Table of contents for August 2015 in SAIL

STRIKING ISSUE While I applaud the author’s efforts to outline ways to protect your boat and electronics from a lightning strike (“Thunder Struck,” June), I remain skeptical. As a former Air Force electronics tech, I’ve come to believe no matter what you do, the high voltage and current of a lightning strike tends to go where it wants ... no matter how good the grounding system is. The other issue is the impact of the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) generated by the lightning itself. The result of an EMP pulse (a very high-energy electromagnetic wave) passing through an electronics system is that it generates voltage/current spikes that will destroy electronics, whether or not they are grounded or isolated (disconnected) from network or antenna connections. Unless shielded, modern electronic systems and components…

If you followed the 34th America’s Cup, you’re familiar with the verbal hand grenades that Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill and Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) skipper Dean Barker gamely lobbed at each other during their (infamous) press conferences. While Barker and Spithill were never exactly “close” mates, this relationship has recently taken on a surprising twist after Barker was ousted by ETNZ and signed-on as skipper and CEO of Softbank Team Japan. “This is an incredible opportunity to build a new team from the ground up,” said Barker in an official statement. “It’s an honor to take on the responsibility of both CEO and skipper.” For Spithill and Barker, however, this this also an opportunity for collaboration and fence-mending. Specifically, Oracle Team USA enjoys a “friendly” relationship with…

Until recently, if you wanted an AIS display on your boat you had to install a dedicated AIS receiver and a separate VHF antenna or a VHF antenna splitter. Then you either had to add a stand-alone AIS display or integrate the AIS output with your chartplotter, laptop or iPad. Unfortunately, many older chartplotters will not handle the higher data transmission speed or even support the AIS NMEA data stream. One exciting new option is to transmit AIS NMEA data over a Wi-Fi network and display the AIS targets on an iPad. For about the same price as an AIS receiver and antenna, I upgraded my old VHF set with Standard Horizon’s latest Matrix VHF radio with AIS (GX2200) and connected it to a NMEA serial Wi-Fi device to display…

Just walking the docks at the Annapolis show last October, everyone could tell this boat was something special. First there was the banner proclaiming it had just won the top spot in the double-handed division in the Chicago-Mackinac Race. Then there was the cockpit, filled with really friendly Slovenian guys showing off a really clever midship hideaway outboard-engine well. If you took the trouble to board the boat, there were still more clever ideas lurking below: a nifty saloon table that converts into a centerline nav station with a motorcycle-type seat; a proper head with a lightweight folding magnetic door to enclose it; and integrated hanging gear bags that can be used to easily move kit on and off the boat. So yes, I have to confess I was pretty…

After waking to a pink and blue West Florida sunrise, I reach for my backpacking stove and coffee mug and make some fresh coffee. Sitting inside my Sea Pearl 21 with my head halfway out the canvas cabin/dodger that covers the forward cockpit, I consider my route for the day. A steady 15-knot east wind will put me in the Marquesas Keys, some 20 miles beyond Key West, within four hours—four hours of sailing through crystalclear water over fan corals and conch shells, with sting rays and sand sharks skittering out of my way as I ply the waters of the “Lakes Passage.” Such a passage is possible because my Sea Pearl is a mostly open fiberglass cat ketch with leeboards that allow it to sail in less than a…

Even in a world chock full of maritime iconoclasts and characters, few can match Sweden’s Sven Yrvind for his truly unique approach to voyaging and design. Born in 1939, Yrvind has spent the last half-century building and sailing a series of robust little boats that have not only crossed oceans, but even rounded Cape Horn. Never one to rest on his laurels or fail to change tacks when it makes sense to do so, Yrvind’s designs are as practical as they are eye catching. Recently, marine illustrator Pierre Hervé set out on a pilgrimage of sorts to revisit some of the stalwart Swede’s many audacious projects. THE JOURNEY A monthlong 1,500-mile journey from Brittany, France, to Västervik, Sweden, on the edge of the Baltic Sea, to learn about Yrvind through…

“So, do you guys get much swell around here?” I ask Elliot Brett, a member of the New Orleans Yacht Club, as we move a boat around the club’s marina on the eve of the first weekend of Mardi Gras Race Week.” “No, none really” Brett says, as we pull up along the face dock at the New Orleans Yacht Club. “Except for that one time,” fellow yacht club member Riley Stogner says with a laugh. “Then we got about 30 feet.” Everyone onboard has a good laugh. I guess after 10 years it’s acceptable to crack a Hurricane Katrina joke down in New Orleans (though as a fish-out-of-water Yankee like myself, I wouldn’t be the first to do so). I was in town for Mardi Gras Race Week, a…

Like many sailors, my wife, Cristina, and I cruise our local waters on the Chesapeake every chance we get. Like many sailors we have also long dreamed how wonderful it would be to one day just keep on going and not return to the marina on Sunday—that someday we would be able to head south down the Intracoastal Waterway and see new sights and meet new people in different towns, far from our home base. Then, unexpectedly, we found we had our chance. One day I was going to the office in a jacket and tie, as I had for 40 years. The next I was only weeks from Hawaiian shirts, shorts and sandals. As we planned this transition, we made lists in three categories. • Planning: Budgets, logistics, equipment.…

It was a typical late August afternoon on the Chesapeake Bay, where the winds were light and my mood anything but. NOAA radio had predicted 10 knot winds out of the west, but (surprise, surprise) the winds turned out to be light and out of the southeast. I was my usual grumpy self when reality fails to meet expectations, and Peg, my first mate, was her usual grumpy self when I’m my grumpy self. “Don’t you think we ought to tack away?” Peg suggested, as we continued on what she felt was a “collision course” with a sloop that was barely visible on the horizon (well, maybe a little closer than that, but not much). “They’re on the starboard tack, you know!” “Relax, honey! We’ll cross his bow with room…

The day started like any other: the sun shining through my hatch while I tried to ignore it. When I heard someone start the coffee, I couldn’t justify staying in bed anymore. We had to burn trash, finish cleaning our diesel tank and move through a few more islands in Panama’s San Blas archipelago before we headed to Cartagena, Colombia. Being up relatively early allowed me to listen to the 0830 cruisers’ net. I hadn’t intended to check in. I was being lazy. But all of our other cruising buddies checked in—and then we heard the girls on One World request traffic with us, NOMAD. I stumbled below with my coffee and answered the call. There had been a shipwreck and help was needed to salvage what was left, including…

Those lucky enough to have been on the scene at the 34th America’s Cup will be familiar with the spectacular backdrop the city of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay provided to the equally spectacular racing. Indeed, it seemed as if the Auld Mug had found its new spiritual home; so much so that it was a shock when it was announced that AC35 would be contested on the waters of Great Sound, Bermuda. It did not take long for Tom Ehman, vice-Commodore of the golden Gate Yacht Club, to fill this void, as well as the one created when Cup racing matriculated from monos to multis in AC33’s Deed of Gift Challenge back in 2010. In 2017, a fleet of turbocharged 12-Meters will take to…

As relations with Cuba continue to improve, sailboat races are returning to the long-forbidden island nation. The first of these, the Havana Challenge, took place from May 15 to May 21 when a group of American Hobie 16 sailors from Key West, Florida, raced to Marina Hemingway in Havana. Event organizers applied for and received the necessary permits, making this the first U.S. Governmentsanctioned race to Cuba in 50-plus years. The three-part event consisted of a 30-mile Gulf Stream Shakedown, followed the next day by a Havana leg, which brought the fleet across the Gulf Stream to Cuba. After that, came The Malecón, a series of inshore races that pitted Yankee sailors against their Cuban counterparts— including Cuban Olympic sailors and the Cuba National Sailing Team—in front of Havana’s iconic…

I had planned a six-day family cruise with my wife and two daughters on Dreamer, our new Catalina 36 Mark II. This was the fourth sailboat I had owned and sailed on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, each bigger and more seaworthy than its predecessor. Sailing out of Warwick, Rhode Island, we are fortunate to have some great cruising destinations nearby in Narragansett Bay and Buzzards Bay. The first stop on our cruise was the picturesque and tranquil speck of land called Cuttyhunk Island. It is the most southwesterly of the Elizabeth islands off Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A long, narrow, beach-lined inlet leads into the harbor. The amenities on this scenic island don’t include much more than a couple of small inns, a store for basic kitchen supplies and a bakery.…

If there’s one thing more exhilarating than going fast in a small boat, it’s going fast in thin water, the way designer Jean-Hubert Pommois and I did aboard his nifty little Astus 20.2 trimaran this past winter. The channel into Miami’s Matheson Hammock Marina is flanked by those same shoal waters that circle much of Biscayne Bay, but sand and weeds are not half so terrifying when your 19-footer draws a mere 10in with the centerboard up. Then it came time to hoist and unroll the boat’s gennaker, whose continuous-line furler was tacked out on the tip of a retractable bowsprit. A quarter mile from shore the wind was blowing in the mid-teens, and the hissing, arrow-straight wake would have made an F18 sailor proud. Almost immediately our boatspeed shot…

Mardi Gras Race Week grew out of the Mardi Gras Regatta, which started racing in 1969. In 2008 organizers changed the name of the event to the Mardi Gras Race Week and expanded it to cover two weekends and include more boats. The thought behind the event is that boats coming back from racing in Miami and Key West can stop in New Orleans, enjoy the Mardi Gras festivities and then do some sailing. Attendance peaked in 2011 when the fleet included an impressive 115 boats. The first weekend of the event is the One Design weekend, and is open to Viper 640s, Vanguard 15s, VX Ones, Etchells, MC Scows, Finns, J/22s, Rhodes 19s, Melges 24s, Hobie 33s and more. The second weekend is for the PHRF division, and is…

Everyone’s dream is different, and the issues in people’s lives vary. Your cruising style will affect your planning. Be careful about accepting the “common wisdom” when planning. The following items should be considerations on everyone’s list. BUDGETING Financial and calendar planning is essential. However, remember that a budget is a plan and not a rule. Budgets must be flexible as you gain new information. CHARTS AND GUIDES You may find that you use more than one cruising guide. However, for this rally, the CruiseGuide for the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) put together by co-leaders Mark and Diana Doyle was essential and required reading. A flip book of charts, such as the Kettlewell Intra Coastal Chart Book, is also excellent and conveniently sized. A few carried the Maptech books, but they…

? Got your own tips? Send them to us at sailmail@sailmagazine.com HAWSE PIPE COVER In our ongoing effort to keep water outside the boat, we have devised several different methods of sealing our secondary hawse pipe. The plate came with a plastic cover connected to a chain; and it lasted a few years before breaking down from extended UV exposure. The PVC cap that my husband, Dave, modified to replace it suffered the same demise. White plastics do not last long when exposed to the tropical sun. Finally, Dave decided to modify the idea that has worked so well on our primary hawse pipe for nearly a decade: a tennis ball. He removed just under half the tennis ball in order to make it a snug fit over the pipe.…

The only time the classical navigator deliberately missed a landfall was in fog. So long as the desired harbor didn’t have a rocky entrance, the best technique was to find a safe depth contour leading to the dock on the chart while still out at sea, then steer off to one side or the other. When the contour came up on the depth sounder, you’d know which way to turn and could run along it to safety. With GPS, it’s tempting just to bang in a waypoint and go for it. A plotter makes it even easier, and there’s nothing wrong with this. However, there’s no sinking feeling like being in a dense fog and having the plotter go blank. Even contemplating this brings skippers out in a cold sweat.…

In 1968, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper sponsored the Golden Globe Race—the world’s first nonstop solo race around the world, something many people believed to be an impossible undertaking at the time. Sailing historians know the legends that were forged in that first race—of Bernard Moitessier, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and, tragically, Donald Crowhurst. But it’s likely many modern sailors no longer fully appreciate just how “out there” this race was, given the then crude state of marine electronics and the fact there was little hope of rescue in the Southern Ocean. Knox-Johnston won on his 32ft wooden cutter, Suhaili, after 312 days at sea. Compare that to Francois Gabart’s recently set Vendée Globe record of 78 days. The time difference alone speaks volumes. Now Australian adventurer Don McIntyre wants to mark…

I’ve long been a fan of Beneteau’s entry-level boats, the First 20 and the First 25. They’ve been around for decades, receiving numerous design overhauls and styling tweaks along the way to ensure they’re reflecting the sailing zeitgeist. The latest editions have twin rudders, centerboards and optional square-topped mains, making these nippy little boats easily transportable as well as ideally suited to gunkholing and other thin-water pursuits. But what if you don’t want a cabin, just a long, wide cockpit for daysailing or sail training? The American Sailing Association asked Beneteau America that very question, and the result of their collaboration is the First 22. Based around the First 20’s hull with a new deck and cockpit mold, the 22 has a small cuddy cabin, positive flotation and a rig…

STAY DRY The 45-liter Pro Drybag from Subtech Sports is waterproof to a depth of 164ft and features an internal electronics pocket for extra protection. Reinforced backpack handles make it easy to drag the bag around from the boat to the beach. The large stowage capacity should be plenty for a night or even a weekend onboard. $399. Subtech Sports, subtechsports.com COBB PREMIER GRILL The Cobb Premier Grill can roast, bake, grill, smoke, boil and fry. Heck, you can even make a pizza with this thing. It is compact and lightweight (just shy of 9lb and 12in tall), and thanks to Cobb’s patented design, stays cool to the touch and is virtually smokeless when compared to a traditional charcoal grill. The grill is also fuel efficient, requiring just eight to…

When we first decided to try out sail camping, we already knew how to sail and camp. However, there remained the question of a boat with which to explore the shallow, clear waters and white sand beaches of the Bahamas, where we had recently wrecked our 40ft ketch. From our experiences cruising aboard a deep-draft boat intended for ocean passages, we knew what we did not want. But knowing what you don’t want still leaves you with a lot of choices. Our primary requirement was for a light boat that we could pull out of the water, either for exploring during the day or setting up camp on a beach each evening for a worry-free night’s sleep. We also wanted a boat that could take us over shoals to secluded…

Jimmy Cornell’s first two cruising boats were built of fiberglass and steel respectively. By the time he got to his third Aventura, an Alubat Ovni 435, he had settled on aluminum as his preferred hull material. His fourth Aventura, like the Ovni, is aluminum with internal ballast and an integral centerboard that pulls up into the bilges of the boat, a common feature on French-built alloy boats. Unlike the Ovni this new Garcia has twin rudders, dual helms and a deck saloon cabinhouse with a cored fiberglass coachroof. Prior to this passage I had sailed Aventura IV briefly on Chesapeake Bay, as part of the SAIL evaluation team that gave her a 2015 Best Boat award, and I have to say her performance cannot be faulted. Jimmy claims she is…

“It’s always best to start at the beginning…” Heeding the sage advice that Glinda the Good Witch had for Dorothy, we’ll start at the beginning. And although we won’t have yellow bricks to guide us, tannin-rich inland waters will lead us southward in this series to the warm emerald waters of Florida. The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) welcomes all but the tallest and deepest vessels. With Cape Hatteras known as “The Graveyard of the Atlantic,” only the most seaworthy sailboats with experienced offshore crews pass up the ICW’s generous offer of a protected inland passage from Virginia to North Carolina. If your rig stands less than 65ft, and you draw less than 6ft 6in, then the ICW welcomes you. Perhaps you’re heading south this year on your MacGregor 26—but in a…