News & Views for Southern Sailors
Sailors Seeking Sustenance in Cuba Tings We Tink you Gon’ Need in Da Bahamas, Mon Sailboat Auxillary Engines: The State of the Art 2004
February 2004 For Sailors — Free…It’s Priceless
SAVE $20
PLUS $40 MAIL IN REBATE*
99 AFTER
159
REBATE
Intrepid + VHF Marine Transceiver • Unique, noise-cancelling Clear Voice speaker mic and Maritel capability • Complete DSC capability; accepts remote second station option (RAM mic) • Submersible
SAVE UP TO $15 Traditional Anchor & Rode Packages
Boat Length to 24'–Model 2666428 Reg. 99.99 SALE 89.99 Boat Length to 31'–Model 2666451 Reg. 149.99 SALE 134.99
with coupon Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
Model 3304524 Reg. 219.99 *See store for details. GREAT COUPON SAVINGS!
SAVE $27
SAVE 25%
SAVE $50
Model 2551521 Reg. 109.99
Model 2051795 Reg. 139.99
Model 3677168 Reg. 219.99
SALE 82.99
SALE 104.99
SALE 169.99
with coupon
with coupon
with coupon
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
Weather Station
PowerLock Multi-Tool
VHF200 Handheld Radio
SOG
GREAT DISCOUNTS!
SAVE 20%
Heavy-Duty Deck Brush with Handle
Buy 1, Get 1 FREE
SAVE $10 Buffer Kit
Crystal Boat Wash Model 3737020 Reg. 39.99
Model 266207 Reg. 29.99
Model 128928
SALE 23.99
with coupon
with coupon
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
2 FOR 7.99/qt.
with coupon
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
SALE 29.99
SPECIAL CLEARANCE SAVINGS!
22498/SET
$
SAVE 50%
Leather Sailing Gloves
Explorer Waterproof Foul Weather Gear Jacket–Red, Classic Yellow. Unisex M–XXL.–Model 1188481S
Model 1981208S Reg. 16.99
124.99
SALE 8.49
Bibs–Red, Classic Yellow. Unisex M–XXL.–Model 1224138S
with coupon
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
99.99 with coupon Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
SAVE 50%
Breathable Explorer Sport Jacket Model 1960699 Reg. 129.99
SALE 64.99 with coupon
Offer valid only with coupon. Limited to stock on hand. Offer valid February 5th through February 22nd, 2004.
MORE THAN 280 STORES • 1-800-BOATING • westmarine.com HURRY! PRICES GOOD FEBRUARY 5TH THROUGH FEBRUARY 22ND, 2004
Selection varies by store.
SINCE 1977
FLORIDA’S LARGEST HUNTER, CATALINA, MORGAN, MAINSHIP & CALIBER DEALERSHIP CATALINA • HUNTER • CALIBER • MAINSHIP
Call for Boat Show Specials
Custom Massey Outfitting Quote in less than one hour with Just pick your yacht and call with your options. Catalina 310, 320, 34, 350, 36, 387, 400, 42, 470 Hunter 306, 33, 36, 386, 41, 42CC, 44, 44DS, 456CC, 466 Caliber 35LRC, 40LRC, 47LCR and Mainship 30, 34, 39, 40, 43
2004 Catalina 387 New Model – RF main & genoa, elec sail handling winch, depth/knot/wind, VHF, autopilot, anchor windlass, refrigeration, elec head and much more. Reg Sailaway Price $177,938.
Call for Boat Show Specials
Call for Boat Show Specials
2004 Hunter 41 New Model – Loaded with electronics, expanded stereo, Flatscreen TV/DVD, bimini, RF mainsail & jib, elec halyard winch, refrigerator/freezer, Force 10 stove, Harken hardware and much, much more. Massey Sailaway Only $209,545.
Call for Boat Show Specials
2004 Hunter 44 Deck Salon New Model – Loaded with Hunter and Massey options, flatscreen TV/DVD, expanded stereo, bimini, RF mainsail & jib, elec halyard winch, Harken hardware and much, much more. Massey Sailaway Only $273,628.
Visit Massey at the 2004 Miami Boat Show & Miami Strictly Sail Boat Show on Feb 12-17, 2004. Purchase your new Catalina, Hunter or Mainship at the show and SAVE - SAVE - SAVE!
2004 Mainship 40 Trawler New Model – In stock and ready to cruise, Yanmar 370 diesel, Flag Blue hull, gen, air, bow thruster, electronics, Vac-U-Flush head, Jenn Air flybridge summer galley, washer/dryer, TV/DVD, stereo and much more. Massey Cruise Away Only $346,151 MONOHULLS 45 ft. to 65 ft.
48 46 45 45
Tayana ‘00 . . . Beneteau ‘97 . . Hunter CC ‘99 . Hirsh ‘85 . . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
$427,000 $199,000 $229,000 $129,500
40 ft. to 44 ft.
44 Morgan ‘90 . . . . . . . $174,900 44 Beneteau ‘95 . . . . . . $164,900 43 Hunter ‘97 . . . . . . . $179,500 43 Endeavour ‘81 . . . . . $139,000 42 Hunter CC ‘96 . . . . . $189,000 42 Catalina ‘01 . . . . . . $189,500 42 Catalina ‘96 . . . . . . $119,000 42 Catalina ‘89 . . . . . . $109,000 42 Beneteau ‘83 . . . . . . $77,500 41 Morgan ‘89 . . . . . . . $124,900 41 Morgan ‘87. . . . . . . . $89,500 41 Morgan ‘73. . . . . . . . $49,900 40.5 Hunter ‘93 . . . . . . $119,900 40 Jeanneau ‘01 . . . . . . $175,500 40 Jeanneau ‘00 . . . . . . $144,000 40 Caliber ‘96 . . . . . . . $259,000 400 Beneteau ‘97 . . . . . $134,900 40 Beneteau CC ‘97 . . . . $110,000 40 Beneteau ‘96 . . . . . . $98,900
35 ft. to 39 ft.
30 ft. to 34 ft.
39 O’Day ‘84 . . . . . . . . $83,700 380 Hunter ‘00 . . . . . . $120,000 38 Shannon Ketch ‘79 . . $124,500 38 Morgan CC ‘93 . . . . . $140,000 38 Morgan ‘79. . . . . . . . $59,500 380 Island Packet ‘99. . . $245,000 38 Hans Christian ‘83. . . $139,000 38 Catalina ‘81 . . . . . . . $45,000 376 Hunter ‘97 . . . . . . $121,000 37 Hunter ‘98 . . . . . . . . $95,000 37 Hunter ‘97 . . . . . . . . $95,000 37 Gulfstar ‘76 . . . . . . . $49,900 37 Endeavour ‘83 . . . . . . $52,500 37 Endeavour ‘82 . . . . . . $65,000 365 Pearson ‘80. . . . . . . $56,000 36 Tashiba ‘87 . . . . . . . $135,000 36 Jeanneau ‘98 . . . . . . $104,500 36MKII Catalina ‘99 . . . . $119,900 36 Catalina ‘94 . . . . . . . $85,000 36 Catalina ‘94 . . . . . . . $79,900 36 Catalina ‘94 . . . . . . . $79,500 351 Beneteau ‘96 . . . . . . $77,500 35 Island Packet ‘89 . . . $119,900
340 Hunter ‘01 . . . . . . . $97,500 34 Tartan ‘87 . . . . . . . . $62,500 34 Ericson ‘87. . . . . . . . $57,900 34 Catalina ‘98 . . . . . . . $89,500 34 Catalina ‘87 . . . . . . . $49,500 34 Cabo Rico ‘90 . . . . . $129,000 33 Hunter ‘95 . . . . . . . $64,500 33 Hallberg Mistral ‘72. . . $60,500 320 Catalina ‘95 . . . . . . $74,000 32 Island Packet ‘90 . . . . $94,500 310 Catalina ‘01 . . . . . . $69,900 30 Hunter ‘88 . . . . . . . . $38,500 30 Catalina ‘89 . . . . . . . $34,500 28 Hunter ‘90 . . . . . . . . $26,900 CATAMARANS
44 Dean Catamaran ‘99 . . $285,000 37 Prout Snow Goose ‘84 . $115,000 37 Prout Catamaran ‘94 . $115,000 35 Prout-Catamaran ‘72 . . $59,000 TRAWLERS
43 Mainship Trawler ‘04 . . .$484,705 40 Mainship Trawler ‘04. . .$360,374 34 Mainship Express ‘00 . .$179,000 30 Mainship RR-Sedan ‘04 . $178,434
We have a large assortment of Sunsail, Sun Yacht and Stardust phased-out charter yachts available at favorable prices. Call for details.
The Massey Team of Yachting Specialists – experienced sailors one and all – are dedicated to helping other sailors make sound, knowledgeable decisions relative to yacht selection, ownership and custom outfitting. TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU ON FLORIDA’S WEST COAST – IN THE HEART OF AMERICA’S FINEST CRUISING AREA.
Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 • TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130
Brad Crabtree
Scott Pursell
Frank Hamilton
Dan Howland
St. Pete, FL 727-824-7262 • TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525
Edward Massey
Bill Wiard
Mary Beth Singh
Al Pollak
YOUR SATISFACTION IS OUR MEASURE OF SUCCESS
www.masseyyacht.com • E-mail:
yachtsales@masseyyacht.com
Ann Corey
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Southwinds
February 2004
3
ADVERTISER INDEX BY CATEGORY
(See page 53 for alphabetical list)
SAILBOATS - NEW AND BROKERAGE
MARINE ENGINES
Beneteau Sailboats Back Cover Boaters Exchange/Catalina Sailboats 17 Cape Fear Yachts 12 Carson Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back Cover Eastern Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back Cover Finish Line Multihulls/ F-Boats & Used Multihulls 38 Flying Scot Sailboats 65 Hunter Sailboats 10,11 Massey Yacht Sales/Catalina/Jeanneau/Hunter/Mainship 7,14,17,19,27,35,IBC Masthead Yacht Sales/Catalina 24,69 Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back Cover Performance Sail & Sport/Hunter/Hobie/Windrider 15 Raider Sailboats 66 Sarasota Youth Sailing Program donated boats 63 Snug Harbor Boats/Compac/Elliot 13 St. Barts/Beneteau Back Cover Suncoast Inflatables/ West Florida 37 Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg 53 Tampa Sailing Squadron donated boats 63 Ullman Sails/Hunter Sailboats, West Florida 61 Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie 51 Windcraft, Trimarans and Catamarans, Sail or Power 62
Beta Marine Fleetside Marine Service RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete.
41 28 17 57 66 9 23 68 69 29 21 67 24,69 53 15 20 40 26,32,57 43 IFC
SAILS (NEW & USED), RIGGING, SPARS, RIGGING SERVICES Altlantic Sails Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida BoatUS Cruising Direct/sails online by North Dwyer Mast/spars, hardware, rigging Hong Kong Sailmakers Masthead/Used Sails and Service National Sail Supply, new & used online North Sails Sail Exchange/www.sailexchange.com Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete. Schurr Sails, Pensacola FL UK Sails, www.uksailmakers.com Ullman Sails/West Florida West Marine
54 69 39 16 67 50 24,69 44 14 49 40 13 47 53 IFC
CANVAS Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida
69
21 43 59
SAILING SCHOOLS Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/ St. Pete. Sea School/Captain’s License www.seaschool.com St. Augustine Sailing School
4
February 2004
Southwinds
Bob and Annie’s Boatyard Crow’s Nest Restaurant & Marina Pasadena Marina, St. Petersburg Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/Tampa Bay, FL
22 34 54 40
CHARTER COMPANIES Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, Sunsail Sailtime, Time-Share ownership
40 67
MARINE SERVICES,MARINE SURVEYORS, MARINE INSURANCE, MISC. Aqua Graphics/Boat Names/Tampa Bay or buy online Bluewater Insurance/ Florida Davis Maritime Surveying First Patriot Inc, Insurance Agency, Paul Phaneuf
68 6 59 25
Dockside Radio JR Overseas/Moisture Meter Sea Tech/Navigation/Communication
41 21 56
BOOKS Bubba Stories Book Great Outdoors Publishing Gunkholer’s Cruising Guide/West Florida
34 60 60
REGATTA ADVERTISEMENTS, BOAT SHOWS Regata del Sol al Sol Anchor Trophy Race SailAmerica/Strictly Sail Miami Boat Show Sarasota Sailing Squadron Midwinters
30 45 3 78
Subscription Information
This Page
Alphabetical Advertisers’ List
69
SUBSCRIBE TO Southwinds $12/YEAR $20/2 YEARS (3RD CLASS) (941) 795-8704 • www.southwindssailing.com P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, FL 34218-1175 New — Subscribe On-line on our Web site — a secure site — using your credit card: www.southwindssailing.com
Name _________________________________________ Address ________________________________________ City/St./ZIP ____________________________________ ENCLOSED $ ________ Check ___ Money Order ___
USED SAILING/BOATING SUPPLIES Don’s Salvage, Clearwater FL Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign, West Florida Scurvy Dog Marine/Used, Consign, Pensacola FL
RESORTS, MARINAS, RESTAURANTS, BOATYARDS
MARINE ELECTRONICS
GEAR, HARDWARE, ACCESSORIES Air Duck Hatch Windscoop Bluewater Sailing Supply, www.bluewaterss.com/ Boaters Exchange, boats, gear, etc. Rockledge FL Bo’sun Supplies/Hrdwre/Rigging www.bosunsupplies.com Defender Industries, www.defender.com Garhauer Hardware/www.garhauermarine.com Glacier Bay Refrigeration/ www.glacierbay.com Hotwire/Fans & other products Island Time PC/12-volt computers Island Marine Products/Davits,motorlocks,etc. JR Overseas/Moisture Meter Martek Dinghy Davits Masthead Ent. www.mastheadsailinggear.com Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign Performance Sail & Sport, www.perfsail.com Rparts Refrigeration, www.rparts.com Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete Sailor’s Soap Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg West Marine
23 65 20 40
40 58 69
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Southwinds NEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
8
From the Helm
13
Letters
16
Racing Calendar
18
Bubba to Make Unannounced Trip to Iraq (Feb 2004) By Morgan Stinemetz
20
Boatek: Air-conditioning on a Shoestring By Stephen Sommer
22
Boot Key Harbor Update By Dick De Grasse
24
Sailboat Auxiliary Engines: The State of the Art 2004 By Tim Banse
26
Books to Read
28
Sailors Seeking Sustenance in Cuba By David Allester
29
Going to Cuba By Morgan Stinemetz
36
Tings We Tink You Gon’ Need in Da Bahamas, Mon By Colin Ward
42
Strictly Sail, Miami Boat Show Preview
44
Southern Sailing: The Evolution of Sailboat Racing Design By Dave Ellis
46
Race Tactics: Sail the longer tack first By David Dellenbaugh
49
Racing & Regattas
57
Short Tacks
64
Classifieds
70
Uneasy Rider By Morgan Stinemetz
69 4 4 15
Alphabetical Index of Advertisers Advertisers’ List by Category Subscription Form Where to Pick Up Southwinds
Cover: Ethan Bixby and Macy Nelson Dueling upwind in International 505 Mid Winters. Gary Hufford Photo.
Sailors Seeking Sustenance in Cuba. Photo by Eileen Quinn. Page 28
Tings We Tink You Gon’ Need in Da Bahamas, Mon. Photo by Colin Ward. Page 36
From the Carolinas to Cuba…from Atlanta to the Abacos…Southwinds Covers Southern Sailing LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Southwinds
February 2004
5
Southwinds NEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS Southwinds Media, Inc. P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, Florida 34218-1175 (941) 795-8704 (877) 372-7245 (941) 795-8705 Fax www.southwindssailing.com e-mail: editor@southwindssailing.com
VOLUME 12
NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY 2004
Copyright 2004, Southwinds Media, Inc. Publisher/Editor Steve Morrell editor@southwindssailing.com Founder Doran Cushing Advertising Sales Representatives Gary Hufford (727) 585-2814 gary@southwindssailing.com Steve Morrell (941) 795-8704 editor@southwindssailing.com Design/Graphics Production Heather Nicoll, io Graphics Proofreading Kathy Elliott David Allester Dick De Grasse Stephen Sommer David Allester David Dellenbaugh
Contributing Writers Tim Banse Dave Ellis Morgan Stinemetz
Carol Bareuther Jim Schmitt Colin Ward
Contributing Photographers Dean Barnes Harry Chapman Gary Hufford Morgan Stinemetz
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: ARTICLES & PHOTOGRAPHY: Southwinds encourages readers, writers, photographers, cartoonists, jokers, magicians, philosophers and whoever else is out there, including sailors, to send in their material. Just make it about the water world and generally about sailing and about sailing in the South, the Bahamas or the Caribbean, or general sailing interest, or sailboats, or sailing in some far-off and far-out place. Southwinds welcomes contributions in writing and photography, stories about sailing, racing, cruising, maintenance and other technical articles and other sailing-related topics. Please submit all articles electronically by e-mail (mailed-in discs also accepted), and with photographs, if possible. We also accept photographs alone, for cover shots, racing, cruising and just funny entertaining shots. Please take them at a high resolution if digital, or scan at 300 dpi if photos, or mail them to us for scanning. Contact the editor with questions. Subscriptions to Southwinds are available at $12/year, or $20/2 years for third class, and $24/year for first class. Checks and credit card numbers may be mailed with name and address to Southwinds Subscriptions, PO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL, 34218-1175, or call (941) 7958704. Subscriptions are also available with a credit card through a secure server on our Web site, www.southwindssailing.com. Southwinds is distributed to over 500 locations throughout 10 Southern states. If you would like to distribute Southwinds at your location, please contact the editor.
Read Southwinds magazine on our Web site, www.southwindssailing.com. 6
February 2004
Southwinds
www.southwindssailing.com
LD SO 1987 Catalina 30 • $32,950 2000 1997 1995 1995 1990 1983 1996 1992 2001 1992 1989 1989 1987 1973
Beneteau 46 . . . . . . . . .$279,500 Beneteau 46 . . . . . . . . .$199,000 Morgan 45 . . . . . SOLD . . . . . .$229,900 Beneteau 44 . . . . . . . . .$164,900 Morgan 44 . . . . . . . . . . .$174,900 Beneteau 42 . . . . . . . . . .$77,500 Hunter 42 . . . . . . . . . . .$189,000 Hunter 42 . . . . . SOLD . . . . . .$144,900 Catalina 42-2 . . . . . . . . .$189,500 Catalina 42-2 . . . . . . . . .$134,500 Catalina 42-3 . . . . . . . . .$109,000 Morgan Classic 41 . . . .$124,900 Morgan Classic 41 . . . . .$89,500 Morgan 41OI . . . SOLD . . . . . .$49,900
1994 Catalina 36 • $84.500 1997 2001 2000 1997 2001 2000 1981 1982 1998 1997 1999 1994 1994 1994
Beneteau 40 CC . . . . . .$120,000 Jeanneau 40-2 . . . . . . . .$175,500 Jeanneau 40-3 . . . . . . . .$144,000 Beneteau 40 CC . . . . . .$134,500 Beneteau 38 . . . . . . . . .$147,000 Hunter 38 . . . . . . . . . . .$120,000 Catalina 38 . . . . . . . . . . .$45,000 Morgan 38 . . . . . . . . . . . .$59,900 Morgan 38 CC . . . . . . .$145,000 Hunter 37 . . . . . . . . . . . .$95,000 Catalina 36 . . . . . . . . . .$119,900 Catalina 36 . . . . . . . . . . .$85,000 Catalina 36 . . . . . . . . . . .$84,500 Catalina 36 . . . . . . . . . . .$79,500
1993 Hunter 405 • $119,000 1998 1996 1987 2001 1995 2001 1995 1999 1988 1989 1987 1990
Jeanneau 36 . . . . . . . . . .$104,500 Beneteau 35 . . . . . . . . . .$77,500 Catalina 34 . . . . . . . . . . .$49,500 Hunter 34 . . . . . . . . . . . .$97,500 Hunter 33 . . . . . . . . . . . .$64,500 Catalina 31 . . . . .SOLD . . . . . .$88,900 Catalina 320 . . . . . . . . . .$74,500 Catalina 320 . . . . . . . . . .$97,500 Hunter 30 . . . . . . . . . . . .$38,500 Catalina 30 . . . . . . . . . . .$34,500 Catalina 30 . . . . . . . . . . .$32,500 Hunter 28 . . . . . . . . . . . .$26,900
All listings are Massey centrals
LD SO 1989 Catalina 30 • $34,950
LD SO 1990 Hunter 28 • $26,900
1995 Morgan 45 • $229,900
List Your Yacht With Massey And Get It Sold Fast! Call for your FREE “How to Prepare your Yacht for Sale” package
SINCE 1977
www.masseyyacht.com
Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 • TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130
Brad Crabtree
Scott Pursell
Frank Hamilton
Dan Howland
St. Pete, FL 727-824-7262 • TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525
Edward Massey
Bill Wiard
Mary Beth Singh
Al Pollak
Ann Corey
FROM THE HELM NEW COAST GUARD REGULATION REQUIRES ALL BOATERS TO WEAR A SAFETY HARNESS AND BE TETHERED TO A SAFETY LINE AT ALL TIMES WHILE BOATING
J
ust kidding! Would the world be safer if such a requirement existed? Of course, it would. The world would also be safer if we put stop lights at every intersection in the country. I could come up with a list that is extremely long about how to make the world safer. Anyone can. Is the world safer? is an easy question to ask. Rather, let’s ask if the new “law” is reasonable and what’s the cost (both financially and in personal freedom)? Because of continuing boater deaths each year and statistics showing that the greater majority of those deaths were people who were not wearing Personal Flotation Devices (PFD), the Coast Guard, over the years, along with other groups, has pushed for more and more people to wear PFDs while boating. State, and not federal, law sets many of these rules now. Currently, Florida mandates a PFD be worn by all personal watercraft operators, skiers and children under six years of age (on boats that are moving and are under 26 feet). The public and industry have accepted these requirements as reasonable and live with them. A new push by the Coast Guard, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, and the National Safe Boating Council has begun to require all boaters wear PFDs at all times on boats under 20 feet while under way. This would be a federal Coast Guard rule. The boating industry has opposed this. Let’s see now, what would this mean? We see the Coast Guard wearing PFDs all the time when they are out on the water, but that’s military life, and although a few countries have tried to make that the standard for public life, it isn’t real popular. Besides, the Coast Guard needs to be used to wearing PFDs, so when they are operating in an emergency
mode, when they are really helping people, they already feel unencumbered by a PFD. Most of us can see how wearing a PFD while always under way could be a real pain, since we are generally out there on the water just for fun. When conditions get real rough, most stay ashore, although high winds can be desirable in sailing (windsurfers love it). Sure, we all get out there in waters that are rough and often rougher than we planned to be in, but we hope we are smart enough to put our PFDs on when they are needed. At least we should have a right to make that decision on our own. And we hope the government wouldn’t make us all wear them because of the inexperienced and stupid (although it’s been known to happen) who don’t know when to wear them. So why wear a PFD in calm conditions? I can imagine some interesting situations. You are anchored. It is a dead calm. You want to go ashore in the dinghy (assume, just for the moment, your dinghy is less than 20 feet). The beach is 100 feet away. Do you have to put your PFD on to dinghy ashore? Personally, I don’t want to be forced to wear a PFD all the time. The Coast Guard, along with the Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association, will be holding a workshop to get public and industry input on the proposal at the Miami International Boat Show on February 13 from 3-5 p.m. at the convention center. For those of you who are going to the show, please go and express your opinion. You can also write your congressman. There is one advantage if this rule goes into effect. If you own a boat longer than 20 feet, it will be more peaceful on the water. There won’t be as many boaters out there.
WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED Stories and photographs wanted in the following areas: Boat Reviews: Old boats, new boats, large boats and small boats. Review your own boat. Multihulls: Articles and reviews. Sailing Experiences: Stories and photos about experiences in places you’ve cruised, anchorages, marinas, or passages made throughout the Southern cruising waters, including the Caribbean and the Bahamas. Windsurfing: Information and news on the sport, including places to sail, equipment, experiences, etc. Race Reporting: Generally, we are always looking for someone to send us race coverage throughout the Southern states, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. Specifically, we are looking to hire someone to coordinate all racing, who is into racing, a good writer and photographer, and willing to work a lot of hours, do some traveling, and doesn’t need a lot of money to get going with a great potential for the future. The Florida Keys: Racing and cruising articles about the keys.
Hurricane Stories: Hurricanes are a part of owning a boat in the Southern waters, and we would like to hear how you and your boat might have been affected by a storm or how you prepare your boat for one. Send us letters or articles. The Politics of Sailing: “Politics begins when two or more people get together.” Politics affect us all and particularly in the general world of boating and our waters. We have already heard about anchoring, liveaboards and other topics (like Cuba), but there is always more. Maintenance and Technical Articles: How you maintain your boat, or rebuilt a boat, technical articles on electronics, repairs, etc. Individuals in Sailing Industry: Interesting stories about the world of sailors out there, young, old, and some that are no longer with us but have contributed to the sport or were just true lovers of sailing. Cuba: Of course, there is always Cuba, and regardless of how our country’s elected officials try to keep Americans out of the Caribbean’s largest island, it will open one day as a cruising ground. Today American sailors can legally go to Cuba and cruise if they follow the proper procedures. If you have a story about such a trip, let us look at it.
The Caribbean: Stories about the warm tropical waters farther south of us. Charter Stories: Have an interesting Charter story? In our Southern waters, or perhaps in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, or points beyond in some far-off and far-out exotic place? Miscellaneous Photos: Photographs are always enjoyable, whether for their beauty, their humor, or for many other reasons, and we take them alone. Cover Photos: Southwinds is always looking for nice cover shots of all types. Cover shots are paid for, but donations accepted. They generally need to be a vertical shot, but we can sometimes crop horizontal photos for a nice cover picture. They need to be of a good resolution. If digital, they need to be taken at a very high resolution (and many smaller digital cameras are not capable of taking a large high resolution photo as is on a cover). If a photograph, then we need it scanned at high resolution, or if you send it to us, we can do so. Letters to the Editor: For those of you who are not as ambitious to write stories, we always want to hear from you about your experiences and opinions.
Bahamas: Trips, experiences, passages, anchorages, provisioning and other stories that are of interest. Contact editor@southwindssailing.com for more information and questions.
8
February 2004
Southwinds
www.southwindssailing.com
Hunter’s rugged custom davit is attached directly to our famous stainless steel arch, keeping your Hunter Liberty tender conveniently stowed until you’re ready to go ashore! Florida Yacht Charters and Sales • FL Massey Yacht Sales • FL Whitney’s Sailcenter • FL M.G. Mayer Yacht Sales • FL, GA Mid South Sailing and Charters • MI Select Yachts, Lake Lanier • NC, GA The Boat Locker • TN NBOA • FL Alabama Sailing • AL Lake Fairview Marina • FL Performance Sail and Sport • FL
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February 2004
Southwinds
www.southwindssailing.com
LETTERS “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” H.L. Mencken In its continuing endeavor to share its press, Southwinds invites readers to write in with experiences & opinions.
MORE ON THE GREEN FLASH Causing many comments like, “yah, sure Dan,” with eyes rolling and snickering, these things are in fact true. I know. I have seen them. So have many others. The green flash is a prismatic effect of reflection, or refraction, through the surface of water. I have seen it five times while quite sober, thank you. Always off-shore — never on the beach. I saw the inside of a rainbow, just once, driving on the coast of California. Every car stopped. They were stunned, as was I. Then it was gone. Everyone smiled. We all saw that. Closing the coast into Northwest Pass to Key West, there was this sudden color change of the water, as though spray painted on the surface, in parfait lime green, straight as a goal line. “Whoa...check the chart...(the depth that reflects light back from the sand bottom?).” Another time it was late at night; no moon, not a ripple on the water, ghosting along, stars by the gazillions. No horizon. Just reflected stars. Stars above you, stars below you, no horizon....Wow!!! Like Han Solo and the wookie. What your eyes are telling your brain makes your heart go thump...thump for a moment. Then everyone smiles, once again. Life is pretty cool. These are things I have seen and will always remember. Roll your eyes if you want. Dan Ahern, Popeye res6LHZK@verizon.net Dan, since Morgan Stinemetz’s article last August on his experience seeing the green flash, Southwinds has received several letters from others who observed this phenomenon in many different ways. We hope to hear still more from others and will perhaps one day compile all of these into a single article in one issue. We continue to invite everyone who has experienced the green flash to write in and tell us how they saw it. Editor
TRAWLER COVERAGE IN Southwinds? SOME DIFFERENT VIEWS My humble opinion is that you would be better served to cover a larger area for sailors than to begin covering trawler boaters. I do see covering trawler boaters as a step in the wrong direction for a sailing magazine. Hugh Freebairn Alberg 30, Aliage In answer to your question in the 10th Anniversary Issue, I for one would welcome some coverage on Trawler boater issues. As an almost lifelong sailor I have just recently started finding some real appeal in the increased comfort and reduced physical requirements involved in powerboating. I am also realizing how very little I know about the species and their capabilities. Indeed, I am not sure that “Trawler” might not be too narrow a category but cannot really define that term sufficiently to know even that. I would be very interested to hear from those who have made the transition from sail to power including how they came to select the new boat and what use they have made of it after the conversion. See LETTERS continued on page 14 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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LETTERS Continued from page 13 Demographically, at age 64 I am a bit ahead of the curve of those coming to the age where this transition becomes most attractive or perhaps even necessary, so I would anticipate this subject will be of increasing interest in the years ahead, particularly in this part of the country with lots of relatively welloff retired people. Regards, Hall Palmer
TRAWLER OWNER THAT STILL SAILS Coverage to trawlers and their lifestyle? Heck, Yeah! After reading your editorial request for input in the November issue, I thought I’d give you another opinion. Yeah, I know what they say about opinions. I recently purchased a 51-foot twin-diesel trawler, and moved aboard it. Rhumb Chaser is a pilothouse trawler with interesting lines. I also have a 27-foot sailboat. I’ve been a sailor most of my boating life and still consider myself to be a sailor. My friends (sailors), upon hearing that I bought a powerboat, were aghast; “You did what?” Well, there’s a reason for powerboats, right? Somebody has to be race-committee on regatta day. Not all trawler owners are retired folks, done sailing, as the misconception goes. I’m only 41 years old. I freely admit I have some years of work ahead of me. Three things drove this decision. First-the catalyst: I’m not going to kid you, I found a smokin’ good deal on the vessel that I purchased, and that, combined with my situation at the time, seemed to leave me no choice! (More on that in a minute.) Second, I was frustrated with the selfishness exhibited by some of the powerboat owners in our area and the difficulty in finding a good boat to work off of for race-committee duties. Third, and most persistent in my mind, I wanted to do some trawler cruising while I’m still young enough to enjoy it. In my many years of boating, both power and sail, some as a professional captain, and eleven years as a yacht broker, I’ve seen lots of people tell me that “in a few more years” when they’ve accomplished their “five year plan,” or whatever the story is, they’d hang up their trade and retire. They tell me about their dreamboat, where they want to go, and what they’re going to do with it. One problem. An alarming number of these people don’t make it to retirement. Too many times I’ve heard of a friend, a client, or acquaintance having a heart attack, or succumbing to some disease, or slumping over dead at their desk one day. Sorry about this excursion into the negative, but it’s a reality that drove my decision-making process. I want to keep accumulating fond cruising memories while I’m young and healthy enough to do it. I want to share these experiences with loved ones and friends. I’ve been many places with my 27-foot sailboat, Niagara, and done some great cruising. By the way, the sailboat is a tiller boat, so that’s why I keep it. Why I haven’t gone bigger, it’s still about sailing pleasure. I can feel the boat. I still enjoy sailing, the feel of the rudder load, the way she talks to me. I still do weekend tuck-aways with the sailboat, still like to daysail, race, etc. Regarding my earlier reference to my situation: Along with being a yacht broker and boat captain, I’m a Naval reservist. Well, in January, I was told, pack your bags, you’re going. So I moved out of my place, put my stuff in storage, and moved onto the sailboat thinking it was only a matter of days until I would be activated. The plan was we were going to Bahrain (I’m a flyer). Well, as you all know, the start-up was delayed, 14
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and we never got activated! Good deal for all my squadron mates, but now I was unfortunately on my 27-foot sailboat, which seemed to be getting smaller every day. I found the trawler shortly after that, as part of an estate sale. It had sat for a number of years and was in disrepair. I’ve since fixed it up, have both engines running fine. 12kw Genset works; 4-zone reverse-cycle air conditioning is sure nice. She cruises at 8.5 kts, burning approximately 8 gph total. With a 750-gallon fuel tank, she can go a long way. And WOW, are wheelhouses cool! I’d tell you how much I paid for it, but you just wouldn’t believe me. After a thorough interior cleaning and galley upgrade (and adding a coffeemaker!), I moved aboard. About the race-committee duties, I recently volunteered to be the rear-commodore/power at Navy Jax Yacht Club (NJYC), for the sole purpose of ensuring that the rear-Commodore/sail has support from the power side of the house. I’m also a very active member (and past commodore) in the area’s largest sailboaters club, the North Florida Cruising Club (NFCC), and have volunteered to be race committee boat for them on several races. The bigger boat is a great platform for our long-distance ocean races. Race captains and PROs definitely appreciate the amenities and working space. In summary, I’d like to emphasize that there are trawler owners that are still sailors, so it would be wonderful to have some coverage in Southwinds of both activities, and the interrelationship, if any. Congratulations on 10 outstanding years of Southwinds. I’ve been a regular reader and enjoyed almost every minute. I’ve seen Doran all over the place covering sailing-related stuff, and Steve, the magazine’s growth with you at the helm has been terrific. Keep up the great work and please consider allowing trawler-related cruising stories. Capt. David P. Kyser S/V Niagara M/V Rhumb Chaser David, Thanks for your input. Yours was an enjoyable journey to read about. We don’t get many letters (or any, for that matter) from someone who signs it with two boats, power and sail. We will do some coverage periodically of trawlers and see how people feel about it, but will reserve final judgment till we get more facts and opinions in. There are so many common areas between sailors and others on the water that powerboaters in general can still find much to enjoy in our articles in Southwinds. And thanks for your kind words about the magazine. We thrive on our letters from readers and hope you, and others, will continue to contribute. Editor
WHO OWNS THE ANCHORAGE? The letter from Jay Bliss that is referred to below was printed in the December issue of Southwinds. The letter was in response to a previous article by Michael Shea titled, “Who Owns the Anchorage?” in the November issue of Southwinds. Below are Michael Shea’s comments about it. We have a long letter from Jay Bliss of St. Augustine who believes, “The Federal Navigational Servitude extends to the act of anchoring: If you are in navigable waters, unless there are posted ‘no anchoring’ signs, and provided you are not obstructing or impeding other traffic, are not in a navigation channel, etc., you DO have the right to anchor.” He goes on to point out that Florida Statute 327.60 says that no Florida municipality See LETTERS continued on page 17 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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RACING CALENDAR We’d like to encourage all sailing associations, yacht clubs and regatta sponsors to notify us of upcoming events in your area. Simply fax or e-mail us by the 10th of each month to ensure that your racing and regatta schedule will be included.
Send to calendar@southwindssailing.com or fax to 941-795-8704 Southwinds Magazine also offers reduced advertising rates for regattas. FLORIDA EAST COAST FEBRUARY 4 - 7 Etchells Mid-Winters Biscayne Bay Yacht Club (305) 858-6303 FEBRUARY 7 - 8 Comodoro Rasco Snipe Regatta Coconut Grove Sailing club gonzalodiaz@accesspro.net FEBRUARY 12 - 21 Miami Yacht Club Olympic Trails Tornado Ussailing.org FEBUARY 12 - 22 Key Biscayne Yacht Club Olympic Trials Ynglings & 49er Ussailing.org FEBRUARY 21 - 22 Star Masters Championship Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org FEBRUARY 25 - 29 ACURA SORC Southern Ocean Racing Conf. Acurasorc.com MARCH 6 - 12 Stars Bacardi Cup Coral Reef Yacht Club coralreefyachtclub.org MARCH 13 - 14 Annual Regatta Miami Yacht Club MARCH 16 - 17 Lightning Circuit Regatta lightningclass.org MARCH 18 - 29 Star Class Olympic Trials Miami ussailing.org MARCH 19 - 21 Don-Q-Rum Snipe Regatta Coconut Grove Sailing Club gonzolodiaz@accesspro.net MARCH 19 - 24 Miami - Nassau Race bbyra.net MARCH 20 - 21 Gulfstream Annual Regatta bbyra.net
MARCH 27 - 28 WYRA women’s regatta Coconut Grove Sailing Club cgsc.org FLORIDA WEST COAST & INLAND FEBRUARY 6 - 8 Int. Wayfarer Regatta Taveres, Florida www.lakeeustissailingclub.org FEBRUARY 7 - 8 Gasparilla Regatta & Gasparilla Women’s Regatta Tampa Sailing Squadron (813) 645-8377 FEBRUARY 9 - 11 J-29 Midwinters Davis Island Yacht Club Diyc.org FEBRUARY 9 - 11 Sonar World Championship St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org FEBRUARY 12 - 15 NOOD Regatta National Offshore One Design St. Petersburg Yacht Club Spyc.org FEBRUARY 14 - 15 Laser Masters Midwinters Clearwater Yacht Club clwyc.org FEBRUARY 18 - 22 J-24 Midwinters Davis Island Yacht Club Diyc.org FEBRUARY 19 - 22 Laser Midwinters East Clearwater Yacht Club laserclass.org FEBRUARY 21 - 22 George Washington Birthday Regatta One Designs Taveres, Florida www.lakeeustissailingclub.org FEBRUARY 28 Anchor Cup PHRF Pass-a-Grille Yacht Club (727) 360-1646
FEBRUARY 28 - 29 Charlotte Harbor Leukemia Cup “Raise A Sail-Find A Cure” PHRF Punta Gorda Sailing Club Pgscweb.com FEBRUARY 29 - 3/5 Thistle Midwinters St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org MARCH 5 - 7 Fireball, 420, Frontrunner Davis Island Yacht Club diyc.org MARCH 6 - 7 Trans-Monroe Regatta Lake Monroe Sailing Assoc. sailpdq@yahoo.com MARCH 13 - 14 Spring One-Design Keelboat Regatta Davis Island Yacht Club diyc.org MARCH 19 - 21 Lightning Midwinters St. Petersburg Yacht Club lightningclass.org MARCH 25 - 4/3 IFDS 2-person Champ’s Martin 16 with spinnaker St. Petersburg Yacht Club spyc.org MARCH 20 Michelob Cup PHRF racing tityc.com NORTHERN GULF (AL, FL,LA,MS,TX) FEBRUARY 13 - 14 Leukemia Cup SYC and NOYC Syc.org FEBRUARY 13 - 15 J-22 Midwinters Southern Yacht Club Syc.org FEBRUARY 13 - 15 J-30 Midwinters New Orleans Yacht Club Noyc.com
MARCH 4 - 7 Sunfish Midwinters Pensacola Yacht Club Sunfishclass.org SOUTHERN STATES (AK, GA, NC, SC,TN) FEBRUARY 28 - 29 Snipe Valdosta Regatta Valdosta Yacht Club franksvl@netlinkave.com MARCH 13 - 14 Lightning Deep South Savannah lightningclass.org MARCH 25 - 28 Charleston Race Week charlestonraceweek.com CARIBBEAN caribbeanracing.com FEBRUARY 6 - 8 Sweethearts of the Caribbean & Classic Yacht Regatta BVI FEBRUARY 7 - 8 No Stop: Round Martinique FEBRUARY 14 - 15 Valentine’s Day Race Antigua FEBRUARY 14 - 16 St. Croix International Regatta FEBRUARY 22 Bounty Rum nonstop ‘round St. Lucie Race MARCH 5 - 8 Dark & Stormy Neptune Treasure BVI MARCH 13 - 14 International Laser Open Antigua MARCH 24 - 27 Bacardi-Gamblin Snipe Series Royal Nassau Sailing Club lorijim@bahamas.net.bs
MARCH 26 -28 Int. Rolex Regatta St. Thomas Yacht Club Rolexregattadir@styc.net www.rolexcupregatta.com MARCH 29 - 4/4 BVI Sailing Festival and Regatta WINDSURFING REGATTAS FEBRUARY 28-29 Windsurfing Island Style Classic Sarasota, FL laurel@islandstylewatersports.com MARCH 12-14 Prodigy One-Design Race Banana River Windsurfing Resort Cocoa Beach, FL (311)784-0166 MARCH 5-7 Calema Midwinters Windsurfing Festival, Calema Windsurfing School Merrrit Island, FL Calema.com JUNIOR REGATTAS JANUARY 16- 18 Valentine’s Day Regatta Optimist Dinghy & 420 St. Petersburg Yacht Club Spyc.org BOAT SHOWS JANUARY 14 - 18 Atlanta Boat Show FEBRUARY 12 - 17 Strictly Sail Miami 1-800-817-SAIL www.sailamerica.com
SAILING CLUB DIRECTORY IS NOW ON THE INTERNET
For a list of yacht clubs and sailing associations in Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, visit our Web site southwindssailing.com. Their addresses and Web sites will also be listed. We are asking all these organizations to e-mail us your Web site address and we will put a link to it. Yacht Clubs and Sailing Associations: Please update your phone numbers by e-mailing yachtclubs@southwindssailing.com and give us your Web site address also.
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LETTERS Continued from page 15 can pass a law infringing on someone’s right to anchor in navigable waterways if they are in transit somewhere. The statute actually says, “...local governmental authorities are prohibited from regulating the anchorage of non- live-aboard vessels engaged in the exercise of rights of navigation.” Unfortunately this only makes the issue more confusing, for it uses the phrase “exercise of navigation.” What is the meaning of this term? From the words, one could argue to navigate is to move, not anchor. Is it in conjunction with an overnight or transit anchoring? To date there are no cases which might help us with the meaning of this statute. We will just have to see how it is used in enforcement. I could make a good argument that it applies to a temporary anchoring of a navigating vessel. But once you get beyond the temporary anchoring, it becomes hard to argue that the vessel is in “navigation.” It is a choice of words that only confuses the question more than before. Capt. Michael Shea Capt. J. Michael Shea is a maritime attorney in Tampa, and holds a masters and harbor pilots license. He has co-authored law books in the maritime field and teaches and writes articles on maritime law. He has served as a marine investigator for the United States Coast Guard. SHARE YOUR OPINIONS WITH THE EDITOR: PO Box 1175,Holmes Beach FL 34218 Fax: (941) 795-8705 E-mail: editor@southwindssailing.com Web site: southwindssailing.com
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BOATEK SOLUTIONS TO ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL, AIR CONDITIONING, REFRIGERATION AND OTHER YACHT SYSTEMS
Air Conditioning on a Shoestring: Part I Steve: I have a 32-foot sailboat which is equipped with the basics. Is it practical to put an inverter on board? Is it possible to use the 120-volt output to run an air conditioner, or do I have to get a genset? INVERTERS
A CASE FOR GENSETS
No boat is too small, or too low budget for an inverter anymore. Paying $1000 to $3000 for a good marine invertercharger can do great things for the comfort of a yacht. But, now even $50 or $100 can be the budget for the do-it-yourself cruiser who wants to bring along some appliances from home.
This doesn’t mean that gensets are no longer required, or recommended. In fact, most yachts with gensets and air-conditioning are configured appropriately. Air-conditioning without a genset is only appropriate for boats that need air-conditioning only occasionally. Before you embark on the “shoestring” air conditioning plan, consider your requirements. If you want air-conditioning often, and you want it to be quiet and trouble-free, consider using a genset. There are some very nice small gensets available for sailboats under 35 feet. Look at the new belt driven units, which offer quiet operation, small size and long life. They run at an intermediate speed, rather than having to choose between 1800 and 3600 RPM.
AIR-CONDITIONING Contrary to popular opinion, air-conditioning and small sailboats are not incompatible. You have to be smart about it, but you can have it. If you are interested in air-conditioning primarily for those few particularly sticky nights when the mosquitoes find your anchorage, and perhaps to help out the chef occasionally during meal prep, this article is for you. If you already have an air conditioner for dockside use, you might be part way there. If you have a big alternator on your engine, a good size inverter and a large battery bank, you might have most of what you need. A great deal of caution is warranted at this point. You have to consider the matching of the components, the user discipline required and the cost of misuse of such a configuration.
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THE SHOESTRING PLAN With today’s inverters, alternators, air conditioners and batteries it is possible to have air-conditioning, under the right conditions, without a genset. A large alternator can run a small air conditioner, for daytime use via a moderate sized inverter, as long as you don’t mind the noise of a main engine. A moderate-to-large battery bank can operate a small air conditioner at night once the duty-cycle of the air conditioner reduces.
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www.southwindssailing.com
By Stephen Sommer
PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS There are a couple of basics that will help you plan your airconditioning. Day/night Requirements: Daytime air-conditioning can require ten times the capacity of nighttime sleeping comfort. I use the word “comfort” because you don’t really need cooling at night. Dehumidification is what you need to be comfortable. In a well-sealed stateroom, which starts off cool, all that’s needed is to remove the heat and humidity contributed by the occupants. This amounts to less than 1000 BTUs for two people! Compare this to the smallest normally available air conditioner, which is 5000 BTUs. The smaller the air conditioner, the better it is for nighttime use. A large air conditioner that only runs a small portion of the time will allow the humidity to climb uncomfortably between “run” cycles. You might want to consider a very small air conditioner that can only cool a portion of the boat during the day. When you really need more cooled space, a complete set of deck awnings will allow an undersized air conditioner to do a fair job during the day. The sun-load is the problem, not the temperature.
BATTERY CONSIDERATIONS Energy used from batteries is several times more expensive than energy from the source that charges the batteries. Batteries cost more to replace than the value of all the energy they store in a lifetime. It takes more energy to charge them than they give back on discharge. Deeply discharged batteries are difficult to fully charge because the current tapers off, making the charge per hour of engine running time less. For this reason, think of using battery power for times of a very low air-conditioning capacity requirement. That’s nighttime, after the room is cooled off and dried out. If you expect to
use the air conditioning at night very rarely, then don’t worry as much about the beating your batteries will take. There are a couple of expensive DC-powered air conditioning systems available, that are often integrated with refrigerator cooling that can provide nighttime cooling/dehumidification. None of the ones I am aware of produce enough cooling for daytime use. If you also want some changes to your refrigeration system, take a look at these. Their literature covers the issue pretty well. What isn’t covered in the literature is the use of generally available components to give boats air-conditioning without a genset, at a reasonable cost. Next month, in BOATEK, we’ll discuss matching components, checking the installation and how to use such a system. This is not a “trick” for getting full boat air-conditioning for cheap. It’s a way to get AC for those times that it really counts. A good cruiser still needs to get acclimated to the tropical environment to be able to enjoy nature’s breezes most of the time. Stephen Sommer is a degreed electrical engineer with extensive experience in electrical, mechanical, refrigeration and air conditioning systems and holds a USCG Masters license. He consults in all areas of yacht systems, which include all the equipment on board yachts beyond a basic hull and motor or sails. Have a systems problem or question? Ask Stephen Sommer. E-mail: boatek@southwindssailing.com.
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Southwinds SEE PAGE 33 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Southwinds
February 2004
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BOOT KEY HARBOR UPDATE
Changes at Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, In the Florida Keys; The City Improves Conditions for Boaters By Dick de Grasse
L
ast summer I reported in Southwinds on changes to the most important harbor for sailors in the Florida Keys, Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. A lot has happened since my report. Scuttlebutt, which reached as far north as Maine, had it that there was no place left to anchor because the city of Marathon had so many moorings (64) Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keys in place. The original mooring plan called for 230 moorings with a reasonable anchoring area east of the Boot Key lift bridge. Initially, swinging circles for 40-foot boats were simply drawn on a harbor chart with no regard for the fact that many moorings were located in two to three feet of water over sea grass. With larger swinging circles for 55-foot boats in a minimum of seven feet of water, and the remaining harbor area available, 100-150 total moorings are more likely. We entered the harbor early in December expecting to find no suitable place to anchor east of the lift bridge. We found the derelicts gone, and a number of anchoring “holes” remained. We planned to pick up a mooring if the anchorage was full and instead discovered the moorings were nearly full and the an-
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chorage had room! We have been passing through Marathon for many years and, while we can’t prove it, it appears that the total number of cruising boats in the harbor has increased. We remember when you needed three anchors to keep from swinging into your neighbor. Clearly, the density of the mooring field has increased the number of boats in the mooring area and freed up anchoring space. First impressions of the changes since last spring, from a cruising sailor’s point of view, are positive. There is good reason for all of this. The city received a grant from the state and federal government to improve the harbor and has thus far invested $400,000 to upgrade the harbor and facilities. Most important, the city apparently listened to the needs of cruising sailors. The moorings, dinghy dock and pumpout and support services are affordable, even for Social Security sailors on small boats. While the city has not begun building the marina facilities now on the drawing boards (more grant money is available), they have noticeably improved the quality
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of water in the harbor. The derelicts are gone, and the pumpout boat(s) are beginning to have an effect on the harbor water quality. The big change is that the moorings can handle up to 55-foot boats. As a cruising sailor and former recipient of state and federal grants, I can’t help notice the effect grant money has had on city purchases. For example, the new pump-out boat purchased with grant money seems totally unsuited to the task, two 115 hp motors on a large RIB (rigid inflatable) with a 600gallon holding tank and a front-loading ramp. The older fiberglass pump-out boat had one 115 hp motor and a 1000-gallon capacity. Naturally, the dockmaster has a boat. It too is a very large RIB with a 200 hp motor. I learned that the Monroe County sheriff is getting another boat. All on expensive dockside lifts. It’s true the pump-out boats have to service both oceanside and bayside marinas as well as the harbor, but a RIB with two 115 hp motors and a front-loading ramp? During the week we spent in the harbor, we saw the RIB pump-out boat once; the old 1000-gallon fiberglass boat was doing all the work. I know from experience that the age-old problem with grants is that bureaucrats fill in their “wish list” because it’s “free” money. Given the city’s own money, I doubt Marathon would have purchased the boats they did. While the city has done a good job so far, it can’t let public money go to its head, particularly since there are a lot of facilities left to build. A big improvement since last spring is the new six-page, 50-clause “Mooring License Agreement.” Clearly, someone with boating knowledge rewrote the previous one-sided agreement. Most cruisers probably don’t care and sign whatever is required to pick up a mooring. That is, until problems arise. The city needs to be able to run the marina in a fiscally responsible manner and be protected against liability and possible lawsuits. Cruising sailors are naturally leery of one-sided agreements, however. For example, the city requires the cruiser take responsibility for insuring that the city-owned mooring and space around it is “adequate” no matter what the weather. Swinging room is easy to determine, but very few cruisers will dive down and inspect the mooring and tackle. Besides, most of the mooring is screwed into the bottom and can’t be seen anyway. During hurricane season, the city requires a “written hurricane plan from each mooring occupant.” It’s hard to imagine what such a plan would include; a run for the nearby mangroves? To give cruisers more confidence in the moorings and their responsibility, the city must make available the engineering test results of the strength of each mooring and the underwater inspection plan and report.
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Running the Boot Key Harbor City Marina is not much different from running a large motel. There are 64 different moorings in place now, each having a different occupant. Each mooring and its occupant have to be accounted for seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Money has to be collected and deposits returned. Inspection records must be maintained. Cruisers come and go every day, sometimes on short notice. A necessary computer software program is being implemented to manage the operation. Staff should be trained in motel management as well as boating. The city has the right under the “agreement” to inspect any boat at the time they pick up a mooring and every three months thereafter. Rightfully, the city avoids the issue of boarding a boat uninvited. Most cruisers don’t mind periodic, friendly, inspections of sanitation equipment and general seaworthiness of their vessels. The moorings are on a first-come first-served basis for Marathon residents. If, after 24 hours, the Marathon resident can’t use the mooring, it is offered to cruisers. I particularly like the idea that the city disallows the use of the moorings for “wet storage.” There is nothing worse than coming into a harbor full of unoccupied moored boats when all you want to do is stay a few days and do some shopping and sightseeing. During the morning of the second Saturday in December, we observed a few decent anchoring spots and three available moorings. The moorings are priced at $150/month, $50/week, or $10/ day. The dinghy dock is $60/month, $20/week or $4/day. Pumpout is free with the mooring. At anchor pump-out is $5. Pumpouts are required of boats tied up at nearby marinas as well as in the harbor. The fees are reasonable and account for the mooring field being nearly full. More moorings are in the plan as noted above. The city has clearly given considerable thought to the fee structure. With higher fees, cruisers will anchor (providing they can find a spot), or they won’t stop in Marathon. My concern, after inspecting the two new city boats purchased using grant funds, is what happens “down the road?” As the city undertakes the most expensive facilities part of the marina project and grant funds are running low, as they are likely to do, does the city raise the mooring and docking fees? Let’s hope not! Right now locals can live on their boats on a mooring and work in town for $150 + $60, which equals $210/month including the dinghy dock and a weekly pump-out. Marathon is setting an example for the rest of Florida and the Keys. Even the harborside, non-boating residents can’t complain. The harbor is much cleaner than before and better managed. Dick de Grasse is a long-time cruising sailor. He holds a 100-ton auxiliary sail masters license. He and his mate Kathy live in Islesboro, Maine, in the summer and cruise the Caribbean in the winter.
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SAILBOAT AUXILIARY ENGINES
The State of the Art 2004 By Tim Banse
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las. The days of the venerable Atomic 4 have faded into history. Come to think of it, that may not be such a bad thing. With the previous generation of sail auxiliary engines, we suffered the shortcomings of carburetors and battery ignition. Current generation inboards boast greater reliability and enhanced fuel economy. Even the lowly outboard sail motors have improved significantly. With this preface in mind, let’s review the state of the art in auxiliary engines. Sail motors are outboards fitted with an extra long propeller shaft (25 inches versus 15 or 20). Simply put, the longer leg dunks the propeller deeper below the waterline. The idea being that a deeper setting propeller remains more fully submerged when the hull pitch poles. While 15- and 25-inch transom lengths are common, not all outboard companies make the longer legged sail-motors. Typically, with a sail motor you’ll have a choice between manual or electric start and either tiller handle steering or remote. Remote control allows mounting a throttle and shift lever binnacle in the cockpit within easy reach of the steering. Another sail motor choice is between conventional twostroke and the new four-stroke technology. Four-stroke outboard sail motors are proliferating wildly due to their many benefits. Compared to the venerable two-strokes, four-strokes veritably
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sip fuel, burning about 40 percent less gasoline than an equivalent twostroke. No pall of smoke trails in your wake. New wave outboards idle so quietly you can barely hear them tick-ticking away. At wide-open throttle (WOT), the voice is barely above a whisper. As with any technology, there is a downside. Four-strokes are undeniably heavier. On a 9.9 hp, and depending on the engine builder, figure on about 25 pounds more weight. This means the transom bracket needs to be robust Volvo Penta with enough to handle the bigger motor. Older tran- D2-75S-drive som brackets aren’t strong enough. Both Fulton and Garelick offer heavy-duty models specifically engineered for four-stokes. Garelick goes one step further offering a hydraulic outboard mount. It raises the engine in and out of the water at the touch of a button, eliminating the awkwardness of
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hanging over the pushpit. Nissan and Tohatsu both build rock, solid sail-motors. The company’s current 9.9 hp sail motor is a two-stroke. But later this year look for an ultra-lightweight four-stroke to be introduced. Honda’s 9.9 is also a good choice. Both Yamaha High Thrust and Mercury Bigfoot offer 9.9 hp four-stroke outboards specifically engineered for displacement hulls. Their lower units house deep gear ratios and large diameter propellers. The combination pumps up thrust for greater control and greater pushing power. The net result is a 9.9 that moves a sailboat like there’s 20 hp under the engine cowling. As for inboards, a list of the players reads like a Who’s Who of marine enginemakers: Yanmar, Westerbeke, Volvo Penta and Vetus Den Ouden. Yanmar’s GM series of diesel engines are rated 9, 18 and 27 hp. Engine blocks are configured in one, two or three cylinder models. Recent improvements to the injection pump, nozzles, and combustion chamber lowered exhaust emissions to the point where the Yanmars are low smoke and soot-free. They also are renowned for their quiet, smooth running. For bigger boats, Yanmar’s models 3JH and 4JH are rated 40 and 56 hp, respectively. This series of engines feature a special alloy oil pan and flywheel housing for lighter weight. Crankshaft journals are laser-hardened for ultra durability. Direct injection teams up with a helical intake port to intensify the fuel air mixture swirl into the combustion chamber. Here, too, the payoff is eminently cleaner emissions. The dynamic duo’s main claim to fame is an enhanced cooling that minimizes temperature fluctuations holding metal expansion to a minimum. That enhances engine life. V-block mounting positions the engine deeper into the bilge, lowering the boat’s center of gravity, aiding overall stability. Freshwater cooled, internal passages are isolated from the corrosive effects of saltwater. While not exactly high output, the alternator is rated at a respectable 80 amps. Yanmar’s venerable saildrive series is available with the JH3 series. For those few souls who are unfamiliar with them, these units are equipped with a folding propeller that feathers when under sail, significantly reducing drag.
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Volvo-Penta offers a broad array of compact auxiliary engines in its MD2000 line of diesels. Configured in two-, threeand four-cylinder blocks, output ranges from 10 to 40 hp. Key features include a 60-amp alternator and freshwater cooling. There’s also a choice between a standard and a deluxe instrument panel. Transmission choices include either a reverse gear or a saildrive. The saildrive routes power through a lower unit installed through the hull. It can rotate its propeller through 180 degrees, lends greater efficiency in reverse gear, a characteristic especially handy for docking. Because the drive shaft stands vertical, there is no propeller shaft alignment or stuffing box to worry about. Volvo Penta also offers a three-blade folding propeller for its S-drive. Benefits include ten times less drag than a conventional, three-blade, fixed propeller. Compared to a two-blade prop, it offers improved top speed and strong acceleration. Westerbeke is renowned for its GenSets and auxiliary diesels. In sail power, the company offers two lines of auxiliary inboards. Predictably, one is marketed under the Westerbeke label and the other under the Universal Engine trademark. Horsepower ratings for the Westerbeke auxiliary diesels run from 6.4 hp up to 61 hp. Standard items include freshwater cooling, low oil pressure and high water temperature alarms, glow plug cold starting, a crankcase oil drain hose, and a selfbleeding fuel system. There’s also a domestic hot water connection on models 12 hp and above. There’s nothing quite like a hot shower on a cruise. Westerbekes’s line of Universal diesels, by dimension, weight, and output, are intended to replace the out-of-production Atomic 4 engines. On a repower to a Universal, as opposed to overhauling an Atomic 4, not only do you transition from gas to diesel, you no longer have to worry about rotted-out exhaust manifolds. Horsepower rating includes 20, 26, 35, 37.5 and 42. Finally, Vetus Den Ouden offers a new auxiliary, the model M4.15. Based on a Mitsubishi, the 1.5-liter, four-cylinder diesel generates 32 hp at 3,000 rpm. Engine and gearbox weight, just 397 pounds. The package includes flexible motor mounts, as well as an instrument panel replete with monitoring lights, tachometer, hour meter voltmeter, and safety buzzer and starter switch.
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BOOKS HF RADIO E-MAIL FOR “IDI-YACHTS” By Captain Marti Brown This book includes information on everything you need to send and receive email through an HF (ham and/or marine single sideband) radio. The author simplifies the equipment selection process, equipment setup, service provider selection, software setup and all of the steps involved in sending and receiving e-mail through your HF radio. Downloading weather reports, animated GRIB weather forecasts, FTP servers and troubleshooting are also covered. A CD accompanying this book has over 100 informational articles, software programs and data sounds. Photographs and diagrams in the book help identify what the author is talking about. As an example, a good photo of a pin configuration on the proper plug to be used in a connection. The layman can work with this book. Seaworthy Publications. www.seaworthy.com $29.95.
FIGHTING FINISH, THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE, ROUND THE WORLD 2001-2002 Text by Gary Jobson
volved, are in this book. Text by Gary Jobson covers the race in all its legs and then covers the history of round-the-world racing since the first one in 1973. It well covers the Volvo ocean race in pictures and words. Anyone who loves sailing or photography, will love this book. As a gift, any sailor would appreciate it if they haven’t already bought it. Nomad Press. www.nomadpress.net. $44.95
CRUISING WITH YOUR FOUR-FOOTED FRIENDS THE BASICS OF BOAT TRAVEL WITH YOUR CAT OR DOG By Diana Jessie “Dedicated to Rudder and Tiller.” Anyone who names their pets Rudder and Tiller must have a special outlook and a good sense of humor. This boat is about a lot of pets-of the dog and cat variety. If you are traveling with your hamster or other type pet, you’ll have to find another book. A lot of pet pictures that bring lots of smiles make you want to go out and buy a pet for your boat, and yourself, of course. This book covers the whole world of boats and pets. Chapters include when to get a pet for your boat (better as a puppy or kitten?), feeding and care, dealing with the “poop and pee,” first aid, safety, and foreign travel. There are even chapters on “pet etiquette” and “pet fashions,” but don’t let the latter title fool you. One of the things discussed is a PFD for your pet, not what color the pet wants, or if it’s in fashion. The chapter on foreign travel covers such topics as quarantine and the legalities of bringing pets to other countries. A good book written by a lover of pets. Seaworthy Publications. www.seaworthy.com. $19.95.
This is a beautiful book. Pictures in this book cannot be described in words. They must be seen. Some of the best shots of boats under sail ever printed grace this book. Some of the shots are of sailing moments that are hard to capture in photography, but they were by the photographers who contributed to this book. Shots of sailing under calm, extreme cold, and extreme weather, along with pictures of the many people in26
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CUBA
Sailors Seeking Sustenance in Cuba: What’s Available Beyond the Lobster Diet By David Allester
Cuba has much to offer foreign cruisers who manage to clear the regulatory hurdles to get there. The shelling is fabulous on long, unspoiled beaches. The coral reefs are alive and colorful. Ashore, you’ll encounter a vibrant Latin culture and be welcomed by warm, generous people everywhere you go. It would be a cruiser’s paradise except for one thing that’s hard to find: food. Visiting cruisers who have grown accustomed to eating need to plan ahead and use a little ingenuity and persistence if they want to subsist on more than hardtack and rainwater.
M
y wife, Eileen Quinn, and I had vacationed in Cuban tourist resorts a couple of times before visit ing the country on our 36-foot sailboat Little Giddin. (Cuba is a popular winter destination for budget-conscious Canadians like ourselves.) The meals in the resorts weren’t too exciting, but there was always lots to eat. Cuba’s economy is largely based on agriculture, so one would expect food to be available. And it is available — for the tourist resorts and for the export market, that is. When we arrived in our sailboat for a two-month cruise of the south coast, the Cuba we experienced was entirely different from the island we knew from previous fun-in-the-sun holiday tours. Now that we were outside of the tourist hotels, we encountered the same food shortages that daily confront the vast majority of the Cuban population. But don’t despair. The locals aren’t starving and if you cruise Cuba, neither will you. You just have to learn to forage like a Cuban. Assuming you’re not a vegetarian or allergic to seafood, being on a boat in Cuba gives you a distinct advantage when it comes to obtaining protein. You can get your own. Nowhere else in the Caribbean have we encountered such bountiful waters. Armed with a pole spear, I could go for a brief snorkel and count on coming back with more than enough conch, fish or lobster for dinner. I hate to admit it, but we actually got sick of eating lobster. (I haven’t received a lot of sympathy when I’ve shared this confession with friends.) For those who are a bit squeamish about skewering their supper while it’s still alive and writhing, there are plenty of Cuban fishermen who will do it for you. Most days we shared an anchorage with at least one local fishing boat. Invariably, we’d be offered some of their catch, usually for free, sometimes in exchange for a small regalo, or gift. The fishermen see very few foreigners and are eager to drop by and
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GOING TO CUBA By Morgan Stinemetz
A
The author with a grouper he speared snorkelling in the Archipelago de los Jardines de la Reina on the south coast of Cuba. Photo by Eileen Quinn
socialize — typically with a bag of shrimp or fish or lobster in hand. After several such occasions, our biggest problem was refusing our visitors’ largesse without insulting them our fridge wasn’t big enough for all the incoming gifts. A lobster-only diet will wreak havoc with your cholesterol levels; sooner or later you’ll want to acquire a few items from the other major food groups. Don’t count on finding your favorite breakfast cereal in a local store. In fact, don’t count on finding anything remotely resembling a North American supermarket. Just about everything that’s imported into Cuba is scarce, including fuel, consumer goods, and medical and school supplies, as well as specialty foods. The Cuban government blames the shortages on the U.S. trade embargo. The American government and ex-patriate Cuban community claim they’re due to a grossly mismanaged centralized economy. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. For the visiting boater who must have a bowl of Frosted Flakes every morning, it means stocking up before leaving for Cuba. Cuban families are issued ration books for purchasing basic foodstuffs at government stores, things like milk, bread, rice, beans, and eggs. (The amount varies with the family size and the number of children.) For a Cuban with a ration card, these items cost next to nothing. For a foreigner without a ration card, they’re simply unavailable outside of special “dollar” stores. The dollar stores were originally
couple of friends and I are sailing down to Cuba in the spring. We’re doing it on my boat, a 27foot Ericson sloop, which will make the living conditions a bit crowded for a week or so, but I think that we’ll be able to handle it. We’ll leave from Bradenton and sail directly to the Dry Tortugas. That’s a good initial destination and a fine place to lay over to rest for however long it takes to feel strong enough to cross the Straits of Florida, which I expect to do at night and when the weather will allow it. Going to Cuba is not something that our government encourages. I’ve been a couple of times before, in 1994, and again in 1999. The first time, on a race which left from Sarasota, protesters with their own anti-Castro agenda had threatened to break up the race, so there was a phalanx of federal agencies around to “protect” us. In the main, we had the Coast Guard and Customs, the latter with a Blackhawk helicopter. Doubtless, there were some FBI guys skulking around, too. On the state scene, there was the Florida Marine Patrol, the Sarasota Police Department and the Sarasota Sheriff’s Department. The race got under way without incident. And it pretty much ended that way, too. The sailors had a party in Cuba; some awards were handed out, and almost See GOING TO CUBA continued on page 34
See CUBA continued on page 31 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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CUBA
A vintage truck unloads fresh produce at the farmers’ market in Santiago de Cuba. Photo by Dave Allester.
A local fisherman puts dinner on our side deck. Photo by Dave Allester.
tended only for tourists, but now that some Cubans have access to American currency (usually through working in tourist settings), the wealthier Cubans also shop there for nonrationed goods. The prices are high and the selection isn’t great, but most essential stuff is available in one form or another if you can afford it. In all the Cuban towns we visited there is now an alternative to the expensive dollar stores. Fairly recently, farmers have been allowed to sell a small portion of their production in local markets. (The rest goes to the state for distribution.) The good news is that you can get great deals on fresh produce in the farmers’ markets. The bad news is that they might be selling only cabbages and bananas on the day you’re there. Best to buy whatever is available and hope that the next marLOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
ket you visit will have some of the other things you need. In a market in Santiago de Cuba, we discovered that one of the vegetables of choice that day were green bell peppers. Approaching one stall with a foot high pyramid of luscious peppers on display, Eileen pointed to the fat one at the top of the pile and asked the farmer how much it cost. Un peso, he answered. A peso’s worth five cents. We had just come from the Bahamas where a pepper in much worse shape would have cost a buck or two. Eileen handed him a peso. He smiled brightly and emptied the entire pile into her shopping bag. It was his big sale for the day, a whole peso for a bagful of peppers. Needless to say, green peppers soon became regarded as enthusiastically as lobsters at our dining table. An alternative to buying your own food and preparing it is to eat out at a Cuban restaurant. Don’t expect haute cuisine. Even at the expensive tourist resorts, the meals are often bland. Hot spices and elaborate sauces have never been part of the culinary scene in Cuba. Creativity is further hampered by the scarcity of anything but the most basic ingredients. The nofrills national cooking that results is called cocina criolla (Creole kitchen). But if it’s essentially home-cooking that’s on offer, there’s no need to pay a lot at a dreary state-run cafeteria. You can eat just as well, and much less expensively, in the cook’s own kitchen. Since 1995, home-operated cafes called paladars have offered an alternative to uninspiring government restaurants. Many paladars are known only by word of mouth, and the Southwinds
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CUBA daily menu is whatever the family happens to have on hand. Most of the paladars we visited were nothing more than private homes where the owner had invested in a few more kitchen chairs and some additional cutlery and dishes. As one of the few inroads of private enterprise allowed in the state-dominated economy, they are closely regulated and heavily taxed. This means they are often operated “underground.” They’ve given some Cubans access to hard currency formerly denied them. A typical meal of fried chicken or pork accompanied with fried plantain, rice, and salad cost us around five dollars. We had little trouble finding paladars. Actually, they usually found us. As gringo tourists, we were easy targets for budding entrepreneurs. When walking in a town’s main square or near any of the official tourist attractions, we fielded numerous offers for taxi rides, hand-rolled cigars, and comida. Comida (food) inevitably meant a paladar. In Nueva Gerona, the principal city on Isla Juventud, we were led to a paladar located a half dozen blocks north of Parque Central. It turned out to be a two-bedroom apartment in a four-story apartment complex. The woman who welcomed us at the door said she would cook a local speci-
Clara Ruiz tells Eileen that the main course she’s holding is reptilian. Photo by Dave Allester.
ality for us. Her huge smile won us over. We agreed to come back in an hour to give her time to prepare the meal. When we returned after a bit of sightseeing, the apartment was full of savory aromas. On the dining room table platters were heaped high with salad, steamed rice, and fried sweet potato. After we were seated, our cook, Clara, ceremoniously brought out the main course. Lunch is served in a paladar in the historic city of Trinidad. Seated clockwise from Eileen at the head The smiles froze on our faces as we stared of the table are cruising friends Susan Ure and David Burns (Kari II), and Harvey and Gerbrig at the steaming pile of vertebrae she Berman (Soulstice). Photo by Dave Allester. placed before us. It looked like a pale version of oxtail stew. We timidly inquired what the main ingredient was. Clara could barely contain herself. Crocodillo! she proudly announced. OOPS! Whispering in English, we quickly conferred on the implications of devouring an endangered species. It was pretty obvious this particular crocodile’s days were done and no amount of hand-wringing was going to bring him back to life. We ate. Actually, it tasted pretty good — sort of like fishy chicken. Back at the marina, we asked the manager about the status of crocodiles on the island. He assured us that of the three types found on Juventud, two were quite common and in no need of protection. That information helped assuage our lingering guilt feelings. Still, we swore to each other that the next time we’d ask more questions before ordering the reptile of the day! 32
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GOING TO CUBA
Continued from page 29
She had a Hispanic acCarla, the hell-on-wheels lady with everybody got to tour Havana. When we cent, which was a good OFAC in Miami, basically did not know or got back, the U.S. Customs guys who checked us in couldn’t have been nicer. thing, because had she would not admit that the key part of a journalistic general license, which applied to Boy, have things changed! not had that accent, I my case, were the words “...and such adI had a simple question about going to transactions as are directly incident Cuba that I thought the people at the Ofmight have thought that ditional to journalistic activities in Cuba by persons fice of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a deI was talking with a Nazi. regularly employed as journalists by a partment of the U.S. Treasury, could annews reporting organization....” swer. I called the phone number for OFAC If there is a lesson in all of this, and there in Miami. I got a recorded message. Leave is, it is simply that one government official-whose salary we a number, the message said, and someone will call you back. I pay-can be so out in left field that she’d never know when it left a number. No one called me back. was her turn at the plate. She didn’t know her job well enough Then I checked with my congressional representative’s ofto give a cogent answer. Maybe she didn’t care. Maybe she fice to see if they could help. They could. They did. was part of the rabid, anti-Castro contingent in Miami. I don’t The next day I got a call from Charles Bishop from OFAC care about that myself. in Miami. I was not in when he called, but he directed me to the If you can’t get satisfaction at a low level, ratchet it up a OFAC Web site on the message he left. Because my question notch. The smarter people are higher up on the pyramid. They had to do with a very fine point about the regulations, I called already know that anyone can say “no” without listening to Mr. Bishop back. (His phone number-(305) 810-5299-had been the facts. Their job is to be a little more discerning, and talking automatically picked up by my answering machine.) “This with someone like that is infinitely more satisfying. Producnumber is no longer in service,” said the intercept message from tive, too. the phone company. I tried again with the same result. Back to the congressional office. I explained the problem Morgan Stinemetz can be reached on the telephone at (941) 792with the phone number. I needed to talk to a real person. Could 3044 or via e-mail at mstine7611@earthlink.net or . they help? Sure. Within a little while I got a call from someone at OFAC’s Miami office. Her name, she said, was Carla. She had a Hispanic accent, which was a good thing, because had she not had that accent, I might have thought that I was talking with a Nazi. I tried to explain the purpose of my trip, but Carla had her own agenda. She kept interrupting me to criticize the way I was phrasing things. She copped an attitude, and she told me over and over again that I was not permitted to go to Cuba under any circumstances. Her main point is that I was not on the staff of a news-gathering organization. That was, of course, true. On the other hand, I read her a letter I had from the Department of the Treasury, signed by her boss, R. Richard Newcomb, which stated that my type of work (journalist) and my contractual ties to several newspapers fell within the scope of the general license provisions. I could go to Cuba, Mr. Newcomb wrote. Carla wouldn’t buy into that. She said that travel by me to Cuba was prohibited. And she said it many, many times in an increasingly heightened state of agitation. Finally, faced with my stubborn refusal to buy into her agenda, she suggested I call OFAC’s main office in Washington, D.C. Basically, I had been on the phone for 15 minutes with a woman whose sole response had been argumentative, irrational and just plain wrong. I called the number in Washington Carla had given me. It was the OFAC main office. More to the point, it had reasonable people who answered the phone. I talked with a gentleman whose name I did not write down and cannot remember. After I explained the letter I had from the director of OFAC and read him the part that said my journalistic activities fell within the scope of the general license provision, he pronounced me “good to go.” He reminded me that I’d had better take along the letter from R. Richard Newcomb. I told him that I would have it hermetically sealed and placed in a lead-lined box. 34
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Call for Boat Show Specials
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THE BAHAMAS
Tings We Tink You Gon’ Need in Da Bahamas, Mon By Colin Ward
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o, you have decided to cross the Gulf Stream and head to the Bahamas. You have a few weeks or months to try a foreign culture that is not too far away, where the language is roughly the same as at home. So, what tings do I need to take along, mon? Assuming you are Staniel Cay, Exumas, Bahamas already adequately set up to sail the coastal waters of the United States, you do not need a whole lot more. Let’s run down a short list of the items that are either required or recommended, and answer some of the questions we frequently hear.
LEGALITIES The most important item you will need of course, is the paperwork required to clear in to the Bahamas and back into the United States. Passports or birth certificates for the crew, documentation or registration for the boat and pet import permits for any furry friends should take care of it, along with the entry fee, which presently runs $150 for a boat 35 feet and under, or $300 for a boat over 35 feet. Information will also be needed on any firearms on board. Clearing in will produce a cruising permit for the boat, immigration cards for the crew, and a fishing license (with fishing regulations on the back). There are rumors that the fees may be reduced, but at this writing they are only rumors. Returning to the United States will require passports/birth certificates, boat documents, and a customs sticker (which is best obtained before you leave). NonU.S. citizens will require an appropriate visa or alien card. Returning to the 36
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United States presently requires a personal visit to the immigration office by all crew members at most ports of entry. Clearing out of the Bahamas is not required.
COSTS, CASH AND SECURITY The Bahamas charges about 40 percent duty on most imported items. Add to this the cost of shipping, and you can expect things to be 50 percent more expensive than in the United States. There is no income tax or sales tax. If you are cruising in the Bahamas and need to import a spare part for your boat, you can usually avoid the duty by attaching a copy of your cruising permit to the incoming package (which means faxing a copy to the shipper) and writing “Ship’s Stores in Transit” on the package. Bring cash to use at the small businesses in the out islands. Credit cards, traveler’s checks and ATM machines work well in the larger towns but not elsewhere. You also may be charged an
extra 3-5 percent for using a credit card. American currency is used as readily as Bahamian, and the U.S. dollar is on par with the Bahamian dollar. Security is a minor issue except in Nassau and possibly one or two other larger towns. Bring good locks and chain or cables to secure your boat, dinghy and outboard in those areas, and don’t flash your cash.
IN THE WATER What about the fun stuff? In order to enjoy the underwater sights, snorkel gear is very important. Snorkeling over Bahamian reefs is great fun, and if you are good or lucky, you may be able to spear a fish or catch a lobster. To spear a fish, you need a pole spear, not a spear gun, which is illegal, as is fishing with scuba gear. Snorkeling is greatly improved and prolonged with a wet suit. The water is not as warm as you might expect in the winter season. In addition, we recommend a “look bucket,” also known as a “lookee” or “looksee” www.southwindssailing.com
A good afternoon of conching
bucket, or a water glass. A “look bucket” is simply a bucket with a transparent bottom that works like a snorkel mask when the bottom is dipped in the water. You can sit in your dinghy and look into the bucket and see coral, fish, conch, and your anchor, which is probably the most important thing you will look at. Sometimes you can find a “look bucket” to buy, but they are easy to make from a plastic bucket and piece of clear Plexiglass. Just cut a hole in the bucket a bit smaller than the bottom and fasten the Plexiglas to the remaining lip with rivets and sealer. You will need a conch hammer to make a hole in the conch you find so that you can remove the meat from the shell. We carry a welder’s chipping hammer, which makes a nice hole in a conch shell. Any pointed hammering device will do, however. Fishing from the boat can be very successful. A stout rod and reel equipped with 50-pound line or more is my recommendation, although a donut reel will work if you use a bungee to absorb the shock when the fish hits. Trolling at sailing speeds may get you a dolphin fish or tuna in deep water or a barracuda on the banks. To catch a dolphin fish, use a large lure with a wire leader and a big hook that is weighted to run beneath the surface. You can buy a fancy lure or make one out of a silver potato chip bag or strips of aluminum from a drink can. A tackle shop owner in Florida told me that the colors of the lure are for the fisherman, not the fish. Tow the lure at least a couple of boat lengths behind the sailboat. You may not catch many, but one dolphin fish will supply mahi-mahi filets to feed you for several days or more. Dolphin are spectacular to catch because they are brightly colored and jump and fight with the best of them. Barracuda will strike almost anything when you are on the banks. The locals eat smaller barracuda, but beware that the large ones may carry ciguatera poison. Remember that almost any fish you catch in the ocean will have LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
large dentures and be very powerful while flopping around in the cockpit. A dose of cheap rum in the gills will calm it down quickly, but be sure to save a little for the fisherman’s celebration. The conversion of a beautiful fourfoot fighting fish to filets or steaks will turn your cockpit into a bloody mess. You will need a bucket, scrub brush, soap, and a strong stomach for this phase, especially if the sea is rough. If you can ice the fish down for cleaning ashore, you will be ahead, but not many sailboats have enough ice or a place to put a four-foot fish.
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BAHAMAS
FINDING YOUR WAY
Colleen in a suitable dinghy.
You will need the Explorer chartbook(s) by Monty and Sara Lewis for the area where you are going. Do not attempt to get by without these charts. Other chart books do not have sufficient information on water depths or the up-to-date descriptions of ports and anchorages. Good guidebooks are also available by Steve Pavlidis, Steve Dodge, and others, but the Explorer charts are indispensable. As important to your safety as good charts is a method of getting good weather forecasts. There are no broadcasts on the weather channels on your VHF radio, although the weather is rebroadcast on VHF by various marinas and individuals throughout the Bahamas on whatever schedule they choose. If you do not have single sideband or ham radio, I would recommend bringing a single sideband receiver (Radio Shack, Sangean or Grundig) capable of both upper and lower sideband and learning how to use it. Then you can receive forecasts from NOAA and from ham radio nets, not to mention weather faxes.
EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY Most people who ask us what to take are thinking of grocery items. It is worth remembering that wherever you go on your boat, the local people have to buy food and drink. You can always find something to eat and drink even if it is not what you are used to. In the Bahamas, most grocery items are expensive (1.5 x $U.S.) while a few are priced at U.S. levels. It is worthwhile bringing anything that you might consider a specialty item, along with paper goods, toiletries, medicine, soft drinks, and beer. Staples, canned goods, liquor and wine, bread, milk and the like are generally available at reasonable prices especially in larger towns like Nassau, George Town, Marsh Harbor, and Spanish Wells. Some goods are imported into the Bahamas from countries other than the United States and are of very good quality at good prices. Robin Hood oatmeal and flour from Canada and Roland and Linda canned goods are good buys. Fresh vegetables are grown on Long Island and Andros and can be purchased at good prices if you are close to the source. Prescription drugs are generally available, but you still need a prescription, and they are not cheap. If you are going to be in the Bahamas for more than about a week, you will not be able to carry enough freshwater with you. The most desirable solution to this problem certainly is owning a watermaker; however if you do not want to sink 38
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THE BAHAMAS $4,000 into a system, you will have to find water on the islands. Bring jugs so you can carry water to the boat in the dinghy. You probably will not be able to take your big boat to where the water is found. “City water” is usually available for free somewhere in the larger towns, and the quality is good enough for the local people to use. Some locations have R.O. water (from a reverse osmosis desalinization plant), but expect to pay as much as 60 cents per gallon for it. It will probably taste better than city water, which can be a little salty. We carry a water filter that fits on our hose. Remember that it rarely rains in the winter so collecting rainwater for your water supply is not reliable.
KEEP IT RUNNING Spare parts for your boat will generally not be available except in the largest cities; however, there are numerous delivery services that can probably get your part from Fort Lauderdale in a couple of days. True, they will be more expensive that way, but the alternative is to carry a host of spare parts that you may never use. Take any consumable spares like oil and fuel filters, fan belts, your special flavor of oil, watermaker filters, printer cartridges, and so on. For an indication of pricing for consumable spares, BioBor JF diesel treatment presently costs $37 in Nassau. Outboard motors require spare parts as well. Yamaha, Mercury and other common brands are well supported in the Bahamas since they are used everywhere by the locals. The exception would be four-stroke outboards, which are not common. Still, I would carry spare
two-stroke oil, spark plugs and fuel filters in case the outboard dies in a lonely spot. By the way, the most common reason why an outboard fails is a dirty carburetor.
THE CAR The mention of outboards brings up the subject of dinghies. In the Bahamas, the dinghy is your car, and you will be relying on it to travel long distances with loads of gear. The dinghy is no place to be stingy. Bring one that is as big and reliable as you can manage. I do not believe that a small, hard, rowing dinghy without a motor is desirable or safe in the open anchorages of the Bahamas. If your outboard dies and you are being blown out to sea, you will want an anchor and rode, oars, a handheld VHF radio, possibly lights and a couple of flares so you can be rescued before you arrive in Cuba.
COMMUNICATIONS If you think you may need to mail something back home, take a supply of U.S. stamps with you because someone may be able to hand-carry your letter to the United States and drop it in the mail for you. This is a good strategy for paying bills that are time-sensitive (not as good as arranging for a direct debit from your account, however). The Bahamian postal system relies on various mailboats to get your letters from the out islands to Nassau. Once in Nassau, the mail seems to get to the United States in about a week. The total elapsed time may be three weeks or more. Occasionally, mail seems to disappear altogether. You may want to read the first sentence of this paragraph again! You should also give some thought to other communications back home. The Batelco telephone system works well, but it no longer permits the use of inexpensive prepaid phone cards. Phone cards are available from Batelco, but the cost is $1 per minute to the United States. E-mail is probably your best bet, either from your on-board system if you have one, from Pocketmail, or from an Internet café. Pocketmail works through the Batelco phone system, but you cannot use an 800 number. You must have the regular area code and number. You can also sign up for an account with Batelnet, which allows you to take your laptop to the Batelco office and plug in. Batelnet is available for as little as $10 per month for five hours on-line.
DISPOSAL People occasionally have asked us about sensitive subjects such as pump outs and holding tanks in the Bahamas. We all want to be good citizens when it comes to such matters; however, we have never seen a pump-out station outside of the United States or Canada so you will have to be equipped to pump your own holding tank. We believe the best approach is to use a holding tank in port and pump overboard at sea. Bring large trash bags so you can save your trash for a proper disposal site. Many islands have no facilities for disposing of trash. Biodegradable food waste can go overboard at sea, but will attract sharks to anchorages.
FILL’ER UP For those of you who are wondering whether you will be able to buy fuel, the answer is an unqualified yes. Diesel and gasoline are available on practically all of the inhabited islands and should not be a problem. Diesel in Nassau is somewhat 40
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more expensive than in Florida, but gasoline approaches $3 per gallon. Prices jump considerably when you get to a smaller town or island. We find we use a lot more gasoline (for the dinghy) than diesel (for the sailboat) once we get where we are going. Bring jerry jugs to transport fuel from town to the boat. We rarely take the boat to a marina to fuel up, often due to shallow water. We also recommend filtering your fuel through a Baja type filter to remove particulates and water. As in the United States, the fuel docks that sell the largest quantities of fuel are the ones most likely to have clean fuel. We carry about 10 gallons of gasoline in addition to the six gallons in the outboard tank so we do not worry about running out “Look bucket” in action between gas stations. Don’t forget a supply of two-stroke oil if you have a two-stroke outboard. Propane is generally available in the bigger towns. On some of the out islands, your cylinder will be sent on the mailboat to be refilled and returned on the next. This could take up to two weeks so is only viable if you plan to stay put for a while. We carry two cylinders, each of which lasts five weeks. That means we have five weeks to get an empty one refilled once we switch them.
the casinos. Second, I would recommend leaving behind any impatience you may have. The Bahamas operate at a slower pace than the United States, and there is nothing you can do to speed it up. Stores close on Sunday; restaurant service is leisurely; payphones are out of service for weeks at a time, etc. etc. Therefore, you should plan to adjust yourself to that pace. You also may be forced to stay somewhere until the weather changes. If you become impatient, you will not enjoy yourself as much.
TINGS TO LEAVE AT HOME That should cover most of the questions about what to bring. There are a couple of things I would not bring. One would be a gun. Bringing firearms into the country requires registration and a locked storage cabinet, plus there is no reason to have a gun. The only pirates in the Bahamas are found in
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
Well, there you have the basics of what to bring. You should be able to tailor the information to suit your own needs and preferences. So get your tings ready, mon, and come on over for great sailing, snorkeling, swimming, fishing, exploring, and a good time in the sun.
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MIAMI BOAT SHOW
Strictly Sail Miami Boat Show. February 12-17
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he 19th Strictly Sail Miami boat show is part of the greater Miami International Boat Show held at the Miamarina in downtown Miami. It runs from Thursday, February 12, through Tuesday, February 17. Show hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and admission to the show gives admission to other locations of the Miami show. Among the many multihulls and monohulls present, the show also includes the largest selection of catamarans of any boat show. Some of the boats present at the show include the following: Sunreef 74 catamaran; 53foot Amel Super Maramu 2000; 44-foot Lagoon 440; Sunsail Power catamaran PDQ 34; Multhiull Company’s Dolphin 43 catamaran; 50-foot Bruckmann motorsailer; 56-foot custom Cabo Rico; Hunter Marine’s Glenn Hendersen-designed 40-footer; newly-introduced Catalina 387. The 129-foot schooner Amistad, will also be present for touring. The Kids Aboard Boat Building Workshop (a free program) will allow parents to leave their children from ages 4 and older in the care of a program which last year built two 10-foot Seaquest scows. Parents can visit the rest of the show while children enjoy this learning experience. This program is available from 12 noon to 6 p.m., Friday through Tuesday. The Discover Sailing program will offer introductory sails on Biscayne Bay. Free daily seminars on sailing will be held. Tickets can be bought online at www.miamiboatshow.com. Tickets on Thursday, February 12, Premier Day, are $25. Cost of tickets Feb. 13-17, Friday through Tuesday, are $15, $4 for children 6-12, and children 5 and under get in free. Adult two-day passes are available for $24. All tickets include entry to all locations of the Miami International Boat Show. DIRECTIONS From the North: I-95 South to exit 395/Miami Beach East, exit at Biscayne Blvd. Turn right; follow Biscayne to Port Blvd. (NE 5th Street). Turn left; follow righthand lane into the Bayside Garage. From the South: I-95 North. Exit at Biscayne Blvd. Stay in lefthand lane until the stop sign at Biscayne. Turn left on NE 3rd Street. Follow the left side of the road into the Bayside Garage. 42
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SEMINAR SCHEDULE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Randy Deering - A Sailor Looks at Leadership 1:15 PM Seminar Tent Bob Williams - Cruising Systems Designs 2:30 PM Seminar Tent Eileen Quinn 3:45 PM Seminar Tent Philip Berman - How to Buy the Right Catamaran For Your Needs 5:00 PM Seminar Tent Marti Brown - Hurricanes FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 10:45 AM Seminar Tent John Gambill - Free Energy From the Wind 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Dale Schneider - TBD 1:15 PM Seminar Tent Kevin Jeffrey - Energy at Sea 2:30 PM Seminar Tent Katherine Redmond - “NO, I Dont Want to Go Cruising” 3:00 PM Seminar Tent Eileen Quinn - Candid Cruising Laughs and Lessons 3:45 PM Seminar Tent Pam Wall - Cruising Bahamas SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 10:45 AM Seminar Tent Liza Copeland - Mediterranean Magic 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Dan Leather - Liferafts: Deployment, Survival and Rescue 12:30 PM Seminar Tent Steve Bowdon - TBD 1:00 PM Seminar Tent Lin & Larry Pardey - Cost Control While You Cruise 1:15 PM Seminar Tent Emily Hankey - Chartering 101: Everything You Need to Know 3:45 PM Seminar Tent Pam Wall - The Ideal Cruise of the Abacos SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Eileen Quinn - Overcoming Your Inner Boat Bimbo 1:15 PM Seminar Tent Emily Hankey - Chartering 101: Everything You Need to Know 2:30 PM Seminar Tent Charles Kanter - Anchoring 3:45 PM Seminar Tent Pam Wall - Atlantic Cirlce from Florida to Ireland and Back MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 10:45 AM Seminar Tent Brent Vaughn - TBD 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Liza Copeland - Cruising for Couples 1:15 PM Seminar Room Eileen Quinn - How to Go Cruising and Stay Married 5:00 PM Seminar Tent Lin & Larry Pardey - Storm Tactics TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2004 TIME LOCATION SEMINAR 10:45 AM Seminar Tent Corinne Kanter - Secrets of Galley Success 12:00 PM Seminar Tent Liza Copeland - Cruising For Couples 1:15 PM Seminar Tent Katherine Redmond - “NO, I Dont Want to Go Cruising” 2:30 PM Seminar Tent Eileen Quinn - How to go Cruising and Stay Married 3:45 PM Seminar Tent Pam Wall - TBD www.southwindssailing.com
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SOUTHWINDS REGIONAL MARINE SERVICES DIRECTORY INTRODUCTORY OFFER: RATES AS LOW AS $8 PER MONTH
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!
Southwinds magazine is beginning a marine services directory to help those small businesses get their names out there to sailors. This directory will be for services only. Some examples of categories are: Boat Lettering Boat Transporting Services Canvas & Cushion Services Engine Mechanics Fiberglass Repair Maintenance Services Air Conditioning Bottom Cleaning Carpentry Cleaning and Detailing
Electricians Fuel Cleaning Mechanical (plumbing, etc) Painting/Varnishing Refrigeration Metal Fabricators Stainless Railings, etc. Prop Services
Raft/Liferaft Repair/Servicing Riggers Sailing Instruction Sailmaking, Repairing & Cleaning Surveyors Towboat Services Yacht Deliveries
Contact us to possibly add other categories.
Introductory rates start at $8.00 per month, with a 12month agreement (payable in advance), for three lines in the directory ($10 for four lines). That is less than $100 for a year of advertising. For boxed-in ads, the cost is $20 a month with a 12-month agreement (payable in advance.) These reduced rates are being offered for a limited time as an introductory offer. Contact: Steve Morrell (877) 372-7245 editor@southwindssailing.com Gary Hufford (727) 585-2814 gary@southwindssailing.com
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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SOUTHERN SAILING
The Evolution of Sailboat Racing Designs: What is High Performance? By Dave Ellis
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triving to get more performance for a specific effort seems to be a natural human tendency. Cultures quite remote from “civilization” have changed the shape of paddles to get more from each stroke. The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica has an exhaustive review of ship design up to that time, highlighting the trends to try to get more speed for a carrying capacity. Later it wrote of yacht design going from the “plank on edge” to the “teardrop” to long keels with attached rudders, all with as much sail as could be piled on the spars of the day. Yachts got their long overhangs, bow and stern, from the old racing rules that only counted waterline with the boat at rest
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and upright. Since speed for displacement boats was dependent on the waterline (1.34 times the square root of the waterline), the rule dictated a waterline. Then when a yacht heeled, more length of the hull was in the resulting wavemaking of the hull’s movement, hence more real waterline and more speed. A “Luders 16” was about thirty feet long overall. A similar anomaly in design caused by a rating rule was in the sails. For generations the mainsail area and the fore triangle were counted as sail area. Much of the jib’s overlap beyond the mast was not counted. So we had boats with tiny mainsails and huge overlapping genoa jibs. Today, with sail area counted differently, boats are designed with larger mains and smaller jibs. The America’s Cup boats can have pretty much any sail configuration they want. They opt for a large, elliptical planform main and a jib that may or may not overlap with the mast. It seems that in the past there were occasional sudden jumps in performance. In larger boats, designers would tweak a known winner. Once in a while, a breakthrough would occur. The long, extremely thin boats of the late 1800s were indeed “planks on edge,” but a designer came up with a wider hull that could be built lighter because of the hull’s natural stability. The thin boats disappeared on the racecourse in short order. Then the wider boats were tweaked by a succession of designers. More recently boats like Finnestere, Dorade, Intrepid, Paper Tiger and later the sleds of the West Coast would start another tweaking thread. But no longer is the performance curve of sailboat design a slow, ponderous, careful process. It is not that designers are
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smarter or more innovative than they ever were. Yes, information does get everywhere, so a 505 sailor can know what equipment a winner Down Under used to win a regatta last weekend. But it is materials that have made the quantum changes practical that we see practically month-by-month. An acquaintance had a balsa model of a trimaran with foils and a wing mast/soft sail sitting on a piano in Washington, D.C., in 1968. He dreamed of 500-mile days on the open ocean. “You’re crazy, man,” said wiser sailors of the day. “The hull would crush and the mast would be too heavy.” Today Kevlar, carbon, and epoxy hulls are flitting around the world in well under 80 days, and 500+ mile days are not uncommon. Stronger, lighter materials have caused a revolution in thinking. Roy Disney’s new Pywacket is one of the innovative craft that has a swinging keel, which moves as much as 45-degrees to windward to keep the boat more upright. There are two rudders, one in the usual place and one forward of the keel, although not as far forward as Tom Blackaller’s America’s Cup boat that was so hard to control. The rudders act as the lateral resistance, as the keel is simply for righting moment. The rudders can work together or, through a helicopterlike “collective,” independently. The boat in trials went to windward faster than the wind. To windward! Today we have boats being built with single masts a hundred feet too tall to get under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay. The sails are so large that they have to be made in pieces with loops and strung together by battens at several places as the sail is raised. Dinghy development took off with Uffa Fox’s first planing International 14 in the 1940s. One design has kept hull development rather static, since it is the level of racing and camaraderie that is often more important to the small boat sailor. However, note the development of the spar and sails of the Star, Lightning and Snipe, among oth-
ers. These boats are significantly faster and easier to sail today. The early 1950s saw a surge in development with contests to find new Olympic boats. The Flying Dutchman and 505 are the result of those days, along with the later 470, Fireball and the 420 and Flying Junior of college racing. Finally, the skiffs swept out of Australian open minds and re-defined small-boat sailing speeds. Waterline has little to do with speed once the wind gets over eight knots, as these boats plane upwind and down. Upside down, however, is really slow. Multihulls have long been known to be fast. Herreshoff’s catamaran was quickly banned from racing. Development has been ongoing, with a few breakthroughs since the Tornado thirty years ago. With its new rig, this venerable cat is still among the very fastest. The A-cat continues to push the envelope of what performance can be gleaned from a given horsepower, with wave-piercing bows the latest thinking. Windsurfers took off like, well, windsurfers. We owe sail and rig development to the windsurfing folks. But development was so very fast that many got tired of trying to keep up with new stuff so often. A successful effort has recently been made to design boards that are easier to sail. Get a kite sail to keep the difficulty level up. What does the future hold? Water and wind have not changed in all these centuries of development. Physics and human comfort levels are pretty much set. Bethwaite feels that vibrations may have some potential. Heating and cooling of sides of sails is a possibility. Materials may continue to evolve, albeit at a less spectacular pace. For most of us this is of only academic interest. We enjoy the experience of sailing whatever we sail. But, see that boat over there? If I tighten the vang a little and slide the jib fairlead forward a few inches, I’ll bet we can pass it by.....
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RACING TACTICS & STRATEGY
Sail the longer tack first By David Dellenbaugh
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hen it comes to strategy on a beat, my most valuable guiding principle of all time has been to sail the longer tack first. It’s amazing how often this works and how much you can gain by doing it. The geometry of your racecourse is one factor you must consider in any strategic plan. And the most important geometric question by far is whether one tack is longer than the other. Here are some things to consider. 46
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• Defining the longer tack. There is a longer tack whenever you have to sail different lengths of time on port and starboard tacks to get to the windward mark. This could be caused by several factors including bad mark placement, a persistent wind shift, current or the fact that you sailed out to a side of the course. In order to find the longer tack, you must first locate the windward mark and then estimate how much sailing time you have left on each tack. • Finding the longer tack. There are several ways to determine which tack is longer (see diagram). You can eyeball the mark to see if you’re pointing closer to it on port or starboard tack. Or you can figure this mathematically using bearings and compass headings. Another way is to go head to wind before the start and see whether the first mark is to the right or left of your bow. Or, after the start, locate the closer layline. The longer tack is the one that takes you away from this layline. • When it works. By sailing the longer tack, you are heading for the middle of the course. The only time when this won’t work strategically is when the shorter tack takes you, for example, toward a persistent shift or better breeze. In alwww.southwindssailing.com
most all other situations, sailing the longer tack first will give you a much better chance of success. This is especially true when you’re not sure what the wind will do next. In this case, being closer to the middle will give you more options for playing the next shift. Getting onto the longer tack also becomes more important as one tack grows increasingly longer than the other. It may not make much difference which tack you sail when port and starboard are within 10 percent in length. But when one is twice as long as the other, that’s a real reason to take the longer one. • Find and protect a lane. If you want to go fast up the first beat, one of the best things you can find is a lane of clear air on the longer tack (see photo above). Start looking for this right after the start and, once you find it, work hard to maintain your lane. From David Dellenbaugh’s monthly newsletter of how-to tips for racing sailors, “Speed & Smarts.” www.SpeedandSmarts.com, (800) 356-2200.
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RACING & REGATTAS WEST FLORIDA PASS A GRILLE YACHT CLUB HOLDS 21ST ANNUAL ANCHOR CUP RACE ST. PETE BEACH, F FEBRUARY 28 The Anchor Cup regatta is the oldest continuous sailboat regatta held in the greater Tampa Bay area. The many yacht clubs within the area, including those member clubs of the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs The Anchor Cup race in 2003. Photo by Steve Morrell. (FCYC) yield one of the largest fleet of participants on Florida’s Sun Coast. Participation in the Anchor ANCHOR CUP Race awards “Boat Of The Year” By Dave Ellis points for those racing skippers par- Time was when racing sailboats over twenty feet or so involved actually going someticipating each year. Moreover, it is place. Boats were a little more comfortable. Crew didn’t necessarily have to sit on the sailed offshore St. Pete Beach in the weather rail to make the boat competitive. In the early days, the Pass-a-Grille Anchor Cup was held under the auspices of the Gulf of Mexico and not in the variold Florida Ocean Racing Association, FORA. After a start outside the Pass-a-Grill pass ous bays, where most of the regattas in the area are held, including the on the central west coast of Florida, boats would head south to Venice or Naples, about National Offshore One Design eighty miles along a sandy coast, and return. The long night was a novelty for many sailors used to around-the-buoys racing. (NOOD) held the weekend prior. Those who knew a thing or two about watch-keeping and pacing the crew were sucThus, it is a true offshore event. Accordingly, depending upon cessful. Others may have had difficulty recruiting crew the following year. Chuck Weinreich remembers the year when a boat owned by an air freight execuweather conditions, the Anchor race tive had a new-fangled phone that he could actually call from his fast boat to make sure draws not only the local yachts, but the race committee boat was on station when he crossed the line. Nowadays almost also attracts many of the top out-ofstate boats which had participated everybody on the racecourse has a cell phone. The first sponsor was Anchor Savings and Loan, a casualty of the S & L meltdown in the NOOD and then stayed over of the 1980s. The name Anchor Cup has stuck, with Crown Eurocars now helping defor the Anchor race. As a result, the Anchor is a traditional favorite on fray the expense for the sailors. “An upscale sponsor for an upscale regatta,” was the the Florida west coast drawing an goal of Weinreich. In more recent years the Anchor Cup has followed the wishes of most sailors to average of over sixty-five yachts. skip the overnights. Saturday, February 28, will feature one big race around navigation The average crew on each boat buoys and set marks in the Gulf of Mexico north of the entrance to Tampa Bay. is about five for a total of 325 sailors Multihulls, Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, Sportboats and two cruising classes are slated. sailing in the race. Larger, faster boats will have a longer course, the non-spinnaker boats a shorter route and the cruising class a course with less windward work. George Pennington is the principal race officer, a popular choice among racing skippers. 505 MIDWINTERS For more information on the Anchor Cup, phone the Pass-a-Grille Yacht Club at GULFPORT, FL, JANUARY 9-11 (727) 360-0446 ETHAN BIXBY & CREW TAKE
THE HONORS IN HIGH WINDS AND LOW TEMPS By Dave Ellis Ethan Bixby showed his experience and speed in the 505 dinghies by winning the Midwinters by ten points over top competition. Bixby won the 505 worlds in San Francisco in 1981 and has been at the top of the class since. When not racing on a Greek-owned Farr 40 you may find him on Roy Disney’s new exotic maxi-racer Pyewacket. But there is no more pure racing than the 505. Sailing with St. Petersburg Yacht Club youth coach Erik Booth as crew, their dark green machine won seven of the eight races. Only Ali Meller and crew Jesse Falsone of Annapolis also managed to win a heat, placing second overall. Macy Nelson and Tom Hurwitch of Baltimore were third after a tight battle with Lin Robson and Serge Jorgensen of LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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RACING & REGATTAS St. Petersburg. The regatta was moved to the tiny, laid-back Gulfport Yacht Club of Florida, after a decade at St. Petersburg Yacht Club. SPYC had added six other classes to the event. The 505 class didn’t want to wait for long periods for their starts, so made the move to fewer perks and more racing. A popular venue was the Gulf of Mexico Friday, after an hour’s tow. Winds were steady in the five to eight knot ranges for four races. Saturday’s racing was in the protected bay with winds gusting to 20 and temperatures barely breaking 40. Four races were run in the shifty, puffy conditions that saw more than a few taking a swim in the 60-degree water. 505s round the mark in the Midwinters in Florida. Gary Hufford photo. Sunday had gusts approaching 25 with temperatures below 40. After a delay, it was decided that with the winners determined, two races for the few boats macho enough to sail would not be practical. Race Officials Joe Frohock and Dave Ellis were not unhappy with that decision. Results (place,crew, hometown, points) 1, Ethan Bixby & Erik Boothe, St. Petersburg, FL, 7; 2, Ali Meller & Jesse Falsone, Annapolis, MD, 17; 3, Macy Nelson & Tom Hurwitch, Baltimore, MD, 23; 4, Lin Robson & Serge Jorgensen, St. Petersburg, FL, 29; 5, John Wyles & Peter Beardsley, Rye, NY, 42; 6, John Hauser & Dustin Romey, Annapolis, MD, 42; 7, Barney Harris & George Saunders, Arlington, VA, 46; 8, Chuck Millican & Scott Norman, Bermuda, 47; 9, Sterg Papadakis & Mike Albert, New Jersey, 48; 10, Brent Beninger & Chris Gilles, Ottawa, Ontario, 71; 11, John Hirsch & Garth Reynolds, St. Petersburg, FL, 87; 12, Michael Goldstein & Jen Schwade, Lancaster, PA, 88; 13, Mark Angliss & Chuck Tanner, Denver, CO, 94; 14, Fred Leisgang & Charlie Smith, Long Island, NY, 96;
At the helm in the 2003 Regata del Sol al Sol.
36TH ANNUAL RUNNING OF THE REGATA DEL SOL AL SOL: ORGANIZERS LOOK FOR AN EVEN BIGGER AND BETTER EVENT IN 2004 The exciting Gulf Stream crossing race from St. Petersburg, FL, to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, is scheduled for April 20-21. Racers will sail 456 nautical miles from St. Petersburg to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula in the Regata Del Sol al Sol and discover a new challenge in offshore racing. The race is part of 15 days of festivities in Florida and Mexico called the Regata and Fiesta Del Sol al Sol from April 16-30. The race is open to any monohull or multihull boat 30 feet LOA or greater with a current West Florida PHRF rating. The Regata Del Sol al Sol appeals to both the professional skip50
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Kids sailing in Isla Mujeres in the 2003 Regata del Sol al sol.
pers on the big racing sleds as well as the skippers of the true cruising class. Skippers will use their navigation skills to develop a strategy for maneuvering across the challenging Gulf Stream currents. This unusual race provides the opportunity to sail to an exciting destination to experience the culture of Mexico and participate in 15 days of festival activities, all while traveling with a large group of fellow cruising sailors. One of the objectives of the yacht race is to assist the host communities in Mexico with educational, medical and humanitarian supplies. In 2003, the Race donated a fire truck and an ambulance to the local host community. This year, additional medical supplies and equipment will be carried by race participants to be presented at the conclusion of the race. Regata and Fiesta Del Sol al Sol is a world class international event that delivers an unparalleled offshore racing experience. For additional information, race details and entry forms, go to www.regatadelsolalsol.org. (See the advertisement for the race on page 30.)
ECKERD COLLEGE, ST. PETERSBURG, FL SAILING TEAM ENDS FALL SEASON NATIONALLY RANKED On December 12th, the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America released the Sailing World Magazine National Rankings for the end of the Fall season. This accomplishment marks the first time all year that both the Eckerd College Women’s and Co-ed Sailing Teams have been ranked simultaneously. The co-ed team sailed to victory in the South Atlantic District Championship while the Women’s team finished second, both qualifying for the Atlantic Coast Championship last month. In the rankings, the co-ed team took 18th and the women’s team gained 14th.
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RACING & REGATTAS SOUTHEAST FLORIDA 2003 COMMODORE’S CUP GULFSTREAM SAILING CLUB (GSC) HOLLYWOOD, FL, DECEMBER 14 From the Gulfstream Sailing Club Sunny skies, a cool breeze and a record turnout of cars lined the streets surrounding Sailor ’s Point for the 2003 Commodore’s Cup. No less than 120 people, 31 boats and one fatted pig showed up for the fun. Past GSC commodores and Laser sailors Norm Smith and Steve Dillon, as well as 17 Sunfish sailors, including several guests from Palm Beach and Melbourne, competed for beautiful etched-glass trophies. Adding to the fun of the annual event was the Broward County High School sailing team, which consisted of 12 420 sailboats, 24 sailors and double that amount of family and friends, who cheered them on along the Sailor’s Point shoreline. After-race festivities included a scrumptious pig roast with tables of potluck fixings, a full keg of icy brew and a heap of laughter that lasted long into the afternoon. After quickly filling up the parking area, nearly 80 cars lined 9th Avenue and the surrounding Hollywood neighborhood, and all went home with warm smiles. If you haven’t come out to Sailor’s Point to see the new energy current Sunfish Commodore Danny Escobar has brought to “The Lake,” then you better check it out soon, because the competition keeps getting tougher. Of course, some things never change. Our own world-class Sunfish skipper Tony Elliot and Laser sailor Norm Smith went home with the hardware. Thanks to all who helped, especially past GSC commodore Joe Ciancarullo, who helped race committee Stu Barcalow and Joe Orlowski, and to Ed the photographer. Results (place, name): Sunfish A & B Fleet; 1, Tony Elliot; 2, Luis Oliveira; 3, John Fletcher; 5, John Fox; 6, Sam Kafouri; 7, Brian Wolfsohn; 8, Mike Starik; 9, Chris Gates; 10, Rebecca Robin; 11, Debbie Rider; 12, Jamie Welch; Sunfish C Fleet; 1, Nick Escobar; 2, Nancy Fox; 3, Barbara Safiullin; 4, Steve Dillon; 5, Stephen Horowitz; Laser Fleet;1, Norm Smith; 2, Larry Litell;
US SAILING’S JUNIOR OLYMPIC SAILING FESTIVAL ORANGE BOWL AT THE CORAL REEF YACHT CLUB & US SAILING CENTER, MIAMI, FL DECEMBER 26-30 From US SAILING After four days of racing in US Sailing’s Junior Olympic Sailing Festival, Orange Bowl in Miami, FL, the champions in eight classes were crowned on December 30. Olympic gold medalist Magnus Liljedahl was on-hand to present the top three finishers in each class with a medal. Coral Reef Yacht Club and the US Sailing Center of Miami hosted the 620 youth sailors who came from four countries, 26 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, making it the largest and fastest-growing Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in the country. Miami sailor Julian Roots clinched the Optimist Green title beating Eric Lawrence (Palm City, FL) by 25 points. Stephanie Roble (E. Troy, WI) won both the Optimist Red Fleet and the overall Optimist championship over 220 boats. In her accep52
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tance speech, she thanked her parents, her coaches, team members, the race committee, and the Coral Reef Yacht Club. In the Laser class, it came down to the final race. Robert Noonan (Fort Lauderdale, FL) won the race to clinch the title by just one point over Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, VI). In the Laser Radial fleet, Canadian Ethan Holtzer (Toronto, Ontario) won the final race in the 80-boat fleet to regain his lead and take the championship. In the 102-boat Club 420 class, Parker Dwyer and crew Cody Jones of Stuart, FL, placed 12th in the final race. It was enough to retain their lead to take the overall Club 420 award over Jackson Benvenutti/Ryan Hamilton (Mandeville, LA). In addition to the medals, two special awards were presented. The Magnus Liljedahl Sportsmanship Trophy was presented by Liljedahl himself to Elizabeth Newberry of Miami, FL. The Arthur Merrill Trophy for the top southern Florida Optimist sailor was awarded to Sean Moynahan, also of Miami, FL. Visit www.coralreefyachtclub.org/youth_ob_2003.htm to view complete results.
UPPER GULF COAST BAY-WAVELAND YACHT CLUB WINS UNITED STATES MEN’S SAILING CHAMPIONSHIP OCT 20-25 By Harry Chapman At a recent dinner party, on December 6, the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club honored sailors Zak Fanberg, Kippy Chamberlain, and Eugene Schmitt for their outstanding victory winning the Men’s National Sailing Championship at Lake Norman in Mooresville, NC. The BWYC team was awarded the Clifford D. Mallory Cup, a 200-year-old silver soup tureen presented by the Egyptian sultan Selim III to the family of British Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson for his conquest of Napoleon’s fleet at the battle of the Nile in 1798. The cup was since acquired by Clifford D. Mallory and presented to our national sailing authority for this championship. The victory was so outstanding, the BWYC sailors were far enough ahead after 11 races they did not need to even sail the final race. But good sports as they were, they not only entered the race but also won it. And they won nine of the 12 races in all. The races were sailed in the Highlander Class, a class of sailboat the team saw for the first time when they arrived at Lake Norman. The Highlander is a 21-foot sloop, somewhat larger than a Flying Scot, the interclub boat used by the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA). In order to qualify to enter the eliminations, Fanberg, Chamberlain, and Schmitt first were selected to represent the Bay-Waveland Club. They then had to beat the other competing Gulf Yachting Association teams to win the Association Championship. Next, the team competed for and won the Area D, or Southeast U.S. Championship, advancing finally to the National Championship. Another honor accorded the team was the award of the prestigious Staton J. Peele Sportsmanship Trophy. The winner of this award is determined by vote of all the competitors. Former Gulf Yachting Association Mallory Cup winners www.southwindssailing.com
present at the celebration who congratulated the winning team and shared their experiences were 1953 and 1954 winner Gene Walet, Shelby Friedrichs representing his father Buddy, who won in 1964, Marc Eagan with crew Corky Hadden, who won in 1984, Dave Bolyard, who crewed for wins in 1994, 1999, 2000 and 2001, Tom Baker, who crewed for firsts in 1994 and 2001 and Brock Schmidt, who skippered to wins in 2000 and 2001. GYA sailors have indeed won more than their share of national championships. The North Carolina regatta chair in North Carolina wrote that the BWYC team “...exem- Winners of the Mallory Cup Trophy. From left to right are Zak Fanberg, Kippy Chamberlain, and Eugene Schmitt at the awards banquet at the BWYC. Photo by Jim Schmitt plifies the characteristics we all hope to have and to see in ourselves and our opponents.... a competitive spirit, passion for their chosen sport, but wrapped with a sense of fair play.”
CARIBBEAN 2004 CARIBBEAN SPRING REGATTA PREVIEW By Carol Bareuther Photos by Dean Barnes Island-style hospitality, competition and camaraderie along with handicap and one-design racing in a beautiful setting, expert race management, dependable trade winds and rumand-reggae shoreside parties are what you can expect from Caribbean regattas. Although there will not be a Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle (C.O.R.T.) series this year due to date changes of some of the events, there will be some serious excitement. Virgin Islands race organizers are planning a new series that will include St. Croix, St. Thomas’ Rolex, and the BVI Spring Regatta. Also, the Caribbean Big Boat Series, for 60plus-footers, has attracted the likes of Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory and Roy E. Disney’s Pyewacket, both MaxZ86s with canting keels and a sail plan bigger than an America’s class boat that will give the Caribbean Sailing Association rating rule handicappers a challenge. Here’s a preview of the coming Caribbean regatta season for those who want to campaign their own boats, bareboat, crew or keep tabs on the action via the Internet. In addition to individual regatta Web sites, visit: www.caribbeanracing.com LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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RACING & REGATTAS
Carlo Falcone’s Vallicelli 44, Caccia Ala Volpe, sails to a fleet win in the 2003 St. Croix International Regatta.
FEBRUARY 14-16: ST. CROIX INTERNATIONAL REGATTA Classes for this event hosted out of the St. Croix Yacht Club include one-design J/24 and Melges 24s, cruisers and multihull sailors. Round-the-buoy courses are set in the channel between St. Croix’s north shore and Buck Island. Hopefully, there won’t be the 35 to 40 knot winds and nine- to 12foot seas of last year. The closest bareboat rentals are in St.
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Thomas, 40 miles’ sail to the north. However, the club does post a crew board for those interested. The winning skipper receives his or her weight in Cruzan rum. For more information: http://www.stcroixyc.com/sailing/ Tel: (340) 773-9531;
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St. Maarten’s Frits Bus aboard his colorful Melges 24, 2 Contact Carib sailing in the 2003 International Rolex Regatta.
MARCH 5-7: 24TH ST. MAARTEN HEINEKEN REGATTA The buzzword for this regatta, which also kicks off the Caribbean Big Boat Series (CBBS), is “serious fun.” Last year, over half of the 207 entries were bareboats with crews from the Caribbean, United States and Europe. Courses traverse the waters surrounding this dual-nation island of Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin, with end-of-day parties in both destinations. Reserve charter bareboats early from The Moorings, Sun Yacht/Stardust Charters, Sunsail or Nautor Swan. For more information: Tel. (011-5995) 44 2079; Fax (011-5995) 44 2091; E-mail: office@heinekenregatta.com; Web: www.heinekenregatta.com or www.bigboatseries.com
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RACING & REGATTAS MARCH 26-28: INTERNATIONAL ROLEX REGATTA The 31st edition of this stellar sailing event will again be held in late March, not the traditional date of Easter weekend. There’s no bareboat class, but a crew board is maintained on the event’s Web site. Courses are a mix of round-thebuoy and round-the-islands. Shoreside events and evening socials lead up to the Rolex Prize Giving where winning skippers in each class receive a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner watch. For information: (340) 775-6320; E-mail: rolex@rolexregatta.vi; Web: www.rolexcupregatta.com.
Puerto Rico International Regatta 2003: Enrique “Keki” Figueroa aboard his Suzuki MoviStar. The beach cat class is always big at this regatta and Figueroa, a former Olympic and national champ, is a home island favorite.
MARCH 29-APRIL 4: BVI SPRING REGATTA & SAILING FESTIVAL “An expanded seven-day format has turned the traditional three days of racing action into a week-long sailing festival that takes participants throughout the British Virgin Islands,” explains Bob Phillips, chairman of the BVI Spring Regatta, the second of the CBBS events. Hosted out of the Nanny Cay Resort & Marina, there’s a strong bareboat class, with yachts chartered from The Moorings, Stardust Yacht Charters, Horizon Yacht Charters, Conch Charters or Sunsail. The Web site boasts an active crew board. For more information: Tel. (284) 494-3286; E-mail: bviyc@caribsurf.com; Web: www.bvispringregatta.org
APRIL 9-11: PUERTO RICO INTERNATIONAL REGATTA This regatta moves to Easter weekend, when local Puerto Rican sailors offer keen competition for the throng of U.S. mainland and European sailors who increasingly compete in this event. One big draw is daily as well as overall prizes. “This format motivates those who had a slow beginning, to still be able to compete for an award,” explains regatta di-
rector, Angel Ayala. Sunsail and The Moorings bases in Tortola offer special packages for competitors who want to charter for this regatta. A swimsuit fashion show, complete with male and female models, is the hit of the shoreside festivities. For more information: Tel: (787) 728-6098; E-mail: echemol@caribe.net; Web: www.printernationalcup.com
APRIL 25-MAY 1: ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK One of the top five regattas in the world, this event attracts a bevy of bareboaters and international racers alike. It’s also the conclusion of the CBBS. Action is keen out on the seas, plus spectators on land find outstanding vantage points to watch the racing. Lord Nelson’s Ball marks the finale and prize giving. This is one occasion where men are requested to don blue blazers and women are asked to dress to the nines. Charter yachts are available from The Moorings, Nicholson’s, Sunsail, Stardust and many more. For information: Tel. (268) 462-8872; E-mail: sanhall@candw.ag; Web: www.sailingweek.com
MAY 9-14; ANGOSTURA YACHTING WORLD REGATTA Over the past three decades, this regatta has become known as one of the most competitive and friendliest in the southern Caribbean. Nearly eighty yachts, cruisers, racers, bareboats and liveaboards competed in Store Bay in Tobago for the 2003 edition. The Moorings and Horizon Yacht Charters offer yachts for charter. For more information: Tel. (868) 634-4210; Fax. (868) 634-4376; E-mail: info@ttsailing.org; www.ttsailing.org
MAY 28-31: FOXY’S WOODEN BOAT REGATTA This year’s 30th annual classic Caribbean regatta features traditional and contemporary wooden boats. Friday night kicks off with a registration party at Foxy’s Tamarind Bar where the famous calypsonian will entertain with his crude, rude and thoroughly enjoyable ditties. There’s a single-handed race on Saturday and a fully crewed regatta on Sunday. Proceeds from this event support the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society. For more information: Tel: (284) 494-0262; Fax: (284) 495-4184; Email: dcooper@surfbvi.com. 56
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SHORT TACKS ETCHELLS MID-WINTER SERIES JANUARY 10-11 BISCAYNE BAY, FL JUD SMITH WINS SID DOREN MEMORIAL REGATTA By Steve Girling Jud Smith and Henry Frazer dominated the second regatta of the Etchells Mid-Winter series, sponsored by Alpine Jaguar over the weekend of January 10-11, Biscayne Bay, FL. Smith scored 1,2,2,1 and discarded a 10th to win the Sid Doren Memorial Regatta. Etchells compete in Biscayne Bay. Photo courtesy Steve Girling. Phil Garland was second and Robbie Doyle, sailing with sons Tyler and Ethan, were third in this 50-boat fleet. Cool and blustery conditions were a feature of Saturday’s racing, but that didn’t stop the class superstars from finding their A-game. Smith scored first and second in the first two races while Dennis Conner scored first and third in races two and three. Phil Garland won the first day with an impressive 3,3,1 score-line. Sunday’s forecast was for a sunny 20-25 knots, but the first race of the day saw no more than 12 knots. Mike Toppa won the first race convincingly from Smith, while Smith won the last race from Steve Girling followed by Garland in spectacular 20 plus knot conditions. The race committee excelled throughout this challenging weekend and should be congratulated for its tremendous AUGIE DIAZ & HANNAH SWETT NAMED 2003 ROLEX performance. YACHTSMAN AND YACHTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR Competitors return to the Biscayne Bay YC for the From US Sailing Florida State Championships and Mid-Winters in early FebAugie Diaz of Miami, FL, and Hannah Swett of New York, NY, ruary where more than 70 boats are expected to compete for were named the 2003 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the these prestigious titles. Year, respectively. A panel of sailing journalists selected the two Results (place, boat name, owner): 1,Twelve Twenty One, Jud Smith and Henry Frazer; 2, Dorado, Phil Garland; 3, No Time IV, Robbie Doyle ;4; Swedish Blue, Ante Razmilovic; 5, Buzzard, Mike Toppa; 6, Lionheart, Steve Girling; 7, Menace, Dennis Conner; 8, Baguette, Hugh Jones; 9, Lucky, Bryon Ehrhart and Aaron Housten; 10, Pied Piper, Tom Piper
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accomplished sailors for the distinction from a shortlist of seven nominees for the Rolex Yachtsman and five nominees for the Rolex Yachtswoman. Established in 1961 by US Sailing and sponsored by Rolex Watch, U.S.A. since 1980, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards recognize outstanding on-
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SHORT TACKS the-water achievement in the calendar year just concluded. The winners will be honored and presented with specially engraved Rolex timepieces at a February 6 luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Augie Diaz, age 49, was recognized for his achievements as a skipper in three different one-design classes Laser, Snipe and Star. Many of the panelists noted that Diaz has been nominated many times before; however, this was his best year ever, competing in what are perhaps three of the most competitive fleets in the world. A string of regional regatta successes culminated in his win of the Snipe World Championship title, and one panelist noted “his versatility in one-designs, not just one class, continues to be impressive.” Diaz is the first U.S. sailor to win the Snipe World Championship since 1981. His list of achievements also includes victories at the Snipe Midwinters and the Don Q Regatta, as well as top-five finishes at the Bacardi Cup, Snipe Nationals and Rolex Laser Masters North American Championships, where he also finished second in his age division. “I am very honored,” said a humble Diaz on hearing the news. “The magnitude of the award hasn’t really hit me. I have so many people to thank, from my folks to my crew. I’ve been fortunate to sail with Jon Rogers, Christian Finsgärd, Mark Strube and Hal Haenel. I get so much pleasure from sailing; this is just so special.” From a very young age, Augie was inspired by his father’s love of sailing and the sacrifices that his parents made for their children. The Diaz family sacrificed a successful family business to leave Cuba in 1963 and settle in Clearwater, FL, with very little money. One of the few things that the family brought to their new home was the elder Diaz’s beloved wooden Snipe, which would be instrumental in Augie’s life. Through a stroke of luck, nine-year-old Augie was given sailing lessons instead of swimming lessons. He quickly developed a love of Optimist sailing, but outgrew the boat a few years later and started competing with his brother at Snipe junior regattas using their father’s boat. Soon the Diaz boys were competing against legendary sailors of the day — Earl Elms, Dave Ullman and Jeff Lenhart — and making an impression on everyone with whom they came in contact. Diaz went on to Tulane University (New Orleans, La.) where he earned ICSA All-American honors three times (1975, ’74, ’73). After graduation and three unsuccessful bids for an Olympic berth in the Flying Dutchman and Star classes, he joined the family business and took a 15-year hiatus from sailing to dedicate time to his family.
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In 1997, he returned to sailing with one goal in mind. “I decided that I was going to work and sail,” Diaz said. “I figured that the feeling would pass in two to three years, but now it’s literally to the point where all I do is work and sail. Luckily, my kids and my girlfriend put up with it. And at this stage the feeling isn’t going away!” Now co-owner of his family’s medical equipment supply company, Diaz is the father of 26-year-old Daniela, 24-year-old Lucas and 22-year-old Adrian. Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Hannah Swett, age 34, was cited by the panel for full-time dedication to her Olympic campaign in the very competitive Yngling class, which will make its debut at the 2004 Olympic Regatta in Athens, Greece. Swett’s list of achievements in the Yngling is topped with victory at the Yngling World Championship, where her team competed among a fleet of 40. “I am truly honored to accept this prestigious award,” said Swett. “I accept it on behalf of my teammates Melissa Purdy and Joan Touchette. Together we accomplished a great deal in the past year.” The banner year includes an impressive string of first-place finishes at the Yngling Olympic Pre-Trials, Scandinavian Race Week and Danish Nationals, as well as a second out of 85 boats at the Yngling Open World Championship. Swett is also recognized as one of the best match racers in the world, and in 2003 she participated in two events, finishing second at the ISAF Grade 1 Rolex Osprey Cup and third at US Sailing’s U.S. Women’s Match Race Championship. This prompted one panelist to note that, “even though she spends almost all of her time in the Yngling, she found the time to have fun and do very, very well in match racing. Impressive.” Raised in Brookline, MA, Swett started sailing in Jamestown, R.I., where her parents own a summer home. Her sailing career blossomed at St. George’s School (Middletown, RI) when she won the High School Nationals as a freshman. At Brown University (Providence, RI) Swett won the 1989 College Nationals as a freshman, which earned her All-America honors. She again made the All-America list in 1991. She met Purdy during her senior year when both were on the sailing team and they forged a strong friendship that eventually led them to sail aboard the historic Mighty Mary women’s team in the 1995 America’s Cup Challenger Series. There they met Touchette, who ultimately filled the third position in their current quest for an Olympic berth. In 2000 when ISAF did not select match racing as the format for the new women’s keelboat event at the 2004 Olympic Games, Swett decided to return to her family’s real estate business full time. That decision was soon interrupted by a phone call from Purdy, who persuaded her old friend to take up the helm of an Yngling. “I couldn’t turn down an offer like that,” said Swett. “It’s been great to be so completely involved with something. I’ve never had an experience like this before, not in sailing, not in business, and it is thrilling.” Swett recalled that her love of sailing started as a child when she decided to emulate her mother, Eleanor Burgess, who was once a celebrated Finn sailor. “I heard all these great stories about how awesome my mother was and just like her, I like to compete against the boys. My parents are incredibly supportive. I cannot imagine doing this without them.” In addition to her mother, Swett notes that she gets a lot of advice from her father, Brad Swett. “When I get home from a training camp, he www.southwindssailing.com
always asks for the details and we talk over everything.” Acknowledged as the sport’s highest honor in the United States, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards have honored such sailing standouts as Betsy Alison, Liz Baylis, Paul Cayard, Dennis Conner, Steve Fossett, John Kostecki, Buddy Melges, Dawn Riley, Cory Sertl and Ted Turner.
FLORIDA SAILOR MARK MENDELBLATT RECOGNIZED AS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR — MEG GAILLARD NAMED FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR From Media Pro International, www.ussailing.org The Olympic Sailing Committee of US Sailing has recognized five athletes as the sport’s U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Athletes of the Year. Recognized in the Team category are Yngling sailors Hannah Swett (Jamestown, R.I./New York, NY), Joan Touchette (Newport, R.I.) and Melissa Purdy (Tiburon, CA). Laser sailor Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, FL) and Europe sailor Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, RI/Pelham, NY) are Male and Female Athlete of the Year, respectively. Bestowed annually, the USOC Athlete of the Year awards are based on outstanding performances in competition. As US Sailing’s USOC Athletes of the Year, these sailors will be considered for the overall USOC Team of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year Awards. The USOC award winners will be selected from the Athletes of the Year recognized by each Olympic sport’s national governing body. Team of the Year Swett, Touchette and Purdy were recognized for their performance in the Yngling, the class that makes its Olympic debut in 2004 as the women’s keelboat event. Two medal-winning performances this summer – silver at the 2003 Athens Regatta in Greece and gold at the 2003 Yngling World Championship in Spain – capped a year that started well when Swett, Touchette and Purdy won the Yngling Olympic Pre-Trials (the practice event for the US Olympic Team Trials). Male Athlete of the Year Laser sailor Mendelblatt was recognized for his performance in three key events in 2003, which started with a bang when he won the Laser title at the Rolex Miami OCR. Mendelblatt followed with wins at the Laser Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast Championships before traveling to Athens for the Saronikos Gulf Regatta, where he finished fourth out of 40 Lasers. His placement of sixth overall in the 171-boat fleet at the Laser World Championship in Spain was a personal world-best that also earned the United States its Laser berth for the 2004 Olympic Regatta. Mendelblatt was previously named
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
US Sailing’s Male Athlete of the Year in 1999. Female Athlete of the Year Gaillard showed her mettle early in the year at the Rolex Miami OCR where, after trading first and second finishes during a challenging 11-race series, she placed second overall out of 25 boats. With a win at the Europe Olympic Pre-Trials (the practice event for the US Olympic Team Trials) she solidified her first-place U.S. ranking in the class, a position she has held for three consecutive years. By far, her most significant performance of the year took place in Spain at the 2003 Europe World Championship. Competing in the 116-boat fleet, she closed out a consistent performance with a 10th place finish in the final race of the series to take third overall and her second bronze medal at a world championship. (Her first was won at the 2000 Europe World Championship). Gaillard was previously recognized as US Sailing’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1998.
WANNA BE AN OCEAN RACER? THREE YEAR APPRENTICESHIP COMPETITION OPENS TO WORK WITH EMMA RICHARDS: AGES 16-23 This may be your chance. Pindar, the international print and electronic media company, which sponsors, British yachtswomen Emma Richards and Hannah Mills, has launched an innovative international competition to find a new recruit for its ocean racing team. The competition will provide one winner with a unique three-year apprenticeship where they will work as part of the Pindar team, sailing alongside Emma Richards. It will give the winner an opening into the world of ocean racing and an opportunity to participate in some of sailing’s most prestigious offshore races. The competition is open to anyone between the ages of 16 and 23. The selection process will begin with entrants writing in 250 words why they think that they have the attitude and aptitude to win. A panel of judges will interview the leading 30 entrants. They will also undergo a number of physical and mental tests. The judges will then select 10 finalists to attend a day sail in May 2004 with Emma Richards onboard Pindar’s Open 60, where the winner will be chosen. Emma Richards says: “This is a fantastic opportunity. One of the biggest problems in ocean sailing is that it is really tough for young sailors to find enough funding to break into the sport” Pindar, who has sponsored Emma Richards for the past four years, has set up the competition to continue its support of sailing and its positive impact with customers. For further information contact Victoria Fuller (victoria@pitchpr.co.uk) or Camilla Green (camilla@pitchpr.co.uk).
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SHORT TACKS
246-Foot Sloop Launched Photos courtesy Mirabella
M
irabella V, the world’s largest single-masted yacht, was recently launched at Southampton docks in England. The sloop has been under construction since the fall of 2001. The 246-foot boat will be entering the world of chartering, mainly in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Rates for a charter will be about $250,000 a week. (Southwinds assumes that bareboat chartering is not an option here.) Mirabella V is being built by VT Shipbuilding and is the largest composite ship ever built. The mast, tallest in the world, is 295 feet long and has a cross section at its widest point of about five feet. It is a hollow carbon mast spar, which will support 36,500 square feet of sail (3400 square meters). The boat will not be able to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the mast rising 40 feet above the roadway crossing the span.
The boat is owned by Joseph and Luciana Vittoria, who already own two other luxury charter yachts over 130 feet. The yacht, designed by Ron Holland, has two recesses up forward where tenders are stowed while under way. While the yacht is at anchor, one recess will be used as a hot tub, while the other will serve as a saltwater pool. The boat will be capable of serving meals to 24 people. Movies can be watched on deck or in the main lounge with a surround sound system, or for those who prefer staying fit, a gym with sauna, music and TV is available, with wireless headsets, of course. A mechanized crow’s nest will allow passengers and crew to see the view from 150 feet up the mast. In the lazarette (the “garage” in this case), there will be Lasers, Jet Skis, ski boats, kayaks, and even two remote control models of Mirabella V. These accompany the 29-foot Hinckley, which will be stowed in the garage and launched and retrieved from there. The boat has six guest cabins for up to twelve charter guests. Each cabin has a full bath, TV, DVD, CD player, and telephone and Internet connections The boat will have a crew of twelve and be available for charter in the Spring. For those of you who find the $250,000 weekly rate too steep, the Mirabella, a 130-foot sloop, is available at $65,000 a week. Sorry, no low season rates are available. Go to www.mirabella-yachts.com for more information and booking.
MIRABELLA V SPECIFICATIONS: LOA:
75.22m (247 ft)
Beam:
14.80m (48.5 ft)
Draft (Keel Up):
4.0m (13 ft)
Draught (Keel Fully Down): 10.0m (33 ft) Displacement Half Load: Mast Height:
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February 2004
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765 tonnes 88.5m (290ft)
Main Sail:
1557m2 (16,760ft2)
UPS (Genoa):
1833m2 (19,730ft2)
Working Jib:
828m2 (8,915ft2)
Staysail:
320m2 (3,445ft2)
Sails: Indoor Windsurfing:
Doyle Sailmakers ?
The roller furler. www.southwindssailing.com
SHORT TACKS INDOOR WINDSURFING On January 12, at the London International Boat Show, the U n i t e d K i n g d o m Wi n d surfing Association (UKWA) held the first Indoor Windsurf-ing Championships at ExCel, Europe’s largest exhibition center located in London. They were held in a 30x70 meter watersports pool with 25 fans that generated 30 knots of wind (and we don’t mean people who are fans of the Kiteboarding in Tampa Bay. Photo by Steve Morrell. sport, but mechanical fans). Before the competition began, several windsurfers practiced in the unusual conditions. After turning the fans on, the quiet indoor arena, which seated 1700 people became a “windblasted and deafening place,” according to the UKWA. Gybes were difficult to make, and the first attempt at a gybe by one of the practicing competitors ended in a fall. It was noted that being good at turns was extremely important in a windsurfing area that is 30x70 meters. Unfortunately, competition began after Southwinds went to press. For those interested in more information, go to www.ukwindsurfing.com or Windsurfing Howard Park, Tarpon Springs, www.schroderslondonboatshow.com. FL. Photo by Steve Morrell.
ISLAND STYLE CLASSIC WINDSURFING COMPETITION SARASOTA, FL, FEBRUARY 28-29
The kick-off series event for the U.S. National series, the Island Style Classic, will be held in Sarasota, FL, Februay 28-29. It is sponsored by Island Style Watersports of Sarasota. This event combines the US Windsurfing Masters/Seniors North American Championship and the Mistral Midwinters. Formula, Prodigy, longboard and a challenging long distance race will be included. Prodigy Charters are available through the east coast Prodigy rep, Jim DeSilva (jdesilv@attglobal.net). This event is part of the Florida Winter Prodigy Series, which includes the Island Style Classic, Calema Midwinters, and the Banana River Prodigy Event. The Holiday Inn on Lido Beach is the host hotel and offers a substantial discount on rooms for participants. Ask for the Island Style Classic rates. Call (800) 892-9174 for reservations. The hotel will be sold out so get reservations early if you plan to attend. February is the windiest month in Florida and is also high season, and accommodations will be hard to find in February. Ask us for other reccommendations. Please contact Laurel@islandstylewatersports.com or call Laurel at (941) 945-1009.
BUBBA Continued from page 16 thought not one word I had said had sunk in. But I was wrong. “Look, sport,” he said to me, “you know nothing about geography. Iraq is just the other side of the Bahamas. I’m stopping at Bimini for re-supply and then I am on my way again. The journey of a couple of hundred miles begins with a single tack, you know.” He put his beer glass down on the bar, turned on his heel and exited the place, humming America The Beautiful. I looked at Doobie. She was smiling as she held her hand out to me, palm up, so she could get paid for the beer Bubba had just consumed. When I got my change back, I put it in Bubba’s canister. It was the very least I could do for a man whose disregard for reality bordered on the supernatural. 62
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LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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A D S
“In August, you began running an advertisement to sell my diesel engine in your classifieds section. I am pleased to advise you that I have a buyer as a result of the advertisement. Please discontinue it. FYI, I have also had inquiries from West Africa and France as Capt C.T., St. Petersburg, FL a result of the Internet ad you made available. I’m MAJOR impressed!! Thank you very much.”
CLASSIFIED ADS for $5 PER MONTH ALL ADS UNDER 30 WORDS FOR PRIVATELY-OWNED BOATS, SAILBOATS, TRAWLERS AND DINGHIES ONLY PLEASE. THREE MONTH MINIMUM, $15 whether ad canceled or not. Add $5 per month for photos, same minimum policy. Check or credit cards accepted. Mail or e-mail ads by the 10th of the month. FREE ADS FOR ALL BOAT GEAR (SAILBOAT RELATED) AND WINDSURFING ADS. MUST BE PRIVATELY OWNED ITEMS. AD RUNS THREE MONTHS UNLESS RENEWED BY THE 10TH OF THE LAST MONTH THE AD RUNS.
All photos must be sent electronically or the actual photo — no photocopies. Photos must be horizontal, not vertical; otherwise add $10. All ad text e-mailed must be in upper and lower case, not caps. The last month your ad runs is in parentheses at the end of the ad. You must call by the 10th of that month to renew for another 3 months. All other ads are $20 a month for up to 20 words and $5 for each additional 10 words. $10 for a horizontal photo. Frequency discounts for longer-running ads. Call (941) 795-8704, e-mail to editor@southwindssailing.com, or mail to PO Box 1175 Holmes Beach FL 34218-1175. ALL ADS GO ON THE INTERNET, AND YOUR WEB SITE OR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN THE AD WILL BE LINKED BY CLICKING ON IT.
BOATS & DINGHIES 8' Thunderbird yacht dinghy. For sailors and rowers. Aluminum mast and boom. Dacron Sail. Xlnt. Condition. $800. (352) 563-0022 (2/04) West Marine Inflatable Dingy 9’6", 4 person, with 8hp Nissan. Rollup alum. floor, inflatable keel, seat,carrying bag. Self bailing. Used less than 10 hrs. $1450 - call (404) 834-4630 Orlando (3/04)
DISPLAY CLASSIFIEDS Advertise your business in a display ad inthe classifieds section. Sold by the column inch. 2 inch minimum. (3 column inches is 1/8 page) Monthly Cost Ads Per Inch
12 6 3 1
$17 $20 $23 $27
Minimum Inches
Total Cost
2" 2" 2" 2"
$34 $40 $46 $54
Buccaneer 18' daysailer/racer. Two mains & jibs, one chute, 2hp OB, trailer, all new top notch running rigging, Harken hardware, great condition. A fast, fun, and easy boat to sail. $2,900. Dan (941) 758-7276 or Hennessyzoo@AOL.com (2/04) Ideal 18 (1996) Keelboat in pristine condition; dry sailed winters, garaged summers. Spinnaker equipped. Fast, stable racer or day sailer. Trailer suitable for ramp or crane launching. $11,000. (941) 639-9672, fgdarrell@comcast.net (3/04) 19' Lightning 1975 Allen - 12612 New mast 5/03, new rudder, all new lines, lots of new rigging with North sails. Pictures available, $2900. Firm. 813818-4596 or vmcintir@tampabay.rr.com (2/04)
Windrider 16 Trimaran a safe and easy sailboat designed for one person but can also carry two more. Price is $3000 which includes a custom trailer. Located in Stuart, FL (772) 220-7750 or Email hakadele8@earthlink.net See boat review in Sept. 2003 issue of Southwinds or go to www.windride.com (3/04) Penguin Class Sailboat 11.5 ft. Beautiful West System boat by Annapolis sailmaker 1997. Outside white awlgrip, rails and inside varnish. Excellent condition. Trailer, complete package. $3500. (954) 401-5335, ronsailon@aol.com. (3/04)
For Sale 17' O’Day Sailor (type II) $2,195 or OBO. Modified for single handed sailing with Roller Furling, Tiller Tender, Electric Trolling motor, and topping lift. Custom cockpit cushions, custom cockpit cover, main sail cover. Depth sounder / fish finder. Two sets of sails. Two head stays. EZ load Trailer. Call Glenn at (813) 949 0341 (4/04)
Hunter 212 (2000) 21' centerboard mini-cruiser or great daysailer with large cockpit. Bimini, 5 hp
FLYING SCOT 19’ Very attractively priced new boats used only for the Adams Cup finals. Racerigged and professionally tuned. Includes North Sails main, jib,spinnaker, and galvanized trailer Available in late October at Lake Norman, NC. For details Call (800) 864-7208 (3/04)
THIS AD FOR RENT starting at $34/month. Call (941) 795-8704 or editor@southwindssailing.com 64
February 2004
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C L A S S I F I E D outboard, compass, front hatch, cockpit cushions, porta-potti, cooler and more! $ 7,800. obo (941) 721-4452 (2/04)
A D S
lar, boom kicker, vang, trailer, new main, bimini, covers, hull paint, companionway, $4500 (850) 678-4478 (2/04)
1973 21' Reynolds Catamaran Great Beach cat. Good Condition. Needs a little TLC. Call for details. Includes continental trailer. $2200 OBO. Must Sell. (239) 765-4433. Ft. Myers Beach (4/04)
Ranger 22, Gary Mull designed PHRF racer/cruiser, everything new or restored, 6 sails, 5hp Nissan O/B, tandem trailer, new Teflon bottom, race ready, $11000 invested, $7000 OBO, (305) 632 9520 (4/04) 86 SEAWARD 22, 8’4" Beam, 1’11" Draft, Wing Keel, Fully Battened Main, Furling Head Sails, 8 hp Honda 2001 Four Stroke, Autopilot, Depth Gauge, VHF, AM/FM, Trailer, $8,995. Titusville, rceballos@bellsouth.net, (321) 264-0101 (2/04)
2002 Santana 22. California built sloop, heavy fixed fin keel, loaded with extras, plenty of storage lockers. New retail over 35K. Asking $25,000 OBO. (305) 668-8838 (4/04) 1981 Hunter 22' w/1997 Honda 8hp OB, cabin sleeps 4, porta-potty, 3 sails, boat is in great condition and ready to sail! $4500 negotiable. Panama City, FL (850) 769-0427 (2/04)
Precision 23' (1995) - shoal kee l(2'), 8hp yamaha(2002) 4 stroke electric start & tilt, 150% jib(2002), auto helm, bimini, spare parts $18,200, (941) 351-6207 (4/04)
1982 Catalina 27', Clean, Comfortable Cruiser, 10 HP diesel, Fin Keel, Wheel Steering, Traditional layout, All the amenities one would expect from Catalina Yachts. The Seaway Yacht Broker www.Seaway2.com (228) 493-5261, (228) 4676802, Asking $11,500, will consider offers. (4/04)
23' Hunter sloop w/15hp electric-start Evinrude and trailer. Draft board. Interior needs a little work. Illness forces sale. Sacrifice $3000 (352) 563-0022 (2/04) 23' Ranger, Gary Mull ultralight, centerboard flyer, with full battens in as-new mainsail. 4-wheel galv. trailer. $4,000. Will take daysailer as down-payment. (941) 330-0685 (2/04) 22' Ensign Class Sloop. Sailing School fleet. Older boats in sailing condition. With main and Jib. Four available from $1500-$2500. Call (305) 665-4994 (4/04) Catalina 22' Boat, Motor, Trailer New hull and bottom paint. New wheels, tires, and bearings. 6 hp outboard. Motor needs minor repair. Extra sails and new cushions. $2000. Call (334) 280-3204 (3/04)
Catalina 22 10hp, autohelm, gps, ladder, ff, compass, kt meter,vhf, am/fm, potty, bilge pump, so-
Catalina 270 Wing-keel, full electronics, autopilot, spinnker and gear, walk-thru transom, north sails new 2001-2002 (3 jibs, main, spinnaker) Vessel gifted to charitable organization.This organization eager to sell boat for cash. Best offer: asking $32,500. Contact Lou at hooyengl@bellsouth.net or phone 305-394-0901(4/04)
O’Day 23, 1980 Very nicely restored. New Tasker main, new Awlgripped mast, fresh Interlux bottom. ’93 Yamaha 4hp. New Potti, cooker, rigging, brightwork. GPS, VHF, CD Stereo. Lots of extras. Asking $6000. Call Rich (321) 837-1708 - rbalint@bellsouth.net. Located Melbourne Beach, FL. (3/04) 1989 Seaward, 24', wing keel, 2003 Suzuki 6HP 4stroke, RF150, 20-amp marine battery charger, Loran, VHF, speed depth, compass, auto helm, new upholstery, small boat in trade. $10,000 (352) 528-5310. (4/04) 26 ft. Pearson OD w/ 9.9 hp Johnson. Good sail inventory including spinnaker. Depth, Speed, Loran, vhf, fm/cd and many extras. Bottom was professionally refurbished with West system 2002. Boat has been sailed regularly and is well maintained. $8,200 Bob 251-209-6035 sideshow122@aol.com (4/04)
LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
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C L A S S I F I E D 27’ Catalina Sailboat ’84 Diesel Wheel, bimini, enclosure, autopilot, radar, pressure water, propane stove, wind generator, refrig, dinghy, davits, fantastic upgrades, just back from 4 mo. in Bahamas. specs pictures at www.geocities.com/ catalina_5477, WPB FL (561) 547-0500, eve (561) 281-2689, $15,800 OBO (4/04)
1973 Catalina 27, tall mast, extra heavy duty rigging, internal halyards, 5 winches,2 opening ports, sleeps 6, good cushions, main, jib, and spinnaker, head has holding tank, atomic 4 removed and set up for outboard, clean bottom and boat, sell for best cash offer (361) 442-9351 grove777@aol.com (2/04)
27' Hunter, Yanmar diesel runs well, shore power, aircond, bow & stern pulpits, dbl lifelines, $5,900 Miss. Coast (228) 806-9316 Gaspergou30@aol.com (4/04)
A D S
J-30 Hull 279 1981 Ready to race, cruise. sleeps 6. Mylar Genoa, jib, main, spinnaker, New cored cabin roof, new faired bottom, new compasses, Yanmar diesel. reduced to $19,900. (954) 6842869, (954) 401-8892 (4/04) CAL 31 1980 Freshwater since new. Lite use. Many upgrades in 2002. Located near Atlanta, GA. $27,500 Call (770) 540-9796 (4/04)
J-27 (1985) Joe Cool Excellent condition. New North 3DL Genoa. Quantum sails in great condition. New bottom. Many extras. Very clean. Well maintained. Located in Coconut Grove. $15,000. Lionel Baugh at (917) 821-3308 /(305) 969-8107 or email at baughlionel@hotmail.com (4/04)
Prout 31' Catamaran Semi-project. Needs painting. Most of sanding done. Honda 15, GPS, radar, solar, roller furling, dinghy, new Mercury 5, lotsa new stuff. $28,500 Marathon sandpiper@pocketmail.com (3/04)
28' Coronado 1975, Sailmaster 9.9 motor, great shape, new bottom, sail cover and bimini, large interior, separate head, sleeps 6. ready to sail. Asking $10,000. Apollo Beach (813) 649-1811 (2/04)
32' Pearson Vanguard Classic in great shape and very well equipped: Yanmar, Harken Furling, New sails, equipped to cruise see www.dneve.com/ sultana or call (305) 772-7218, $24,000 (4/04)
Baba 30, 1978, bluewater cruiser, strong high-quality cutter, great singlehander, well-equipped and maintained, 27hp Yanmar, New sails, Shaeffer roller furling, Autohelm 4000, $53,000. Located Ft. Myers. E-mail lyttraveler@yahoo.com, (239) 5606078. (4/04)
Pearson 33 1986 hull #16 Draft 3’10”w/cb, perfect for racing or cruising the shallow waters of Bahamas & Florida. a/c, davits, refrigerator, many extras; documented. Asking $41,000. sailboat86@att.net; (239) 549-2849 (2/04)
1973 Albin Vega 27, 3’ 10” draft. Volvo 10 hp diesel. R.F. Jib, full batten main w/lazy jacks, dodger, UHF, GPS, DF, knotmeter, excellent condition. Great sailer $10,500 (239) 337-4977 (4/04)
1998 PDQ 32' Catamaran. Set up for cruising. Excellent condition. RIB with OB. asym spin. Lying Biloxi, MS. $129,500 call (228) 326-9425. (2/04)
Cape Dory 27' 1977 Inboard Yanmar Diesel 8 hp, Roller furling genoa, solar panel for battery charge, depth meter, bilge pump, full keel - great stability, 4' draft, Carl Alberg classic design. Great condition! Madeira Beach, FL. Call for appt. (727) 3980796 (3/04)
Farr 30 Updated & Harkenized. New Paint, Graphs, Rigging, Sails, Bottom. Includes Trailer. Pictures: www.rushteam.com. $17,000. (615) 371-4700 (2/04)
THIS AD FOR RENT starting at $34/month. Call (941) 795-8704 or editor@southwindssailing.com 66
February 2004
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33' Morgan out-islander, 1977. Bimini & dodger, hot water shower, 108 Perkins engine, autopilot, ac/reverse cycle, generator, inverter, 5.2 freezer/ refrigerator, watermaker, GPS, power windlass, 2 anchors (50ft chain each) 210', 350' line, davits, hard bottom dinghy, outboard, recent rigging and Mack-Pack for main and 135 roller furling jib. Sleeps 5. Reduced to $35,500 obo. Call (305) 893-0436. E-mail big0807ben@aol.com. (4/04)
Hunter 33 1980,4' draft,sleeps 6,roller furling, diesel, electronic, A/C. New refrigeration, Autohelm, 100 amp alternator, charger, fresh paint.Coast Guard inspected.Pristine! $25,000. (941)235-1890 (4/04) 1984 Cal 35-Mark II (5' draft) 32 hp Diesel, Fully cruise and liveaboard equipped with A/C/heat, microwave, stall shower, etc. Numerous recent up-
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C L A S S I F I E D grades and parts replaced. e.g.Genoa vasmith1@yahoo.com or (941) 505-1558. NO BROKERS PLEASE. (2/04)
A D S DINGHY DAVITS Only $360.00
36’ Bruce Roberts Steel Hull Welded to roadready trailer. An economical beginning for a serious bluewater cruiser. This hull is fair and professionally welded. $5000. (904) 476-3353. (4/04)
37' 1989 Hunter 37 Legend Is fast and comfortable and gives you the perfect weekender or cruiser. Equipment includes: depth, autopilot, 2 VHFs, battery charger/inverter, dodger, bimini, and more. $69,000 (727) 363-1124. (4/04)
www.martekdavits.com
727-686-5020 $49,500. Private sale. Andrew (954) 524-4765, e-mail brandtwo@bellsouth.net (4/04)
36' Catalina, 1988, wing keel, new dodger, canvas, cushions inside and out, Gunert Refrig. Elec. Windlass, davits, Garmin Chartplotter, LPG Stove, custom A/C, custom bowsprit, excellent condition, $69,000. (941) 330-1222 (2/04)
1977 36' Allied Princess Ketch. Super clean, just completed 600mi cruise. Autopilot, 4-108, sails refurb./bottom 2003, great interior, HCPW, 80 water, 40 diesel, 15 holding, 2001 barrier. http:// home.earthlink.net/~a36ketch. (251) 968-8874 (4/04)
1984 37' Dickerson Cutter. Beautiful boat featured in World’s Best Sailboats. Furling main and jib, staysail on boom. New ST6000 AP, new water heater, lectrasan head. 4’6" draft. Perkins 4108 diesel, new sailor prop. $77,000 e-mail dosukoenig@aol.com Cortez Fl. (941) 755-9316 (4/04)
Condor 40 Many recent upgrades including new Calvert Main,2000 Genoa, new Bimini, 1999 twin Yamaha 9.9’s, new halyards, new Raymarine speed & depth, Yanmar genset $72,000. E-mail camsimmons@pdq.net, call (281) 218-0026. (4/04)
Beneteau 38 1990 model new genoa, Icom SSB, compass, inverter & more. Laying Tortola, BVI. $62,000. sloopm38@hotmail.com or (305) 3104653 (4/04)
41' Downeaster Pilot House. 1980 one owner. AC New sail, Main, Liveaboard , propane stove, elect. Refrig. 67 hp Ford Leiman Engine. 200 gal. Water tank, GPS, Single SB, 2 cabins. $59,000. Mr. Hall (813) 645-6985 (2/04)
38' 1999 Catalina 380, full electronics, central a/c, autopilot, dinghy and outboard, many extras, excellent condition, located in Ft. Lauderdale, $138,000, (954) 475-8460 or e-mail at jrg5919@aol.com (2/04)
41' Gulfstar Ketch 1973 cruising equipped, ready to go. 2002 - 10 barrier coats and Strataglass enclosed bimini, lived aboard 14 years, selling medical reasons, photos, details: $55,000 www.shevard.com (904) 284-9986 X2040 (3/04)
99 Catalina 380 In mast furling. Up to date electronics. New dinghy with motor. Currently cuising Florida. $135,000. Details see http://soulstice4sale.gmnusa.com.E-mail gerbrig@pocketmail.com (3/04) 2000 Catalina 380 Tall rig Almost new,118 engine hours. Raytheon “Pathfinder” integrated GPS/Radar, ST60 wind, speed, depth. Ardic forced air heat. Heart interface inverter/charger. Zodiac 6 person canister coastal life raft. Many more custom extras. Ready for your cruising dreams! Call for detailed list. Seattle (206) 780-3475. $162,000. (3/04)
Ericson 39 1978 rebuilt 2002, surveyed. All new 38 hp diesel, electrics, plumbing, windlass, autopilot, canvas. Plus dinghy, o/board, etc LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
dwyermast.com • Masts • Booms • Hardware • Rigging
DWYER Aluminum Mast Co. 203-484-0419 Southwinds
February 2004
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C L A S S I F I E D 44' Bruce Roberts custom pilot house. Steel/ stainless steel, Volvo 6cyl., 120hp diesel, high rig, electric windlass, GPS, Autopilot, Depth, SSB, Hard dodger, fast, comfortable, safe, and spacious. (985) 285-0874. (4/04)
BOOKS & CHARTS
Morgan 416 OI, 1982, Perkins 62hp Diesel, Center Cockpit, 4’2" draft, Great shape, 6kw Generator, plus many extras, 2 Heads, 2 Staterooms, ketch rigged, $88,000, call (727) 379-0554 or email: jackhodges_nc@yahoo.com (4/04)
1989 Catalina 42, 10 yr fresh-water boat. New electronics, invertor, Autopilot and dodger Bimini. Excellent shape with serious upgrades. Located Florida west coast. $109,000. www.tapaki.com. e-mail tapaki3@yahoo.com(4/04)
Ocean Routing – Jenifer Clark’s Gulf Stream Boat Routing/Ocean Charts by the “best in the business.” (301) 952-0930, fax (301) 574-0289 or www.erols.com/gulfstrm
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER BOAT TO CRUISE WITH Sailing my 30' Sailboat from Florida to Belize on or about March 1st. I am looking for another boat or two to make the trip with me. Interested? Call Antonio (941) 624-2530 or e-mail: eltesoro1@aol.com
BUSINESS/INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
MISCELLANEOUS BOAT GEAR
Construction/Real Estate investment Highly-experienced, honest, licensed, responsible and reliable contractor seeks investor/partner in new construction/remodeling in West Florida. Perhaps a spec house or purchase to remodel. Contractor is experienced in custom homes of all sizes, including very high end homes. Only interested in doing interesting and enjoyable projects. (941) 795-8711
Sailtime.com is looking for base operators on the Florida coast. This may suit existing marine business owners who wish to add an additional income stream. Sailtime is a unique business model that requires minimal capital and no staff. Tel. (813) 817-0104 or jtwomey@sailtime.com
CREW AVAILABLE Visit Southwinds new boat and crewlisting service at southwindssailing.com
CREW WANTED
ELECTRONICS SeaTech Systems – Computerized navigation & communication. Call for free Cruiser’s Guide to the Digital Nav Station and CAPN demo disk. (800) 444-2581 or (281) 334-1174, navcom@sea-tech.com, www.seatech.com Best Prices – Solar panels, wind generators, charge controllers, deep cycle batteries, solar panel and wind generator mounting hardware. Authorized dealer for Siemens, Kyocera, Solarex, and Uni-Solar solar panels, Air Marine wind generator, Deka, Trojan, and Surrette deep cycle batteries.™ Toll free (877) 432-2221 www.e-marine-inc.com February 2004
Southwinds
Southwinds is looking for someone to put together special issues for future publications, like Chartering Issue, Learning to Sail Issue, etc. Must be somewhat experienced in the field or a related field, and into sailing. Work on your own. Part time. Contact Steve at (941) 795-8704 or editor@southwindssailing.com
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER BOAT TO CRUISE WITH
Visit Southwinds new boat and crewlisting service at southwindssailing.com
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HELP WANTED
Pier 17 Charts & Publications DMA-NOAA-TOPOS-NTM-Textbooks. South’s largest nautical store at 4619 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32210. (904) 387-4669 (800) 332-1072 Fax (904) 389-1161
Sabre Sails is expanding its dealer network. If you are interested in a rewarding business with a fun side, call (850) 244-0001 or e-mail sabre@sabresails.com
1990 41' Morgan Classic MKII. New sails, A/C, 12V Refrig. Excellent Condition. Asking $120,000. Located Miami (305) 668-8838 or (305) 790-9251 (4/04)
A D S
NEW & USED
New-unused hookah dive system Surface-supplied dive rig with 120-volt compressor, 50-foot hose and regulator. Operate off small inverter or generator. Paid $900, will sell for $500. (305) 849-1127 (4/04) Harken gennaker furler#1900 Light use - $325 plus shipping. Navionics Chesapeake plotter chip $100 Punta Gorda FL (941) 505-5053; Teak boards, anchors - Fortress FX23, Danforths, Deltas, Bruce, DQR, Aqua Finn Sailboat, Mirage sailboard, Dyer Sailing Dinghy, Navico PT 100 (new) Tiller Pilot, Autohelm 4000 wheel Pilot, Walker Bay Dinghy. Nautical Trader (941) 488-0766. www.nauticaltrader.net/ (4/04)
Wheels Custom Leathered – Satisfaction guaranteed, 1 year warranty. Free turks head. Over 100 satisfied customers last year. Contact Ray Glover at Sunrise Sails Plus (941) 721-4471 or sunrisesailsplus@msn.com Dahon Stainless Steel 3-sp Folding Bikes Great condition $450 pair, Pur-35 manual watermaker never used new $550, Used Magma propane grill $60, e-mail Jim @lagartaboat@yahoo.com (4/04) Excellent 34’7" Aluminum Mast 3’6" spreaders, 12' 8" boom, 11’10" whisker pole. Mainsail, 3reefs, 3 winches, 15 mast steps, rigging, insulated backstay, can deliver. Make offer. Call (863) 6754244. (4/04) Spinnaker Pole 15’x4" with 2 piston ends. Very good. $350 OBO (772) 878-4721 (4/04) Dripless Packing Proven high-tech propeller and rudder packing that outlasts all other packings and is virtually dripless. Easy to install. Bilges stay dry. Won’t damage shafts. Economical. Dealer inquiries welcome. Toll Free (877) 432-2221 or www.e-marine-inc.com www.southwindssailing.com
C L A S S I F I E D Feathering Propeller, Adjustable pitch, two blades 16"x4", shaft 1 1/8" x 35" + prop. $350 OBO, (772) 878-4721 (4/04)
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SAILS & CANVAS
Honda 9.9 HP 4 stroke outboard, 2000, 8" shaft, elect. start , 6 amp alt. output for battery charging. Exc. cond./ low hrs. Only $1550. ($2939 new) (941) 505-9772 (4/04) GPS New Garmin Street Pilot III (deluxe). Portable GPS w/ auto routing and voice. Includes CD-Rom, mounts, data card, etc. Great for boat and/or car! $600 obo. (386) 426-5978 (4/04)
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS TIRALO floating deck chair - a beach chair that floats in water and rolls easily on the sand. Looks great. Folds and fits on your boat or inside your car. More info: www.oasisllc.com or swti@oasisllc.com
OFFICE SPACE FOR LEASE Office and warehouse space available for lease to marine-related businesses. Great for boat brokers or sales representatives. High speed Internet access. JSI (727) 577-3220
LODGING FOR SAILORS Ponce de Leon Hotel Historic downtown hotel at the bay, across from St. Petersburg YC. 95 Central Ave. St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 550-9300 FAX (727) 826-1774 www.poncedeleonhotel.com
SAILING INSTRUCTION
USED SAILS SAVE $$$ 1000s of headsails, mains & spinnakers. We ship everywhere, satisfaction guaranteed. We also buy sails. Sail Exchange. (800) 628-8152. 407 Fullerton Ave. Newport Beach CA 92663 www.sailexchange.com See Display ad in Index of advertisers Hong Kong Sail Makers Cruising Sail Specialists Top Quality, Best Price Delivery 2 - 3 Weeks Dial international code (011)
(852) 2789 1938 (852) 2789 3155 (FAX) E-mail: uoil@hkstar.com
WINDSURFING GEAR WANTED Used Prodigy (standard or race) and other boards, and miscellaneous other windsurfing equipment. Steve (941) 795-8704. editor@southwindssailing.com
SUBSCRIBE TO
Southwinds $12/YEAR $20/2 YEARS For Classified Ad Info see pg 64 LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS
SEE PAGE 4
Air Duck 41 Anchor Trophy Race 45 Aqua Graphics 68 Atlantic Sails 54 Banks Sails 69 Beneteau Sailboats BC Beta Marine 23 Bluewater Insurance 6 Bluewater Sailing Supply 28 Boaters Exchange 17 BoatUS 39 Bob and Annie’s Boatyard 22 Bo’sun Supplies 57 Bubba Book 34 Cape Fear Yachts 12 Carson/Beneteau BC Crow’s Nest Restaurant & Marina 44 Cruising Direct Sails 16 Davis Maritime Surveying 59 Defender Industries 66 Dockside Radio 41 Don’s Salvage 21 Dwyer Mast 67 Eastern/Beneteau BC Finish Line Multihulls 38 First Patriot Insurance 25 Fleetside Marine Service 65 Flying Scot Sailboats 65 Garhauer Hardware 9 Glacier Bay Refrigeration 23 Great Outdoors Publishing 60 Gulf Coast Yacht Sales 64 Gunkholer’s Cruising Guide 60 Hong Kong Sailmakers 50 Hotwire/Fans and other products 68 Hunter Sailboats 10,11 Island Marine Products 29 Island Time PC 69 JR Overseas/Moisture Meter 21 Martek Dinghy Davits 67 Massey Yacht Sales 7,14,17,19,27,35,IBC Masthead Enterprises 24,69 Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau BC National Sail Supply 44 Nautical Trader 53 North Sails 14 Pasadena Marina 54 Performance Sail & Sport 15 Raider Sailboats 66 RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke 20 Regata del Sol al Sol 30 R-parts Refrigeration 20 Sail Exchange/Used Sails 49 SailAmerica/Strictly Sail Miami 3 Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District 40 Sailor’s Soap 26,32,57 Sailtime 67 Sarasota Sailing Squadron Midwinters 48 Sarasota Youth Sailing Program 63 Schurr Sails 13 Scurvy Dog Marine 59 Sea School 58 Sea Tech 56 Snug Harbor Boats 13 St. Augustine Sailing School 69 St. Barts/Beneteau BC Suncoast Inflatables 37 Tackle Shack 43 Tampa Sailing Squadron 63 UK Sails 47 Ullman sails 53 Weathermark Sailing 51 West Marine IFC Windcraft Catamarans 62
Southwinds
February 2004
69
Uneasy Rider by Morgan Stinemetz
S
ailing means a great deal to me. I got caught up in the magic of it all back in 1976 when I got a ride on a friend’s Heritage 36-foot sloop. He and several buddies from the Washington, D.C., area had come to St. Petersburg to be a part of the Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC).After an hour or two sailing off St. Petersburg under sunny skies on a January morning, I discovered that gentle ambiance which seems to adhere to the sport of sailing. My friend put me on the helm of Yellow Jacket and told me which way to point the boat while he Janice and his buddies spoke in arcane sailing terms about sail cloth and trim. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but I knew that I wanted to be a part of sailing. Within two weeks of my epiphany, I had sold my open cockpit fishing boat and had bought a 27-foot Ericson sailboat. The boat has been a big part of my life since. My wife, Janice, and I get lots of use out of our boat; more, I think, than average. Janice is a good sport about sailing most of the time. While she still has trouble starting the outboard engine on our boat, she does most of the foredeck work with grace and alacrity. In addition, she is very good at setting the anchor. She’s equally good at reminding me that the anchor never drags when she sets it, as it did once when I let it go over the side a bit casually. We’ve had some marvelous times on our boat. We’ve spent more long weekends cruising than I can possibly recall. Most of them have been tranquil and peaceful. Janice can fix delightful culinary treats in a galley that’s definitely a tad Spartan. She’s resourceful, clever and a great hostess. No one has ever left our boat hungry. What bothers Janice is weather. You see, she got traumatized once, while crewing on a 63-foot yawl out in the Gulf. Janice was one of six people, including the professional captain, Ole, a Swede, who sailed the boat down to Key West from Boca Grande one lovely summer day, back in 1981. Unfortunately, the wind dusted up to about 35 knots that night. The boat took a bit of a pounding. The number two genoa blew out in the dark, and the crew had to scramble to get it down. Janice came back from the trip weary and windblown. She has never been quite the same since. When the calendar calls for a day of sailing on, say, Saturday, Janice starts checking all the weather forecasts way ahead of time. She looks at the long range forecasts in the newspaper. She checks the weather on every television station we can get. She just can’t get enough weather information about the weekend. Early in the week, she looks for fronts moving across the Sierras, out along the California/Nevada line. Even a local thunderstorm in Elko, NV, gets her attention. “That looks like something serious,” she’ll mutter just loudly enough so I can hear her. “It’ll probably turn into a hurricane before the weekend.” Logic means nothing to her when she gets her wind up. Telling her that hurricanes hardly happen in, for example, March, begets no reasonable reaction. Logic withers in the face of relentless emotion. As the week progresses, she spends more and more time 70
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checking national and international weather forecasts we receive on the Weather Channel, on cable. “It looks like a big cold front is moving down from Canada,” she’ll report, her brows knitted in consternation. “Winds are heavy. Maybe we should think of doing something else this weekend. I hear there’s a big sale at...” Heavy winds to Janice amount to anything that will barely fill a three-quarter-ounce cruising chute. I mean, if Janice ever were put in charge of refiguring the Beaufort Scale, what is now Force 12 would drop down to what is now Force 3. Storm warnings would go up every afternoon when the sea breeze filled in. A legitimate gale warning would send her looking for her luggage so she could pack her bags and move to Iowa for the duration. When the weekend arrives, she has all her senses at full alert. “Hear that wind roaring outside?” she observed early one Saturday morning as she woke up. “Maybe we shouldn’t go out today. It’s probably rough out there.” “That’s a truck out on the highway,” I pointed out. “Sounds like wind to me. Besides, you’re getting deaf,” she countered. She always tells me I’m getting deaf when my appraisal of weather conditions doesn’t agree with hers. I got out of bed and checked the palm tree across the canal. Its branches swayed gently in a morning easterly breeze. The wind was probably 3-4 knots. Janice appeared at my shoulder and guessed the wind at 20, gusts to 35. “I’m not sure we should go out,” she said again. “But the winds are light,” I said. “We’ll use the 150 percent gennie and a full main.” “I haven’t been feeling that well,” Janice complained. “All this wind makes my ulcer act up. I wouldn’t have my ulcer at all if it wasn’t for you taking the boat out in all kinds of heavy wind.” Janice’s ulcer, apparently, got its start on the boat when we exceeded 20 degrees of heel for more than 30 seconds at some indeterminate time in the past. “Listen, we’re going out today, Janice. It’s no big thing.” “Well, I haven’t been to the store yet. I have to get things ready,” she replied. Janice can spend three hours shopping for eight ounces of ham and Swiss cheese on a windy day. She can also spend another couple of hours making sandwiches. “Let’s just grab a couple of apples and go sailing,” I suggested. Janice had survival on her mind. “Is there enough drinking water on the boat? Is the water tank full? Do you have gas for the engine? Gas for the stove? Is the storm jib on board? Where’s the life raft? Have you got the reefing line for the second reef?” We got away from the dock that Saturday only two hours later than I would have liked. The wind never got much over 10 knots. We sailed without heeling more than 10 degrees and never went faster than four knots all day. Janice had a super time. She even took off her foul weather gear and her safety harness. www.southwindssailing.com