thoughts

There is a tendency in our planning to confuse the unfamiliar with the improbable.

Thomas Schelling

Wow, while Schelling was a public policy wonk, does this ever apply to voyaging, particularly when we have only sailed inshore and so are surprised by how different things are when we head offshore.

I have long been concerned about the state of marine journalism, particularly in North America. In my view, most all marine magazines have for decades been little more than extensions of the marketing departments of boat builders and marine gear manufacturers.

Heck, it’s been about 20 years since one of my favourite editors, and marine writers, got fired for refusing to “sell the cover¹” and other offences against the publisher (also know as journalism ethics) on one of the leading boating magazines.

And don’t get me started on what a crock most of the so-called boat review videos being produced on both sides of the Atlantic are.

But there is one shining exception, a guy named Peter Swanson who writes at Substack under the banner of “Loose Cannon“.

Not only is Peter a real journalist with decades of experience, he loves shining the light of day on bad behaviour and clearly does not give a shit who he offends—a loose cannon indeed.

Examples since I have been reading Peter’s posts include:

• Working with several experts to figure out why the superyacht Bayesian was knocked down and sunk with loss of life, and in the process hopefully preventing the builder from hanging the blame on the skipper and crew.
• Calling out Sail Magazine for a serious omission of vital information when writing a “boat review”.
• Explaining the recent further consolidation of boating magazines—I don’t agree with all of this one², but it’s interesting to read Peter’s view.

And much more that’s interesting and relevant.

You can read most of Peter’s stuff for free, although accessing the archived posts like those above requires paying $56 / year. Hum, more expensive than AAC…he thinks.

Anyway, I just paid, and I highly recommend supporting Peter so at least there is one authentic marine journalist left in the wilderness.

Comments

Do you know of any others? If so, leave a comment.

1. Journalism speak for when the advertising department “suggests” to the editor that putting a given boat or product on the cover just might help sell a bunch of advertising space. ↩︎
2. My view is much more jaundiced. ↩︎

As you can see in the above picture, it looks as if we will have a white holiday season here at AAC World Headquarters, also lovingly known as “The Hovel”.

We call the yellow addition that we built some years ago, when we moved ashore, “The Folly” because that’s what adding on to a hovel is.

Actually, after adding insulation—highly underrated—to the original cottage we are very comfortable here.

Work is rewarding and the hopper is still full of new articles and tips.

Our new boat has worked out very well, both as a day sailor…

…and as a weekend cruiser.

And as a test bed for all things AAC.

We get to spend time with family…

…and a wide circle of wonderful friends.

Which is all a long way of saying that life-after-voyaging has been good to us and we are thankful.

Also, counting our blessings, as above, is a great way to counterbalance a world that is stranger than any time I can remember.

We hope you and yours can find a way to do the same.

Happy Holidays and the very best for successful voyaging, whatever that may look like to you, in the new year.

And thanks to all of you who make AAC possible. We are looking forward to working for and with you in 2025.

Would you believe it? 65-year-old Jean Le Cam is in first place in the Vendée Globe, in his brand new, but non-foiling IMOCA 60?

Will he hold the lead all the way around the planet? Probably not, but who cares, he is in front now.

And who knows, a dagger-board boat will be easier on him, and itself in this race of attrition, so I’m pulling for another top-five position for Jean, to go with his 4th, again on a non-foiling boat, in the last running.

Maybe he can even make the podium this time. Wouldn’t that be something for a guy at retirement age on a non-foiler?

Often in long races it’s not about top speed it’s about how much of the time you go quite fast, and, above all, how often you go the right way, and Jean is a master at the last two.

Yes, all of the others are younger and many have faster boats, but you gotta drive hard and be super-smart to beat any sailor who has won three Solitaire du Figaro titles, even if the last one was a quarter century ago.

And none of that freeze-dried crap, or at least less, for Jean. He carries fine paté and other good food—weight be damned. I like the man’s style.

Go Jean Le Cam!

I’m a capitalist. But I also strongly believe that capitalism should be played with rules and a referee. After all, as Scott Galloway is wont to say, it’s a full-body contact sport and would we let people play rugby or American football without a ref on the field? Might not end well.

But that’s exactly what we are doing these days with capitalism. And worse, when governments fail to pass and enforce sensible legislation and regulations to prevent monopolies and encourage competition, it’s not just the players that tend to get hurt but also us customers.

I could rant on for thousands of words about the folly of letting Google own YouTube, Facebook buy Instagram, or Canada’s charter banks keep prices high and service for shit, but the same terrible trend is coming for the marine business, so let’s focus on that.

(more…)

We just got ripped off. Here’s the story in the hopes that it will save someone else from the same fate.

Some 25 years ago we bought a D8 Espar heater from Mike Bowden owner of Ocean Options of Tiverton, Rhode Island.

And over the years that we owned the McCurdy and Rhodes 56, Eddie, the excellent technician at Ocean Options (since left) maintained the heater for us, and even advised me over the phone on the single occasion it needed repair while cruising.

Given that long relationship, when we decided to install a small Espar heater in our new-to-us J/109, I called Mike and was particularly happy to hear that they had installed the same heater in a sister ship.

Over a couple of weeks I sent Mike photos and measurements so he could quote on everything we needed. The total came out at US$3,207.10, a lot more than we could have bought a kit for right here in Nova Scotia.

But, on the other hand, we needed a bunch of additional stuff to do a good installation that does not come in the kit, and Mike also promised me one of the new S3-version heaters with a brushless motor that are way quieter and also hard to get, or at least that’s what he told me.

And most important of all I felt I owed Mike for his advice—I clearly remember how much it stung when, back in the day, I would advise someone on selecting a computer, only to have them buy it from a discounter.

So I called Mike with a credit card just before Christmas, and he assured me that the whole order would ship in the first week of January.

January came and went, I was super busy, but every so often I would check with Mike and he kept telling me that the problem was that Espar had not shipped due to issues at their end.

Finally, in mid-February, Mike said that since Espar was still having issues, he would send me everything I needed to do all the installation work, and then send the heater, fuel pump, and control panel as soon as it arrived from Espar.

Soon we received a huge box, only to find that Mike had cleaned out his storeroom, dumping all kinds of stuff on me that I did not need and much of it wrong for our boat: wrong fuel fitting, wrong transom exhaust fitting, to name two.

The whole reason for going to Mike was that he said he knew what I needed, and could save me all the agro of sourcing it.

That was when the alarm bells really went off. I called Mike and told him I suspected he was on credit hold with Espar and had used our money for other things. He admitted I was exactly right. He had been lying to me for weeks, saying it was an Espar problem.

But he passionately promised to make it right and that if I just held off for a week he would find the money to pay Espar and ship the heater.

I didn’t believe him and filed a credit card dispute that day. That was six weeks ago and, although I was properly documented and even complimented by the dispute department representative at our bank on the thorough presentation of our case, we have not heard a word from Mastercard nor received a credit.

Given that I’m fairly sure that Ocean Options won’t be able to make Mastercard whole, I have a nasty feeling there may be a “reason” found to deny our claim—what a cynic I am.

And even if Mastercard refund us for the parts we didn’t get, the bank advised me not to claim for all the stuff Mike did send me, even though much of it was wrong, because, since Ocean Options could prove they had sent it, Mastercard would likely use that as an excuse to deny the whole claim.

On that last one, I still think longterm relationships and expert advice are important and worth paying for, and so would do the same again in the same circumstances. I won’t let one rogue turn me into an ungrateful wretch…OK two rogues…both in Rogue Island.

I have been a subscriber to Good Old Boat magazine ever since I had lunch with Mike, the then editor, while attending the 2019 Annapolis Sailboat Show.

I signed up first because I liked Mike and felt that he was a genuine guy who had done real cruising and really wanted to help get other people out there.

That said, I did kid him mercilessly about the magazine encouraging the inexperienced and unsuspecting into years-long bank-account draining refits. He kinda agreed by saying:

Yeah, I’m an enabler.

But, on the other hand, GOB inspired a whole generation to find an old boat that would otherwise end up on the scrap heap, fix it, and get out there sailing and cruising.

And, best of all, the boats they wrote about were simple, small, and mostly wholesome—that was my second reason for paying my annual subscription every year.

I’m guessing that literally thousands of people, who wouldn’t have otherwise, experienced the joy of sailing and cruising thanks to GOB.

There is so much cheap classic plastic out there that it’s now possible to buy a functional 30-foot sailboat for $1500 that will take a couple out for a weekend, and even as far as Catalina Island.

Michael Robertson, then editor of GOB, at lunch

And now it’s over. Another victim of the glib YouTube channels and, I suspect, today’s fixation on having it all, and living large, rather than just getting out there in what we can afford. I’m saddened.

But here’s a bright spot. Good Old Boat went out with class. Instead of just walking away from those who had unused time left on their subscriptions, like most mags that go bust do, they just sent us subscribers a huge 4GB Zip of every single issue of GOB since the beginning in June of 1998.

Worth every penny I have left in my subscription, and then some. The boat reviews alone are gold. I will treasure the archive.

Thanks to Good Old Boat, a class act to the end.

Further Reading

• Here’s a few good old boats (free tips) to get out there in—scroll down for the less expensive boats—some for less than the cost of a couple of lithium batteries.
• Here’s how to own a viable 35-foot family cruiser, including the full cost of ownership for 5 years, for less than the cost of a full-on lithium system with all the bells and whistles.
• And a full-on fast offshore cruiser for less than US$100,000, including the refit.