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Not So Boring Privacy Policy, Part 2—Information We Store About, and Emails We Send To, Members
16 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Not So Boring Privacy Policy, Part 2—Information We Store About, and Emails We Send To, MembersIn case we didn’t manage to cure your insomnia with Part 1, we now have Part 2. The good news is that this is the last one that’s relevant for members, and now we can all get back to something we actually care about: offshore voyaging.
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Read more: Maus Fire Extinguishers—A Breakthrough?Fire at sea. Those three words strike fear into the heart of any prudent mariner. John takes a look at a new fire extinguisher that may be uniquely suited for use on cruising boats.
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Read more: Not Boring Privacy Policy—CookiesWith all the recent hullabaloo about internet privacy, it’s time to update our privacy policy. Here it is in plain old English with some interesting stuff mixed in to keep it from being boring and it might even help you decide what to do about practices on other sites.
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Read more: Battery Options, Part 2—Lead AcidJohn takes an in-depth look at the benefits and drawbacks of carbon foam, liquid filled, and AGM lead acid batteries, and then reveals his thinking if faced with battery replacement today.
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Read more: Battery Options, Part 1—LithiumJohn recently replaced the house battery bank on Morgan’s Cloud. But before starting the project he had a big decision to make: which battery type. Here’s a look at the options he considered, starting with lithium.
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Read more: Two Dangerous Rigging MistakesThe loads on a modern offshore cruising boat are substantial so we sailors need to really think about how we handle them. John discusses two common mistakes and what we can all learn from them.
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Read more: Boréal Yachts—Looking To The FutureColin and Jean-Francois Eeman, Boréal Yachts’ Managing Director, pick up where they left off in Part I and talk about Boréal’s plans for the future—it’s exciting stuff.
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Read more: Boréal Yachts—Eight Years OnEight years ago a new boat builder launched one of the most innovative cruising boats we have seen in a generation. Since then, Colin has been an eye witness to, and participant in, making those boats ever better. Now he and Managing Director Jean-Francois Eeman sit down to discuss what Boréal has accomplished and reveal some of their plans for the future.
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Read more: 8 Things I Learned From a Lazy Man’s Galley MakeoverJohn had been putting this project off for years, but it turned out to be easier than he ever would have believed possible. He shares how that happened and eight vital things he learned.
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Time to Stop Using And Selling Tethers with Gibb-style Hooks
42 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Time to Stop Using And Selling Tethers with Gibb-style HooksA recent tragedy, together with excellent work by Drew Frye over at Practical Sailor, has exposed a dangerous weakness in a snap hook used on tethers by many offshore sailors. John explains the problem and calls on manufacturers to take the lead on getting these hooks off boats.
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Read more: There’s A Light…There’s so much writing about the latest and greatest gear in the cruiser’s world. Here’s a pleasant break from that in which Colin shares simpler gear that takes him back to a time when his fascination and love for voyaging was still fresh and new.
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Read more: Crew Overboard Recovery—Our Replacement For Quick StopThe availability of comparatively inexpensive, and proven effective, AIS/DSC COB beacons means that all of us must think long and hard about what changes we need to make in our Crew Overboard (COB) procedures. John and Phyllis share the recovery technique they will be practicing in future.
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Read more: Of Dishwashers and Yacht DesignersA thought on yacht design that will help us end up with a better boat.
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Read more: Crew Overboard Recovery, Is The Quick Stop Bogus?The Quick Stop crew overboard recovery maneuver has become the standard taught in most every safety at sea seminar. But how effective is the method really likely to be, particularly for short-handed crews offshore? John takes a look.
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Read more: Which Lifejacket Auto-Inflator Should We Select?Assuming that we have decided to buy and use auto-inflated lifejackets, we have yet another decision to make: Which of the two available activation devices should we select, hydrostatic or dissolved tablet? John interviews an expert and makes a selection.
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The Bras d’Or Lakes—And Now For Something Completely Different…
25 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFree
Read more: The Bras d’Or Lakes—And Now For Something Completely Different…Colin takes us to the legendary among cruisers, idyllic and sheltered Bras d’Or Lakes of Nova Scotia.
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Read more: Should We Wear Lifejackets or Harnesses, Both, Neither?Can we stay safe just by following generally-accepted rules like always wear a lifejacket? John doesn’t think so and takes a deep dive into the issues we need to think about.
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Read more: Two Books That Will Help Us Go Cruising—Part 2So what can we do to reverse the steady decline in offshore cruising? Here’s a book with an idea that just might help.
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Read more: Apps to Manage Boat Maintenance and CruisesThe apps to use on computers and smartphones to keep track of tasks on a cruising sail or motorboat.
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Read more: Two Books That Will Help Us Go Cruising—Part 1Managing our money and saving to go cruising is way more difficult than it was. Here’s a book recommendation to help with that.
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Read more: Managing Boatyard Costs—Part 2John provides specific tips, including a meeting script and scope of work outline, to help you get a quote or an estimate from a boat yard and then manage the project to stay at least close to that agreed price.
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Read more: Managing Boatyard Costs—Part 1Many boat owners just shrug and say to themselves that all boatyards are a bunch of incompetent crooks and we are going to get screwed no matter what we do. But it does not have to be that way. John shares what he has learned over some forty years of managing boat projects, both large and small, about how to keep costs at least semi-reasonable and how to decide what tasks are best delegated to a boatyard.
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Smartphone (CrewWatcher) or AIS-Based Crew Overboard Beacons?
151 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesMembers
Read more: Smartphone (CrewWatcher) or AIS-Based Crew Overboard Beacons?An in-depth analysis and comparison of Bluetooth smartphone-based crew overboard beacons as against AIS beacons.
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Read more: Severe Weather Probability Forecast ProductJohn writes about a new weather forecast product that just might be the most significant weather advance for offshore voyagers since the GRIB file.
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Read more: Coming Alongside (Docking)—Backing In, Part 2John continues to make backing-in approaches easy, with four detailed step-by-step recipes (complete with diagrams), one for each wind direction.
