CATEGORIES

Instrumentless circumnavigator passes

MARVIN CREAMER, A sailor who PerforMed a seemingly miraculous circumnavigation in the mid-1980s, has crossed the bar for the last time.

During a pandemic, flexibility is key

The wheelhouse was scattered with guidebooks extolling the virtues and sites to behold in and around the Baltic — fjords in Sweden and Norway, Danish in Denmark, history-laden Poland, and enough lager to sink a barge in Germany.

Alarms, getting to know them better

Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared in the Ocean Cruising Club’s monthly bulletin (oceancruisingclub.org).

A cultural and visual spectacle

Sailing a multihull through western Cuba

The Ocean Race postpones next start

THE OCEAN RACE, A CREWED RACE AROUND THE WORLD THAT has held two other names and sponsors since its inception (Whitbread Round the World Race, Volvo Ocean Race), has announced that the 14th running of the race originally scheduled to start in October 2021 will be pushed back one year to October 2022.

Radar advances

Marine electronics companies continue to make impressive technical strides in a variety of areas.

Winds of change

AS OUR WORLD STUMBLES THROUGH THIS PAINFUL AND unprecedented time, with businesses and schools closed, boat shows canceled and so many of us compelled to shelter in place, it’s frustrating to think that even our boats can only provide limited respite from the draconian restrictions of the pandemic.

The eye of the butterfly

The difference between the tropical cyclone and mid-latitude cyclone

The rebuilding of Golden Rule, the first protest boat

It’s a misty day in the photo and the sand is brownish gray, setting off the white paint of the derelict hull as if the boat were lit by a ray of sunshine.

Securing for sea

Attaching gear to lifelines and stanchions is generally not wise and sometimes dangerous.

Good maintenance stops bad fuel

As most of us know, good clean fuel is important to any diesel engine.

Coping with COVID

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS FORCED SAILING ORGANIZATIONS around the country to adapt to social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home policies. Here’s how two are dealing with the problem.

10 tools cruising sailors bring to the stay-at-home table

On March 19, as Jon and I finished setting the hook in Corong Corong Bay, Palawan, we were approached by the Philippine coast guard and told to leave. The enhanced community quarantine was newly in effect, and we were unwelcome.

Sea of Cortez in the time of coronavirus

We’d left the dinghy on the beach and hiked up to a isolated coastal rancho (family farm) to resupply our fresh vegetables. It was 25 miles north of Loreto, far from even any village. Cruisers on the VHF net said the rancho made excellent goat cheese.

Problems in the emergency beacon network

When voyagers purchase and register an EPIRB, they have a reasonable expectation that should they activate the beacon, the Sarsat system will swing into gear and rescue them. And in many places around the world, that expectation is well-founded. Two recent cases of EPIRB activation, however, suggest that even the best, most reliable EPIRB might not help you in an emergency.

Satcom for the sailor

When long-range cruising, it’s nice to get away from it all — but some of us still must remain connected. We are spoiled on land with Internet access at speeds of 300 Mbps for prices as low as $50 a month. The same speed at sea may cost you $50,000. Therein lies the challenge: How can we surf the Internet at sea without blowing the entire communications budget?

Mid-ocean plague ship disaster

NAV PROBLEM

How we found the right boat

My wife, Clarice, and I talked about living aboard a boat for years before we made the plunge. Here are some of the considerations we worked through.

Stuck in the U.S. Virgin Islands

“You couldn’t have picked a better time to be living on your sailboat” seems to be the sentiment of many of our friends as they see pictures of us snorkeling the clear waters off St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands during the COVID-19 pandemic. In many ways, a sailboat makes a great home for being isolated and self-sufficient.

The humble yet capable marine VHF

Although marine VHF radio has been around for a while, it has not only remained useful but is also still a vital part of any vessel’s safety equipment. In fact, VHF units are so capable that many cruisers may not even be aware of all the things they can do. And even with the advent of cellphones, VHFs are still important to any vessel’s communications system.

In serious hot water

Devising a multiple-input system for producing hot water

Desperately Seeking Solutions

Voyagers and closed borders

Amazing trades

A perfect passage from Cape Town to Barbados is a magical end to a circumnavigation

Virtual sailing during the pandemic

Sailing and voyaging are an intriguing mix of companionship and solitude.

FROM THE Tagus to Rabat

A European winter base and a Moroccan trip to reset the EU clock

Squeezing out fresh water

Modern watermakers range from hands-off automatic units to basic operator involved models

Oil's well that ends well

Oil is oil, right? Wrong! Have you experienced the dread of searching for the correct engine oil in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language?

November shakedown to Bermuda

It was cold on the morning of Nov. 20, 2019, when Dan Torchio and his crew of two slipped the lines off Rhapsody, a Passport 47 aft cockpit cutter, departing the safe confines of Greenport, N.Y.

Building your own watermaker

Modern technology has brought us many new devices that make the cruising life much safer and easier.

Avoid drilling holes in your boat

Once I settled on a Tayana 37 pilothouse boat as my choice to allow me to tick off the primary item on my bucket list (circumnavigation), I set out to find a suitable used boat.