀漀洀洀攀爀挀椀愀氀 猀栀椀瀀瀀椀渀最 愀渀搀 氀愀爀最攀 礀愀挀栀琀猀⸀ 圀漀爀欀猀 攀焀甀愀氀氀礀 眀攀氀氀 椀渀 琀栀攀 洀愀爀椀渀愀 漀爀 漀渀 琀栀攀 栀漀漀欀⸀

刀愀椀渀洀愀渀 圀愀琀攀爀洀愀欀攀爀猀 䄀 倀漀爀琀愀戀氀攀Ⰰ 栀椀最栀 漀甀琀瀀甀琀 眀愀琀攀爀洀愀欀攀爀 琀栀愀琀 椀猀 猀椀洀瀀氀攀 愀渀搀 氀攀猀猀 攀砀瀀攀渀猀椀瘀攀 琀漀 瀀甀爀挀栀愀猀攀 愀渀搀 漀瀀攀爀愀琀攀⸀ 刀攀搀甀挀攀猀 眀攀椀最栀琀 愀渀搀 愀氀氀漀眀猀 礀漀甀 琀漀 欀攀攀瀀 礀漀甀爀 椀渀瘀攀猀琀洀攀渀琀Ⰰ 琀愀欀椀渀最 礀漀甀爀 眀愀琀攀爀洀愀欀攀爀 眀椀琀栀 礀漀甀 眀栀攀渀 礀漀甀 搀攀挀椀搀攀 琀漀 猀攀氀氀 礀漀甀爀 戀漀愀琀⸀

䠀礀搀爀漀 䌀栀愀爀最攀爀猀

嘀䤀匀䤀吀 伀唀刀 圀䔀䈀匀䤀吀䔀 䘀伀刀 䘀唀䰀䰀 䰀䤀匀吀 伀䘀 倀刀伀䐀唀䌀吀匀

眀眀眀⸀猀眀椀ⴀ琀攀挀⸀甀猀

Cruising Outpost 135

2/2/18 2:54 PM

A bird on the hand... well, you get it, right?

Do you have any idea how satisfying a winch handle sounds when it bounces once on the deck, while three people try to grab it, before it slips silently into the blue green water? I do.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not just some useless lunatic who storms onto a boat and bends the shit out of your canopy tubing. Yes, I will do that, but I also have some genuinely redeeming qualities. I love to steer a sailboat. I would be more than happy to helm your boat for as many hours as you wish. And, I’m good at it. I can hold a steady course. If I throw my weight into pulling a sheet, it will pull as tight as you wish. I even know - like the eponymous Captain Trimmer - how to avoid huge ships. So if we are out sailing and you ask for help with something, I will be more than happy to try whatever you suggest, but maybe consider letting me sit and watch the sunset. Perhaps you could even freshen up my drink. It’s probably in your best interest.

Don’t worry though. I am mostly retired now. I am proud of my body of work and I don’t feel any need to crowd the market. However, my brother still owns the family boat, and he lets me break little things now and then, just for fun. I mostly focus on my butt-work these days, just to keep my hand in. I mean, at this point I am an artist. Like my old judo instructor, who could defeat any opponent using only two fingers, I can do more damage to a boat with my buttocks alone than most people can do with their entire bodies. Just the other weekend, I pushed my butt through his cabin door screen. Then, and I assure you it was totally by accident, I sat on the taco dip before sliding my butt all up and down the cockpit. What a mess!

Good times.

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Cruising Outpost 137

2/5/18 10:33 AM

Bubba Whartz

Bubba Examines Exotic Charters The last place one might expect to encounter an informative discussion concerning people who attempt to acquire privilege and status by renting a floating palace would have been inside The Blue Moon Bar in Sarasota, Florida.

The palace referred to above is a chartered yacht—power or sail—operated by a crew of accomplished professional mariners including a captain, mate, engineer, and deckhands.

To round out the staff for a memorable adventure, add a galley staff, a superior chef, adequate housekeeping to clean cabins, serve food and keep the interior of the yacht spotless.

It could not be a multi-faceted experience without expensive specialists who fly helicopters, lead diving trips, monitor yoga sessions, teach dancing, sailing—the list is as varied as human imagination. Without the pros, who know how to operate the vessel, oversee other diversions and complete the charter successfully, the yacht could not leave the dock. It would be uninsurable. Not included in advertised charter fees is the amount the charterer directly spends on foodstuffs for all hands, alcohol in its many enticing forms, fuel to power the vessel and its ancillary craft—motor launches, jet skis and the like—and a damage deposit. The captain is responsible for the yacht itself. The charterer would own any damage that he or his guests may directly cause.

The Blue Moon Bar, as readers familiar with the recorded exploits of Captain Whartz already know, is a rather bluecollar drinking establishment often frequented by folks whom Central Casting might covet were Central Casting seeking to hire actors for a remake of The Wild One. However, it is also true that men with alligators—crocodiles, actually—on their polo shirts have been inside The Blue Moon upon occasion, though such occurrences are isolated.

The chartering discussion launched one cold evening after a woman named Grace, who worked in a nearby boat yard, posed a question when she had stopped in for something warm to drink. The Blue Moon Bar, on the nasty glacial days that had rattled Florida’s collective teeth at the start of 2018, offered a free Moon Shot made of hot apple cider and Mount Gay, with a pat of butter, sprinkled with cinnamon, floating on the top. The hot liquid slithered down one’s esophagus like a hot plumber’s snake.

Grace had been in The Blue Moon from time to time. She had a New England accent and had been to a college for girls in Northampton, Massachusetts. One of the guys who worked

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By Morgan Stinemet

with her in the boat yard said Grace originally came from Maine and her family had a history of being around boats.

“She don’t say much,” the man allowed. “But she listens real good. I remember once when Grace was talking about her college days and the courses she took. That’s when she said that she had graduated summa cum laude. I have no idea what that means.”

Captain Whartz set the issue straight immediately. “It means she was on social probation for making too much noise when she got her degree,” he offered, adding, “That’s what the ‘loudly’ part stands for.”

So, on the evening in question, Grace, possibly encouraged by a couple of Moon Shots to ward off the chill, registered a gritty, sooty opinion about lavish yacht charters.

The customers on the boats were usually overweight, loud, and wore too much jewelry, she growled. Chartering was okay, Grace maintained. In her imagination, she had already constructed a personal template for what a successful charter might contain.

“It starts with a perfect vessel. Size is not as important as quality. If I was chartering, I’d select a Hinkley, about 55 feet, with a couple of cabins for guests and separate quarters, aft, for crew. A married couple—maybe the boat’s owners— would work out best as crew. The Hinkley would have air conditioning,” Grace murmured.

“Anything else?” injected Captain Whartz.

“A centerboard,” Grace replied. “Small islands with no people and sandy beaches are easier to reach with a shallow draft boat.”

“You could do that with a jet ski.” Whartz pointed out.

“A sailboat the size of the Hinkley I’m envisioning would not have a jet ski.”

“There’s where you are missing out on the extra thrills of chartering,” Bubba countered.

“And by that you mean…?”

“I am saying chartering a yacht means that the person who books the vessel determines how many and how varied the extras associated with the charter will be. If you’ve never had a ride in a helicopter, and have the right platform, you can add a chopper to the package. Among the other “toys” that you can get are jet skis, power launches, water skiing boats, boats that you could hook a marlin from, small submarines or launches for SCUBA diving. On the yacht, you can exercise

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1/31/18 2:36 PM

in a gym or dance to disco in a room with an overhead rotating ball that reflects light beams off its mirrored surface—and though disco lasted only a decade, this could be a perfect chance to experience look-at-me superficiality first hand. If not up for more activity, then relax in a theater where you can watch all your favorite TV shows and sports events just like you’d see back home, so you don’t miss anything.

Bubba, in passing, mentioned that there are also charters from which you might be able to shoot wild birds right out of the sky if you’re a good enough shot. This stuff happens way offshore, Whartz indicated, and not in any country’s territorial waters. Authorities never knew about it.

“The bigger, more complete charters have onboard swimming pools, Jacuzzis, and saunas, so you never have to get into the ocean and run the risk stepping on a sea urchin or stingray,” Bubba explained to Grace.

Grace looked stunned by the mudslide of information she was getting from Captain Whartz. Aircraft, submersibles, runabouts, and jet skis? Weren’t the operators of those jet skis occasionally shot right off their craft in uncivilized countries she must have wondered?

Bubba, however, was on a roll.

He spoke warmly of a charter yacht’s professional staff that all worked in signature uniforms. The bigger the boat, he maintained, the more numerous the ancillary diversions. Gourmet dining could fit right in by hiring a professional chef whose culinary touch was perfect. Bubba touted purpose-built sections of large charter vessels. One such space, for example, housed an entertainment theater equipped with an enormous flat-screen television. Access for a charter’s passengers to high-end marinas came guaranteed because the boat and its crew had previously passed muster with the marina’s ownership. Though it appeared possible, Bubba allowed, that staff might outnumber the number of passengers that happenstance had never been a problem. “If the boat leaves the dock with more crew than customers, the excess crew just remains out of sight,” he explained.

“A couple of times when that took place and the charter got nailed by a hurricane, the extra people were helpful to have on board, those who weren’t real sick.”

With varying options as to the size of vessels and number of crew members, is there an economy of scale?

Grace asked Bubba about that very point, and Captain Whartz immediately set the record straight. “If a would-be charter yacht client asks about an economy of scale, the industry’s bookers have a word for the scenario. They call the event a non-starter charter. When phone calls come in looking for a cheaper way to book a luxury yacht the calls are “transferred” to an economy of scale specialist. However, the specialist never comes on the line. There are no specialists.

Just bottomless, black holes of disinterested neglect. Budget luxury yacht trips don’t exist. However, the people who inquire about charters that have never occurred, because no

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one had thought of anything so totally off the wall, are the very customers the charter industry covets. Charter wannabes seeking such experiences have a compulsive need to brag about those adventures to their friends at show and tells for rich folks. Such exploits are fearfully expensive—they are put-your-kid-through-four-years-of-Harvard expensive—and I’m just referring to the commission the point person who arranges the vessel’s charter gets.”

Grace showed shock. “That’s obscene,” she gasped.

“Well,” Bubba countered, “think about it. Some folks define life by how much money they can spend on meaningless things. Others judge power by how big their nuclear button is. The five-star level of luxury is available to anyone packing enough money. If you have the bucks, you can be a player until you run out of bucks. Luxury is repeatable within the framework of life, when you have the price of admission.”

“Do you consider that fair or ethically correct?”

Grace asked.

“I’m not qualified to make that assessment,” replied Bubba. “I’ve never gotten together enough money for the ticket to be on the inside looking out.”

Doobie interjected a comment and question. “Bubba, you seem to be off your game a bit—not the same guy we’re accustomed to seeing. You feel okay?”

“I’ve been out of sorts lately,” Bubba affirmed.

“Would you like another of the cold weather drinks I have been making?” Doobie offered.

“They’re free, right?”

“Yes.” “I’ll take four,” Bubba ordered, “because you weren’t going to sell them anyway.”

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1/31/18 2:37 PM

Paradise in a Coconut

By Gwen Hamlin

The group of cruisers is gathered around the picnic table on the sand under whispering Casuarina pines.

In front of each person is a small paper plate, a cup of water, two brushes, and a coconut half, the inside of which has been primed white with gesso and sanded smooth. Squeeze bottles of acrylic paints make the rounds as each person gives his or her plate dabs of the five colors provided, and all eyes turn intently to the head of the table where Steve Flowers of the Hardin 50 Magic Daulphin begins to show us how to paint Paradise in a Coconut.

We are in Georgetown, Bahamas, that winter

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“summer camp” for sailors that annually attracts hundreds of boaters seeking out tropical temperatures, convivial socializing, and shelter from the steady phalanx of cold fronts. I confess that when I first heard “Paradise in a Coconut” announced on the morning net, along with things like water aerobics, yoga, fun volleyball and Texas Hold’em, I dismissed it as a kitschy-sounding activity for craftsy-oriented people with nothing better to do.

Don’t you have a waterline to clean, a head to repair, a lobster to hunt?

It wasn’t until my family came to visit for spring break aboard our St. Francis 44 catamaran, Tackless Too, WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

2/3/18 5:27 PM

when we were pinned down during a prolonged wind event and looking for things to do that I gratefully heard “Paradise in a Coconut” offered again and decided to check it out. In an hour and a half, not only did we indeed capture paradise in our coconuts, but I, for one, have found my whole view of the world subtly shifted to an artist’s perspective.

“We’ll start with the background,” Steve says, directing us to mix a little pink, yellow and white together to come up with a pleasing coral color that will be the base of today’s image of a sunset sky. As he deftly dabs his mix into the top half of his coconut, cocking the shell this way and that so that the group can follow along, and gradually adding a little more pink as he progresses away from his horizon, Steve explains that he usually starts people out painting a beach scene, an easier subject to begin with, but because so many people have been coming to his sessions again and again, he has developed new scenes.

This is his first time teaching this one.

“Next we’ll mix some blue with a bit of white and do our base coat for the water half.” At this point Steve notices that I have been painting my WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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coconut upside down. No worries. I decide I like it that way!

Steve, a tall, lean sailor with a mane of hair and beard touched by gray, is just one of the many cruisers in Georgetown who volunteer their time to steer the many activities that make this cruiser node so popular.

His T-shirt today says “Southern Boy” and his instructions flow calmly and carefully in a quiet Alabama inflection. His interest in art stretches back to grammar school, he tells me later, when he won a statewide art competition, but as an adult, he steered it into a more practical career as a CAD artist, designing industrial piping systems on computers. “There was a woman I wanted to marry,” he explains with a smile, “and CAD design was a surer way of making a living.” But after 20 some years of it, despite the care and pride in a job well executed and a decent income made, at the end of the day, there was nothing with his name on it. Nothing to say that this was the work of Steve Flowers.

With clean brushes and a dab of white paint we add the top half of a setting sun and the upper edge of a line of clouds.

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2/3/18 5:27 PM

Paradise in a Coconut

Magic Daulphin was a fixer-upper that Steve and his wife took on in 2001. She continued working to provide the funds required and Steve took on the labor of repairing deck leaks and termite damage. “It’s funny,” Steve says, “how much like a painting repairing a boat is. You prep your support, you prime it, your complete it, and the successful result is very satisfying.”

The marriage, however, did not survive the project. “I think we did each other a favor,” says Steve of the split, as they have gone off on different courses that suit them. Steve’s course on Magic Daulphin took him to Key West, where he turned to oil painting in earnest and began working to sell his paintings in galleries there.

Dabbing our brushes back into the coral, yellow and blue mixes, we cruiser artists alternately shadow and highlight our cloud bank. Then we turn to the widening pie wedge of the setting sun’s reflection in the sea, a pointillist melange of colors, at least on my canvas! It’s a tricky step to remember to match up the reflection to our setting sun!

The artful coconuts got their start when Steve found himself short on canvas. He already liked working on wood and often found pieces of plywood drifting that he would clean up and treat with West System, before sanding and priming them. One day, a vegan crewmember added fresh coconuts to their diet, handing Steve a split coconut. After he extracted the meat to eat, the shell’s smooth inside surface beckoned. Later he discovered that he could split the coconuts with the husk still on and cut the bottom in a way that the coconut half could stand up on its own, creating, in effect, a mini diorama.

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At first the small scenes in the concave shell were a sideline, but one day, when showing his work to a gallery owner, Steve set one of his coconut paintings down on a counter, and it was immediately snatched up by a customer. He went right back to the boat and painted up 35 more. From then on, Steve became a regular at Mallory Square and on Duval Street, selling his coconuts and taking commissions.

Around the Georgetown picnic table our sunset scenes have come alive. Although my 12-year-old grandson’s attention wandered and left his sunset reflection disconnected from his horizon, on most faces there are expressions of surprised satisfaction since most of us have done little painting before. We sneak looks at one another’s work and are amazed to discover that while the theme is the same, every painting is unique, a marrying of Steve’s program and our imaginations, his directions and our hands.

But then Steve risks it all by taking a bit of the shadow color onto his brush and dashing in the mast and hull of a sailboat. I cannot tell you how much this moment stresses me. It seems like the whole thing could so easily be ruined. But it’s not. The suggestion does the job, and, with a slightly lighter slash for the sails, there it is, a boat sailing away over the horizon! It’s magic!

Steve began teaching his “Paradise in a Coconut” at three resorts in Key West after someone told him about the “Paint & Sip” phenomenon. He realized immediately that idea could work perfectly with his coconuts! It took a lot of planning to break each scene into simple, followable steps, using a minimum of colors, in a session that lasts just 90 minutes. The guests at the resorts loved it. When WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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he cruised into Georgetown, someone who’d seen his work suggested he offer it here. It was an immediate hit, and Steve has gone through a lot of coconuts this season under the pines at Volleyball Beach.

Like many of the cruisers before us, my daughter, grandson and I went back at the next opportunity to try our hands at another Paradise scene, this one of a palm tree on a beach with the ocean behind it. I am excited. I love my trunk, my palm fronds, but most of all, I love my clouds. I look to the sky over the anchorage and paint what I see.

I should explain here why this is a big deal for me. I am the daughter of parents who were both artists. My two sisters have painted at various stages in their lives.

I, however, have balked at color. I’m a capable sketcher, but putting color to canvas has always scared me. I have talked and talked about taking classes, but it has never happened. Now, I think painting paradise in a coconut has broken the ice!

Steve is tickled by my enthusiasm and offers to lend me a book on oil painting. I go to his boat to pick it up and step into a sailor’s version of an artist’s garret. The salon on the big old Hardin makes a perfect studio, well lit by big windows. Brushes and a palette of blues and greens all stand ready at an easel where he is working on a portrait of someone’s boat. Scattered around on every surface are dozens of coconut scenes. Unlike the acrylics we are using to paint with on the beach, these are done in oil and glisten like jewels. There are other full-scale paintings in various stages of completion. One in the works is Magic Daulphin itself, anchored off a misty tropical point of land where a rainbow is about to take shape. I haven’t been able to get out of my mind the haunting beauty of that morning rain shower over the water.

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Paradise in a Coconut

Steve is a spiritual kind of guy and feels deeply that this path in life has been given to him to follow. He is currently looking for crew to help him make the next leg of his voyage to the Virgin Islands where he anticipates good situations and a ready market for his own, truly lovely coconut creations and full scale paintings, as well as a steady stream of visitors that will allow him to continue and expand his program of painting Paradise in a Coconut.

In Florida he dabbled with offering his sessions in kits and online, but since he has been here he has determined that it is the live, hands-on interaction with novice painters working in and on Paradise that most inspires him.

And while I am not saying that my 90 minutes (actually I’ve been back three more times!) on the beach with a brush in one hand and a coconut canvas in the other turned any of us into artists, what I will say is that my daughter, grandson and I found ourselves looking at everything just a little differently, pointing out to each other the lights and shadows and colors that make up our wonderful world of sky and sea, clouds and reflections.

Author’s Update: In the summer of 2017, Steve Flowers sailed his Hardin 50, Magic Daulphin, singlehandedly down the Thorny Path to the Virgins. He wrote, “Finally made it to St. John. I think I fit into Coral Bay just fine.

This is definitely an artist paradise.”

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Except that Irma came calling. Weeks later, in the first email he was able to send, Steve wrote, “I had quite a ride on the Magic Daulphin during the storm. Everything on the outside is destroyed (mast, stanchions, etc.).

Currently she is sitting level, stuck in the mud next to the mangroves. All the interior is good.” Which means his paintings survived.

As I said in the article, Steve is a spiritual kind of guy, the sort who will look for and find a path through the challenges laid before him. He is one of many sailors in the Virgins still working on getting their boats put back together.

WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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Cruising Outpost’s Book Reviews

by Capt. Jim Cash

Kidnapped from the Caribbean

A Cannon and Sparks Adventure Novel

By Todd Duff Though we normally review only true-to-life, current non-fiction books from those intrepid souls out there cruising, we thought a change of pace would be welcome. So, let’s now enjoy a thriller set within the yachting world in and around places most of us have been to or want to go, but probably not in the rousing way that unfolds in this entertaining book.

The author, Todd Duff, is no stranger to real life adventure and has sailed since an early age. After a six-year sailing adventure with his children through the Caribbean, Central and South America, as well as the North and South Pacific, he has recently returned to the Caribbean. He currently lives on his sailboat in the British Virgin Islands, with an eye toward his next adventure. Much of that experience is captured in his book, even though it is stated as fiction.

Kidnapped from the Caribbean’s main characters, Brice Cannon and his significant other, Juliet Sparks (making this a “Cannon and Sparks Adventure”), earn their keep as marine insurance investigators, and among other activities such as diving, trace down yachts stolen from charter companies. One big yacht, a 60-plus-foot sailing catamaran, goes missing and they take the assignment. Since most stolen yachts end up involved in the drug trade, our team goes into action and heads toward the southwestern Caribbean.

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To blend in while making inquiries, they pretend to be getting into the “backpacker” trade to earn a little extra money. We learn that this is a fairly lucrative profession that involves transporting “hippy” backpackers from Panama to Columbia via water, since roads are virtually nonexistent.

The stolen yacht’s pre-existing crew had been forced to head towards South America and the Amazon River shortly after its departure from Tortola. The innocent group is skippered by Captain Toby, with cook Jenny being the daughter of a United States Senator. Running low on provisions, it intersects a French yacht where the skipper of that vessel meets his demise, provisions are stripped and another female captive, Bridget, is taken. The bad guys keep Jenny and Bridget in the forward crew quarters, and they are made to do manual labor while Toby is forced to stay on the helm and assist the enemy. His cooperation has been coerced, as his own sister is ominously being held captive and used as leverage.

In between drug and antiquities smuggling involving a Colombian cartel, we discover an “inside” operative exists within the web of intrigue, as Interpol and the U.S. are also present (enter the CIA). In the twisting course of the Cannon and Sparks investigation, Brice manages to be hired to meet the stolen yacht on the river and bring it to Colombia via the Amazon tributaries.

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Brice and Toby are destined to meet, and after Captain Toby gets wounded, Brice becomes a cartel confidant and takes over the stolen catamaran. While being cared for in an Amazon hospital by a native, Toby manages to get a radio call out to a Caribbean weather link and the flood gates open. An investigative reporter for the “New Times” writes a story, and the involvement of Jenny’s Senator father causes the U.S. Government to send in the Marines.

The adventure continues with interesting glimpses of a far-off world, with current events mirrored in this tale of fiction. Action ensues with good and bad forces lined up—our evolving heroes mixing it up with the cartel and Columbian rebels. We have a battle at a hideout, efforts towards the captives’ rescue, human sex slave trafficking, our ever present stolen yacht, and not least of all, ancient Inca treasure.

At its conclusion, we are taken briefly fast forward 18 months into the future of our good guys … where the treasure is still buried, but for how long? It could be that the “names are changed to protect the innocent,” but the people, places and plotting our author has created seem real, teasing us to stay tuned for another Cannon and Sparks Adventure.

A fun read for those of us that long to be “out there,” when life keeps us ashore.

www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Life Aboard Sea Cup

Living Aboard in a Colder Climate

What makes people want to live aboard a boat? Pretty beaches, swaying palm trees, tropical climates? What would possess someone with no sailing experience to try a new lifestyle in harsh conditions? We heard about Evvy Thomas who had decided to give living aboard a try... on a 27-foot Catalina, in the winter, in Chicago, and knew we needed to hear this story!

Cruising Outpost: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Evvy: My name is Thomas Redrup, but my friends call me Evvy (sounds like Eddie but with Vs). I am a 47-year-old truck driver based out of southeast Michigan / northwest Ohio. I live in my work truck Mon.-Thurs. and then on my boat for the weekends and time off.

Cruising Outpost: Tell us about your boat.

Evvy: My boat, Sea Cup, is a 1985 Catalina 27 standard rig/layout with a Universal M18 - 14 hp diesel engine. It’s my first large-ish boat and also my first sailboat. I bought her in July of 2017 so I’m still pretty new.

Cruising Outpost: What made you decide to live aboard?

Evvy: I chose to live aboard through a process of accidental discovery. I was living in Toledo, Ohio, at the time, in a neighborhood called Point Place which is a peninsula that goes into Lake Erie, and therefore, has a very active boating community. I moved there to be near the water and also with the idea that I would buy a small motorboat to tool around in during the summer, on weekends. I

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bought the small (15 feet) motorboat and on my first trip out on the lake, I immediately realized that I was going to want a bigger boat. Lake Erie is a shallow lake and the waves kick up very easily, making things pretty uncomfortable in such a small craft.

So, while searching online for a larger motorboat and also boating in general, I happened upon a web page dedicated to what’s called the Great Loop, which is something most cruisers know about, For your readers that don’t (like I didn’t), it is a system of waterways that encompasses the eastern portion of the United States and part of Canada, allowing one to travel from say, northwest Ohio around the top of Michigan to Chicago and taking the river system down to the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, up to New York and back to Ohio, all via navigable, inland waterways. Well, the aforementioned website was all about how to do the Great Loop as cheaply as possible.

At this point I was still all about motorboats, but his (Capt. John’s) site made me realize both that I wanted to do more than just tool around Lake Erie on the weekends, www.cruisingoutpost.com

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and that the cheapest way to travel via boat was on a full displacement vessel with a small diesel engine, and also, of course, by sail. That’s what changed my mind about the type of boat I wanted.

Then I started searching sailboats, which led me to YouTube channels featuring the sailing/cruising/ liveaboard lifestyle and I immediately got hooked and knew this is how I wanted to live and retire. I only wish I had gone through this process 15 years ago! So basically, the discovery of this website reawakened the wanderlust that’s always been in me and I decided that I wanted to travel on a boat to the Bahamas and beyond, and I knew that the cheapest way to do that is to also live aboard and save up money to make this dream a reality.

Cruising Outpost: Why did you choose this boat?

Evvy: I chose the boat that I currently have because it was a quick, cheap way to get onto a boat and start saving money. A decent Catalina 27 usually fetches $10K or more, but I lucked out and spotted a newly posted ad for one that had been on the hard for two years, had a previous deal fall through and the aging owners just wanted to get rid of it and get out of paying storage fees.

I got Sea Cup for less than half the going price - bought on the hard, no survey, no sea trial and fingers crossed that when I splashed her, she would float. Well she floats, motors, and sails very well, phew!

I knew that in order to make my travel dreams happen as quickly as possible, I had to get out of the rent game and try to live as cheaply as possible. By buying a small, liveable sailboat for cash, I cut my living expenses in half. I’ll be spending the next season or two learning to sail her while I save up for a more liveable 37- to 40-foot cruiser that I will eventually take through the Erie Canal and down the ICW to launch from Florida to the Bahamas WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

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Life Aboard

where I plan to cruise for six months in the winter. Then I’ll go back to the states to work and save for six months, then who knows, maybe Cuba for six months. My plans can expand from there until I’m too old to do it.

Cruising Outpost: Where/how did you learn what you need to do to liveaboard in a cold city?

Evvy: How I learned to live aboard in winter conditions has a bit to do with luck. I researched online, but that didn’t really teach me what I needed to know as far as me, myself getting the boat wrapped up and ready for living aboard through the cold temps. The luck happened when I chose the right place to dock my boat during my first summer aboard this past year. I chose a marina that had a large percentage of sailboats docked there in hopes that I’d meet a lot of people to learn from and it turns out, I fell in with several liveaboards there. They all move 30 miles north each winter to a marina down river from an Edison plant that uses the water to cool its works and expels heated exhaust water, keeping the marina water from freezing.

So, I followed them up and they were all very willing to help me with getting the boat shrink-wrapped and winterized (thank you John, Noel and Mike!).

As I type this it’s 26 degrees and snowing, but inside the boat is 74 degrees and I’m in my pajamas and a T-shirt! Even the cockpit is bearable without a coat for a few minutes at a time and when it’s sunny, the cockpit is outright balmy due to the greenhouse effect, regardless of the outside temp. I’m so grateful to those that helped teach the liveaboard community and me in general for everything I’ve learned thus far. I do have much more to learn though, and I am confident that the new friends I’ve made will be there for me every step of the way. I have finally found where I belong and I love it.

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Cruising Outpost: How cold does it get in the winters there? What is the wind like?

Evvy: It can get pretty cold. We usually get a cold snap early Jan./Feb. that will last for weeks and keep the temps in the teens during the day and closer to zero at night. We’ve had some luck with mild temps and little snow the past couple of winters, but just four years ago we set the snow record at seven feet for the year and Lake Erie froze harder than it had in the 30 years prior! The wind can be pretty heavy up here during the winter. Not all the time, but when it does pick up it can blow 25 to 35 mph for a full day or two, at a time which poses a particular problem for sailboat liveaboards up here where the water is somewhat thin. I’m told there will be a period of time where our sailboats will be stuck in the mud as the water blows out. Hopefully my boat will stay level during this time!

Cruising Outpost: How are you preparing your boat for wind and cold?

Do you winterize your engine?

Evvy: Preparing the boat for winter up here in Michigan basically entails shielding the cockpit and deck from the wind, cold and snow. I’m sure that many of your readers are familiar with the concept of shrink-wrapping a boat for storage and we do the same thing up here in the winter, but we build aluminum conduit structures over the cockpit and deck, and use clear-shrink wrap so that the sun can penetrate and help warm the boat’s cockpit and deck area. On a sunny 30-degree day, we can hang out in the cockpit in short sleeves and flip flops, which is very nice and helps alleviate some of the cabin fever that can tend to set in during the winter. We also insulate the inner walls of the cabin to hold in heat and cut down on condensation. I have taken the additional measure of putting one-inch foam sheathing under my v-birth cushions to keep them above any condensation that may still gather. And to answer your question, yes, we www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Sea Cups do have to winterize our engines even though we are in the water. The temps here can and do go below zero and we won’t be running our engines till the spring. There is also a two-week period in January when the Edison plant shuts down for maintenance and there is potential for the water to freeze an inch or two during that time.

Cruising Outpost: What do you think will be the best part of your first winter aboard? Are there many liveaboards where you live and if so how is the community?

Evvy: The best part of my first winter living aboard is already happening. It’s the community. The friends I’ve made and what they’ve already taught me is priceless.

We’re all here at a smallish marina off of the Detroit River. I’m not sure how many, but I think there are 20 or 25 liveaboards during the winter and I haven’t met them all yet. But the ones I do know are awesome. We had a big fish fry a couple weeks ago that was a great hit and from what I hear there are many onboard boat parties to be had during the months to come.

Cruising Outpost: What do you think will be the hardest part?

Evvy: I think the hardest part of living aboard through a Michigan winter is the lack of easily accessible running water. The dock water is shut off to avoid freezing pipes and the only way to refill your water supply is to haul jerry cans back and forth from a running tap that is not necessarily close to your boat. And water is heavy, lol. So, that’s a pain but I’ve quickly learned to be very conservative when it comes to water use for dishes, etc. I use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Another thing I sometimes worry about is the snow and ice on the docks and the potential to slip and fall into the ice-cold water. At any given time there are only a handful of people around and who knows if they’d here a cry for help, so that’s a little scary. I intentionally hold onto every post that I can as I enter/exit the boat in inclement conditions!

But as far the ease of living aboard during winter? All you really need is heat. I have two small 1500w ceramic tower heaters that draw 12 amps each at their high settings and I very rarely run them both at high. It’s currently 26 degrees outside and 72 inside, and I’m only running one of the heaters.

I use a small propane heater to bring things up to temp when I first get home for the week. It takes about 20 minutes, then I shut it off and maintain the temp with the electric heaters.

Cruising Outpost: What advice would you give to people who may be considering this lifestyle?

Evvy: My advice would be to just do it! And by that I mean, don’t spend years planning it out and making a huge deal about it in your head. This is one of those things that you just need to say “Okay I want to do it so I’m going to do it now.” Sell your “stuff,” get the boat and do it. There’s no perfect time, the time is now. The freedom is amazing. DO IT! www.cruisingoutpost.com

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䈀䄀䌀伀一匀䄀䤀䰀匀⸀䌀伀䴀 ㄀ Ⰰ 匀䄀䤀䰀匀 伀一䰀䤀一䔀

伀䘀䘀匀䠀伀刀䔀 匀䄀䤀䰀匀

一䔀圀 匀䄀䤀䰀匀

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⠀㐀㄀ ⤀ ㈀㘀㌀ⴀ㐀㠀㠀 泰 ㄀㄀㘀 䰀攀最椀漀渀 䄀瘀攀⸀ 䄀渀渀愀瀀漀氀椀猀Ⰰ 䴀䐀 ㈀㄀㐀 ㄀

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Tracking the Strange Voyage of the S/V Sea Nymph

Since the US Navy and TV networks such as ABC, NBC, and CBS made Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava some of the most recognizable cruising sailors in the world, the circumstances of their rescue over 2,000 miles off course have been in question. Recently released position reports tell the story that the doomed S/V Sea Nymph made good less than one nautical mile per hour for a period of 97 days downwind between June 26, 2017 and October 1, 2017. This contradicts the assertion by Ms. Appel to reporters that her boat could sail four-to-five miles per hour. Ms. Appel submitted these position reports to the US Coast Guard (USCG) on October 27, 2017, in a satellite phone call obtained by the author through a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA).

There are approximately 2,200 nautical miles between position 18 and 19 on the position tracking map above right.

According to Ms. Appel, it took her 45-foot sailboat with an upright mast and working rudder 97 days to go that distance.

The author has obtained the strange track of the Sea Nymph before its crew of two women and two dogs were

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By Linus Wilson

rescued 900 miles southeast of Japan by the US Navy on October 25, 2017. These are positions which were reported to the US Coast Guard by the owner of the Sea Nymph, a 45-foot Charlie Morgan-designed, Starrett and Jenks-built sailboat.

Ms. Appel spoke to interviewers from the USCG’s 14th district in Honolulu on board the USS Ashland, a US Navy ship, on October 27, 2017. She said that she hoped to have a three-week passage to Tahiti from her home port of Honolulu, with her crew member Tasha Fuiava, who had never sailed before. Then, she said that the Sea Nymph moved generally due south between 155 and 157 west longitude from May 5, 2017 to May 26, 2017. The only major deviation from this course as reported by Ms. Appel was the circling of Christmas Island, Kiribati. Ms. Appel told the author that she lacked charts for Christmas Island, Kiribati, the Northern Cooks and Wake Island, that would have let her see the depths in those anchorages. Thus, her only sources of harbor information were unreliable VHF calls. Christmas Island and Penrhyn (in the northern

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Cooks) both had sufficient channel and anchorage depths for the Sea Nymph, according to charts which were examined by the author.

On May 26, 2017, Ms. Appel decided it would be too hard to enter any of the atolls in the northern Cook Islands. Besides lacking charts for those islands, the boat’s motor would no longer start. The Sea Nymph turned around a little over 100 miles north of the port of entry Penrhyn atoll in the Cook Islands. She said after that the sailboat was then bound for Honolulu. Until June 26, 2017, her boat headed due north between 156 and 159 west longitude until they were within 750 miles south of Honolulu,

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Hawaii. For reasons that are not clear, Ms. Appel steered the boat west until it passed by Wake Island on October 2, 2017, local time. Ms. Appel has said little about their path over those 97 days. During that period, she told USCG officers that she set off flares and made VHF distress calls, but did not activate her EPIRB. The accuracy of this map depends on the veracity of Ms. Appel’s position reports to the USCG. The author has only been able to verify points 2, 14, 19, and 20 with independent sources besides Ms. Appel. At point 2, the USCG said it responded to her mayday call with an aircraft, but it left the scene when she said that her vessel was okay.

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Lost at Sea

There is a one-day discrepancy between when the Marine Guard station on Christmas Island, Kiribati, position 14, said they spoke to the Sea Nymph and when Jennifer Appel says they spoke. Jennifer Appel says she spoke to the “calling station” on May 17, 2017. The Christmas Island Marine Guard said they spoke on May 18, 2017, and continued to hail the Sea Nymph with no response on May 19, 2017, because she gave them incomplete information on the May 18, 2017 conversation.

The officials in Kiribati told the author that they even had records of the Sea Nymph’s call sign.

On October 1, 2017 (Honolulu time) or October 2, 2017 local Wake Island time, the US Air Force at Wake Island (point 19) confirmed to the author that its station heard the Sea Nymph by VHF. Ms. Appel requested a tow, but could not be located. At point 20, which is approximate, the USS Ashland rescued the Sea Nymph crew 900 miles southeast of Japan.

Ms. Appel has made several statements that have proved untrue.

Ms. Appel has said in the past that she faced a Force 11 storm leaving Honolulu, but weather data found no such winds or storm activity in that area. She said that she saw sharks bigger than were ever recorded in an area she called the “Dragon’s Triangle,” which is a geographic region that does not exist. She claimed her boat was 50 feet long to journalists, but has

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since conceded on the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast episode 42 that it was a 45-foot-long boat. Some parts of the journey are in dispute. The USCG told the Associated Press that it hailed the Sea Nymph on June 15, 2017, which responded that it would be arriving in Tahiti the next day.

In contrast, Ms. Appel told the USCG that point 14 on the figure (6S and 157W) was the closest her boat got to its planned destination of Tahiti. The USCG Honolulu has told Slow Boat Sailing that it has no plans to investigate the circumstances of the Sea Nymph rescue.

The closest path between the 20 numbered points in the figure is about 6,000 nautical miles. The speed of the Sea Nymph on the first two days was over five nautical miles per hour, and the trip to Christmas Island, Kiribati averaged just over four nautical miles per hour. From May 17, 2017, to June 10, 2017, the boat’s reported speed fell to about two nautical miles per hour.

Between June 10, 2017, and the VHF radio contact with Wake Island on October 1, 2017, (Honolulu time), points 17, 18, and 19, the Sea Nymph averaged less than one nautical mile per hour as reported by Ms. Appel to the USCG. The longest leg of this trip, 2,200 nautical miles, from points 18 to 19, was downwind. Such a slow speed seems only consistent to see if they had stopped anyplace before being rescued. Thus, something as

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Tracking the Strange Voyage of the S/V Sea Nymph

simple as the ladies’ passports could debunk the story of being at sea for five months. Finally, if they did stop somewhere, eye witnesses may come forward.

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In the survivor debrief, the USCG expressed surprise and dismay that Ms. Appel did not pull her EPIRB when she started setting off flares and hailing passing ships for a tow, beginning on June 26, 2017. Ms. Appel told the USCG that she was not truly in danger until after they obtained the tow from the Taiwanese fishing vessel on October 24, 2017. On that date, Ms. Appel swam out to the fishing vessel and called for a rescue by way of the fishing vessel’s satellite phone. The Taiwanese government has disputed Ms. Appel’s allegations that the fishing vessel posed a danger to the women.

Dr. Linus Wilson holds a six-pack captain’s license.

In his Island Packet 31’ sailboat he has visited the Bahamas and Cuba, transited the Panama Canal, and crossed the Pacific to Tahiti. He has written three books including How to Sail Around the World Part-Time.

He is the creator of the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast and YouTube channel.

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There’s This Place:

Nestled on the north side of Samana Bay, on the eastern end of the Dominican Republic (DR) with a back drop of thousands upon thousands of native palm trees, is a cruiser’s dream come true, the Puerto Bahia Marina. This gem in the Caribbean is located on the southern coast of the Samana Peninsula. The Samana Peninsula is widely known as the top cruising ground of the Dominican Republic.

With its numerous secluded, safe harbours, intimate caves, bountiful fishing grounds, great stretches of sandy beaches, and other alluring destinations, it invites exploration and offers memorable days of pure pleasure.

If you are running up from the islands east and south of Puerto Rico, or if you are running down from Turks and Caicos headed southeast to the islands, this

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By Robert Scott / S/V Honeymoon Forever

is your place to stop and refresh your crew, replenish your supplies and recharge your batteries (yours, not the vessel’s LOL). Puerto Bahia Marina is the only full service marina (no haul out) on the Samana Peninsula.

One of the first things that struck me as special about this place is that, as we were coming through the final set of markers to enter the marina proper, two employees wearing their issued polos and caps with the marina logo proudly displayed on them came out in a dinghy to greet us and to escort us to our slip where there were four dockhands waiting to take our lines and help secure the vessel. It was a very fine welcome indeed after a rough eight-hour journey across the top end of the peninsula and around Punta El Pasquero de Francisco and Punta La Palometa to enter Samana Bay.

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Puerto Bahia Marina, Dominican Republic For dockage they can accommodate 107 vessels from 20’ to 150’ LOA with depths of 10 feet on wide concrete docks. Shore power, both 30 and 50 AMP, is available, clean, fresh water is abundant and 24/7 security is provided.

The rates per foot are some of, if not the best, that I have seen while out cruising this year. They start at 1.00 per foot USD and the longer you stay the more cost effective it becomes with reductions of 25%, 50% and up to 75% per foot depending on your length of stay! They offer both diesel and gasoline which are readily available from their very conveniently located fuel dock.

The entire marina is well protected by a well thought out and well built break wall which protects you and your vessel from the prevailing easterlies.

The marina is an official Customs, Immigration clearing facility and the Commandant is one of the nicest gentlemen you will meet on the island; a true professional with a strong hand shake and warming smile.

They also have excellent free WiFi, a gym, two pools - one infinity pool water level and one on the second floor of the facility which offers a wonderful view of the bay, two restaurants - one waterside with indoor and

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outdoor seating and one attached to the facility, three bars, a boaters’ lounge with a big screen TV and a pool table. Nice, clean, hot showers and a convenient self service laundry room (they work on the honor system for payment) are there for your usage. Trash bins are located on every dock and collected daily. They also have a very well stocked and fairly priced mini market where you can get everything from ice cream to fine wines, from cold beer to cold cuts and all points in between.

If you are in need of additional supplies, i.e.

19 11.685’ N fresh fruits, vegetables, 69 21.339’ W food stuffs, hardware

items, etc., and because the marina is set back somewhat from the main road into the town of Samana, the marina has a shuttle service which will take you to the main road (an all uphill climb). From there you can take a gua gua (local shuttle van @ 50 pesos) or even a moto taxi (300 pesos) into town and have all of that and more

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There’s This Place:

available to you. If you are in need of any work on your vessel such as cleaning, waxing, bottom cleaning, bright work polishing, etc., there are a host of very respectful, industrious locals who are there to accommodate you. They are not marina employees so you get to negotiate your price with them and with the exchange rate being in your favor (currently about 45 DR Pesos to 1 USD) your dollars go a long, long way.

One of the other beautiful things about this location is its close proximity to some of the natural wonders that the Dominican Republic boasts. To name just a few: Cayo Laventado is a pristine island that is located in the middle of the entrance to Samana Bay - you actually pass it on your way in when sailing here. The island is less than a half mile square and contains two separate parts. On the windward or eastern side is a high-end, all-inclusive resort. On the leeward or western side is beautiful white sand which curves around the circumference of the island. It is this side you visit to enjoy the beauty. There are two ways to get here: take you own vessel and anchor out, then dinghy to shore, or take the daily shuttle from the marina. ($15). We have done both and much prefer sailing over there ourselves. Whichever way you chose, once there you can relax on the beautiful white sand beach, snorkel, and enjoy a fantastic meal either from your lounge chair or under the many shade trees and tents. You can also enjoy cold beverages of your choice and shop for local crafts and goods, all in a sun-drenched tropical surrounding.

Or, you can do nothing but hang out and relax.

El Limon Waterfalls is considered the most beautiful waterfall in the Dominican Republic, and by many, in the Caribbean. Standing at 131 feet tall, once you are in its presence it’ll take your breath

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Puerto Bahia Marina, Dominican Republic

away. The journey to get there begins with a light horseback ride at the edges of the Limon River through “La Ruta del Café” nature trail. During the ride you will see various smaller falls and the tropical rainforest vegetation which surrounds this beautiful path. Once you reach the El Limon Waterfall you can take a dip in it’s refreshing waters, take in the scenery, have a refreshing beverage and some snacks, hike some additional trails and just enjoy a truly unforgettable day.

There is only one way to get to Los Haitises National Park and that is by water - again either your own vessel or through a tour. The National Park of Los Haitises is located at the western end of Samana Bay on the south shore across from Sanchez. This park features mangrove swamps with giant mangrove trees forming a lush, green canopy above the watery trails that wind through the swamps. Taino Caves, where the islands first inhabitants lived, are another popular attraction of the park. Tours leave from Samana, Sanchez and Sabana de la Mar at the park’s eastern edge across the bay from Samana. There are important mangroves in Los Haitises National Park and two major life zones: the wet forest and the subtropical rainforest. Cedar, ceiba, mahogany, and other tropical American trees are common here. A large number of birds can be found including Hispaniolan parrots, owls, and gannets. Notable are also the ìjutíaî and the solenodonte. There are pictographs and petroglyphs in some caverns.

With your tours and adventures completed each day, you can now head back to the marina which, by the way, is connected to the Bannister Hotel, a five star hotel noted for its excellent service, beautifully appointed rooms and luxurious ambiance. In the hotel lobby is a comfortable and spacious sitting area all there for your convenience and usage. Adjacent to that is the lobby lounge bar which is excellent for relaxing, reading or getting

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El Limon Falls, the most beautiful falls in the DR

in touch with your loved ones via the free WiFi. Or, you can enjoy some sundowners from one of the two infinity pools previously mentioned.

Marina Puerto Bahia is a must stop location if you are cruising in this region of the Caribbean. We have met dozens of cruisers here during our stay and everyone of them has agreed, they were glad they stopped!

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Talk of the Dock - What’s N

CATASTIC The World is Going to the Cats Just over a year ago, I wrote about seven new models of cats and how multihulls are changing the world. Well, guess what? The multihulls keep multiplying so it’s time to do it again with some pretty cool cats that are changing the way we sail – and power.

heads, a raised starboard helm and a self-tacking jib with a wide variety of downwind sail combinations available.

Only time will tell if this cat will nip at the heels of its iconic predecessor.

The new Lagoon 50 sits squarely in the middle of the French builder’s line and nestles in between the 450 and the 52. Up to six cabins and six tiny heads can be squeezed in so it’s bound to become popular in charter.

The owner’s version on the other hand, extends the master stateroom the entire length of the starboard hull and has room for a small lounge and his and hers vanities in the forward head. The 50 has a flybridge with the helm station on the centerline, right behind the mast. A self-tacking jib and Code 0 combination will make this cat easy to handle in most conditions.

Lagoon 40 & 50 Lagoon is rolling out two new models for 2018 with a refreshed look and a lighter construction. The new Lagoon 40 is replacing both the 400 and 39 neither of which proved to be as popular as the original 380, which enjoyed unparalleled success with over 800 units launched. (The 380 is still in very limited production.) The new entrylevel cat by VPLP Design boasts 3-4 cabins and two Leopard 50 South African builder, Leopard, is replacing their charter workhorse 48-footer with a new 50 that comes in two iterations – with or without a flybridge. In each version the helm station is to starboard with good visibility forward and somewhat obscured sightlines to the aft corners. They’ve also introduced a new exterior aesthetic with elongated, seemingly continuous hull ports and more angular saloon windows. The resulting profile

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s New & What’s Goin’ On? All The Latest News That Fits Between The Sheets As an “Insider” Zuzana sees a lot of what’s happening inside the boating industry. If you are into the boating lifestyle, chances are you’d like to be privy to some of the things that will affect your lifestyle as soon as they become available. So here is some of the inside info she has found while working the boat shows and industry functions. is as if an older Leopard and a Bali had a baby. Signature leopard features are still visible including a door to the forward cockpit, a nav desk in the port forward corner opposite the galley, and the opening window aft that ties together the settees between the saloon and the cockpit.

These elements were brought over from their 40-footer but now each is better proportioned with more elbowroom all around. The master stateroom takes up the entire port hull and it seems there may be an option for full his and hers heads in the same hull, which American couples will love.

Look for this one via Moorings and Sunsail soon.

Fountain Pajot 44 MY Cats aren’t just blow boats. In fact, the fastest growing segment of the multihull market are powercats. So with that, let me introduce my future home – well, maybe.

French builder Fountaine Pajot just launched a new 44-foot motor yacht that’s making waves. Designer Pierangelo Andreani and naval architect Daniel Andreieu created a cat with over 500 square feet of living space that moves at 23+ knots. That’s right, when the wind dies or you just want to get to the next Pain Killer faster, fire up the (upgraded) Volvo Penta 435 hp diesels and cruise along at 18 knots with exceptional fuel economy. She has the room of a 50foot trawler and moves at twice trawler speeds. As if cats aren’t already easy to drive, FP added joystick control so you can park this 22-foot wide beast with just a fingertip.

The posh master takes up the whole port hull and so far anyway, FP is mum on whether they’ll be making a charter version – my guess is yes, and I can’t wait to drive one. www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Dufour 48 It was only a matter of time before French monohull builder, Dufour, got in the game with a multi. This one is so new, it’s still only a drawing with the first model scheduled to debut in Croatia in 2019. I’d book my charter now if they’d let me.

This Umberto Felci design focuses on outdoor living with an enormous flybridge, a 26-foot wide cockpit and two double sunpads on the foredeck. This cat is rated for 12 overnight guests in 3-5 cabins with up to five heads. The 270-degree windows are vertical so they’re less likely to heat up the interior and the aft end is all glass with a sliding door and an opening window.

Felci’s contemporary lines and reverse racing-style bows borrow their aesthetics from some high-end racer/cruiser cats like HH Catamarans and the now defunct Gunboat. The self-tacking jib combines with the traditional hoist fathead mainsail for a total sail area of 1,335 sq ft. Add 969 sq ft Code 0 and the 1,184 sq ft gennaker and this cat will fly.

HH Catamarans And now for the WOW factor: HH Catamarans’ line of uber-fast, all carbon fiber multis designed by Morrelli and Melivn. The first two HH cat models (55 and 66) are a reality now with several versions of both sailing everywhere from the Far East to the Mediterranean. If crazy high-end speedsters are your thing, the place to catch one of these cats is usually at the Miami and Annapolis boat shows where the 55 and 66 made their debuts just before sliding south to participate in glitzy Caribbean regattas. These fast luxury cats are built in China and will lighten your wallet to the tune of a few million dollars. But hey, if you like to win and turn heads while you do, then these twin-hulled wonders are the cat’s meow.

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18th Annual St. Petersburg Sail, Powerboat Show & Cruisers’ Party

I

t’s hard to believe it has been 18 years since we started doing the Cruisers’ Parties, and you might say they have developed a reputation that keeps people coming year after year.

This year’s St. Pete Party brought people from all over the USA. We had people driving all the way down from Atlanta, Georgia, and even a few who came from as far away as Canada and Puerto Rico. All this just to partake in a couple free beers (from the Great Bay Distributing Company), enjoy some hot pizza, and the music of the Eric Stone Band.

It’s amazing how far cruisers will go for free beer and pizza!

Once again we held a raffle with the proceeds benefiting the Educational Tall Ship Foundation as well as the Call of the Sea Foundation.

This year’s event was a little smaller than previous years, but it was easily as enthusiastic a crowd as the very first year.

By the way, we had about 10 people attend who were also at party #1 all those years ago! Once again, this was a very memorable event for all!

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BOAT SHOW. EDUCATION. RENDEZVOUS.

BrEMErTon, WA / MAy 1-5, 2018 Visit TrawlerFest.com to purchase your boat show & seminar tickets or call (410) 990-9086 Ext 22 for more information

Bremerton, Washington in-Water Boat shoW

Thursday, May 3 – Saturday, May 5, 2018

seminars

Tuesday, May 1 – Saturday, May 5, 2018

The Power Cruising AuThoriTy

MYS TFBREM OUTPOSTAd.indd 84 pg 164 Trawlerfest.indd 1

The nation’s Best in-Water Display of Cruising Powerboats Latest Marine Products & services First Class Boating seminars & Demonstrations

PrEsEnTED By

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Join Us For:

rendezvous style Evening Events 2/5/18 1:27 PM 2/5/18 11:22 AM

I Found It At The Boat Show Since we get to (have to??) spend a lot of time at boat shows, we figured we probably should do some actual work. Strangely enough, drinking Painkillers and eating show-dogs doesn’t quite measure up to what the IRS people think is work. So, in order to be able to write off all the boat show expenses, we actually have to walk around and find new stuff to feature in the magazine. It’s not an easy job, but someone’s gotta do it!

The Engel Dry Box Keep Hot Things Hot - Cold Things Cold

Sometimes you need to keep things dry, cold, hot, or all three.

ENGEL lightweight, airtight, insulated cooler/dry boxes are made for any adventure.

If some ice melts and the box tips over in your car - no problem.

There will be no mess to clean up like normal coolers. The airtight gasket also keeps hot air out and the cold air in. These boxes are waterproof up to a depth of three

feet and are available in 13, 19 and 30-quart capacities in either white, grassland, pink or tan colors.

Engel cooler/dry boxes are perfect for keeping food fresh, for storing sensitive electrical equipment, cameras, medical supplies or safety equipment.

They float and can be used as a ditch bag. They also have pole holders as an option!

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I Found It At The Boat Show

Aumaris Nautical Jewelry Nautical Works of Art from the Hawaiian Islands Genuine Turks Head bracelet.

Available in 14k &

Sloop pendant 14k & 18k gold or platinum Genuine Turks Head wedding band. Available in 14k & 18k yellow gold, white gold, or platinum

Men’s single shackle earing 14k & 18k gold or platinum

18k yellow gold, white gold or platinum

Now, jump ahead 30 or so years. Hector is Okay, now ya gotta try to follow this, as it now creating even more great nautical designs at does get a little confusing. A little over 30 years Aumaris Jewelry in Hawaii, which he started years ago, in a land far, far away... no wait, that was ago when he moved there.

Star Wars. What I want to tell you about is the The items you see above jewelry business.

You see Aumaris Jewelry are just a few of the thousands was started many years ago of design combinations he has come up with. The majority of

by Hector Sanchez. Hector New sterling silver his designs are available in 14 and Bob Bitchin were cable bracelet with karat, 18 karat, yellow or white partners for years in the Turks Head accents jewelry business, under the gold, as well as platinum.

His line is not limited to name Zzyzyz Jewelry, which a few designs, as he is well is when Hector first started known for coming up with making Turks Head and cable link chain necklaces very creative custom pieces and bracelets. for people as well as his nautical creations.

If you are looking for some of the best nautical Since Bob decided to take off and sail around designs available anywhere in the world, this is the world, poor ol’ Hector was stuck with the where you want to look! Just open your computer, business. That was okay with him, as he was the jeweler and Bitchin just came up with ideas on and go to www.aumaris.com & tell ‘em Bob sent ya! Who know’s, he might even give ya a discount! what nautical items he would make.

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I Found It At The Boat Show

Henri Lloyd Freedom Line Serious Offshore and Coastal Protection

Every boater needs a good foul weather jacket for the days that we DON’T plan on having. You know, those days when the wind is on your nose, the rain is falling, and you wonder why you ever decided to go out there in the first place.

But wait! We go out there for adventure, and to truly enjoy an adventure you need a little adversity.

That is what the new Freedom line from Henri Lloyd was developed for. Made from high performing TP2 fabric which uses a bi-component technology, Freedom products are 100% waterproof, windproof, and highly breathable. They offer features like the Optivision hoods for increased peripheral vision as well as the high-cut collars with spume visor for full face protection.

Their photo-luminescent reflectors (which have screwed up more than one flash photo, by the way!) represent cutting-edge technology that absorbs UV

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light (sunlight or artificial) and after dark they release energy to improve safety at night.

Some of the features that make this a good choice for foul weather are the Marl fleece collar lining, fast draining hand warmer pockets with Rentex mesh lining and waterproof zips, the dual cargo and handwarmer pockets with micro fleece linin, and internal Dartex storm cuffs which work well with the nylon seat reinforcement to keep you dry.

But the feel and fit is what will set these apart as comfortable foulies. As most cruisers know, you live in foulies sometimes for weeks at a time, and for those days (and nights!) these are the foulies you will want to have aboard.

The men’s Freedom Foul Weather Jacket is available in Black, Navy & Red. The ladies’ come in Navy or Red. The Hi-Fit pants set is 100% waterproof and comfortable for those long night passages!

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I Found It At The Boat Show

EP Carry Easy to Carry by Hand, Powerful Enough for Your Dinghy

The new EP Carry has the right amount of efficient power for small boats, with a unique design to maximize control, comfort and safety. Its patented design makes powering your small boat simple and easy for a better experience.

EP Carry is light enough to lift and carry easily - 21 lbs. total for motor with battery pack. It’s also simple to set up, operate and take down from a seated position - no standing or leaning over your transom. A simple pull on the tiller arm raises the motor when you reach shore, and a simple push

can lower it. Throttle and reverse controls are easy to use at the end of the long tiller arm and the waterproof and buoyant battery pack offers a fast battery recharge - just 5 hours or less.

Add to all of that the patented water-lubricated gear system, highaspect ratio, slow-turning prop design and long run time per charge, and you have the whole package. It will run for 1 hour at full throttle, or 2 hours at half throttle, or 3+ hours at slow speeds.

So, if you’ve been thinking about going electric, you should look into this lightweight and easy-to-use new outboard from the folks at EP Carry.

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Bomb’s Away Recent comments made over the airways and in some university circles made mention of the “Cyclone Bomb” that impacted a significant portion of the East Coast between January 3rd and January 5th. They were made light of as if it was just the media sensationalizing, rather than real. Nothing can be further from the truth as to its authenticity.

fig 1

The term itself has been a mainstay for some time, especially since the infamous APL China incident, where a container ship (along with five other ships) was overwhelmed by a similar “Cyclone Bomb” system back in October in 1998 in the western north Pacific Ocean. It resulted in substantial loss of cargo and huge monetary follow-up insurance claims. There was no loss of life, which would have elevated by 10-fold the incident (figs 1 & 2). Even the most updated online version of Bowditch

specifically addresses such marine weather phenomenon and what it is: “Meteorological Bomb.”

Figs 1 & 2 depict serious damage of wind and wave action to the container ship APL China in late October of 1998.

Thus, a “Meteorological Bomb” is a low-pressure system (Extra-tropical Cyclone, Wave Cyclone, MiddleLatitude Cyclone) that will undergo a rate change in atmospheric pressure over a 24-hour period at a rapid intensification rate of one millibar (mb) per hour for a total change in pressure in that time frame of 24 mb. In terms of meteorological jargon, the definition is described as “a Synoptic Scale Cyclone” that deepens “One (1) “Bergeron” (24 mb in 24-hours, with a + or a - latitude adjustment factor). Near latitude 45N/S, the Figs 3 & 4 represent the 48 Hour 500 mb & Surface Pressure Forecast for 00 UTC 26 Oct. 98. The adjustment is 18 mb in 24-hours; near 60N the adjustment is by the definition of 24 mb per day. Note that many “Extra-tropical Cyclones” deepen that magnitude in less than 12 hours.

fig 3

fig 2

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fig 4 The following are guidelines for identifying “Meteorological Bombs”: 1) Warm air is a prime trigger for “Meteorological Bombs.” Impressive warm frontal zones on a frontal wave, particularly at relatively low latitudes (between 30 & 40 degrees), is indicative of advection (or transport) of warm, moist air. Abundant moisture in the warm sector of an “Extra-tropical Cyclone” is indicative of rapid intensification or “Cyclogenesis.” Meteorological satellite imagery often depicts extensive comma head-shape cloud masses in the warm sector in the early development stage.

Many “Extra-tropical Cyclone” systems were former “Tropical Cyclones” (hurricanes or typhoons), abundant with extensive tropical moisture which enables them to intensify very rapidly and often become more intense

than when there were a pure “Tropical Cyclone.”

Fig 5 depicts the extreme rapid decrease in pressure (some 50+ mb) predicted over 24 hours and its impact on a poor decision made by a sailboat’s skipper who did not pay attention to the forecast predicted days in advance!

The USCG rescue team advised the boat’s occupants to not abandon the boat.

2) Strong “Atmospheric Instability”: This simply means there is a rapid decrease in temperature with elevation (or negative lapse rate) through the lower portion of the atmosphere (Troposphere), indicative of the presence of strong convective thunderstorms and frequent lightning. The trailing portion of a cold front sometimes shows strong convection just ahead of what will be a developing warm front.

fig 5

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L e e C h e s n e a u ’s M a r i n e We a t h e r fig 6

3). Strong upper level jet stream winds of a zonal nature (west to east) with winds more than 100 knots (500 mb) are indicative of a strong frontal boundary.

4) Fast Movement: Contrary to higher latitude “Extra-tropical Cyclones” (60 degrees N/S) which tend to be slower moving systems, lower latitude cyclones (30-40 degrees N/S), especially those that develop into “Meteorological Bombs,” usually move quite rapidly under a zonal jet stream air flow moving at a rate of 35 knots or more at the surface.

5) Sea Surface Temperatures Over Water of 15 or 16 Degrees Celsius: Some “Extra-tropical Cyclones” will especially develop over areas of strong thermal temperature gradients aided by warm ocean currents (Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, Agulas, and East Australian warm ocean currents).

6) In scientific terms, strong “Positive Vorticity Advection” (or PVA) is associated with rapidly moving and amplifying upper level short wave troughs, well depicted at 500 mb in the final developing stages.

Fig 6 is an enhanced meteorological satellite image of an extensive cloud formation wrapping around the “Extra-

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tropical Cyclone’s” deep low pressure center. This is the same system that impacted the APL China and five other container ships noted previously.

7) The mature “Extra-tropical Cyclone” has a classical characteristic comma head-shape pattern with wrap around cloud bands just outside of the center of circulation, quite apparent on enhanced meteorological satellite imagery.

8) Low central pressures are not always evident by ship reports, who usually operate to avoid storms. Buoys are sometimes not plentiful enough. “QuickSCAT” technology will provide very accurate data on “Extratropical Cyclone” intensity (wind strength) where many ships and buoys will not since they are not in the right locations at the right time.

Senior Marine Meteorologist Lee Chesneau, authors Cruising Outpost articles & has on ongoing 45+ year career; now as an educator of mariners (professional & recreational). He has co-authored “Heavy Weather Avoidance & Route Design…Concepts & Applications of 500 mb Charts” with a renowned senior Master Mariner published and distributed by Paradise Cay. www.cruisingoutpost.com

2/1/18 4:29 PM

A We a t h e r B o m b - C l o s e U p a n d P e r s o n a l

A weather bomb satellite photo...

...and close up and personal

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Tech Tips

A Closer Look At Mobile Device Apps There are a lot of little things that can make your boat easier to use and more enjoyable. Here are some tips from Captain Mike Martell

Navigating the New Way – With Tablet and New Charting Apps For mobile device and iOS device users, I’ve heard that there is quite literally an ‘app’ for everything. This is almost true. For boaters, sailors and cruisers, however, who would like to ride the crest of the mobile device wave, finding an app for navigation has been difficult, complicated, and in some cases, a little pricey. This is why the new iOS and Android system app from NV charts – a free app - is a welcome arrival on the scene for people like me.

Digital navigation has been around for a while. There were (and are) chartplotters; then came navigation on a PC with the venerable CAPN program and new kinds of charts – raster, vector, and whatever else. We were introduced to iNavX and the ability to download charts to navigate with smartphones and iPads. It requires an account with XTraverse (renewable for a fee every year), and uses NOAA charts of the US East Coast.

The NV Charts app allows me to turn my Smartphone or tablet mobile device (all iOS devices and Android OS devices) into a portable navigation system. I can download NV Charts regions to my device and then navigate using it when I’m within range of a mobile broadband signal (near shore) or when my device is linked (e.g., via bluetooth) to a portable GPS receiver.

With a portable GPS receiver, in this case from Dual (gps.dualav.com), that problem is solved. I use the XGPS-

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150-A portable battery-operated Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver. This little high-sensitivity WAAS GPS receiver is simple to pair with a Smartphone or tablet, and works with most apps that require GPS. The battery lasts all day and has plenty of juice left when I shut it down. Because the GPS receiver connects via Bluetooth, your tablet doesn’t need any WiFi connectivity to navigate.

The app functions just like a chartplotter, showing my vessel in real time superimposed on the chart. One has zoom capabilities, MOB capabilities, instruments (speed and course, etc.), can build routes and measure range and bearing with the app’s toolset.

I like the fact that weather and Doppler radar app icons can also be available on the same tablet screen, as well as a gyrocompass app, moon and star constellations, rules of the road, and other fun stuff such as weather, buoy conditions, real-time tide data, etc. Like they say, there’s an app for just about everything, even a guide to knot tying.

The tablet is very rapidly replacing the notebook PC as the central computing instrument of choice for many people. The ease of use, preponderance of specialized apps, graphical user interface, and other features have pushed these Mac-based arcades to the forefront of our preferences, and worldwide, market and industry statistics show it.

WWW.CRUISINGOUTPOST.COM

2/6/18 3:51 PM

Tech Tips from Capt’n Mike Martell That doesn’t mean that the PC is going to disappear.

Rather, it’s going to stay on the desk at the office, and the Smartphone and the tablet will do the traveling and the browsing at the kitchen table in the evening.

Of course, mobile devices are notoriously delicate and vulnerable to damage from dropping, or from water. They’re hardly ‘marinized’. But solutions are already being developed by entrepreneurs, such as the waterproof and mountable LifeJacket case for the iPad, developed by Global Navigation Authority (GNA).

Despite its name, it’s a small but innovative company (www.gnava.com) founded in 2010. The LifeJacket case was just what we were looking for.

The NV Charts app is free, but the charts themselves are not. They are easily obtained by online purchase from www.nvcharts.com, where one can also buy the paper charts (which all boaters should have on board!). Within the app one can use the Settings option to select such things as language, vessel data, etc. Cruising Mode (ship icon) switches the view from default planning mode. Here, tracking is active, ship position is shown on screen, log speed and depth etc., are all activated. The user can also configure all options for GPS tracking, such as measurements in meters or feet, speed and depth. A nice feature is the Logbook, where the user stores all track entries.

The most important content for a navigation app is charts, followed by harbor and anchorage information, service facilities, supplies, and local guidebook information. Currently under development and available shortly will be the ‘NV Cloud’ where users will be able to store and download content. With the NV Charts app, the user will be able to add photos, detailed information, and other helpful data that can also benefit other users.

The NV server can be used as data storage for tracks, notices, photos, etc., available everywhere and at all times by any internet device accessible via a registered, password protected account. It’s just one way that NV app users will be able to share helpful information to help make these charting products better and navigation safer.

This is the near future of digital navigation, enabled by connectivity, and the newly-launched NV Charts app is the beginning. NV Charts’ app lets me update my charts regularly so that I can have only the latest accurate data to navigate with.

NV Charts currently supplies chart regions for the entire U.S. East Coast and Caribbean – as well as the North Sea and Baltic regions of Europe. www.cruisingoutpost.com

_pg 174-175 Tech edited1.indd 3

Cruising Outpost 175

2/6/18 3:52 PM

1991 60’ Samson - $175,000 Neal Damron - 804.727.4787

1979 56’ Nautical Developments Corp - $199,000 Curtis Stokes - 954.684.0218

1990 54’ Irwin - $274,900 Clark and SaraNell Jelley - 561.676.8445

1984 47’ Bristol - $172,500 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1998 45’ Hunter - $138,000 Clark and SaraNell Jelley - 561.676.8445

1980 44’ Cherubini - $189,500 David Robinson - 410.310.8855

1979 44’ Cheoy Lee - $63,500 Ryan Daniels - 904.580.0559

2001 42’ Catalina - $129,900 Greg Merritt - 813.294.9288

1985 41’ C&C - $49,900 Greg Merritt - 813.294.9288

2001 40’ Sabre - $140,000 Clark and SaraNell Jelley - 561.676.8445

1996 40’ Catalina - $126,500 David Raftery - 802.349.7200

1980 39’ CAL - $71,900 Bill Boos - 410.200.9295

To see more details about these and all other yachts around the globe, please visit our website at

www.curtisstokes.net 176 Cruising Outpost

pg 176-177 Curtis Stokes Yachts.indd 2

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2/2/18 3:00 PM

Worldwide Yacht Sales Yacht Charters New Yacht Construction

1971 39’ Pearson - $34,000 Stewart Reeser - 410.924.8295

1983 39’ Corbin - $52,000 David Robinson - 410.310.8855

2008 38’ Hunter - $120,000 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1989 38’ Sabre - $97,500 Ryan Daniels - 904.580.0559

1977 37’ Tartan - $42,000 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1979 37’ Gulfstar - $36,500 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1981 36’ Pearson - $32,000 Wayne Smith - 516.445.1932

1995 36’ Catalina - $59,500 Greg Merritt - 813.294.9288

1986 36’ Catalina - $39,995 Wayne Smith - 516.445.1932

1983 36’ Canadian Sailcraft - $41,500 Quentin Haynie - 804.577.7227

1993 35’ Hunter - $47,500 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1987 30’ Sabre - $33,900 Curtis Stokes - 954.684.0218

1.855.266.5676 | 954.684.0218 | info@curtisstokes.net www.cruisingoutpost.com

pg 176-177 Curtis Stokes Yachts.indd 3

Cruising Outpost 177

2/2/18 3:00 PM

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pg 178-179 Eastern yachts.indd 2

34’ Ericson 34 35’ Catalina 350 35’ Catalina 350 35’ Catalina 350 35’ Jeanneau 35 36’ de Dood Int. 36’ Catalina MKII 36’ Catalina MKII 38’ Sabre 38mkII 40’ Catalina 400 40’ Catalina 400 44’ Catalina 445 45’ Columbia 45 47’ Lindgren Ketch 50’ Herreshoff Sch. 54’ Jeanneau 54ds 59’ Perry Custom

1987 2008 2007 2006 2003 1961 2005 2000 1995 2001 2004 2011 1971 1936 1985 2009 2006

39,900 Sold 121,000 Sold 85,900 99,900 89,700 79,000 125,000 130,000 175,000 315,900 23,900 19,900 Sold 29,000 873,500

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pg 178-179 Eastern yachts.indd 3

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Cruising Outpost 183

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Cruising Outpost 191

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Cruising Outpost 193

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1

Get the Outpost at these Local Direct Dealers

Available at Most Magazine Outlets: West Marine, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo & Chapters plus these great local Marine Stores Does your local Marine Store carry Cruising Outpost?

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Down Across1 Sail for a downwind course 1 Sudden violent wind 1 Sail for a downwind course 6 Triangular sail 2 Pouring in 6 Triangular sail 8 Get better, as wine 8 Get as wine 10 better, Disentangle entwined ropes, for example3 Military branch at se 12 Dock structure 4 Cold-water seaweed 10 Disentangle entwined ropes, for example 14 structure Slangy assent 5 "Big Bang Theory" 12 Dock 15 assent Tilt to one side at sea 6 Hard spray 14 Slangy 16to one Deep-sea 7 Miami's Biscayne __ 15 Tilt side at sea catch 22 Directionless at sea 9 Equipment 16 Deep-sea catch 24 Manta, e.g.

11 Conger or moray 22 Directionless at sea 25 US capital 13 ___maran 24 Manta, e.g.

27 Plus the others 17 An open deck towar 25 US capital 28 It’s dragged in the water from the bow, 2 words 18 Pitch suddenly 27 Plus 29 the others 23.00 ___ (time designation) 19 No vote 28 It's in the water from the bow, 2 words 31dragged

Empty the bilge 20 Middle of the ocean 29 23.00 33 ___ (time Goingdesignation) out, as a tide 36 the bilge Cold in the air 21 Tribute poem, of sor 31 Empty 38 out, Highest 23 Hillock of sand on th 33 Going as a tide mil. title 39 in theSecures 26 Nautical quarters 36 Cold air 40 mil.

Ship 28 Underwater vessel 38 Highest titlestabilizer 30 Indication 39 Secures 32 Illuminated 40 Ship stabilizer 1 Sudden violent wind 34 Stop working, as an 2 Pouring in 35 Frozen water coveri 3 Military branch at sea 37 Exercise, for short 4 Cold-water seaweed

Down

5 6 7 9 11 13 17 18 19 20 21 23 26 28 30 32 34 35 37

“Big Bang Theory” character Hard spray Miami’s Biscayne __ Equipment Conger or moray ___maran An open deck toward the stern of the ship Pitch suddenly No vote Middle of the ocean, 2 words Tribute poem, of sorts Hillock of sand on the shore Nautical quarters Underwater vessel Indication Illuminated Stop working, as an engine Frozen water covering Exercise, for short

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Cruising Outpost 195 2/1/18 12:24 PM

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pg 197 Mackie Whiate.indd 1

Cruising Outpost 197

1/31/18 4:15 PM

* Cruisians

*A small, exclusive group of people who are mentally ill and feel, for some reason unbeknownst to anyone, that by getting on a small boat about the size of a jail cell and heading out into the most inhospitable place on Earth (the ocean), they will somehow enjoy themselves.

Erik Kyle is seen here as he completes an epic voyage. Well, kinda. Ya see, he is pictured here after making it all the way to Put-In-Bay for dinner! We stopped in to visit him at his office (he’s the publisher of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt) and conned him into sailing ut out onto Lake Erie for dinner!

In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.

Captain Andy Kersting is retired PD, and he has been “pressed into service” the last few years at the St. Pete Boat Show helping us get the word out about the “Hook & Moor.”

It’s a doodad from New England Rope that puts a line thru a buoy with ease, and works every time. He’s our official “demonstrator.”

Tom Gentry, with wife Kristi, moved aboard Pearl Lee, their Endeavour 43 ketch, in Racine, Wisconsin, then traveled the rivers to Mobile, Alabama. You can currently find them in the Florida Keys or at svpearllee.com.

198 Cruising Outpost

pg 198 Cruisian's edited.indd 1

For many years Captain Mike Stinson was the skipper on a 110’ Ocean Alexander.

Just for fun, he joined us on our Share the Sail in the San Juan Islands last August on a 42’ Jeaneau!

This is Bob and ReBob. ReBob got that name about seven years ago when he showed up at the St. Pete Cruisers’ Party with his dad, Bob. As soon as we found out he was also named Bob, we re-christened him ReBob. When we all stood there we were Bob, Bob and ReBob! Paul is smiling. He seems to do that a lot. He’s the power behind eMarine Systems, which is our #1 advertiser.

No, he doesn’t take the most space, but he runs the most ads each issue. Seems that being in the “renewable energy” business (solar panels, wind vanes and more), they have been doing pretty well. It’s because he knows where to advertise, right?

Meet Ray Jordan, a former Navy Seabee (Vietnam veteran) and avid sailor. He represents Benford Yacht Hats which are carefully designed to exacting standards and known as THE skippers hat! www.cruisingoutpost.com

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Please contact us for Dealer in your area Navigo 10 VS Deluxe Tender

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www.ABInflatables.com info@ABInflatablesUSA.com | 845 918-2100

2/3/18 11:32 AM

Need New Canvas?

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FABRIC

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SEWING MACHINES

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2/3/18 11:35 AM