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Read more: Grand Bruit, Newfoundland—After The EndThe outport of Grand Bruit, Newfoundland—closed in 2010, it’s a beautiful and eerie waystop.
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Read more: It’s So Nice When I StopOver twenty years ago I received an offer from Britain’s leading whale and dolphin researcher to become a reserve skipper on his annual survey in the western isles of Scotland. Wow, I thought, what an opportunity, and promptly seized it with both hands. Which only goes to show that you should always look before you […]
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Read more: LaPoile, Newfoundland—Beautiful And IsolatedThe outport of La Poile, Newfoundland—beautiful and isolated and aging.
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Read more: Choosing a SpotIn this chapter John outlines the steps he takes to get Morgan’s Cloud anchored in the right spot the first time.
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Read more: Saving The DayIt’s a fact of life that even in our throw away world of ‘service by replacement’ equipment there are times when good old fashioned improvisation can save the day, especially when you’re thousands of miles from the nearest service centre. As a result, part of any spares kit should comprise of a mix of wire, […]
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Read more: Outports Of Newfoundland—The Heart of a VillageOutports (isolated non-road served Newfoundland communities) are slowly dying as the youth move to more urban environments for work. So don’t wait too long to visit the ones that remain.
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Read more: You Still Need an Accurate CompassWhat if your plotter dies, or the datum is way out on the chart against the GPS, or you are navigating an intricate passage? These are just a few situations when an accurate compass is vital.
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Read more: Newfoundland—Family, Fog and BakeapplesBakeapples and fog…Newfoundland shows its true colours!
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Read more: Wharf HockeyIce hockey, street hockey, field hockey…wharf hockey?
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Read more: One Tough Old Aluminum BoatIt is amazing how often people look surprised, and even mildly alarmed, when I tell them that we own an aluminum boat. The next tentative question(s) is almost always about electrolysis and the general longevity of the material.
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Read more: When Injury StrikesOkay, you have your medical kit, but what about medical insurance? Colin discusses options in light of an injury he suffered when working on their boat.
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Read more: Charleston With Travel Photography TipsNow we are going to get to the hard stuff, the stuff we all have to work at for our entire photographing lives: composition and lighting. Hard yes, but John has made it more interesting and fun by using photographs in a slideshow to illustrate each tip.
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Read more: Engineers Are CoolMy 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 […]
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Read more: Briefing New CrewOnce your crew are safely aboard it’s time to brief them on the boat and life on board—safety, watchkeeping, and domestic life. Colin discusses the pre-departure briefing they use on “Pèlerin”.
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Read more: Dubarry Boots—Arctic Voyage Gear TestIn our Warm Feet, Please post of several years ago, we mentioned that we had purchased Dubarry Ultima boots and, after several years, were impressed. At that time, however, we weren’t ready to commit to anything until we had given them a thorough testing.
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Read more: Storm MooringI have written in the past about our distrust of moorings and how we generally prefer to be on our own anchor when the winds blow hard. However, there is one exception to that rule: our own mooring at our Base Camp.
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Read more: Preparing For New CrewWelcoming friends or family to join you on a long leg is something we all look forward to, but in order to make sure that the reality matches the expectation, it pays to plan ahead, and a briefing document can help to make sure everyone is on the same page.
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Read more: Reliability And QualityThere is a saying that “cruising is the process of working on your boat in exotic places” and it’s distressingly true. Even buying a brand new boat does not fix the problem, let alone fixing up an old one. But I don’t believe it must be that way. Let’s look at how the Adventure 40 will be better than that.
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Read more: Beauty and The Beast12 Meter Gleam, 1937
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Read more: Introduction to Getting Along With Your CrewExtra crew can lighten the physical load of passagemaking and bring fun and light when it’s needed. But this kind of harmony doesn’t happen by accident. Colin shares his techniques for managing crew in this Online Book.
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Read more: Laziness Never Goes UnpunishedLaziness is the single biggest enemy of good seamanship. Here’s an example of when I was lazy…and paid the price. But really, I got off light, it could have been a lot worse.
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Read more: There Be AdventurersI recently wrote a post on spreading happiness, inspired by Tassio and Claudia’s website. Well, their website inspired me in another way, as well.
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Read more: Emergency Tillers—Easier Said Than DoneAt the beginning of each working season we used to take our old boat out on a really breezy day and push the boat hard to check that everything was in good working order. Whilst we had run through our winter maintenance schedule with great care, winter always seemed to find a chink in our […]
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Read more: Gear Test—AutopilotA reliable autopilot comes right after radar as the most important piece of electronic gear We report on how our autopilot handled our 10,000-mile voyage.
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Read more: Friday 13th and The Importance of Testing EnginesSailors 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 […]
