A few months ago we published a photo essay about Polaris, the custom Hutting 54 especially designed and built for cruising remote places, owned by our friends Michael and Martina. Since then several people have asked about the line reels shown in the photographs. I passed these questions on to Michael and got the following […]
McCurdy and Rhodes, designers of Morgan’s Cloud, have a new and very classy web site. The firm is now run by Ian McCurdy, whose father, Jim, was a founding partner and designed our boat.
Question: What are your views on the Portland Pudgy as a “proactive” life raft?
Question: We are crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia. I found a large scale chart of the Atlantic (Imray Passage Chart 100). This single chart shows the entire Atlantic Ocean taking the earth’s curvature into account and therefore does NOT have a compass rose to help steer by. I am having […]
John shares the checklist he uses to prepare for a gale or storm when at anchor or on a mooring.
Question: I am looking at a cross-Atlantic trip and was thinking about a 1978 A Plan Endeavour 37, mainly because of the layout. Would you advise against this boat for such a long journey even with a good survey?
We just received this e-mail from Evans Starzinger who, together with his partner, Beth Leonard, completed two circumnavigations. The second one was west to east and south of the great capes, on their Samoa 47 Hawk.
John doesn’t understand the move to swept back spreaders in sailboat rig design. And he’s not shy about saying so.
Why we choose Gravol to fight seasickness on Morgan’s Cloud.
Colin shares the reasons they opted for an asymmetric spinnaker when choosing sails for their new OVNI, Pélerin.
Though Sturgeron gets a lot of good reviews as an antiseasickness remedy, John shares why he doesn’t like it.
There is nothing quite like the final moment of departure at the start of a long cruise or voyage. A strong mixture of anticipation and apprehension, it generally follows a stressful period, with all of the usual last minute glitches and hassles, however careful your planning and preparation. Then there are the goodbyes to friends […]
We have been using various formulas of zinc-based antifouling paint (copper is out for Morgan’s Cloud since she is aluminum) from E-Paint for 12 years with varying results. For the last three years we have been using their ablative ZO product with generally good results.
“Boat Yard Hell” is our term of endearment for Morgan’s Cloud’s annual date with a boat lift. There just isn’t much fun to it: living at the top of a 15’ ladder, peeing in a bucket, the morning dash to the toilet building, and of course day after day of boat chores as we try […]
We received an e-mail a few weeks ago from our friend Bob Tetrault who has been following our heavy weather series. Bob went to Maine Maritime, has a master’s ticket, and has fished the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank in all kinds of weather. He currently owns three boats that fish the Gulf of […]
John, who figures he’s tried every seasickness remedy out there, gives the ReliefBand a chance.
What does the word “harbour” mean to you? A safe haven, perhaps, sheltered from all sides? Well, in some of the less frequented parts of the world it can mean something quite different. Many “harbours”, such as Hugh Town on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly, are far from safe in all conditions, being […]
A few weeks ago we met up with our friends Michael and Martina on their beautifully designed and built custom Hutting 54 Polaris. They were kind enough to give me, camera in hand, a tour and to patiently answer my many questions.
Question: I am curious if you are keel stepped or deck stepped. If keel stepped, could you get away without stays since the aluminum deck could be reinforced enough to hold the mast upright? You could keep running backstays in place for heavier winds.
Question: Did you change your boom to carbon fiber or just your mast?
If there’s one place that you really don’t want a valve to bust while in use, it’s in the black water system.
Question: We are planning to cross the North Atlantic east to west via the Arctic route in June on the way to an attempt to transit the North West Passage. We plan to leave from Iceland on a passage to the west coast of Greenland and are wondering how close to round Cape Farewell [south […]
In our view the standard bracket shipped with Force 10 stoves is inadequate and dangerous. Here’s an alternative.
One thing that most sailors dread is poor visibility. Throw in high levels of shipping traffic and you have a perfect recipe for sleepless nights.
Colin takes a balanced look at mainsail handling systems including single line reefing from the cockpit and permanently mounted integrated sail covers. These systems would seem to save trouble, but how well do they really work in practice? Read on to find out.