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Read more: Crash Testing a RelationshipGoing cruising with your partner may sound romantic, and it is. But there are also few activities that are more stressful on a relationship. Colin tells the story of his first tough passage with Lou. One that they took on intentionally to see how they would manage as a team at sea. It’s an example that all couples considering the voyaging life should emulate—Crash Test the Relationship before committing everything to a new life on the ocean.
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Read more: Do We Need Watertight Bulkheads?What are the trade offs of insisting on watertight bulkheads in a cruising boat?
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Read more: Our Changing OceansJimmy Cornell is undoubtedly one of the most important people to offshore voyaging of his generation. Colin caught up to him for a wide ranging interview on what this consummate entrepreneur is planning next as well as his latest publication.
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Read more: Impact Resistance—Two Collision ScenariosThe sad fact is that many, perhaps most, production sailboats are not built to take the loads imposed by even a moderate collision or grounding. In this chapter Matt, AAC’s Technical Correspondent, explains the engineering and shares what to look for before buying a voyaging boat.
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Read more: Impact Resistance—How Hull Materials Respond to ImpactsMatt carries on from the last chapter and examines how the various materials voyaging boat hulls are built out of will survive a collision with a hard object.
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Read more: The Real Reason to Use a Harness and TetherWe have written a lot about gear in our ongoing Crew Overboard Prevention Online Book, but all the gear in the world won’t keep you safe if you don’t heed this tip.
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Read more: Familiarity Breeds Competence and SpeedWhile we were on holiday (vacation) we stopped by to check on Morgan’s Cloud all tucked up in a shed at Billings Diesel and Marine and discovered that her steering was seized solid because the new type of dripless packing that we tried out for the first time had dried out and frozen to the […]
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Read more: A Sailor’s MotorboatLet’s compare a cruising sailboat under power to a typical trawler. After all, we sailors don’t want to take a step backward in efficiency and speed as we transition to power.
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Read more: Spade Rudders—Ready for Sea?Some time ago I posted here with my views on the suitability of spade rudders for offshore cruising. Having lost a spade rudder that looked to be in A1 condition, naturally my thoughts at the time were coloured by that disaster. Despite the fact that I had up until that time owned three yachts that had […]
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Read more: Forward Into The Past
Most of our regular readers will know well that I am a dedicated fan of metal boats, so the following post may come as something of a surprise. For although Lou and I chose aluminium for our own voyaging boat, I still retain a love of wooden boats—aesthetically at least—particularly the honest, robust gaff-rigged wooden […]
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Read more: Characteristics of Boat Building MaterialsMatt takes a look at the materials available that offshore voyaging boat hulls are generally built of and explains the benefits and drawbacks of each one.
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Read more: Coming To a Remote Spot Near You…
In my experience long distance cruisers are great lovers of the marine environment, whether it be clean seas, marine wildlife or their favourite wild places. If that is indeed true, we’d be the last people to want to cause harm to pristine places, either deliberately or unwittingly. And yet, as I recently learned, the latter […]
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Read more: The Ultimate AnchorNot a lot more to say really.
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Read more: Trade Offs in Yacht Design
This chapter is a slightly humorous but oh so important demonstration, in the form of a mock pub (bar) argument, as two experienced cruisers argue and compromise about what to fit into a 40-foot offshore sailboat and what to leave out. As you search for a boat you will be having the same arguments with yourself and your spouse. This chapter will give you a good framework to settle on what really matters in the boat you…
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Read more: Éric TabarlyThe red trimaran alongside us crashes through another short steep sea and a jet of water with the ferocity of a fire hose blasts her from stem to stern as she claws her way upwind into a steady 35 knots at the start of the 1986 Route du Rhum race off the French port of […]
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Read more: Brazil’s Green HeartAfter a few days in Rio, Colin and Lou are ready for peace and quiet, which they seek in Mata Atlantica, a little known natural area of rainforests and savannahs that runs from Brazil down to Argentina, followed by a visit to the charming old city of Paraty.
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Read more: Certificate of CompetencyDue to pressure building on all sides (Canada, Norway, etc.), I finally caved, took a Boating Safety Course, passed the exam, and am now the proud bearer of a Pleasure Craft Operator Card (Canada).
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Summary And Conclusions For Heavy Weather Offshore Section
19 CommentsReading Time: 3 minutesMembersRead more: Summary And Conclusions For Heavy Weather Offshore SectionWe have covered a lot of ground and many details in this Online Book. So I have ended with a chapter the key points in this chapter.
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Read more: Companionway Integrity In A StormIt’s a sad fact that most production boat companionways are potential boat-sinkers. But it does not have to be that way. In this chapter I provide solid suggestions on how to stormproof your companionway.
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Read more: Real Life Storm Survival StoryTheory is great to learn from but real world experience is always better. In this chapter I relate an email interview we conducted with a reader who survived a killer storm south of New Zealand using some of the techniques that I have discussed in this book. It’s a long chapter, but read it carefully because doing so and acting on the information could save your life.
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Read more: Storm Survival Secret Weapon: Your EngineOne of our most useful tools in dealing with heavy weather at sea is our engine and in this chapter I relate how we used ours to good effect in a nasty lee shore situation. But the sad truth is that in many cases a yacht’s engine is disabled by heavy weather making it useless at the very time that the crew need it most, so I go on to share some solid suggestions of things you…
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Read more: Surviving A Lee ShoreIn the previous chapters we have talked about heaving-to and various drag devices, but none of that is going to help us if we are caught on a lee shore. In this chapter I write about when that exact scenario happened to me and what we have done to prepare ourselves and our boat should it ever happen to us again.
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Read more: Series Drogues: Learning From Tony GoochContinuing on with the theme of learning from the best, this chapter is about the many things we learned from Tony and Coryn Gooch about storm survival and drogue retrieval—they know what they are talking about after decades of voyaging in some of the toughest parts of the world’s oceans and Tony’s single handed non-stop circumnavigation.
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Jordan Series Drogue Retrieval—An Alternative From Hal Roth
27 CommentsReading Time: 4 minutesMembers
Read more: Jordan Series Drogue Retrieval—An Alternative From Hal RothThere’s always more than one way to skin a cat—or retrieve a Jordan Series Drogue—so when Hal Roth, a man with 200,000 miles and three circumnavigations under his belt, makes a suggestion, we listen.
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Read more: Jordan Series Drogue Attachments And Launch SystemYou went out and bought a Jordan Series Drogue, but now you need to put together the gear and procedures to get it safely deployed when you need it and in this chapter I share exactly how to do that.
