Attainable Adventure Cruising—What's New

I Must Be Nuts

2009-07-04T18:47:00.003-03:00

We just spent five days, three of them fairly tough, at sea exchanging this:for this:Not only is it gray and foggy in Maine, there is also a 30 degree Fahrenheit temperature change from Bermuda.You know what, I’m really happy to be here...see, nuts.

Staying put

2009-06-25T08:28:00.002-03:00

What does the word “harbour” mean to you? A safe haven, perhaps, sheltered from all sides? Well, in some of the less frequented parts of the world it can mean something quite different. Many “harbours”, such as Hugh Town on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly are far from safe in all conditions, being open to winds from the West and the Atlantic swell. And nowadays so many of these harbours are full

A Rugged Boat for the High Latitudes

2009-06-23T12:10:00.005-03:00

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends Michael and Martina on their beautifully designed and built custom Hutting 54 Polaris. They were kind enough to give me, camera in hand, a tour and to patiently answer my many questions.While few of us will ever have the resources to custom build a boat like Polaris, we can all learn from the choices these two very experienced sailors made when having

Departures and arrivals

2009-06-12T10:19:00.003-03:00

There is nothing quite like the final moment of departure at the start of a long cruise or voyage. A strong mixture of anticipation and apprehension, it generally follows a stressful period, with all of the usual last minute glitches and hassles, however careful your planning and preparation. Then there are the goodbyes to friends and loved ones which can tend to cast a sombre mood over the

Bermuda Fitted Dinghies

2009-06-06T16:51:00.004-03:00

Bermuda is a very different place than it was 50 years ago when I was a child, but one of the few things that has endured from that time is the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy. Fourteen feet one inch long, alarmingly overcanvased, stubbornly old fashioned and raced with a six person crew, one of whom bails continuously when going up-wind--there is nothing quite like them anywhere else.It was great to see

Anti-Seasickness Product Hurl Off

2009-06-05T18:14:00.006-03:00

Despite my somewhat opinionated tone in many of the articles on this site, there are very few things I feel that I’m really the absolute ultimate authority on. The exception is seasickness. Thirty-five years of blowing my dinner during the first 24 hours of almost every offshore passage gives me the right, I feel, to set up as an authority—sort of the king of puke, if you like.Over the years I

Beaufort to Bermuda

2009-05-29T16:58:00.005-03:00

Two days out from Beaufort, North Carolina, bound for Bermuda. Spinnaker up all day, eight knots, smooth sea and dolphins; it does not get better than that.

Stuff That Works, Badger Sunscreen

2009-05-29T16:11:00.003-03:00

So, after years of slathering on sunscreen in order to avoid getting skin cancer, we’re now being told that a number of the chemicals used in these very sunscreens are themselves carcinogens. It just makes me crazy! However, after getting over my snit and doing some research, I have found what I think is a great solution: Badger 30 SPF sunscreen. It is a mineral (zinc oxide) instead of a chemical

Atlantic Crossing East to West via the Arctic

2009-05-24T18:13:00.003-03:00

Question [edited for brevity]: We are toying with the idea of sailing the northern route [to North America from Scotland] with stops in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. Is that nuts? I know you have done it at least once if not more times. Our boats are sound, an Alden 48 and a Shannon 43, and we want to end up on the east coast rather than the Caribbean.Answer: The northern route east to

New Photograph Portfolio

2009-05-14T17:14:00.013-03:00

As an antidote to Boat Yard Hell I spent the evenings while we were hauled revamping my portfolio of photographs. Some of my old favorites are still there, but there are new images in all the albums. There is also a complete new album, albeit with a few images from the old Maine album, titled Maine, Working Waterfront.Note that if you touch the “F” key after selecting an album you can now view

E-Paint Antifouling Paint, an Update

2009-05-14T11:00:00.004-03:00

We have been using various formulas of zinc based antifouling paint (copper is out for Morgan’s Cloud since she is aluminum) from E-Paint for 12 years with varying results. For the last three years we have been using their ablative ZO product with generally good results.However, there are a few things to know:1). E-Paint ZO works well as long as you move the boat at least once a week but it is

Bock Marine Soothes Boat Yard Hell

2009-05-11T18:50:00.005-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Stuff That Works, Maintenance & Refits.

Voyaging on a Small Budget

2009-05-09T18:46:00.004-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Sailboat Design & Selection.

See and be seen

2009-05-08T16:20:00.007-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Rants & Musings, Electronics & Software.

Rounding Cape Farewell, Greenland

2009-05-07T17:50:00.004-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see North Atlantic Routes.

A Refit Tale #6—Carbon Fiber Masts and Lightning: Myths, Assurances and Risks

2009-05-03T17:40:00.004-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Indepth, Boat Refit.

Reboot The Boat, Say What?

2009-05-01T17:07:00.005-03:00

No question about it, some people are making their boats way too complicated and relying on electronics way too much. If you don’t believe me, read this post. Scary stuff: I can just see the fun of rebooting the boat on a dark and stormy night offshore. Worse still, what if you had to reboot the boat before using the engine to assist in a person overboard emergency?

New Photo Essay—Bahamas Winter

2009-04-20T17:50:00.003-03:00

Encouraged by the popularity of our 2008 retrospective photo essay, we have added a new area to my photography web site for future essays, the first of which, Bahamas Winter, is now available for viewing.We are using some fairly bleeding edge technology (at least for us non-programmers) to display these slide shows—I say “bleeding edge” because of the state I was in by the time I got it

Stuff That Works, Headhunter Three Way Universal Valves

2009-04-16T09:23:00.002-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Stuff That Works, Plumbing.

Mainsail reefing blues

2009-04-07T15:35:00.007-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Rants & Musings, Rigging & Sails.

A Refit Tale #5, Carbon Fiber Mast, The Bottom Line

2009-04-06T20:34:00.008-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Indepth, Boat Refit.

Stuff That Works, McMaster-Carr

2009-03-21T19:01:00.006-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Stuff That Works, Maintenance & Refits.

Stuff That Works, Binoculars

2009-03-21T16:58:00.006-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Stuff That Works, Deck.

2009 eBook Edition of the Norwegian Cruising Guide

2009-03-18T14:32:00.004-03:00

We did it! Finally, after 4 months of hard work, we published the 2009 eBook Edition of the Norwegian Cruising Guide this past week.Now, that may not sound like that big a deal, but let me tell you, it was: The Guide is 650 pages long, describes 850 harbours/anchorages, contains 400 full-colour photographs, and includes over 60 pages of general cruising information. It’s got to be the biggest

North Atlantic Crossing East to West

2009-03-14T19:08:00.006-03:00

This post has been archived to the main site. Please see Questions About Sailing Routes in the North Atlantic.