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Which Old Salts Should We Listen To? 10 Ways To Decide—Part 2
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Read more: Which Old Salts Should We Listen To? 10 Ways To Decide—Part 2Here is Part 2 of John’s tips on how to decide which old salts to listen to, as well as how to decide between conflicting opinions expressed by experienced voyagers.
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Read more: Colin on AnchoringColin shares some techniques he was reminded of while spending the summer cruising the south coast of Newfoundland, a challenging place to anchor if ever there was one.
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Which Old Salts Should We Listen To? 10 Ways To Decide—Part 1
65 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesMembers
Read more: Which Old Salts Should We Listen To? 10 Ways To Decide—Part 1Blindly following the teachings of old salts, no matter how experienced and well meaning they are, can lead to poor gear choices and big mistakes once out there. But how do we decide who to believe or between two conflicting opinions? John has ten tips that even the most inexperienced offshore sailor can use to make that easier.
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Read more: Storm Survival FAQSeveral questions have repeatedly surfaced within the hundreds of comments on our Heavy Weather Tactics Online Book. So I have pulled those together in this chapter and added my thoughts.
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Read more: The Southwest Coast of Newfoundland—An IntroductionColin carries on with the story of their 2018 cruise: A nerve jangling approach, deserted anchorages, a spooky abandoned village and managing a boat mechanical problem of the type that seem to plague us all sooner or later—a tale of real cruising.
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Read more: 11 Things We Do To Stay Rational About SafetyWe write a lot about safety here at AAC: crew overboard, storm survival, fire at sea, etc. All important stuff, but we worry about how this affects our primary goal here at Attainable Adventure Cruising of helping you go cruising. So here’s how we balance safety with actually getting out there.
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AIS Crew Overboard Beacons—Setting Up The Boat Alarms Right
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Read more: AIS Crew Overboard Beacons—Setting Up The Boat Alarms RightSo now that we have bought AIS Crew Overboard Alarms, all is safe and good, right? No, not really. We also need to make sure that we are going to get an alarm on the boat that will set a rescue in motion. And that’s a lot more complex than just relying on a beep from our AIS receiver or plotter. But never fear, John has done the research, come up with a good solution, sailed with…
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Read more: Just Get a Series Drogue Designed By Don Jordan…Dammit!There are few subjects that offshore sailors like to discuss and argue about more than which is the best storm survival strategy and related gear. But it’s time to stop the debate because it’s a solved problem.
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Read more: Cabot Strait—Alias “The Chuck”Colin carries on with his tale of an unsurprisingly unpleasant crossing to Newfoundland with a surprisingly pleasant landfall.
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Read more: Amidships “Preventers”—A Bad Idea That Can KillJohn has long advocated for preventers rigged from the boom well outboard to the bow as the only right way. We now have solid engineering, and a tragedy, to show how important this is.
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Read more: Getting Back Into The Cruising Life—2018 Season on PèlerinThe first of Colin’s voyaging articles on their 2018 season cruising Atlantic Canada.
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Read more: Rogue Waves Are Not Bad LuckThe most common reason for yacht abandonment at sea is being capsized by a rogue wave. But is rogue a good description of these boat-killing waves? And are there things we can do to reduce roll-over risk?
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Read more: 5 Ways We Are Updating Our Thinking On Fire FightingBased on the great comments from experts on a previous post, Phyllis and John have substantially changed their thinking on fighting a fire aboard.
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Read more: Hull Design Torture TestJohn links to a must-read article on hull design for heavy weather and highlights a couple of really important things he learned from it.
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Read more: Battery Monitors, Part 3—Calibration and UseThe single biggest bitch we hear about battery monitors is that they are always wrong. John shares how to fix that and make your batteries last a lot longer too.
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Read more: Battery Monitors, Part 2—Recommended UnitBeing able to accurately monitor our batteries is a vital function for all cruisers, but which of the multitude of systems offered should we buy and install? John defines the functions we actually need, and then recommends a monitor.
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Read more: Lewisporte, Newfoundland—A Lot Has Changed in 25 YearsAfter recommending the Lewisporte Marina to a number of cruisers looking to leave their boat in Newfoundland over a winter, John and Phyllis finally get a chance to visit Lewisporte themselves…for the second time in John’s case.
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Read more: Battery Monitors, Part 1—Which Type Is Right For You?It’s tempting, when selecting a complex piece of gear like a battery monitor, to dive straight into the details and features, but that’s a near-sure route to a bad decision. First let’s take a giant step back and look at the two main types of monitors and decide which is right for each of us.
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Read more: Fogo Harbour, Newfoundland—The Kindness of StrangersPhyllis shares the latest act of kindness bestowed on her and John by a Newfoundlander.
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Read more: Battle Testing a Jordan-Designed Series Drogue—Round 2Trevor Robinson updates what he has learned about using and maintaining a series drogue built to Don Jordan’s design. This is not theory, but true testing over a gruelling circumnavigation in the Southern Ocean, including multiple deployments in gale and storm force conditions. Anyone who goes to sea in small boats will benefit from reading this.
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Read more: The Golden Globe Race 2018—And They’re OffThe Golden Globe Race 2018 has started, and Colin, who lives in Falmouth, site of the feeder race start, takes a look at the boats and the competitors.
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Read more: Rigging Tips Part 1John puts his lazy streak on display with five rigging hacks to do less work, but still do things right.
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Read more: Things Are Different Now“Things are different now” is a mantra on “Morgan’s Cloud”. And never more so than now, as John and Phyllis try and act their age.
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10 Things That Are Common On Offshore Cruising Boats…But Shouldn’t Be
54 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesMembers
Read more: 10 Things That Are Common On Offshore Cruising Boats…But Shouldn’t BeIt’s always easier not to fix our boats right, and using the excuse that everyone does it like this is a tempting way to excuse doing extra work and spending more money, but the sea does not recognize excuses.
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Read more: Cruising NewfoundlandPhyllis and John are back out cruising and in one of their favourite parts of the world.
