by John
on May 16, 2013
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Over the years I have been a member of several yacht clubs and I have enjoyed the benefits provided by these organizations and the opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. On the other hand, I have always been a little uncomfortable with the elitism that most yacht clubs imply by their requirements [...]
by John
on May 9, 2013
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My friend Wilson is the project manager of the “rebuild” of the Bluenose II, nearing completion in Lunenburg just a few minutes away from our base camp here in Nova Scotia. He was kind enough to give me a tour today.
by John
on April 26, 2013
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Welcome to our first AAC Sponsor News, a series of posts that will appear about six times a year on what the companies that support this site are doing.
by John
on April 9, 2013
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Several readers have asked me about how my recovery from my accident is coming along. (For those of you who don’t know, I was descending the Hillary Step, after summiting without oxygen, carrying a Sherpa who had collapsed, poor fellow, when I slipped and broke my leg. Oh, you don’t believe that? How about this?)
by John
on April 1, 2013
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This morning we have a very exciting announcement from AAC-Labs, the research arm here at Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd World Headquarters. After a six month intense project made possible by funding from the Government of Canada, The US National Science Foundation, and the European Union, we are pleased to announce the formulation of a set [...]
by John
on March 9, 2013
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This story is apropos of not much at all, except that I think it’s amusing and I tell it at dinner parties where the audience seems to enjoy it. And, since I think of you, our readers, as friends and part of my community, I thought I would tell it here. Also, writing it makes [...]
by John
on January 15, 2013
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My daughter and son in law looking at storm damage at Flat Rock, a village just outside St. John’s. A week ago the breakwater in the far middle-ground was not spread all over the wharf with the derrick on it. Winter can be vicious anywhere, but it has a special edge here in Newfoundland.
by John
on January 1, 2013
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I have got to the age where I’m comfortable with my bad habits and so the standard New Year’s resolutions hold little interest for me—I’m simply not giving up whisky* or chocolate. But as a voyaging sailor, I know that forgetting the basic rules of seamanship can be the slippery road to disaster. And even after [...]
by John
on December 30, 2012
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New Years is a good time to think about all the things we have been blessed with. And for us here at Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd, one of the things we have been blessed with is you, the offshore sailors, both the deeply experienced and those getting ready to go, who add so much wisdom [...]
by John
on December 21, 2012
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“Fun Tax” I got an email from yacht designer Ed Joy, about something else, to which he added the following: I agree with the sentiments in your hull form article. Racers having great fun scampering downwind on their sleds are dreading the “fun tax” that must be paid when it’s time to harden up the [...]
by John
on October 28, 2012
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It’s Not The Bahamas, But… It seems strange not to be heading south this year, but then again, fall in Nova Scotia is pretty nice. Mind you, check in with me after the first ice storm.
by John
on October 14, 2012
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We have been puzzling for some time about how to share the cool little things that often crop up in this wonderful life of voyaging, but that are not a big enough deal to make a post of: The photograph that captures an interesting moment, or boat, or person; the odd thought (some have claimed [...]
by John
on September 26, 2012
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A great piece by Charley Doane over at Wavetrain on the folly of carrying jerry jugs of fuel on deck and how to make it unnecessary with smart motor-sailing.
by Phyllis
on June 27, 2012
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Answer: The “over”!
by John
on June 14, 2012
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My father was an engineer and I like to think that if I was not dyslexic, with the resulting poor academic record at school, I would be one too. In any event, I ended up being a technician (mainframe computer), which meant that I got to hang out with a lot of engineers, thereby developing [...]
by John
on June 12, 2012
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Phyllis wrote about the process of life re-evaluation that we are going through. Obviously the future of this web site is entwined with that process and so we thought it would be a good idea to share our thinking about the site and its future with you, our readers:
by Phyllis
on June 2, 2012
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During the 15 years that John and I have been voyaging together, most of our passagemaking has been done double-handed, which, as any of you who have sailed double-handed know, means passing each other in the cockpit at watch changes on the ecstatic journey towards the sea berth or the less-than-ecstatic journey towards the cockpit! [...]
by John
on April 26, 2012
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We have spent much of the last twenty years voyaging in the northern North Atlantic and adjacent Arctic waters where the sailing season is short and the penalties for being late are unpleasant. Even when we have voyaged to more benign waters, like the Bahamas or south eastern USA, we are usually way early northbound [...]
by Colin
on April 22, 2012
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Sailors can be a superstitious lot, and the idea of setting sail on Friday 13th has always alarmed mariners. But as the latest one came around we weren’t worried. As we were simply minding our own business alongside a pontoon, and planning on going nowhere we were in a risk-free place – or so we [...]
by John
on April 20, 2012
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I’m an electronics technician by trade and a believer in logic and scientific method. When I ran my businesses I was an analytical manager delving into the numbers as a foundation for my decisions. And when voyaging, I’m a compulsive list keeper, boat preparer and weather analyzer. Yes, I’m the hard cold facts guy. Well…except [...]
