ocean navigator 177 ocean voyager 2009

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Page 1: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

www.OceanNavigator.com

Issue No. 177$5.99 U.S. $5.99 CanadaDisplay until 12/31/09

Issue No. 177$5.99 U.S. $5.99 CanadaDisplay until 12/31/09

cover_ON177_final 2/26/09 11:30 AM Page 1

Page 2: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

Ralph Naranjo’s cruising and marine industryexperience has spanned decades and ranges from afive-year family voyage around the world to man-aging a full-service boatyard/marina. As theVanderstar Chair at the US Naval Academy, hemonitored the safety and seamanship of the USNA’ssail training program. He is a past chairman of USSailing’s Safety at Sea Committee, and is PracticalSailor’s technical editor. Nordhavn asked Mr.Naranjo to review the N56 M/S, prior to its debutthis summer:

“The Nordhavn 56 Motorsailer is absolutelyfit for off-the-beaten-path cruising,” statesMr. Naranjo. “It is a view of transoceanicvoyaging that embraces technology alongwith the wisdom of sea tested tradition.”

A Closer Look “A close look at the plans and engineeringbehind the new Nordhavn 56 M/S spells outhow a voyager should be put together andwhat it takes to make a motorsailer fit forfar away voyages,” says Mr. Naranjo. “In

short, there’s much to be said for a vesselthat can reach in a fair breeze, sip fuelwhile motor sailing in lighter air, and yethave the power and punch to churn towindward when and if that type of passagemaking becomes desirable.”

Functional Ruggedness“Shunning the growing trend to keep sail-boats as light as possible, and therefore useless material and less expensive equipment,the new Nordhavn 56 M/S takes a differenttack,” says Mr. Naranjo. “Its engineeringand construction are all about a functionalruggedness that only comes with a solidlybuilt boat.”

Equipped for Confidence First rate is the only way to summarize thelengthy list of equipment chosen to outfitthe Nordhavn 56M/S, Mr. Naranjo pointsout. “But equally as important as whatgear has been chosen is the way in which ithas been installed. Finally, it’s hard to beat

the seakindliness of a heavy displacementmotorsailer, and its penchant for caring forthe crew. The Nordhavn 56M/S has takenthat concept one step further by mergingthese attributes with the best technologyavailable today, and building an ocean voy-aging motorsailer that’s absolutely fit forthe task at hand.”

The Expert’s Full ReportA boat that stands up to the scrutiny ofexperts will, no doubt, stand up to thedemands of passagemaking voyagers. Forthe complete text of Ralph Naranjo’s in-depth review and virtual tour of the N56M/S, please visit nordhavn.com and read orsign up for the latest issue of On Watch, theNordhavn newsletter specifically publishedfor N56 M/S fans. Or call Nordhavn todayat (949) 496-4848.www.nordhavn.com

Pacific Asian Enterprises • 34179 Golden Lantern, Suite 101 • Dana Point, CA 92629 949.496.4848 Fax 949.240.2398 www.nordhavn.com

“First rate... solidly built... absolutely fit for off-the-beaten-path cruising.”

- Ralph Naranjo

Plan to see the new Nordhavn 56 M/S in Dana Point, California Call to arrange a private showing.

40II 43 47 52 55 56MS 60 62 64 68 72 75EYF 76 86 120

The Nordhavn 56 Motorsailer:

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Page 3: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:57 PM Page 1

Page 4: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

Annual 2009 — Issue 177 42

6

33

20

30

Cover: The sloop Bahati, on right withwind generator, and another voyag-ing boat lie at anchor off Isla Porvenir,in Panama’s San Blas Islands. See moreabout Bahati’s westward-bound cir-cumnavigation at www.bahati.net.Josh Warren-White photo

2 47

38

BLUEWATER GEARAfter more than a decade of voy-aging, Harry Hungate and JaneLothrop are still going strong 6

Deep discharge, fast rechargeNew battery technology couldchange voyager’s approach to their boat’s DC systemsBy Nigel Calder 11

Windlass wisdomA reliable anchor windlass is a principal asset aboard any serious voyagerBy Ralph Naranjo 20

Installing an HF SSB and aPactor modemTips on how to equip your voyagingvessel with long-range radioBy Harry Hungate 24

OFFSHORE SAFETYSue and Adrian Payne have onlybeen voyaging a short time, butthey’ve long considered safety 30

The unthinkableDealing with a major trauma offshoreBy Jeffrey E. Isaac, PA-C 33

Plenty of weather data – How do you use it?A process for using the extensive weather data available tothe voyagerBy Ken McKinley 38

VOYAGING SKILLSFor voyagers Mark Roye andNancy Krill, the farthest destina-tions require the best skills 42

Cruising crimesWorld girdling voyagers need to keep their wits about them —especially on land By Eric Forsyth 47

Dinghy securityHow to prevent your dinghy from being lost or stolen By Darrel Trueman 52

FIDDLER’S GREENNotable mariners who passedaway in 2008 57

FROM THE TAFFRAILFrom landsman to sailor The transition to full-fledged oceanvoyager can have its speed bumps,but the rewards are greatBy Twain Braden 64

OCEAN ALMANACOffshore safety checklist 9Geographic range table 12GPS compass adjustment 13Radar controls 14AIS explained 16Satellite communications

systems 18Distance, speed & time

formulas 21Set & drift calculations 23Medical resources 36Temperature conversion 39Weatherfax stations and

broadcast schedules 40U.S. Coast Guard HF/MF

weather broadcasts 41Internet links 44Pacific distance table 46Atlantic distance table 462009 races of note 54Logbook 2008:The year in review 57

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:58 PM Page 2

Page 5: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:58 PM Page 3

Page 6: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

4 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

a special issue of Ocean Navigator magazine

■ Editorial ■[email protected]

Tim Queeneyeditor

Kim Nortondesign/production

Susan Sargentproduction assistant

Larissa Dillmancopy editor

John SnyderOcean Almanac editor

Gregory Walshfounding editor

■ Advertising ■[email protected]

Susan W. HadlockWest Coast/International/Canada

Bruce ColeMidwest/Gulf/Florida

Charlie HumphriesEast Coast

Alex Agnewpublisher/advertising director

■ Business/Circulation ■[email protected]

Doreen Parlinbusiness manager

Sarah Grimmcirculation assistant/events coordinator

Michael Paysonfinance

■ Website ■

[email protected]

Alden Robinson

■ Customer Service ■

[email protected]

OCEAN NAVIGATORISSN 1546-4814

This magazine is printed in the United StatesOcean Navigator is published in January, March, May, July, Sep-tember, October and November, with an annual special issue ofOcean Voyager in April, for $27.95 per year by Navigator Publishing LLC, 58 Fore St., Portland, ME 04101.

Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Maine, and additional mail-ing offices.

Postmaster: Please send address changes to Ocean Navigator, P.O.Box 461468, Escondido, CA 92046.

Copyright 2009© by Navigator Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reprinted without written per-mission from the publisher.

Subscription rate is $27.95 for one year (eight issues) in the U.S.and its possessions. Canadian subscription rate is $31.95 U.S.funds. Other foreign surface is $33.95 U.S. funds. Overseas air-mail is $62.95 U.S. funds per year.

Distribution: Newsstand distribution, domestically and interna-tionally: Coast to Coast Newsstand Services LTD., 5230 Finch Ave.East, Suite 1, Toronto, ON M1S 4Z9. Phone (416) 754-3900; fax(416) 754-4900.

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:59 PM Page 4

Page 7: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:59 PM Page 5

Page 8: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

6 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Harry Hungate and JaneLothrop purchased their boatCormorant, a Corbin 39 aft

cockpit cutter, in early 1997, resignedtheir jobs (he, in international sales ofindustrial process control systems andshe, director of upper school at a girls’boarding school) and moved aboardCormorant in July. Their plan wasto “not have a plan” and to “cruise aslong as it is fun.” As Cormorant hadjust completed a world circumnaviga-tion with its previous owners, a major

BluewaterGear

• Deep discharge,fast recharge

• Windlass wisdom

• Installing and commission-ing an HF SSB and an SCSPactor modemIn

Th

is S

ecti

on

After more

than a

decade of

voyaging,

Harry

Hungate

and Jane

Lothrop are

still going

strong

Liveaboard voyagers, Jane

Lothrop andHarry Hungate

check out theview from the

Glass HouseMountains in

Australia.

Harry H

un

gate p

ho

tos

refit was called for. The refit wasdone in Annapolis and it included anew engine, completely new standingand running rigging, lifelines, allpumps, installation of an electricanchor windlass, new dinghy andoutboard motor, and several othersmaller items.

They spent the next two yearssailing around the tip of Florida andacross the Gulf of Mexico toLouisiana, exploring the east coast ofMexico, Belize and Guatemala’s Rio

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 5:59 PM Page 6

Page 9: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

72009 OCEAN VOYAGER

Dulce in the western Caribbean, andthen back up to Florida and down toTrinidad via the “thorny path.” Awatermaker and solar panels wereadded along the way. After severalmonths in the San Blas Islands ofPanama, they transited the PanamaCanal in early 2000. Visits to main-land Ecuador, Galápagos Islands,Marquesas, Tuamotus, SocietyIslands, Palmerston Atoll, Niue,Tonga, and finally New Zealandcompleted their cruising for 2000.

Both are amateur extra class hamradio operators and American RadioRelay League (ARRL) volunteerexaminers. They organized hamexams in Trinidad, Tonga, and NewZealand for fellow cruisers. The nexttwo years were spent in beautifulNew Zealand, improving their boateven more and coastal cruising. In2003 they voyaged to Fiji, Vanuatu,and New Caledonia, before returningto New Zealand to wait out thecyclone season. The entire 2004cruising season was spent in Vanu-atu, the best voyaging grounds so far.Highlights of their voyages have beenthe San Blas Islands, mainlandEcuador as well as the Galápagos,New Zealand, and Vanuatu. Trips toVanuatu in 2004, 2005, and 2006ended with arrival in Sydney, Aus-tralia. In 2007, they sailed from Syd-ney to Singapore with several stops inIndonesia.

Now in their early sixties, they

have encountered a few health prob-lems. Harry had recurring bouts ofvivax malaria in 2004 and 2005,and prostate surgery in Brisbane,Australia, in 2007. Jane had handsurgery in Auckland, New Zealand,to repair arthritis damage. Beginningtheir twelfth year of voyaging, theyare winding up their visit to SoutheastAsia. In 2009, they will cross theIndian Ocean and sail up the RedSea to the eastern Mediterranean.

OV:What is your philosophyregarding voyaging gear?

Do you like to add as many sys-tems as possible or do you prefer tokeep it simple?

HH&JL:Our thinking liessomewhat mid-

range between “all the bells andwhistles” and “bucket and chuckit.” One of our first purchaseswhen we moved aboard Cor-morant in 1997 was an InterphaseProbe forward scanning sonar. Byfar it has been the most reliable(and useful) piece of electronicgear aboard and has saved us fromgroundings several times. It neverfailed in 11 years, but we have justreplaced it because it has had veryhard use and we are preparing forsome major miles this year. So far,we have resisted buying a satellitephone, but do have a quad-bandcell phone for which we can buySIM cards for any country. We

don’t really like telephones,though, and we only use ours tocall family when we are in anaffordable place or to contact busi-nesses if we need supplies.

Four years ago, we somewhatreluctantly purchased a RaymarineC120 multi-function display whenall we really wanted was a goodradar display. We now freely admitto being addicted to the Navionicselectronic charts on the chartplotter function of the C-120 dis-play, although we still insist onhaving paper charts at least forroute planning and harborapproaches. In 2007, we added anAIS receiver which displays on theplotter, and it has been wonderful.It was especially useful in thecrowded and constricted waters ofthe Great Barrier Reef in Australiaand in the waters around Singa-pore and the Malacca Straits. Wehighly recommend the AIS equip-ment for all boats. We have refrig-eration (12-volt Waeco/Adler Bar-bour) and do enjoy our ice cubes.The actual freezer is small, but italso cools a “cold” box and flowsover into a large “refrigerator”which is really a cool box.

Hot and cold pressure waterare also a pleasure to have. Onthe less complex side, we only usethe pressure water to take ashower — usually with the hosein the cockpit.

Otherwise, we have footpumps on both the head and gal-ley sinks. These keep water usage

Left, Cormorant,Hungate andLothrop’s Corbin39, at anchor inSoutheast Asia.Above, Hungateexplores withthe dinghy.

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:00 PM Page 7

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8 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

down and also draw no power. We havea Spectra 180 watermaker which weinstalled in 1998, and it has been achamp. It really does make water just offthe solar panels and wind generator, andwe very rarely run the engine to chargebatteries or make water, even when weare at anchor for weeks. We like makingour own water and not worrying aboutthe safety of shore water in many less-developed parts of the world.

We upgraded our old Aero4Gen windgenerator to the larger Aero6Gen in2005. It is whisper quiet and does notoffend neighbors like another well knownbrand of wind generator. We also havetwo 75-watt solar panels permanentlymounted atop the bimini, and a third 80-watt panel that we tie to the top of thefurled mainsail when at anchor.

OV:How do you decide what spareparts to carry? Has your mix of

spares changed as you have voyagedmore widely?

HH&JL:If a part is criticalenough to stop us or

cause us to put in to port for repairs, weusually carry a spare. We practice com-prehensive maintenance and as a result,unexpected repairs are thankfully infre-quent. We carry most critical spares suchas bilge pumps, float switches, alternatorand spare alternator drive belt, startermotor, sea water cooling pump, spareimpeller for main engine and outboardengine, spare propeller for main engineand outboard, spare anodes, threechanges of oil and fuel filters, engine oiland transmission fluid.

We also carry a complete spare elec-tronic autopilot, VHF radio, LPG pres-sure regulator, fuses, wire, coax andconnectors, etc. We also carry sailrepair material, one spare forestaywhich can replace any of the otherstays, spare furler, spare Norseman fit-tings, cotter pins, etc. Our spares listhasn’t changed much in the 11-plusyears of voyaging except for the sparelaptop computer added a couple ofyears ago. As our engine ages, we willincrease the spares to include a set ofinjectors and coolant hoses.

OV:What types of tools do you carryon the boat? Are you better

equipped for certain types of repairs?

HH&JL:We carry a complete setof mechanic’s hand tools

in both imperial and metric sizes, includ-ing a torque wrench, digital calipers,impeller extractor, compression gauge,refrigeration gauges and refrigerant, vari-ous wood-working tools, battery-powereddrill, drill bits, taps and dies, temperaturecontrolled soldering station, Fluke 73-IIIdigital multimeter, MFJ-259B antennaanalyzer, vinyl and rubber electrical tape,Coax Seal, J-B Weld, silicone grease,polyurethane caulking, etc. We areequipped to repair just about everythingon the boat, including ourselves, with awell-stocked medicine chest.

OV:How much repair work do youattempt yourself? What kinds of

repairs do you think all voyagers shouldbe able to handle?

HH&JL:We prefer to do all ofour repair work our-

selves, with the exception of sailrepairs. A voyager who can repair hisown vessel is a happy voyager. At leastbe able to service your engine and out-board motor, and have a basic under-standing of the DC electical systems.This should get you to a place whereprofessional help is available.

OV:Do you use a wind vane self-steerer or do you rely exclusively

on an electronic autopilot?

HH&JL:We have a Hydrovaneself-steerer which is very

reliable and works quite well. We use itsrudder to assist in maneuvering asternand in close quarters. We also carry atiller pilot which can steer the boat usingthe wind vane rudder. It works well inlight winds when the wind vane wanders,and it does not draw much power. Ourmain Raymarine electronic belowdeckautopilot gets more use each year, how-ever. So far we have been able to econo-mize enough on power drain from othersources to keep using it — and it is easy.

OV:Do you have a watermaker? Howeasy is it to use and maintain?

HH&JL:We installed a Spectra180 reverse osmosis

water maker in 1998, and we cannotimagine voyaging without it. We havehad very few problems with it, and Spec-tra factory support has been superb. It iseasy to use, and provided that it is usedoften or flushed or pickled when notbeing used often, it’s as simple as turningon the inlet valve and turning on thefeed pump. The original membrane still

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2009 OCEAN VOYAGER

1251 E. Wisconsin Ave., Pewaukee, WI 53072, Tel: 262-691-3320Fax: 262-691-3008, Email: [email protected], Web: www.harken.com

Marten 49, Francolini / Azzura Marine Photo

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NAVIGATIONsextantNautical Almanac for

current yearsight-reduction tableschronometerplotting sheetscharts for intended routeship’s logtide tablesLight ListCoast Pilots and cruising guidespilot chartsradio receiver for time and weatherradio frequency listsbinocularsadjusted compasshand-bearing compassdividerscourse plotters and parallel rulescalculatorspeed and distance logdepth sounderGPS and/or loranspotlight

EMERGENCY & SAFETYflaresspotlighthornsmoke flaresradar reflectorsignal mirrorsEPIRBfire extinguishersfirst-aid kitbackup prescription medicationsspare eyeglassessafety harnesseslife jacketsflashlightsknives for each crewbungs for seacockslife ring and/or life slingstorm sailsstorm anchor and rodeparachute sea anchor and/or

drogue

extra chafing gear for linesemergency tiller or

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wind-vane partstools and repair materialsjumper cablesabandon-ship bagemergency food and waterlife raft

COMMUNICATIONSVHF radioemergency procedures card

near radioemergency contact informationhand-held VHF radiowaterproof case for hand-heldemergency antenna for VHFhornbellwhistles for crewradio frequency lists

OPTIONALsight-reduction calculatorRadio Direction Finderelectronic chartplotter or

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chargingemergency generatorwatermaker for life raft

Offshore safety checklistThe following lists contain items that most well-found cruising boats have on

board for extended voyages. Items not considered essential are included in the

Optional list.

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:00 PM Page 9

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10 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

meets full performance specifications. Wejust had the Clark pump rebuilt at theSpectra factory in California. The pumpstill worked very well, but after 11 yearsand facing a 4,000-mile trip to the Med,we just didn’t want to press our luck.

OV:How extensively do you use acomputer for navigation, and

for keeping track of supplies andspare parts?

HH&JL:We use the computerfor route planning and

then transfer the waypoints to our Ray-marine C-120 chart plotter. Jane keepsinventories of food, medical supplies,spares, etc. on the computer, but uses apaper copy of the food inventory in thegalley to record consumption. Since wedo not keep our computer on all thetime, it makes more sense just to use“hash marks” on a paper inventory.

OV:What kind of communicationsgear do you use when voyaging?

HH&JL:We are both extra classhams (Harry is

N1UDE/ZL1HAH and Jane isAB0T/ZL1JRL). Two years ago weinstalled the Icom IC-M802 single sideband transceiver which can operate onham frequencies and the marine singleside band frequencies. We have an SCSPactor III modem and run SailMail andAirmail on our laptop computer. Weuse e-mail every day, both to communi-cate with friends and family and also toget weather information. GRIB filesgive wind and pressure forecasts andhave practically replaced the oldreliance on weather faxes sent on setschedules by shore stations. We oftenparticipate in nets and we also post ourposition on Yotreps.

We maintain a listening watch onVHF Channel 16 while at sea. We alsocarry marine and ham VHF handheldradios. Last year we purchased two per-sonal radios for use when docking oranchoring. They are full duplex, whichmeans that they operate hands-off —no need to press a transmit switch. We

have an ACR 406-MHz EPIRB andalso carry a Class B (121.5/243-MHz)EPIRB in our life raft.

OV:What new gear do you planto purchase for your boat

and why?

HH&JL:We have no immediateplans to add any gear.

Most of our purchases in recent yearshave been replacements of existinggear. Now that the Class B AIStransponders have been FCC-approved,we might purchase one in 2009, but itis a low priority. We are very happywith what we have, but maintaining itall takes all the time we have to devoteto that chore. It’s important to allowtime to just kick back and enjoy thevoyaging lifestyle. Some people get soinvolved in adding new systems, chang-ing old ones, and making lists of boatchores that they never leave the yard.Our advice is to learn all you can aboutwhat you have, be able to fix it or dowithout it, and go. ■

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:01 PM Page 10

Page 13: Ocean Navigator 177 Ocean Voyager 2009

11

For the past 30 years, lead-acid batteries have beenthe principal limiting factor

in designing a high capacityDC system for a boat. Overthese years, we have seen anumber of technologies thatcould potentially circumventthe lead-acid roadblock —NiCads, Nickel Metal Hydride,Lithium-ion, fuel cells — butnone has had sufficient lifeexpectancy at the kind of pricethat is necessary to become aviable everyday product.

The hybrid and electric vehi-cle industries have been stum-bling over the same obstacle,but unlike the recreationalboating industry, they have hadthe money to do somethingabout it. Now new high per-formance products that look tobe affordable are being releasedinto the marketplace. We mayfinally be on the cusp of a revo-lution in DC systems perform-ance and design.

Enter thin plate pure lead

BluewaterGear

(TPPL) technology. This hasbeen brought to the market-place under the Odyssey brandname by EnerSys, successor ofGates Energy, the original devel-oper of absorbed glass mat(AGM) batteries.

TPPL batteries are a variantof AGM technology. But where-as AGM batteries (and all otherconventional lead-acid batter-ies) have cast lead plate grids,which conduct current into andout of the battery, and intowhich the active material of abattery is pasted, the TPPL bat-teries have plates stamped outof a roll of pure lead.

In order to make cast platesstrong enough to withstand thephysical stresses in a batteryover time, and to resist acidcorrosion at higher states ofcharge (from the sulfuric acid inthe electrolyte, which increasesin concentration as the state ofcharge rises), the plates must berelatively thick (a typical AGMplate is 2 to 4-mm thick) and

Deep discharge, fast rechargeNew battery

technology

could

change

voyager’s

approach to

their boat’s

DC systems

Story andphotos by Nigel Calder

Above left, voyagers appreciate long-lived batteries bothbecause they are easier on thewallet and on the back. A 144-volt hybrid bat-tery pack beinginstalled onCalder’s boatNada.

must contain additives, such ascalcium or antimony, tostrengthen the lead. The thick-er a plate, the longer it takesfor current to percolate intoand out of inner plate areasduring charges and discharges,while the alloying of the lead inthe plate grids results in a cer-tain amount of internal resist-

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Bluewater Gear

ance that translates to heat underhigh recharge and discharge rates. Ifthis heat exceeds a certain threshold,battery plates buckle and short cir-cuit, and other damage occurs. Inother words, the relatively thick,high-resistance plates limit dischargeand recharge rates, while the heatgenerated is indicative of significantenergy losses (over a fulldischarge/recharge cycle, these can beas high as 30 percent).

The TPPL plates are stamped outof a 1-mm thick roll of 99.99 percentpure lead with a very low internalresistance. The rolling process, I amtold, changes the grain structure ofthe lead at a microscopic level suchthat it is highly resistant to acid corro-sion, making it possible to have muchthinner-than-normal plates. The com-bination of ultra thin, densely-packedplates with low resistance greatlyreduces the time it takes for currentto percolate into and out of innerplate areas while also greatly reducingthe heating effect. As a result, thebatteries will support much higher dis-charge and recharge rates than con-ventional batteries with lower losses.In particular, the recharge rates aretruly astonishing — at a 50 percentstate of charge, I have verified thatthese batteries can be charged at arate of up to six times their ratedcapacity, as opposed to 40 percent ofrated capacity with conventionalAGM technology: that’s a rechargerate up to 15 times higher than wehave been used to!

High recharge rates can be sus-tained up to much higher states ofcharge, radically reducing the time ittakes to get to a full charge. EnerSyshas a graph showing that with an ini-tial charge rate of three times a bat-tery’s rated capacity, from a fully dis-charged state these batteries can be100 percent charged in 30 minutes.Testing what the factory and I havedone verifies that the charge accept-ance rate (CAR) at a 90 percent stateof charge is around 30 percent (onceagain, much higher than conventionallead-acid batteries).

Preliminary testing also suggeststhat these batteries will have a highercycle life at deep discharge levels

than conventional AGM batteries.However, as with any lead-acid bat-tery, cycle life is still a function ofdepth of discharge, so this gives theDC systems designer a choice ofdeeper discharges with the same cyclelife as previously, or similar dischargeswith greater cycle life.

Ceramic and foamThe Odyssey batteries represent arefinement of existing AGM technolo-gy. A more radical adaptation of AGMtechnology, using something known asbi-polar porous lead-infiltrated ceram-ic (LIC) plates, is slated to hit themarketplace in mid 2009. The drivingforce has come from Volvo and aSwedish battery company (GyllingOptima Batteries). The resulting Eff-power batteries (www.effpower.com)are being produced in 24-volt and150-volt variants. They are reputed tohave similar performance to nickelmetal hydride (fast discharge andrecharge rates and long cycle life) atone fifth the cost. The focus is onhybrid cars, but there may be a usefulspin-off in the boat world.

Then there are companies such asFirefly Energy (www.fireflyenergy.com).Firefly emerged from a search byCaterpillar for better battery technolo-gy for its earth-moving equipment.Firefly has developed a process thatreplaces the lead plate grid in a con-ventional battery’s negative plate witha lightweight conductive carbon-graphite foam (in the first generationbatteries, the positive plate is a con-

Thin plate pure lead (TPPL) batteries use a lowresistance perforated lead sheet , allowing fastdischarge and rapid recharge. Above, the sheetlead comes out of the perforating machine and isrolled onto a spool.

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

The following table gives the approximate geo-graphic range of visibility for an object that may beseen by an observer at sea level. It also providesthe approximate distance to the visible horizon forvarious heights of eye.To determine the geographicrange of an object, you must add the range for theobserver’s height of eye and the range for theobject’s height. For instance, if the object seen is65 feet, and the observer’s height of eye is 35 feetabove sea level, then the object will be visible at adistance of no more than 16.3 miles:

Height of eye: 35 feet Range = 6.9 nm

Object height: 65 feet Range = 9.4 nm

Computed geographic range =16.3 nm

The standard formula is d = 1.17 x square rootof H + 1.17 x square root of h, where d = visibledistance, H = height of the object, and h =height of eye of the observer.

HEIGHT DISTANCEFeet Meters nm5 1.5 2.610 3.0 3.715 4.6 4.520 6.1 5.225 7.6 5.930 9.1 6.435 10.7 6.940 12.2 7.445 13.7 7.850 15.2 8.355 16.8 8.760 18.3 9.165 19.8 9.470 21.3 9.875 22.9 10.180 24.4 10.585 25.9 10.890 27.4 11.195 29.0 11.4100 30.5 11.7110 33.5 12.3120 36.6 12.8130 39.6 13.3140 42.7 13.8150 45.7 14.3200 61.0 16.5250 76.2 18.5300 91.4 20.3350 106.7 21.9400 121.9 23.4450 137.2 24.8500 152.4 26.2550 167.6 27.4600 182.9 28.7650 198.1 29.8700 213.4 31.0800 243.8 33.1900 274.3 35.11000 304.8 37.0

Source: Defense Mapping Agency, The American PracticalNavigator (Bowditch); U.S. Coast Guard, Light List.

Geographic range table

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132009 OCEAN VOYAGER

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PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

The following method is useful

for quick compass adjustments.

The services of a professional

compass adjuster should be

secured to obtain the best

accuracy.

On a calm day in an area

with no current, proceed to an

area with several miles of

maneuvering room. For best

accuracy, use a GPS unit receiv-

ing corrections from a DGPS

receiver. If you are not using

DGPS, each course segment

should be at least several miles

long to minimize bearing errors.

In any case, the longer the runs

between waypoints, the greater

the accuracy of the GPS bear-

ings. An autopilot can be used to

minimize steering errors.

GPS bearings are very accu-

rate, especially at distances

greater than two miles. However,

don’t use the course-made-good

display to correct your compass.

The course made good is calcu-

lated based on rapid changes in

position measured every second

or two, making it much less

accurate than a calculated bear-

ing to a distant waypoint.

Head to the center of an

open body of water. Record a

GPS waypoint (#1), then proceed

on a course of 090, as measured

on the main steering compass,

for at least one mile when using

DGPS (more than two miles

without DGPS). Record a GPS

waypoint (#2). Now note the

GPS bearing to the first waypoint

saved. It should be close to the

reciprocal of 090, or around

270. While holding your steady

easterly course, take half the dif-

ference between the GPS bear-

ing and 270, and turn the

east/west adjusting screw on the

compass to eliminate this

amount of error. Half the error is

corrected for on each run since it

is assumed the errors on recipro-

cal courses will be about equal

to each other.

Turn the boat around in a

tight circle and steer a compass

course of 270 back to the vicini-

ty of waypoint #1. Note the GPS

bearing to waypoint #2, which

should be close to 090. Again,

correct for half the difference

between 090 and the bearing to

waypoint #2. Follow the same

procedure for courses at 000

and 180.

Always compensate for half

the error. Once you have done all

the cardinal points, the compass

should be about as close to com-

pensated as it’s going to get.

However, it is a good idea to run

through the procedure again to

measure what the remaining

deviation is. A card can be creat-

ed noting the deviation on vari-

ous headings. At a minimum, it’s

good to record deviations at

000, 045, 090, 135, 180, 225,

270 and 315. A compass

adjuster would probably measure

the deviation every 15°.

If errors of more than 3°

remain on any heading, you

should contact a professional

compass adjuster. Unusual devia-

tions are found due to the prox-

imity of magnetic material,

including eyeglass frames, radios,

winch handles, large piles of

anchor chain under the floor-

boards, etc. Every effort should

be made to keep such items well

away from the compass.

GPS compass adjustment

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ventional plate). The active materialin the battery, in the form of a pasteor slurry, is contained in the foam.

The cellular structure of the foamresults in a much greater utilization ofthe active material (Firefly claims it isup from 20-50 percent utilization in aconventional battery to 70-90 percentutilization), with higher discharge andrecharge rates than with a conven-tional battery (largely because the dif-fusion path for the electrolyte fromnegative to positive material isreduced from the millimeters found inconventional batteries to microns).The discharge/recharge losses arelower than in a conventional battery,with less heating effects. The carbon-graphite matrix pretty much elimi-nates sulfation while also substantiallyreducing the weight of a battery.

Firefly released a prototype 107amp-hour (Ah) (at the C20 rate)Group 31 Oasis battery in late 2008.The battery is slated to be in produc-tion by the end of 2009. According tothe specifications sheet, it can becharged at up to 300 amps, and canbe fully recharged in an hour. It has areported cycle life of 800 cycles to 80percent depth of discharge, and 700cycles to 100 percent depth of dis-charge. Firefly is working on a secondgeneration battery in which the con-ventional positive plate grids will alsobe replaced with carbon-graphite foamgrids, resulting in additional perform-ance improvements.

The Advanced Lead Acid BatteryConsortium (ALABC — a worldwideresearch and development alliance ofAGM battery manufacturers thatincludes Effpower) is another entityfocusing on modified plate griddesigns that will deliver high-rate dis-charges and recharges with minimalsulfation even if a battery is operatedin a partial state of charge.

Cell balancing and safetyAt the present time, for truly astonish-ing performance we still have to lookoutside the realm of lead-acid batteries,and in particular at lithium-ion. Lithi-um-ion results in energy densities, andenergy delivery rates (power densities),that are several times higher than those

COMMUNICATIONSOCEAN ALMANAC

Radar controlsMany of the following imaging

controls are automated on mod-

ern radar sets, but it is still useful

to understand how they work for

those times when the automa-

tion needs adjustment or you

ship out with an older set.

Tuning This control adjusts

the radar receiver to match exact-

ly the frequencies of the signals

being transmitted. The normal

routine is to turn rain and sea

clutter off, reduce gain and adjust

tune for a known target. This is

generally done only when starting

the set and is now fully automat-

ed on some machines.

Gain This adjusts the sensi-

tivity of the entire screen. If the

gain is too high, the entire

screen will be covered with noise

return. If the gain is too low,

radar returns won’t show up on

the screen at all. Generally, the

gain should be set so there is a

very faint bit of clutter showing.

Gain often has to be lowered

when switching from longer to

shorter ranges.

Rain clutter, or fast time

constant (FTC). This control helps

remove weak returns from

longer ranges, usually caused by

rain or snow. These weak returns

can obscure the stronger return

from a ship or landmass. The

higher the setting, the stronger

the return that is eliminated, so

it is sometimes prudent to adjust

the control frequently during

squally weather. When the rain

ends, turn it off. Note that some

units have both a rain control for

close-in rain and snow, and FTC

for farther-away precipitation.

Sea clutter, or sensitivity

time control (STC). This lowers

gain for nearby targets, thus

reducing the clutter of echoes

generated by wave tops. Like

rain clutter, it can hide real

targets and should be adjust-

ed carefully and shut off when

not needed.

There are numerous other

radar controls you should under-

stand, and they often have asso-

ciated acronyms to simplify

screen displays.

Range is the most basic

control, determining the distance

covered by the bird’s-eye radar

display, sometimes called the PPI

(plan position indicator). If the

range is set to one mile, the dis-

tance from the center of the

scope to the edge is one mile.

Shorter ranges usually offer high-

er resolution, meaning smaller

targets can be identified closer to

the boat; however, longer ranges

are often useful for navigation

and spotting large ships at a safe

distance. Consequently, operators

often change ranges frequently.

Traditionally, a navigator

compares the radar image to the

active chart to determine which

targets are fixed and to corrobo-

rate the DR. Range rings help

with the cross referencing, and

EBLs (electronic bearing lines),

VRMs (variable range markers)

and/or a screen cursor can be

used to plot identified land fea-

tures or aids to navigation rela-

tive to the vessel or vice versa.

EBLs and VRMs are also

useful for plotting moving tar-

gets. Plotted on a paper

maneuvering board, you

can determine how close the

other vessel will get, termed the

closest point of approach (CPA),

and when, the T (time) CPA.

With a little vector work on the

board, you can calculate the

other vessel’s true speed and

course, sometimes important to

understanding the Rules of the

Road situation and to making

wise course or speed changes.

There are several modern

aids to target tracking. One is

tracks, or wakes, which is

simply the ability of the display to

keep showing old target echoes,

usually in a lighter shade or dif-

ferent color. The result is that

fixed targets show straight-back

tracks (actually plotting your

motion), while moving targets

show tracks that are the vector

sum of your motion and theirs,

aka relative motion.

Radar sets integrated with

heading and speed instruments

can often perform MARPA (mini

automatic radar plotting aid),

able to lock onto user-selected

targets and show each one’s true

or relative forward-motion track

and a data window with CPA,

TCPA, true speed and true course.

Nowadays, many vessels also

have some level of integration

between radar and chart plotter.

Waypoints may appear on the

radar screen as lollipops and/or

radar cursor position may appear

on the plotter as a TLL (target

latitude/longitude).

There are other radar func-

tions that an operator should

learn, like IR (interference rejec-

tion), which is the ability of a

receiver to reject the distinctive

swirly jamming caused by another

radar unit sweeping in its vicinity.

Some users leave this off to help

warn them of an active vessel. IR

and other clutter filters can some-

times mask racons (special aids

to navigation that electronically

respond to a radar echo).

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152009 OCEAN VOYAGER

of lead-acid. It does this at a fraction ofthe weight. Whereas a conventionallead-acid battery has discharge/rechargelosses of around 30 percent (theOdyssey, Effpower and Firefly technolo-gies are significantly below this), lithi-um-ion is close to zero percent, andwhereas lead-acid has a CAR thattapers down to minimal levels as a bat-tery comes to charge, lithium-ionaccepts a very high charge rate toalmost a 100 percent state of charge.Lithium-ion is an immensely attractivetechnology which has long since caughtthe eye of hybrid automotive develop-ers. Unfortunately, it’s also hard to han-dle in the real world, and comes withan exotic price tag, which is why wehave not yet seen any significant imple-mentation in high-powered applications(it is, of course, commonplace in lower-powered applications such as laptops,cell phones, and portable electricaltools).

In the laboratory, almost all lithiumbatteries have terrific cycling capabili-ties — most can be discharged by 80percent of rated capacity andrecharged 2,000 times with little lossof capacity — but it’s not so easy toachieve these performance levels inreal life. It requires cell balancing,which is a form of computer-con-trolled charging and discharging at theindividual cell level (as opposed to atthe battery level, or battery banklevel, as with other technologies).

To create the kind of powerful bat-teries needed in hybrid applications,you need large capacity cells. Someare now advertised at up to 200-Ah.Typically lithium batteries can becharged and discharged at a rate equalto, or greater than, the cell capacity— i.e. 200 amps or higher in the caseof a 200-Ah cell. With individual cellbalancing, we now need computer-controlled charging and discharging

An Odyssey PC2250 with its top cut off. Eventhough the battery is on its side, no acid spills out– it is all contained in the plate separators betweeneach of the plates. The battery is composed of sixindividual cells, divided by plastic walls. Each cellhas a two lead straps welded to alternate plates toform the positive and negative terminals. Theseare then connected in series through the plasticcell walls to form a 12-volt battery.

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16 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

train, thus protecting the batteriesfrom short-term cycling. Anotherapplication is to continue to absorbhigh charging currents when the CARof a battery begins to taper down (thiswill keep any charging device wellloaded, minimizing engine run times),and to then slowly discharge this cur-rent into a battery once the chargingdevice has been turned off.

There’s a good deal of experimen-tation going on in the supercapacitorfield, with some promising results.Batteries are being constructed withsupercapcitors built into the batteryterminal posts. Maybe not in 2009,but quite soon we may see thesedevices filtering down to practicalapplications in the boat world.

The practical implicationsWhat are the implications of thesenew technologies? First off, if batterieswill support a deeper level of dis-charge, and/or can be more fullyrecharged on a regular basis, as com-pared to conventional batteries, thenfor a given level of performance thebattery bank can be down-sized, orelse for a given size of battery bank,performance can be enhanced.

However, as useful as this is, thismay not be the principal benefit ofthese batteries. From a design andperformance perspective, the singlebiggest impact may well come fromthe enhanced CAR. The limitingfactor in a DC system will now bethe charging current that can be

explosively catch fire. You can bangnails into others without mucheffect. Many lithium-ion batterieswill also catch fire if overcharged.Others will not.

The rush to marketJust in the past few months aloneseveral major battery companies (e.g.,Saft and Ener1) have announcedlithium developments in the hybridfield, including setting up factoriesfor the production of large-scale,cell-balanced, lithium battery packswith deliveries slated to begin in2009. One of the more interestingdevelopments is the Arc Lite batteryfrom EnergyTech Marine(www.energytechmarine.com).

In November 2008, Mastervolt(www.mastervolt.com) beat everyoneinto the marine marketplace by releas-ing a cell-balanced, 24-volt, 160 -Ahbattery at the Marine EquipmentTrade Show in Amsterdam.

We really do seem to be on thecusp of having viable high-capacitylithium batteries, although the price isstill shocking.

SupercapacitorsEven a lithium battery cannot beindefinitely deeply cycled. Supercapi-tors (ultracapacitors) have the poten-tial to greatly reduce cycling.

A supercapacitor is a device thatcan absorb limited amounts of energyat very high power levels, and thenrapidly discharge this energy back intothe system, with very little loss alongthe way. It can do this hundreds ofthousands, and sometimes millions, oftimes without damage. However, if leftin a charged state, it has, relative tobattery technologies, a high self-dis-charge rate, so it is not suitable as astorage device for anything other thanshort periods of time.

It has been recognized for sometime that the characteristics of super-capacitors perfectly complement thoseof batteries in applications whererapid cycling of batteries would other-wise take place. For example, inhybrid cars supercapacitors can absorbthe high energy spikes created bybraking events, and then immediatelydeliver this energy back to the drive

The plate stack from a single cell in a PC2250 battery. The heavy lead straps on top of theplates are welded to alternate plates which thenbecome negative and positive during the formation process. In between the plates arefiberglass mats that hold the electrolyte.

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

AIS is a shipboard broadcast system that functionslike a transponder operating in the VHF maritimeband. Its primary function aboard an AIS-equippedship is vessel identification and collision avoidance.With AIS, every ship within radio range can be iden-tified for communication purposes (including vesselname, classification, call sign and registration num-ber) and for maneuvering information, such ascourse and speed, closest point of approach (CPA)and time to closest point of approach (TCPA). Whenintegrating AIS with radar, a navigator can nowplot the target vessel’s course, speed and rate turn,along with an identity profile of the ship, simplify-ing bridge-to-bridge communications.

U.S. Coast Guard AIS Carriage RequirementsSelf-propelled vessels of 65 feet or more in length,other than passenger and fishing vessels, in com-mercial service and on an international voyage;

Passenger vessels of 150 gross tons or more;Vessels other than passenger vessels or tankers

of 50,000 gross tons or more; andVessels other than passenger vessels or tankers

of 300 gross tons or more but less than 50,000gross tons.

International Maritime Organiza-tion AIS Carriage RequirementsAll vessels of 300 gross tons and upwardsengaged in international voyages, cargo ships of500 gross tons and upwards not engaged in inter-national voyages, and all passenger ships irrespec-tive of size.

Automatic Identification System (AIS)

for each cell at 200-plus amps. In effect, you need an individual

200-amp battery charger on each cell,but have you ever seen a 200-ampcharger, and if so, how big was it? Nowconsider putting one on a car or boatfor each cell in a battery. It’s a daunt-ing prospect. The problem with creat-ing large-scale lithium batteries is notso much finding suitable cells as it isfiguring out how to charge them.

Then there’s the safety issue. Ifyou hammer on, or pierce, the case ofmany lithium-ion batteries, they

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172009 OCEAN VOYAGER

supplied to the batteries and not thebatteries themselves.

Take my last boat, with a 450-Ah,24-volt AGM battery bank. With dis-charges limited to 50 percent ofcapacity, and the CAR being a maxi-mum of 40 percent of rated batterycapacity at a 50 percent level of dis-charge, the maximum CAR was 450 x0.4 = 180 amps at 24 volts (which is4.5-kW). I had a 180-amp, 24-voltalternator on the main engine, and a220-amp, 24-volt auxiliary generator,which was never fully loaded. After afew minutes charging, the CAR wouldtaper down to 100 amps or less andcontinue falling.

I replaced these batteries withOdyssey batteries on the new boat.Let’s say the batteries will truly sup-port a 600 percent charge rate at a 50percent state of charge. This trans-lates to 450 x 6 = 2,700 amps at 24volts, which is a staggering 65-kW! Ifthe CAR is a more modest 300 per-cent, I’ll still want a 1,350-amp charg-ing device at 24-volts (33.5-kW). Inpractice, I have a 22-kW generator onthe boat (for my hybrid propulsionsystem), which gets driven to continu-ous full output. In 20 minutes, I canput enough energy into the batteriesto keep the boat going at anchor for24 hours, including running my laptopall day.

On most boats, it won’t be possi-ble to establish the kind of chargingcapability that I have on my boat.What is going to happen is thatwhatever charging capability there iswill be driven to continuous full out-put by these batteries for extendedperiods of time, stressing the chargingdevices and their associated voltageregulators to the maximum. As highcharge rate batteries find their wayonto boats, I suspect we are going tosee a rash of burned out chargingdevices until we figure out how toproperly integrate the batteries intothe system (the Odyssey peoplereport they are beginning to see thefirst burned out alternators).

Hybrid boatsThe new battery technologies havespecial relevance in the realm ofhybrid boats. At present, I have a

conventional inboard diesel engineon my boat with an auxiliary diesel-electric system in parallel so that Ican collect hard numbers on relativefuel efficiencies. In order to get rea-sonable diesel-electric performance inadverse conditions, I have a 16-kW(21-hp) electric propulsion motor.The 22-kW (continuously rated)

diesel generator for this system is thedefault generator for battery chargingand house loads at anchor. Its mostefficient operating point (its ‘sweet’spot) is at 16-kW.

Because of the low CAR of con-ventional batteries, most generatorsare very lightly loaded when chargingbatteries, making it extremely ineffi-

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:04 PM Page 17

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18 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

Relative costsCurrently, there is no pricing informa-tion on the Effpower and Firefly bat-teries. The Odyssey TPPL batterieshave been available for a year or two.

I have done some Internet searchesfor conventional AGM batteries andOdyssey batteries. I have found thatthe Odyssey batteries are typically 25to 30 percent more expensive thenwhat is already a relatively expensivetechnology (AGM batteries tend tocost more than other conventionalbatteries). Is it worth paying this kindof a premium?

If the Odyssey batteries have alonger life expectancy for similar per-formance, then the numbers immedi-ately pencil out. Similarly, it may bepossible to trade off enhanced per-formance, resulting, for example, in adown-sized battery bank, against theextra per-battery cost. The other

major cost issue that should be lookedat, but which is rarely considered, isthe real cost of charging batteries.

Let’s say I have a 50-hp inboarddiesel that I run for an hour a day atanchor to charge my batteries. Thelife expectancy of this engine is some-where between 5,000 and 10,000hours. The all-up replacement costwill be somewhere between $15,000and $25,000. The capital cost perhour of running time (i.e., excludingfuel and maintenance) is thereforebetween $1.50 and $5.00 an hour – agood ballpark figure is $3.00 an hour.Fuel and maintenance costs will addanother dollar or so, depending onfuel prices (in the summer of 2008 —and at any time in Europe — it wouldhave been $2).

If the Odyssey batteries, or someother new technology, cut engine run-ning hours for battery charging in half

COMMUNICATIONS

Satellite communications systems

cient. High CAR batteries transformthis picture. The batteries soak upwhatever charging current is thrownat them up to a high state of charge.Given a sufficiently sophisticatedcontrol system (this is still underdevelopment), the generator canalways be loaded at its sweet spot,which is not only fuel efficient butalso greatly reduces generator run-ning hours, with a concomitantreduction in maintenance. The neteffect will be a lowered fuel andmaintenance bill, with the cost of thegenerator amortized over a longertime span.

The pieces all fit together rathernicely so long as the batteries willtolerate this kind of use with a lifeexpectancy that is at least as great asconventional batteries. At the pres-ent time, this is one of the bigunknowns that I intend to explore.

OCEAN ALMANAC

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(which is easy to project – in manyapplications, the savings could bemuch greater), there will be a consid-erable saving that can be set againstthe added cost of the batteries. Thiswill vary from application to applica-tion according to boat use. Manytimes, it will make the batteries lookpositively cheap.

So far as lithium is concerned, theonly suitable battery currently avail-able is the Mastervolt battery. It ispriced around $4,000! Given that it isa 24-volt battery with a 160-Ahcapacity, its capacity is 24 x 160 =3,840 watt-hours (Wh), so the cost isapproximately $1 per Wh, as com-pared to, for example, high end AGMbatteries at $0.20 per Wh (based onan 8D battery with a 225-Ah capacityat 12 volts and a $550 price tag).

This would seem to be an insur-mountable price differential, but infact if you do an analysis of theamount of energy the Mastervolt bat-tery can deliver over its lifetime, andthe cost of putting that energy into it(i.e. recharging costs) in many appli-cations, even at this price, its lifetimecost will be less than that of theAGM, while its performance willalways be superior. Of course, this pre-supposes that it will live up to its pro-jected life cycles in the real world,which is something we don’t yet know.

Costs for lithium are predicted tocome down to $0.50 per Wh, and per-haps even $0.30 per Wh, over thenext few years, at which point thetechnology should be extremely com-petitive for high-end boats withdemanding DC applications.

Entering a new eraI’m always reluctant to predict radi-cal breakthroughs in technology. Infact, until recently I have bemoanedhow little things have fundamentallychanged in the past 30 years withrespect to boat electrical systems. Butif these new battery technologies panout as I think they will, and if theyare coupled to the new digital switch-ing and power distribution systems. Ibelieve it’s fair to say we are on thecusp of the most radical change inDC systems design that we have seenin a generation. ■

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20 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

BluewaterGear

The best of offshore voyagingsailboats benefit from a set ofintertwined design priorities

that are linked to the job at hand.Structural integrity and opera-tional reliability are two of themore important factors, and theyapply to a wide range of attributesfrom hull scantlings to the fittingout process itself. The old adage“one size fits all” is best set aside,especially when it comes to addinggear such as the right anchorwindlass aboard a long range cruis-er. The growing trend towardinstalling look-alike hardwareaboard both weekenders and long-distance voyaging boats defies the“job at hand” rule. Their anchorwindlasses should be as different asa hatchet and an ax.

Choosing the right windlass isa bit like engineering the hull lam-inate itself, both should be basedupon load calculations that simu-late the conditions the vessel islikely to encounter. Increasedexposure to wind and sea, both

A reliable

anchor

windlass is a

principal

asset aboard

any serious

voyager

Story and photos by

Ralph Naranjo

under way and at anchor, justifiesboth a stronger hull and ananchor windlass upgrade. Groundtackle and anchor windlass canbecome a voyager’s first line ofdefense when conditions deterio-rate and a marginal anchorageturns untenable.

Unfortunately, lighter anchors,less chain and smaller windlasseshave become something of atrend. For day sailors and week-end cruisers it may be an appro-priate fad, but for those bound forremote landfalls, the anchor wind-lass takes on a whole new level ofimportance. And for those in themarket for an upgrade, a mindsetbased upon operational reliabilityand power to spare needs toreplace bargain hunting.

The voyager’s anchor windlassis like a mainsail that must also dodouble duty as a storm trysail. Itneeds to be designed to handlethe worst of conditions and alsotake day-to-day use in stride.Attributes such as a larger diame-ter chain gypsy, a clutch releaserather than sole reliance on thepower down option, and a reduc-tion gear design that will stand upto the test of time rank as highpriorities. The compromise of athimbleless rope-to-chain splicerode and a small compact wind-lass is not the right option forthose headed off on a lengthyvoyage. Skimping on a windlasspurchase is lot like saving moneyby re-rigging with smaller diame-ter wire. In the worst conditions,

the true value of the right anchorand ground tackle handling gearcan be equal to the value of thevessel itself.

Picking the right windlassThe tough question, is whatmakes some windlasses betterthan others, and the best way toanswer it is by tallying up thetasks that must be handled, andthe actual loads encountered.One popular boating catalogadvises that a windlass should beused only to lift the weight of thechain and anchor, correctly point-ing out that the vessel’s engineshould be engaged to lessen thetension on the rode and providethrust to break the anchor free.Consequently, the resulting loadswill be the sum of the anchorweight and the amount of chainsuspended. The effect of buoyancyeven helps by reducing the weightof steel and iron when they areimmersed in water. So on firstglance, it sounds perfectly reason-able for a vessel with a 50 poundanchor and 250 pounds of chainto be equipped with a 500-poundcapacity windlass. Unfortunately,the marine realm is all aboutdynamic influences that defy stat-ic calculations, and a real worldlook at anchor retrieval paints adifferent picture.

Let’s tweak the entering argu-ment with a wind shift and amodest 2-foot chop, gusts to 30knots are linked to an unantici-pated line of thunderstorms, and

Windlass wisdom

Top, whetherelectric,

hydraulic, ormanual, a

windlass needsto be sized for

the job. A morepowerful unit

beats an underpoweredwindlass whenconditions getrough. Right,

a powerful horizontal

capstan unit witha manual brake.

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212009 OCEAN VOYAGER

tranquility has turned into a mid-dle of the night tempest. The newloads associated with the windgusts and pitching bow signifi-cantly skew the calculations men-tioned above, placing increasedtension on the ground tackle andwindlass. Even with intentions ofusing the vessel’s propulsion sys-tem to “unload” the energyimposed by the rode, yawing,heaving and surging put immensenew forces into play. Add to thisthe timing and need to quicklyrecover the ground tackle inorder to head for a safer anchor-age, and the reasoning why long-term voyagers opt for heavy dutyanchor windlasses is clear. Tensionspikes of two or three times thecalculated weight of the groundtackle is a regular occurrence, andundersized hardware will havetrouble with the surging loads.

The energy developedbetween the moving vessel andthe fixed sea bed is transferredfrom the chain rode to the boatvia a chain gypsy, and the smallerits diameter the fewer links thatare engaged in the process. Small-er units are usually also equippedwith a smaller shaft diameter anda housing base with less surfacearea, features that negatively

A vertical capstan unitoccupies lessdeck space thana horizontal capstan windlass. Above, some are equippedwith a drum for handling roperodes and some,below, are set upfor chain only.

influence load transfer. In short,deep sea fishing reels are muchlarger than those used on thepoles of fishermen out to catchflounders. The trend towardminiaturizing anchor windlassesmay make sense for the casualsailor, but it’s the wrong choice forthe voyager. Ideal Windlass Co.owner Cliffe Raymond, refers tothe current market trend as aprice point driven development,not the evolution of better tech-nology. He continues to hold that,“when it comes to handling seri-ous ground tackle, size counts.”

Power to spareThe golden rule of windlass selec-tion says that it’s important topick a unit with power to spare.The reasoning stems from anengineering 101 theory — a unitoperated well under its safe work-ing load rating is likely to outlast aunit repeatedly stressed to its maxload. One voyager I knew keptblowing his anchor windlass’sbreaker and remedied the prob-lem by installing a 50 percenthigher rated breaker. He neverblew the breaker again, but hesoon melted the windings in theundersized anchor windlass motor,and wisely replaced the unit witha larger rendition of the same typeof windlass.

The vertical versus horizontalcapstan debate rages on, and bothfactions have valid claims to rallyaround. However, when all is saidand done, the horizontal windlassnoses ahead as long as there’sroom on the foredeck for its siz-able presence. The key reasons forits dominance is the natural chainstripping action linked to the leadangle, and the straight drop of thechain accumulating below in adeep forepeak chain locker. Thisarrangement also eliminates thevertical windlass’s omnipresentdeck leak linked to the shaft pen-etrating the foredeck. Add to all

of this the versatility of havingtwo separately clutched line/chainhandling capstans or gypsies, andthe reason for horizontal windlasschoice grows even clearer.

Vertical capstan windlasses dohave some compelling appeal oftheir own, and the first is their lessobtrusive nature, at least from anon-deck perspective. They rely ona finger-like chain stripper thatcoaxes chain off the gypsy insteadof simply letting gravity do the job.The up side of this arrangement isseen in situations where there’sless room for a deep fall, such as inshallower foredeck chain lockers.These units vary in capacity andthe best of the breed sport largedive gears that rotate in oil bathsproviding high power reductionratios and lots of torque.

Electric (12 or 24-VDC) wind-lasses are the overwhelmingchoice among voyagers, but thereare also manually- and hydrauli-cally-operated units offering someendearing attributes. The formeruses the person on the foredeckequipped with a lever or handcrank as the prime motive force.Several decades ago, we sailed our41-foot sloop to New Zealand viathe South Pacific, enduring a yearwith a rope/chain rode and nowindlass. One of our first projectsupon reaching New Zealand wasto swap a high-end wind point

Distance, speed& time formulas

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

Formulas for calculating Distance, Speedor Time:D = S x T S = D/T T = D/S

Note that the unit of measure mustbe the same for time and speed, usu-ally hours. To convert minutes tohours, divide by 60. Aids to calculationinclude the logarithmic scale found onmaneuvering boards and the use ofsix-minute (0.1-hour) increments.

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22 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

run length and wire size.Some skippers prefer to install a sec-

ondary power source in the forepeak.This is usually accomplished by provid-ing the windlass with its own 12-VDC(starting type) battery and simply bringsmaller diameter charging leads forwardto the battery. In either case, a breakerand solenoid operating deck switch needto be added, and all electrical connec-tions need to be as protected from mois-ture as possible. Going to a 24-VDCwindlass cuts the current demand inhalf, but adds more complexity to theship’s system battery bank. Conversely,opting for a 120 or 240-VAC drivemotor, run from a generator, puts toomuch high voltage danger into a verywet portion of the vessel.

Corrosion abatementThe foredeck is unfriendly to dissimilarmetals and electrical connections, andthe last place where aluminum cases andunbushed stainless steel mounting boltswill benignly coexist. Corrosion abate-ment is part of the design process andwhether it’s a sealed solenoid box or aplastic dielectric sleeve in the mountingholes, attention to detail pays off in thelong run. The same goes for the under-deck reinforcement used to anchor anaftermarket installation. Many older,ocean-capable sailboats sport only mod-estly reinforced foam or balsa core foredecks that were built without the design-er contemplating the instillation of apowerful windlass. In such cases it’simportant to add reinforcement underthe deck that can be accomplished withfiber-reinforced polymer, aluminum, orplywood and epoxy.

Most windlasses work just fine on abright sunny day when the sea is flat andthe bow willingly faces into a light breezeas the rode and anchor clatter their wayhome. Combine a 0300 squall that canturn a safe anchorage into a seethingcaldron with a groggy crew summonedto the pitching foredeck, and it’s clearwhy veteran voyagers have great admira-tion for a powerful and reliable windlass.The bottom line resides in the art of pri-oritization, and knowing what gear istruly essential. ■

Ralph Naranjo is a freelance writer andphotographer living in Annapolis, Md.

mid-sized cruisers, and with its conven-ience comes a few complications. Ohm’sLaw does not favor low voltage DC cur-rent transport, especially when it comesto carrying lots of amps over half thelength of the boat. Batteries are usuallylocated in the amidships portion of thevessel and the 100-plus amp appetite ofa 12-VDC windlass is a long way away.This current demand is equivalent to

wind speed system for an anchorwindlass. Today I continue tovalue and rely upon the handcrank Nilsson windlass and windex atthe masthead.

In truth, a manual anchor windlassbest suits those with good shoulders anda vessel under 40 feet and 10 tons dis-placement. Beyond that, electric andhydraulic options steal the show. Thelatter is a rare bird on mid-sized yachts,but a favorite among commercial opera-tors. Its upside is its low RPM, hightorque, small-sized motor that runs reli-ably and demonstrates some of the keylaws of fluid dynamics. The downside isthe costly addition of a pump, bracketassembly and high pressure hosing, notto mention the assault on an alreadycrowded engine space.

Some larger yachts use a hydraulicsystem to run a bow thruster and wind-lass as well as a small dinghy launchingdavit. Because each are used at differenttimes, the capacity of the pump does nothave to be massive and plumbing thevessel with ahigh pressurehose makesmore sense.

WindlassinstallationsThe electricwindlass rulesthe foredeckaboard most

An electric windlass motorduring refurbishment. Theforedeck area can get wetso a windlass needs to bewell protected from leaks.

A manual windlass undergoing maintenance. While powered winchesare convenient, on a smaller voyaging

boat manual units can make sense. Oneprerequisite for a manual windlass,

however, is physical strength — especially in deeper anchorages.

that of the high load of the engine’sstarter itself, and as Mr. Ohm so elegant-ly portrayed in his E = IR equation,resistance is the enemy of energy trans-fer. Low voltage can safely shuttle a lotof current, but it takes thick copper wireto get the job done. Leads in the diame-ter of a welder’s cable must be snakedforward and the longer the run, theheavier the gage of the wire. Windlassmanufacturers provide tables specifying

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:06 PM Page 22

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232009 OCEAN VOYAGER

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PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

Current may slow a vessel,

increase its speed and/or throw it

off course. Here’s a way to deter-

mine a course to steer (CTS) to

compensate for current. You need

four values: the desired course,

the set (direction) of the current,

the drift (speed) of the current

and the boat’s speed through the

water.

Current set and drift may be

taken from current charts or

tables, or may be observed, but

you will likely get the most accu-

rate information by measuring it

yourself. First, fix the vessel’s

position (A) using navigation

aids, visual bearings or electron-

ics. Then proceed on your desired

course for a specific time, plotting

this course and distance on the

chart (B, a DR position). Now

determine your actual position (C)

and compare it to B. The direction

from B to C is the set of the cur-

rent. The distance in nautical

miles between B and C, divided

by the time in hours, will yield the

drift. Thus, if the time between A

and B is 0.2 hours (12 minutes),

and the distance from B to C is

0.3 nm, then the drift is 1.5

knots.

In other words, a line plotted

between where you thought you

were and where you actually are

is the tidal current vector. Addi-

tionally, a line plotted from where

you started to where you actually

are, A to C, is a vector of your

actual movement, indicating

course over ground (COG) and

speed over ground (SOG).

Now that you have plotted the

set and drift, you’re ready to

determine what CTS will make

good the desired COG. First plot a

new desired course from your

present position. Then extend the

current vector for an hour to point

D (this technique is known as the

one-hour vector method). Then

measure with dividers the dis-

tance your boat can travel in one

hour from the latitude scale on

the chart. Place one point of the

dividers on D and swing the other

end until it intersects the desired

course line. Mark that spot (E),

and draw a line from D to E.

The direction D to E is your

CTS. So D to E is the vector of

your boat moving through the

water for one hour, while C to D

is the current moving your boat

for one hour. The sum of the vec-

tors, C to E, is the COG that your

boat should actually move during

that hour (unless the current

changes!). Hence, the distance

from C to E will be your boat’s

actual speed.

The value of using waypoints

with a GPS is that the unit can

then do this sort of calculation

continuously, delivering updated

CTS as conditions change. It’s

highly advisable to plot both these

waypoints and connecting courses

to better visualize where a route

takes you and as a check against

what you’ve input to the GPS.

Set & drift calculations

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24

Tips on how

to equip your

voyaging

vessel with

long-range

radio

Story and photos by

Harry Hungate

There are many communica-tions options for the voyagingmariner. One approach is

using a high frequency single side-band (HF SSB) radio and a digitalmodem. This setup allows you touse the SBB for voice and forsending e-mail. Icom’s latestmarine SSB transceiver, the modelIC-M802, is popular with the voy-aging community, as it is legallyusable without modification onboth the marine HF and amateurradio HF frequencies (with appro-priate licenses). Combine thisradio with the SCS Pactor modem,

and world-wide e-mail is a reality.If you are contemplating the

purchase of an SSB transceiver,the Icom IC-M802 is worthy ofconsideration. No license is need-ed for installation and commission-ing of the radio and Pactormodem, but if you have no priorexperience with radio installation,purchase the package from a deal-er who can provide installationand commissioning services, as thisis not an appropriate learner’s proj-ect. If you feel that you are readyfor the challenge, it’s a good idea

rate dedicated tuner circuit for2,182 KHz (the emergency fre-quency) should the automatictuner fail. Externally, the AT-140has the coax and tuner cable con-nectors on short pigtails, makingfor a much easier set up. Connectthe main unit to the tuner with amarine quality coaxial cable suchas Ancor RG-213 and high qualityPL-259 UHF silver and tefloncoax connectors for minimum sig-nal loss. If you are not familiarwith soldering these connectors,high quality compression-type con-nectors are available and their useis recommended. A second coaxconnector is provided on the radiofor reception of digital selectivecalling (DSC) transmissions. Thisis a receive-only circuit and any50-Ohm marine coax cable suchas the smaller diameter RG-58Ucan be used. Simply terminate thecoax on a chainplate. The IC-M802 tuner control cable plugsinto the main unit and the pigtailconnector on the AT-140 tuner.

Install a T-4 ferrite isolator(www.radioworks.com) or MFJ-915 (www.mfjenterprises.com)in the coax at the tuner. Thisdevice prevents radio frequency

BluewaterGear

Above, the IcomIC-M802 HF SSB

installed at Hungate’s

nav station. Right, the IcomAT-130 antenna

installed in the lazarette.

to shop around on the Internet forthe best deal that you can find.You are advised to get help fromsomeone who has installed andcommissioned the same equip-ment, no matter what you pur-chase. The steep learning curvethat you will be facing in thisendeavor is quite a challenge whenfaced alone.

The IC-M802 consists of threeparts: 1) the radio controller or dis-play unit 2) the external speakerand 3) the radio main unit or elec-tronics. The handheld microphoneplugs in to the controller. Prefabri-

cated 16-foot cables are supplied toconnect the controller and exter-nal speaker to the main unit. Noneof the three parts are weatherproof,so they must be mounted in pro-tected areas. Mount the main unitas near to the external antennatuner as possible.

Antenna tuner connectionsIcom recommends the model AT-140 tuner, but the model AT-130tuner will work just as well. Inter-nally, the difference between thetwo is that the AT-140 has a sepa-

Installing an HF SSB and a Pactor modem

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:07 PM Page 24

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QUALITY TIMEThis is what your days aboard should be all about. Sharing moments of serenity and adventure with familyand friends. Enjoying the world's finest stress reliever which is uneventful and effortless passagemaking undersail. Recharging our souls with the pleasure that comes from a restful life at sea, be it for the weekend or aroundthe world. AMEL ownership is a top quality experience from beginning to end because of the top quality effortswe make to ensure it is so.

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QUALITY IN CONSTRUCTION. Our exclusive one piece/full monocoque construction eliminates the typicallyweak, leaky and trouble prone hull to deck joint. All mechanical equipment receives a prototype process where theinstallation is perfected. Attention to the smallest of details and overall fit and finish is second to none. Each andevery component is chosen to best fulfill it's function, never just because of price.

QUALITY IN SALES AND ONGOING SERVICE. AMEL spends a large sum of money each and every year totrain me so I know the AMEL 54 from masthead to keel. I can fully explain any aspect of the boats constructionand outfitting. We have always had a one price/no hassle purchase program. We have never delivered a new boateven one minute later than promised. Our after sales service and warranty department is second to none. Just askanyone who owns an AMEL…

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01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:07 PM Page 25

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26 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

Left, an SCS Pactor modeminstalled behind a woodenframe. The Pactor modemallows voyagers to send e-mailvia HF SSB. A large number ofstations are availble world-wide to forward messages.Below left, a schematic forconnecting the computer,modem and radio.

energy from flowing along the outside ofthe coax shield, and thus eliminates radiofrequency feedback into the radio. Placea small amount of electronic siliconegrease on each coax connector. Wrap thecoax connectors with Coax Seal toexclude moisture.

While mounting yokes are providedfor the controller and speaker, you mustpurchase the Icom flush mount kit MB-75 or construct panel mounting bracketsif they are to be mounted as shown inaccompanying photo.

The IC-M802 is provided with apower cable in which there are two 30-amp in-line fuses. Best practice is to con-

nect the power cable directly to a dedi-cated battery to minimize conductednoise. This circuit should be protected bya 25-amp circuit breaker in the positivelead and placed in an easily accessibleposition. The radio has a temperature-

controlled crystal oscillator for extremefrequency stability. This element con-sumes power even when the radio isswitched off, so it is important to openthe circuit breaker when the radio is notin use to avoid unnecessary power drain.

Grounding and antennasThere is considerable information avail-able on these subjects of grounding andantenna requirements and they are iden-tical for all radio installations. Suggestedreading is the SailMail primer download-able from www.sailmail.com. Isolatingcapacitors installed on the coppergrounding foils are highly recommended,

see the section on groundsin the SailMail document.After installing these isolat-ing capacitors, the servicelife of the zincs (anodes) onmy boat was extended byan additional six months.Buy them fromwww.digikey.com as partnumber P4911-ND 0.15microfarad monolithicceramic capacitors.

Power up and configurethe IC-M802 before goingon to the Pactor modem.

GPS can be connectedto the IC-M802 to auto-matically transmit yourposition when the DSC fea-ture is used. The connectoris on the radio main unitand the circuit is opto-iso-lated internally. Connectthe NMEA data + pin tothe center conductor.

The IC-M802 comesprogrammed with all ITU marine chan-nels. A licensed technician must changethese marine channels. Spare channelscan be easily programmed with yourfavorite ham frequencies if you are appro-priately licensed.

Select a working frequency and pressthe “Tune” button. You should hear therelays cycling in the tuner and the “Tune”symbol on the display should flash, indi-cating that a solution is being calculated.If no relay clicking is heard and/or “thru”is displayed, then do not transmit as dam-age may occur. Review the tuner cableconnector first as it is the usual source oftrouble. Measure the voltages at the radioand also at the tuner end of the cable(they should be the same):

Looking at the connector on theradio, from left to right:

1. Key (yellow or white wire): about7.5 V DC to ground and to -0.5 to 0.8 VDC during tune. (If more than 8 V DC,move S1 in the tuner to “off” (bottomposition.)

2. Start (Green wire) to ground:about 7.5 V DC — it must go to lessthan 1 V DC to start tuning process.

3. Red wire: supply voltage: 12.6 VDC up to 13.8 V DC.

4. Black or brown wire to ground:zero voltage.

5. No connection.6. No connection.Once you are satisfied with the

transmitting and receiving functions ofthe IC-M802, then proceed with theinstallation of the Pactor modem. Besure to observe good operating practicesand listen for a clear frequency beforetuning or transmitting.

Install the SCS Pactor modem nearthe radio controller where it can be easi-ly seen while operating the radio. It hasno front panel external controls so it canbe located behind a transparent protec-tive cover.

Connecting cablesFour cables are required for the modem:

A serial or USB cable to the computer(depending on the model purchased)

A control cable from the modem tothe radio main unit

A data cable from the modem to theradio main unit

A power cable for the modem — as

Alfred

Wo

od

/Ocean

Navig

ator

illustratio

n

Right, Hungate soldering cable connectors.Solder connections can be challenging,

so if you are not an expert, it is a good ideato practice the technique on some

spare wire to get a feel for the process.

01_29_ON177_gear 2/23/09 6:07 PM Page 26

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27

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an option, power can be supplied via thedata cable.

Begin by drawing out a connectiondiagram or schematic. Write the cablelengths on the diagram and use it as acheck list to keep track of the cables,connectors and ferrites. Route thecables as far away as possible from trans-mitter coax cables and alternating cur-rent-carrying conductors. Measure thelengths carefully, and allow at least 10percent excess.

Construct the cables per the cable dia-gram. To prevent interference, shieldedcable must be used without exception.Tin the ends of the conductors prior tosoldering them to the connectors. Use amating half of the connector to act as aheat sink and to hold the pins in positionduring soldering. Work quickly to avoidoverheating the connectors. Carefullyinspect your work to insure that no solderbridges or wire fragments short circuitone pin to its neighbor. Remember to sol-der the drain wire to the shell of eachconnector. Complete the cable assemblyby checking for continuity end-to-end oneach conductor. Also check to ensurethat there are no connections betweenconductors or to ground.

Have a second set of eyes review yourwork, as no second chances are grantedin electronics.

Place a small amount of electronic sili-cone grease on the connectors and con-nect all of the cables. Install a clip-on fer-rite on each end of all cables. A smallnylon cable tie around the cable will keepthe ferrite close to the cable connector.

Download and install a copy of Sail-Mail software from www.sailmail.com,which also contains an up-to-date stationand frequency list. Obtain your subscrip-tion for one year service at US $250. Ifyou are a licensed ham operator, down-load a copy of Airmail from the same site.

Consider sending a small donation to theham operator of the station that you con-nect with to help defray his expenses forproviding this free service to you. (It’scertainly not free to him!)

Connect the serial or USB cablefrom the modem to your computer,power up the modem and start the Sail-Mail program.

Power up the Icom IC-M802, select aquiet frequency, set the radio to “mid”power, press the tune button to activatethe antenna tuner. Set the PTC outputfrom the “terminal window”: Go to“tools” � “options” � “xmit unprotofsk.” Set the output to four bars (1/2 fulloutput). Then to to “xmit unproto psk”and set the output to four to seven bars.

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28 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Bluewater Gear

Do this very quickly!) Radio current drawis not a good indication of voice output.Give a long verbal “AHHHHH…” intothe microphone. Do this quickly — just afew seconds is sufficient. The display unitshould show eight bars. Read the “Appli-cation Note on Setting Drive Levels” inthe SailMail primer for more details.

Sending your first e-mailSailMail allows you to import youraddress books from other e-mail pro-grams, or you may manually enter thedetails. Compose your message as youwould with any e-mail program. Click onthe right most icon on the toolbar tobring up the message page. Select a sta-tion from the drop down menu, logically,the one nearest your location. Next,click on “mode” and select “scan fre-quencies.” This directs the SailMail pro-gram to order the IC-M802 to sequen-tially scan the available frequencies forthat station. Listen carefully for a buzzingor chirping sound characteristic of Pactortraffic. Select the frequency with thestrongest sounding signal, generally thelower frequencies at night and the high-er ones in the daytime. Before transmit-ting, wait until the frequency is clear(quiet). The sending station will some-times end its transmission with its callsign in Morse code. Set the IC-M802 to“mid” power (about 60 watts). (Neveruse full power. FCC regulations requireyou to use only sufficient power to com-plete your communications.)

Click on the “send” icon, and theradio will begin to transmit. After 20 or socycles, the radio will stop transmitting if

no connection is made. You will learn todisconnect after about 15 or 16 cycles ifno connection is made. Either a distantstation is using the frequency or propaga-tion is insufficient on that frequency tosecure a connection. Try the next higheror lower frequency or try again on anoth-er station. Once connected, messagetransmitting and receiving is fully auto-mated with no operator intervention.

Before leaving the dock, turn on yourautopilot and transmit on your new IcomIC-M802 at full power. If this radio trans-mission causes your autopilot to behaveerratically, then you have a radio frequen-cy feedback problem. Review your radioinstallation, paying particular attention tothe antenna ground foils. Also, install aferrite on the rudder position transducercable at the transducer. Make sure theproblem is fully solved before droppingyour mooring lines.

If all else fails, find a fellow voyagerexperienced with SSB radio and e-mailand ask for his help.

A note about the “e-mail” button onthe IC-M802 and the preprogrammed e-mail frequencies: Ignore it all. They havenothing to do with this setup. ■

Harry Hungate (N1UDE/ZL1HAH)and his wife Jane Lothrop (AB0T/ZL1JRL)live aboard their Corbin 39 Cormoranthaving departed Annapolis, Md. in 1997.Both are amateur extra class hams andHarry holds the FCC GROL with radarendorsement license. They cruised the westcoasts of SE Asia in 2008 and they plan totransit the Indian Ocean and Red Sea inearly 2009.

When construct-ing the system,shielded wiremust be used toavoid interfer-ence. Tin the endsof the conductorsprior to solderingthem to the connectors. Havea second pair ofeyes look overyour work.

Alf

red

Wo

od

/Oce

an N

avig

ato

rill

ust

rati

on

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30 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Sue andAdrianPayne

have onlybeen voy-

aging ashort time,

butthey’ve

long con-sidered

safety

Sue and Adrian Payne and theirsons George and Oliver leftBritain six years ago aboard

their 38-foot 1997 Westerly OceanRanger, Pagos.They had decided tosail around the world before evenlearning to sail. Departing in July2003, they took a different approachfrom the usual well-worn path to theCaribbean. They sailed to Portugaland then Morrocco then went eastto Algeria and Tunisia beforereturning to Gibraltar. From theRock the Paynes crossed to Senegaland Gambia before calling at theCape Verde Islands and the north-east coast of Brazil. They spent sixmonths in the Amazon. To thesedestinations they added Trinidadand Tobago, Greneda and Venezeu-la. Next was a passage through thePanama Canal and the trip west tothe Galápagos. They crossed the

Right, AdrianPayne at the

radio in Pagos’snav station.Upper right,

looking everybit a voyaging

boat, Pagossails in the

Pacific.

Pacific, spending Christmas 2008 atsea, en route to New Zealand wherePagos will get some refitting beforethe Paynes head toward Japan.

OV:How do you approach thesubject of safety? Has your

experience of sailing offshore influ-

enced your thinking on safety?

S&AP: We bought ourboat Pagos in 2002.

We had never owned a boat orhad any experience of even goingon anything smaller than a crosschannel ferry. Our two childrenwere then 2 and 5, so we not onlyhad ourselves to think about. Ourfirst job was to rig safety nettingaround the deck and to instill intoGeorge and Oliver that no onewas to leave the cockpit at anytime without express permission. Ithink it sank in as even now,seven years later they still ask

• The unthinkable

• Lots of weatherinformation - whatto do with it?

In T

his

Secti

on

OffshoreSafety

Sue

Payn

e p

ho

tos

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312009 OCEAN VOYAGER

before they leave the cockpitwhen underway!

Sailing offshore has definitelyshaped the way we approach safetyissues. After our first offshore pas-sage we invested in an SSB marineradio, which we use for weather,contact via e-mail and as a longrange radio for nets when passagemaking. When passage makingyou have to rely on your vesseland each other, there is no oneelse to help you if you get into dif-ficulty. But it should be said that itis far safer on passage across anocean than a short trip from onebay to another. Miles of endlessocean, masses of sea room, notides, rocks or leeward shores. Wefeel far safer on a 25-day passagethan a 60-mile trip.

OV:How do you plan for med-ical emergencies. Have you

received any medical trainingbefore you began voyaging?

S&AP: The thought ofbeing in a situation

where the life of a loved one wasin my hands terrified me. I had apretty good idea of how to use aband aid, but that was about it. Idecided to enroll in an intensiveseven day medical course, dealingwith medical care aboard ship. Asmost of the participants were

potential cruisers, the course wasangled towards the specific prob-lems which may present them-selves on a yacht. Making readilyavailable items useful for emer-gencies such as life jackets for

splints and magazines or newspa-pers for neck braces were usefuland pertinent for cruisers whoneither have the space or themoney to completely fit out theiryacht as a doctors surgery. Adriancompleted the basic three-dayfirst aid course as well. Our familyphysician helped to make up ourmedical kit, amending drugs anddosages for our two children.

OV:What type of life raft doyou have? How often do

you have it serviced? What’s inyour abandon ship bag?

S&AP: We have a four-man plastimo off-

shore life-raft, which was one ofthe first items of safety gear wepurchased. Originally it was storedin our capacious cockpit locker,until we had an “emergency” daywhere we tried out all our safetygear. It took two of us 20 minutesto get the life-raft out of the lock-er, then we were too tired to doanything else for the rest of theday. We soon traded the valise fora cannister and now have the life-raft on the stern, easily accessiblebut out of the way of the everydayrunning of Pagos. We have had thelife raft serviced twice in the lastseven years. The first time whenwe changed the container and thelast time whilst in Chile. Uponopening the life-raft we found thatthere was no safety equipment inthere at all. (We were not presentat the last service). We upgradedto Solas B level as it was the mostwe could afford to do at the time.

Our grab bag is bright yellowand sits on a shelf in the compan-ionway. We have a hand-heldGPS, plus spare batteries, a torch,fishing equipment, a hand heldwater maker bought off anothercruiser for $50.00 which had neverbeen used. There is also a com-pass, rocket flares, parachute flaresand a welding glove to ensure noburns when setting them off. Wehave small in date prescriptionmedicines we take and spare pairsof glasses. Water cannisters arefilled and strapped to the stern railnext to the life raft.

Left, Adrianworks aloftabout Pagos’sfixed radarreflector.Above, thePayne familyenjoying thetropical sun.

OV:Do you have an EPIRB?What type of communica-

tions/signaling devices do youhave in your life raft?

S&AP: We have a PainsWessex 406 EPIRB.

We keep it on the wall next to ourSSB and VHF radios by the navi-gation table. Both George andOliver know how to set off theEPIRB and how to make a distresscall over the VHF and the SSB.For visitors on Pagos we havecheck lists by the radios, ‘just incase.’ We have just replaced theflares in our life raft and have aparachute signal, two hand flaresand a smoke signal. These are inaddition to those in the grab bag.We also have a signalling mirrorand a mouth operated signal horn.We believe that you should stepup from your yacht into the raft, aboat is a far more safe, warm placeto be than in a rubber raft with nocreature comforts. We hear somany times of crews taking to alife raft, only to have their boatspotted days later, still afloat.

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32

OV:What is your policy onwearing life jackets and or

harnesses while underway? Do younormally rig jack lines on deck?

S&AP: We have a centrecockpit with really

high sides and all of our reefingcan be done from there. If we doneed to leave the cockpit whenunder way we always wear har-nesses and life jackets. When westarted our voyage, George was6 and Oliver 3 years of age sothey were always harnessed intothe cockpit, but now we have amore relaxed attitude. Pagos wasfitted with stainless steel riggingwire jack lines when we bought

When on land with access to theinternet we download files fromNOAA and buoy weather. We alsosupplement this information withGRIB files via our Sailmailaccount on our SSB and weatherfaxes, which load onto our laptop.On passage we continue with thesynoptic charts on weather fax andthe GRIB files on a daily basis. Ifwe have a long crossing to makewe usually contact weather ‘gurus’such as Herb who runs a weathernet throughout the Atlantic andDon Anderson who does the samein the Pacific. It’s nice to chat withsomeone and get a second opinioneach day.

spare parts which meant, for us,September was too late to con-sider completing our Pacificcrossing. So we went to Chile forfive months and set off to crossthe Pacific the following year.

Whilst on passage if we areaware of bad weather coming, weprepare ourselves and the boatand get on with it. We have nowsailed over 30,000 miles with onlyone rough time, 50 knots of windand 30-foot seas in the variableson the way to Chile. We couldn’toutrun the weather system, so wespent the time prior to its onsetclearing the decks, removing any-thing with too much windage suchas the cockpit dodgers and thebimini and set up the storm gib.We had lots of sleep, made sure wecould cook easy meals and waitedfor it to hit. We hove to for 48hours and rode it out.

OV:What types of safetygear do you plan to pur-

chase and why?

S&AP: We have discussedbuying a flare gun

to supplement our array of flaresand we do need to purchase newstrobes for our lifebuoys as ours arewaterlogged, but they would bethe only things we feel we wouldneed. All our safety equipment isin good working order andchecked on a regular basis. We feelwe have enough safety equipmenton board Pagos for any emergencywe may encounter. ■

her; other than checking themon a regular basis, we havenever removed them. We canclip our safety lines onto themfrom the cockpit. Our safetylines have two clips on one endso we can swap to the oppositeside of Pagos without beingunhooked at any time.

OV:What type of weatherinformation do you use

when making an offshore pas-sage? How do you gather theinformation?

S&AP: We are one of thosestrange breeds of

sailor that never uses the engineunless absolutely necessary andtherefore will not leave unless wehave a good weather window.

OV:Do you try to do weath-er routing and avoid bad

weather at all costs?

S&AP: We do have rout-ing charts on

board for our long passages, suchas the 2,500 miles from EasterIsland to Chile, and our crossingfrom West Africa to Brazil.There are better months to crossoceans than others. Personally,we feel it would be foolish tomake a long Pacific crossing inthe typhoon season. We neverset unrealistic time-scales, we arecruisers, not racers. For example,in 2007 we lost our forestay onpassage from the GalápagosArchipelago to Easter Island. Wehad to wait four months for

Offshore Safety

Pagos at sea.Note the lifeline

netting for keeping

children aboard.Adrian, with

freshly caughtfish, wears aninflatable PFD

on deck.

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332009 OCEAN VOYAGER

Dealing

with a

major trauma

offshore

by Jeffrey E. Isaac, PA-C

On Dec. 18, 2008, theFrench sailor Yann Elièsfell on deck fracturing his

femur (thigh). This would be adevastating injury under any cir-cumstance, but Eliès was alone inthe southern Indian Ocean.Somehow, he managed to getbelow decks aboard his VendéeGlobe open 60 Generali and intohis berthwhere hespent thenext threedays awaitingrescue.

The femuris a majorweight-bear-ing bone. It isrichly sup-plied withblood andsurrounded bythe largest muscles in the body. Itis difficult to break, but doing sorenders the victim physicallyincapable of walking or crawling.Muscle spasm and grinding bonefragments cause intense pain.Blood loss into the fracture sitecan cause volume shock. Dealingwith an injury of this magnitudewhile alone aboard a racing yachtmust have required a superhu-man effort.

Nevertheless, Eliès’ survival isnot a quite a miracle. He had a lotgoing for him. He is young andstrong. His vessel is equipped withsophisticated communicationsincluding a GPS transponder. Hisposition was constantly monitoredby the race committee and there

correct action, all of which arekey elements of survival. Con-fronted with a changing environ-ment, they rapidly adapt.” Indealing with major trauma thesequalities are more useful thanmedical skill, equipment, or anyamount of medical advice. That’swhy cultivating and refining theability to make the best of a badsituation is core curriculum forany good wilderness and rescuetraining course.

Nobody likes to contemplatethe worst, much less plan for it.There’s a good reason it’s called“the unthinkable.” As soon asyou have it figured out, thingschange. The moment you’veplanned for every contingency,there’s a new one. It is impossibleto be completely prepared ortotally safe. Any sailor whobelieves they’ve mitigated all therisk is in for a big surprise.

Risk is a function of bothprobability and consequence. Theprobability of Eliès breaking hisfemur in the Southern Oceanwas a lot less than his chance of

The unthinkable

OffshoreSafety

was an Aus-tralian frigateavailable to goget him. His saferescue by com-petent profes-sionals was thebest possible out-come for a worstcase scenario.

Eliès must have had somethingelse going for him, too; a sur-vivor’s instinct. He was able toovercome fear, pain, fatigue, andprobably some degree of despair.This is a self-selecting prerequisitefor anyone willing to drive a giantover-powered racing dinghyaround the world. In fact, it is agood addition to the resume ofanyone willing to take a smallboat offshore.

In his excellent book DeepSurvival, Laurence Gonzalespoints out that only 10 to 20 per-cent of people can stay calm andthink in the midst of a survivalemergency. “They are the oneswho can perceive their situationclearly; they can plan and take

Above, Yann Eliès, a competitior inthe VendéeGlobe solo nonstop aroundthe world racebroke his femurand was rescuedby the AustralianNavy. Left, an x-ray of a frac-tured femur. This is a majortrauma for a voyaging sailor.

Co

urt

esy

Au

stra

lian

Nav

y

Jeff Isaac

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34 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

doing so at a ski resort in theAlps. But the consequencescould have been far worse. At aski resort, the ski patrol wouldhave had him off the slopes in anhour. The Australian Navyfrigate took three days to reachhis boat. The risk associated withhis injury was vastly magnified bytime and distance.

While mostsailors readilyaccept the risksinvolved in an off-shore passage, mostalso strive to reducethem. Reducing theprobability of seri-ous injury is goodseamanship. Reduc-ing the conse-quence is goodmedicine. Knowingsomething about

both makes a good sailor.

Trauma management For practical purposes we can sep-arate major trauma into three cat-egories: the kind that will killquickly no matter what; the kindthat will kill within an hour or sowithout medical intervention; the

kind that is not directly fatal, butexposes you to risk of death byhypothermia, dehydration, orinfection. Regardless of your levelof medical training you can ignorethe first category; the cause ofdeath is merely interesting. How-ever, it is the other two that youshould prepare for and might beable to do something about.

You don’t need to know a lot ofmedicine to effectively handle theimmediate emergency. Bleedingcontrol, spine protection, airwaymanagement and ventilation areall covered in any good first-aidcourse. But, in addition to thosebasic skills you also need to knowhow to focus on the problems youcan treat and not be distracted bythe problems you can’t. Your goalis actually pretty simple: give yourpatient the best chance of survivalunder the circumstances.

Eliès’ boat Generali and theAustralian Navy

frigate Aruntarendezvous inthe Southern

Ocean.

Offshore Safety

Co

urtesy A

ustralian

Navy

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352009 OCEAN VOYAGER

Head trauma, one of the mostcommon serious problems aboardsmall boats, offers a good exam-ple. You cannot do anythingabout brain swelling or intracra-nial bleeding. But you can protectyour patient’s airway from bloodand vomit and keep him or herwarm, hydrated, fed, and securefrom further injury. Let the braintake care of itself while you focuson everything else. Given achance, most head traumapatients survive.

Severe bleeding is anotherexample. External bleeding from alacerated blood vessel in an armor leg can be stopped with a pres-sure dressing or even a tourniquetif necessary. Internal bleedingfrom a ruptured spleen is out ofyour control. Again, focus on thepossible. Keep your patienthydrated, fed, protected andwarm and he or she, too, willprobably survive. Most solid organinjury is not directly fatal, but thecombination of blood loss andhypothermia is.

A fractured femur or lower legis rarely fatal. Unless the boneshave penetrated the skin there isonly so much space available forbleeding, so shock does notprogress. The danger is in the dis-ability. The patient cannot run orswim to safety, or find food andwater without help.

A leg fracture can be splintedto the other leg for quick extrica-tion. Straighten the leg if neces-

sary then wrap both legs firmlytogether with padding betweenthem. A femur can actually besplinted this way for a long time.A lower leg will need additionalsplinting to include the ankle. Aslong as there is good blood flowall the way to the toes, thepatient can endure a days-longevacuation if you pay attention topain control and the basic bodyneeds. You don’t need to worryabout putting the bones backexactly where they belong. Theorthopedist can do that tomorrowor next week.

Preparing for major traumaincludes practicing some tech-niques for quickly moving a casu-alty from the deck or water to theberth or cockpit. For the shorthanded crew this will be quite achallenge. You should be able tocontrol bleeding and splintextremities, but you may have tomodify or abandon the meticulousspine immobilization proceduresyou learned in your first-aidcourse. Falling overboard orbecoming hypothermic may repre-sent the greater threat. A detailedplan is unnecessary, and evenundesirable. A good set of riggingskills and the ability to adaptthem to a variety of situations willbe much more valuable.

Be sure to have your life savingtools easily accessible. AboardGenerali. Eliès was incapacitatedby pain and unable to reach thepain medication in his medicalkit. Dee Caffari, sailing Aviva,made the comment that shewould have had a similar problem.“These kits are heavy and theyhave to go somewhere — youcan’t just leave them lying around.Mine is stacked on the shelf, but itis not easy to get to.”

A comprehensive medical kit,like a life raft, is just expensiveballast if you and your crew can’tfind it. Consider breaking it upinto smaller kits that can bestowed where they’re needed. Indoing this, remember that a shorthanded crew will not just be deal-ing with a medical emergency;

they will be try-ing to manage aboat underway atthe same time.

Keep a basictrauma modulejust inside thecompanionway.This shouldinclude a pair ofprotectivegloves, a pressuredressing andtourniquet forbleeding, a splintand wrap forinjured extremi-ties, and a pock-et mask orNuMask for res-cue breathing. Itshould alsoinclude a coupleof extricationstraps (long sailties will do) anda stiff cervicalcollar to helpyou move yourpatient to safety.

Pain medica-tion should alsobe easily acces-sible. Pain con-trol is an emer-gency medicalprocedure, espe-cially in theshort handed survival situation.If pain is not controlled thepatient will not be able to pro-tect himself, eat, drink or effec-tively communicate. Pain is themost common and treatablecause of respiratory distress inchest and abdominal trauma.

The fear that pain medicationwill mask symptoms and allow apatient to injure himself further isunfounded. Any patient who isawake and able to move aroundwill feel pain and modify activityaccordingly. A dose of medicationsufficient to mask all pain will putthe patient to sleep. Unless youhave plenty of crew to monitorhim, drugging your patient intocoma is not a good idea.

RecommendedreadingDeep Survival: Who Lives,Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales W.W. Norton, 2003

Wilderness and Rescue Med-icine: A Practical Guide forthe Basic and AdvancedPractitionerby Jeffrey E. Isaac PA-C and David E.Johnson, MDWilderness Medical Associates, 2008

Examples ofpressure dressings, alsoknown as anIsraeli bandage.These bandagesare designed foreasy battlefieldapplication andthus are wellsuited for use in voyaging situations.

Jeff

Isaa

c

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36 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

In a serious situation we want aninjured person awake and talking, butfeeling better and breathing more easily.Use narcotics if you have to, but med-icate with the lowest effective dose.When you call from the cockpit to seehow things are going down below, youwant an answer. The more the patientcan care for himself, the more you willbe able to focus on the overall manage-ment of the emergency and the vessel.

A near perfect choice for severepain initially is the narcotic fentanyl fortransmucosal administration. This isessentially a lollypop that is placedbetween the gum and cheek allowingthe potent medication to be absorbedthrough the mucous membranes. It iseasy to remove if the patient becomesdrowsy. Fentanyl is short acting andthe pop does not freeze, break, or meltin storage.

Another useful drug is a broad spec-trum antibiotic. While use of antibioticsto prevent infection in high-risk woundsis controversial in the civilized setting,you need all the help you can get whenyou’re far offshore. The sooner antibi-otics are administered, the better theywill work.

For long term survival you will needto manage the “ins and outs.” Thismeans providing fluid, electrolytes, andcalories. If the patient can eat anddrink, you’re all set. If not, you willneed to start an intravenous or subcu-taneous fluid drip or try to rehydraterectally. Managing output may requireusing a urinary catheter for a disabledpatient and managing defecation withan incontinence diaper. This is the partof trauma management that goesbeyond first aid, and illustrates otherskills and materials that you shouldconsider acquiring.

Ashore, prehospital trauma protocolsoften require that the patient be immo-bilized on a backboard or vacuum mat-tress to reduce the chance of exacerbat-ing a spine injury. However, therisk/benefit ratio for this practice doesnot translate well to the small boat set-ting. In 2006, a woman drowned whenthe rescue boat to which she wassecured on a backboard capsized in theConnecticut River. Her original injurieswere minor.

Blind obedience to conventional

Offshore Safety

MEDICAL INFORMATION

Adventure Medical KitsMedical kits for every outdooradventure.P.O. Box 43309 Oakland, CA 94624800-324-3517fax: 510-261-7419www.adventuremedicalkits.com

Travel AssistanceInternationalMedical insurance and medevacprogram for overseas travelers.P.O. Box 668Millersville, MD 21108800-821-2828 www.travelassistance.com

WorldclinicMaintains a virtual emergencyroom, staffed 24/7, which“allows you to take U.S. qualityheath care with you wheneveryou travel.”276 Newport Road, Suite 205New London, NH 03257800-636-9186fax: 603-526-9003.www.worldclinic.com

FieldTex Products, Inc.Medical kits for daysailors to pas-sagemakers.3055 Brighton-Henrietta TL Rd.Rochester, NY 14623800-772-4816fax: 585-427-8666www.firstaidpak.com

International Association forMedical Assistance to TravelersFree member service offeringhealth information for travelerswith a directory of English-speak-ing doctors worldwide, immu-nization needs and more.1623 Military Rd. #279Niagara Falls, NY 14304-1745716-754-4883www.iamat.org

TravelHealth.co.ukExtensive online resources fortravelers.www.travelhealth.co.uk

OCEAN ALMANAC

Medical resourcesThere are numerous services and insurance plans available to sailors. Resources range from companiesthat assemble specialized medical kits or are ready to fax medical records in an emergency, to organiza-tions that provide worldwide consultation and insurance, including emergency evacuation (medevac).

Centers for Disease ControlDisease status around world.800-311-3435www.cdc.gov

Maritime Medical AccessProvides 24-hour access to boardcertified emer. physiciansGeorge Washington University2140 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20037202-741-2919/2918www.gwemed.edu

International Society of TravelMedicineHealth professionals dedicated tothe advancement of travel medi-cine. Directory of providers avail-able online.2386 Clower St.Suite A-102Snellville, GA 30078770-736-7060fax: 770-736-0313www.istm.org

Marine Medical SystemsCustom medical kits including pre-scriptions, consulting and supplies.c/o Tully Health Center32 Strawberry Hill CourtStamford, CT 06902203-323-9988fax: 203-323-7772www.marinemedical.com

MedAire/MedLink Inc.Medical support, training andequipment, including global mede-vac, insurance and security services.80 East Rio Salado Pkwy.Suite 610Tempe, AZ 85281480-333-3700fax: 480-333-3592www.medaire.com

Health Force, Inc.Offers 24/7 physician healthline.11805 North Creek ParkwaysSuite 113Bothell, WA 98011425-806-5700fax: 425-806-5701www.healthforcepartners.com

Medex Assistance Corp.Emergency travelers’ assistanceand medical evacuation firm.8105 LaSalle Rd., Suite 200Baltimore, MD 21286410-453-6300fax: 410-453-6301www.medexassist.com

OceanMedix.com LLCPrescription medical kits, AEDs,first aid kits, emergency & safetyequipment for the ocean voy-ager. toll free: 866-788-2642www.oceanmedix.com

International SOS AssistanceMember organization providingaccess to medical advice andservices worldwide.3600 Horizon Blvd. Suite 300Trevose, PA 19053215-942-8000fax: 215-942-8299www.internationalsos.com

Wallach & Co.Offers accident and sicknessinsurance policies.107 West Federal StreetP.O. Box 480Middleburg, VA 20118800-237-6615fax: 540-687-3172www.wallach.com

MedicalOfficer.Net Ltd.Advanced trainingP.O. Box 3681Crested Butte, CO 81224970-275-4999fax: 970-349-6141www.medicalofficer.net

Emergency Medical ProductsEmergency medical supplies-Internet online saleswww.buyemp.com

Bound Tree MedicalEmergency medical suppliesP.O. Box 8023Dublin, OH 43016-2023800-533-0523fax: 800-257-5713www.boundtree.com

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protocol can kill people in the uncon-ventional setting. Remember, you arenot practicing medicine in an ambu-lance or emergency department. Yourboat is a high-risk environment where alot more can go wrong. Your problemlist includes maritime hazards as well asthe medical problem. Even a partiallydisabled patient will have a much betterchance of survival with some freedom ofmovement. Usually a well-padded berthwith a lee cloth is perfectly adequateprotection and stability.

The ultimate goal, of course, is get-ting a severely injured crewmembersafely off the boat and into a hospital,preferably before the diaper becomesnecessary. But beware of the rush toevacuate. In contrast to Eliès’ situation,some rescue efforts may not actuallyimprove the casualty’s chance of sur-vival. With several crewmembers aboardthe typical voyaging sailboat therisk/benefit of evacuation can be morecarefully weighed against the risk/benefitof staying on board. Exercising this judg-ment is where good seamanship andgood medicine really come together.

Instead of an Australian frigate infair conditions, your rescuer may be ahuge containership looming overhead in20-foot seas or a helicopter trying tolower a basket in 60-knot gusts. Itwould be deeply disappointing to haveworked so hard to keep your patientalive only to see him or her drown inthe rescue effort, or later for lack ofappropriate care. Your patient mighthave a better chance of survival if yousailed the patient into port yourself,even if it takes five days. You shouldgear your training, equipment, suppliesand attitude toward that possibility.

Certainly, the chance is remote thatyou will ever deal with a situation asdifficult as Eliès’ fractured femur in theSouthern Ocean. You are unlikely toever need the survival skills and tem-perament described by Gonzales. If youdo, it would be nice to have given itmore than a passing thought in prepa-ration. Eliès’ crisis and its happy endingis powerful motivation for rethinkingthe unthinkable. ■

Jeffrey E. Isaac, PA-C is a physician’sassistant with extensive training in backcountry and offshore medicine.

Communications expert Gordon West reports

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38 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

OffshoreSafety

repackaged government data inproprietary software displays.

The wide availability of morecomprehensive weather informa-tion begs the question: “How isthe mariner to make the best useof all this data?” At this point,many articles would now head inthe direction of giving pointersabout how to interpret the variousavailable chart products, the bestways of finding the data that aremost useful, and other tidbits toimprove the mariner’s ability tofigure out what to do with themountain of available information.

The focus of this article will besomewhat different. Whileknowledge of the products thatare available and how to interpretthem is, of course, very impor-tant, it is equally important for

The amount of weather infor-mation available to marinerstoday is nothing less than

staggering. Detailed text forecastsas well as weather charts depictingactual and forecast data are pro-vided regularly by governmentweather services of many countriesaround the world. These productsare available for high seas andcoastal areas, bays and inlets, andalso for inland waters. Some of thegovernment data is repackaged byprivate vendors and offered inslick displays, providing themariner yet another manner inwhich to observe the meteorologi-cal information. The availability offorecast services from private con-sulting meteorologists adds yetanother possible level of informa-tion for boaters.

While the amount and qualityof meteorological information hasincreased dramatically over thelast decade or so, of equal or per-haps greater impact has been thecommunications revolution thathas swept through the marineindustry. The wide availability ofaffordable e-mail communicationfor vessels at sea as well as fullInternet access has made it possi-ble for mariners to receive muchthe same comprehensive weatherinformation at sea as they canwhile tethered to the dock. Thiscommunications revolution hasalso made it more feasible to com-municate directly with a consult-ing meteorologist on a regularbasis throughout a voyage, andalso allows frequent updates of

Plenty of weather data – How do you use it?

A process

for using

the exten-

sive weather

data avail-

able to the

voyager

by KenMcKinley

With so muchweather inform-

tion so readilyavailable, get-ting surprised

by bad weatheris less of a prob-

lem for voy-agers. The big-ger issue may

be figuring outhow to use

what’s available.

the mariner to know how toappropriately apply the data tohis/her situation, and as a result,make the proper decisions.

First step in decision makingThe first step in applying the avail-able weather data is to have athorough knowledge of your ves-sel, yourself, and your situation.Notice that this stage has nothingto do with looking at weatherdata. This is deliberate. It is essen-tial for the mariner to have a firmunderstanding of the type of con-ditions that are appropriate foreach situation.

First, consider the vessel. It isnecessary to know how the vesselwill perform in certain conditions,and the upper limits of a vessel tohandle certain conditions. For

Steve D’A

nto

nio

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392009 OCEAN VOYAGER

most vessels, this will dependlargely on sea state, but windspeed and direction along withother factors will also come intoplay. If the vessel is one withwhich you are quite familiar, thenyou likely have a good feeling forthe upper limit of conditions inwhich the vessel remains safe. If itis a new vessel, you may need torely on other owners of similarvessels, or on data provided by thebuilder. In any case, it is essentialthat there is a complete under-standing of the vessel’s limits inplace prior to evaluating weatherconditions for a voyage.

Next, consider your personallimits. A knowledge of your abili-ty to handle (or to be comfort-able with) certain conditions isnecessary. Conditions to be con-sidered are wind velocity (speedand direction), sea state, and

other weather conditions such asprecipitation or limited visibility.Upper limits for these conditionsneed to be determined. Perhapsyou are willing to push yourselfall the way to the limits of thevessel, but, more likely, your per-sonal limits will be somewhatbelow the limits of the vessel.Again, a complete understandingof these limits is essential prior toany voyage planning.

Finally, the situation must beconsidered. This has to do withthe type of voyage being contem-plated, the ability and experienceof any crew, and the goals of thevoyage. If you are in a situationwhere you need to deliver a boatfrom one port to another, haveample, well experienced crew, andthe goal of the passage is simply toget the boat from one place toanother without damaging it, thenyou may be willing to push your-self to your personal limits asdetermined above. If, however,you are in a situation where youare taking a cruise for pleasure,your crew is not as experienced,and includes family members, andthe goal of the passage is enjoy-ment, then the limits of the condi-tions will likely be lower. In fact,for this type of passage, even ifwinds and seas are forecast toremain well within acceptable lim-its, if rain and fog are forecast formost of the passage, you maydecide to change your plans onthat basis.

I have defined six categories ofconditions that are shown in Table1. The conditions at any giventime during a voyage will fall intoone of these categories. The defi-nition of these categories will bedifferent for each voyage, takinginto account the vessel, your per-sonal abilities, and the situation asjust described. Therefore it is use-ful to use a form like Table 2 todefine these categories as carefullyas possible prior to each voyage.Ideally, this procedure will be donewell in advance of each voyage,and prior to evaluating any weath-er data for the voyage.

The reason for going throughthis procedure well in advance ofthe voyage is that it prevents whatI call “limit creep.” This is a situa-tion where, when looking atweather data prior to a trip, andfinding that conditions might fea-ture stronger winds or higher seasthan are desired, that, due to thedesire “to get the delivery done”or “not to ruin the vacation” adetermination is made to go aheadwith the passage even thoughforecast conditions might indicatethat a different decision would bemore prudent.

Above are a set of planningtools for defining whatweather conditions avoyager findsacceptable.These tools canhelp rationalizethe process ofweather routingand voyageplanning.

METE0ROLOGYOCEAN ALMANAC

TemperatureconversionIn the United States, temperatures are

usually measured in degrees Fahren-

heit, in which the freezing point of

water is 32° and the boiling point

212°. Elsewhere in the world, the

metric Celsius scale is used; freezing is

at 0° and boiling at 100°.

Fahrenheit° = (C° x 1.8) + 32Celsius° = 5/9 x (F° - 32)

Celsius Fahrenheit-25° -13°-20 -4-15 5-10 14-5 230 325 4110 5015 5920 6825 7730 8635 9540 10445 11350 12275 167100 212

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40 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

Offshore Safety

If the upper limits of conditions havebeen carefully defined ahead of time, thedecisions can be much more objective,and the safest options will be chosen. Forthis reason, it is important to physicallyput the pen to the paper and write thelimits down, filling out the chart asshown in Table 2. Once this is done,then you have at your disposal a set ofparameters for the trip, and this willmake the decision making process muchmore effective and safer.

Examining the dataThe examination of actual weather datashould begin several days in advance ofthe scheduled departure. Whether youare using data directly from governmentsources, repackaged data, or informationfrom a private consultant, you should seehow the forecast conditions fall into thecategories which you have previouslydefined, and use this information tomake determinations concerning the pas-sage. Of course, the easiest situations arethose when the forecast conditions all fallwithin the Ideal or Favorable categories,or within the Unacceptable or Perilouscategories. In these cases, the passage willeither proceed as planned, or will obvi-ously need to be delayed, proceed withan altered route or schedule, or cancelledaltogether. The more difficult situationswill be passages where conditions areforecast to fall into the Acceptable orMarginal categories, either for short peri-ods of time, or for a good portion of thepassage. These situations will requiremore deliberation and thought, and deci-sions will, to a great degree, depend onthe particular situation.

Let’s look at an example. Refer toTable 3, which has been completed withthe limits for a trip from New York toAnnapolis, Md., on a sailboat (let’sassume about 45 feet or so). This particu-lar trip is for a family vacation with thefamily members serving as skipper andcrew. This trip would have two possiblerouting options, one where the vesselwould sail south to the Hampton Roads,then back north through the ChesapeakeBay to Annapolis, and the other wherethe vessel would sail to Annapolis viaDelaware Bay and the Chesapeake andDelaware Canal.

Taking a closer look at how each cat-egory of conditions has been defined,

notice that in the Winds column, rangesof wind speeds have been noted, and alsoacceptable periods of no wind have beenindicated. Since this is a sailboat, anddepending on fuel capacity and rangeunder power, longer periods with no windbecome less favorable. In the Seas col-umn, notice that both wind waves andswells have been noted since the longerperiod swells will affect the vessel differ-ently. In the Weather column, both pre-cipitation and visibility have been noted,and if the passage were occurring duringthe cold season, temperature informationmight also come into play.

Using Table 3 and available weatherforecast information, the skipper canevaluate each route option and deter-mine whether one or the other is moreappropriate, or, whether neither route isright for the scheduled departure date.

For example, if conditions on theAtlantic were forecast to deteriorate intothe Acceptable or Marginal categories 24hours after departure and to remain inthese categories for a few days, then tak-ing the route through Delaware Bay andthe Chesapeake and Delaware Canalmight be the best decision. In particular,if the reason for the deterioration of con-ditions was primarily due to sea state

This array of conditions from acceptable toperilous can help voyagers define whatconstitutes a weather situation that couldcause a passage to be delayed or perhapscanceled altogether.

METE0ROLOGY

Weatherfax stationsand broadcastschedulesRadiofax, also known as HF FAX, radiofacsimile or

weatherfax, is a means of broadcasting graphic

weather maps and other graphic images via HF

radio. HF radiofax is also known as WEFAX,

although this term is generally used to refer to the

reception of weather charts and imagery via satel-

lite. Maps are received using a dedicated radiofax

receiver or a single-sideband shortwave receiver

connected to an external facsimile recorder or PC

equipped with a radiofax interface and application

software.

Halifax, Nova ScotiaCall sign Frequencies Broadcast timesCFH 122.5 kHz Continuous

4271 kHz Continuous6496.4 kHz Continuous10536 kHz Continuous13510 kHz Continuous

BostonCall sign Frequencies Broadcast timesNMF 4235 kHz 2030–1028

6340.5 kHz Continuous9110 kHz Continuous12750 kHz 1400–2228

New OrleansCall sign Frequencies Broadcast timesNMG 4317.9 kHz Continuous

8503.9 kHz Continuous12789.9 kHz Continuous17146.4 kHz 1200–2045

Pt. Reyes, Calif.Call sign Frequencies Broadcast timesNMC 4346 kHz 1040-1608

8682 kHz Continuous12786 kHz Continuous17151.2 kHz Continuous22527 kHz 1840-2356

Kodiak, AlaskaCall sign Frequencies Broadcast timesNOJ 2054 kHz Continuous

4298 kHz Continuous8459 kHz Continuous12412.5 kHz Continuous

HonoluluCall sign Frequencies Broadcast timesKVM70 9982.5 kHz 0519–1556

11090 kHz Continuous16135 kHz 1719–0356

All broadcast times are UTCSource: NOAA, National Weather Service

OCEAN ALMANAC

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412009 OCEAN VOYAGER

issues, sailing in the more protectedwaters later in the passage might allowconditions to remain in the Favorablecategory. In any event, having a chartlike Table 3 completed well in advance ofthe trip will make the decisions moreclear cut, and in this case, will likely leadto a pleasurable trip, or will likely avoid acase where departure occurs as sched-uled, but the family has a miserable time.

Even with well-defined limits, somesubjective analysis will still be requiredduring the evaluation of weather forecastinformation. For example, it will be nec-essary to make a determination of howlong a period of time conditions in theAcceptable and/or Marginal categoriescan be tolerated. If it appears that condi-tions in the Marginal category will pre-vail for an hour or two on a three-daypassage, then a decision may be made togo ahead with the passage, but on theother hand, if it appears that these typeof conditions will last for 12 hours, thatmay lead to a different decision. Butagain, even with these more subjectiveevaluations, having the well defined lim-its in place will lead to an easier decisionmaking process.

Let’s look at how Table 3 might beconstructed differently in different situa-tions. First, consider the same vessel, butinstead of a family vacation, think abouta delivery passage from Annapolis backto New York with a hired crew with lotsof experience. What will change? TheIdeal category will likely change very lit-tle, perhaps slightly higher wind speeds tomake the boat go faster. Somewhatstronger winds will likely show up in theFavorable category as well, and perhapsslightly higher seas. Conditions for theAcceptable category will likely featurestronger winds and higher seas alongwith a greater tolerance for inclementweather. This is mainly due to the factthat having a good time has beenremoved as a goal for this voyage, in factthe goal is simply to get the boat back toNew York without any damage orinjuries to the crew.

These adjustments will push theAcceptable category closer to the Mar-ginal category, which itself may benudged a bit higher for winds and seas.With a professional crew, the Unaccept-able category will likely be pushed highertoward the Perilous category. The Per-

ilous category may be increase a bit aswell, due again to the more experiencedcrew, but will still need to take accountof the limits of the vessel.

If the vessel involved was a motoryacht, the categories would also bedefined differently. In this situation, peri-ods of time with no wind change frombeing liabilities to being strong assets. Seastate, particularly wind waves, maybecome more of a liability when headinginto the wind due to the higher speed ofthe vessel and the resulting poundingthat can occur in these situations. Thusthe limits for sea state as one goes up thecategory list may be lower than for oursailboat trip. The Ideal category wouldlikely show wind direction nearly dueastern rather than abeam.

Power voyagersIn most cases, for larger vessels, the defi-nition of each category will tend to havehigher winds and seas, with smaller ves-sels the opposite case will prevail. In fact,this procedure can be used very effective-ly for making decisions for trans-oceanicpassages for large commercial vessels liketankers as well. Obviously, in these situa-tions, the definitions of each category willbe significantly different than for our sail-boat trip, but the procedure to constructthe table, and then to apply it usingavailable weather forecast informationwill be much the same.

To summarize, well ahead of any pas-sage, make a determination about howweather information will be obtained.As noted at the outset, there are manypossibilities for this. Also, well ahead ofany passage, define the limits of condi-tions for the passage using a table likeTable 2. Then, as the passage approach-es, use the weather forecast informationfrom your chosen source and apply it tothe defined limits of conditions, andthis will allow for a strongly objectivedecision making process which willassist in meeting the goals of a passage,or in avoiding an unsatisfactory or dan-gerous passage. ■

Ken McKinley earned a bachelor’s degree inatmospheric science from Cornell Universityin 1980, and attended graduate school inmeteorology at MIT. He founded his ownmeteorological consulting firm, Locus Weath-er, in Camden, Maine, in 1991.

METE0ROLOGYOCEAN ALMANAC

U.S. Coast GuardHF/MFweather broadcastsThe U.S. Coast Guard broadcasts NationalWeather Service high-seas forecasts and stormwarnings from six high-seas communication sta-tions, most of them remotely operated from mas-ter stations on each coast. Transmission range isdependent on operating frequency, time of dayand atmospheric conditions, and it can vary fromonly short distances to several thousand miles.Allbroadcasts use a synthesized voice (Perfect Paul),and all frequencies are upper single-sideband(USB) HF. Carrier frequencies shown. ITU channelnumbers as follows: 4426 (#424), 6501 (#601),8764 (#816), 13089 (#1205), 17314 (#1625).

All times are in UTC. All frequencies arein kHz.Camslant/Chesapeake, Va./NMNTime Frequency03301 4426, 6501, 876405152 4426, 6501, 876409301 4426, 6501, 876411152 6501, 8764, 1308915301 6501, 8764, 1308921301 6501, 8764, 1308923152 6501, 8764, 130891 offshore forecast2 high-seas forecastCamspac/Pt. Reyes, Calif./NMCTime Frequency0430 4426, 8764, 130891030 4426, 8764, 130891630 8764, 13089, 173142230 8764, 13089, 17314Honolulu NMOTime Frequency0600 8764, 65011200 8764, 65010005 8764, 130891800 8764, 13089Kodiak, Alaska/NOJTime Frequency0203 65011645 6501Guam/NRVTime Frequency0330 130890930 65011530 65012130 13089

Honolulu, Guam and 25 Coast Guard Groupstations also broadcast offshore forecasts on MF2670 kHz following an announcement on 2182kHz. Typical transmission range is 50 to 150 nmduring the day and 150 to 300 nm at night. Forschedules and much more information onNational Weather Service marine products, visit:www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/hfvoice.htm.

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OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

For more than eight yearsMark Roye and Nancy Krillhave called the Rolf Modigh-

designed, 44-foot Tamara theirhome. The Swedish-built steel ketchhas taken them to the high latitudesof Labrador and the Antarctic.Mark was formerly the owner andskipper of a 91-foot commercial fish-ing vessel in Alaskan waters andNancy has had extensive experiencetraveling and exploring in countriesall over the world. After selling theirworkboat and buying Tamara,Mark and Nancy voyaged to CapeChidley in northernmost Labrador,sailed to southernmost Patagonia,across the Drake Passage and thenexplored the Antarctic Peninsulabefore heading north to the Galápa-gos Islands and then Mexico.

Mark and Nancy have heavilymodified Tamara for the vessel’s roleas a voyager. On their passage toLabrador, Tamara carried 265 gal-lons of fuel, giving them extendedrange under power; 200 gallons ofwater; a diesel stove and foam insu-lation. One of the 44-footer’s state-rooms has been converted to aworkshop and the vessel is well-

VoyagingSkills

• Cruising crimes

• Dinghy security

In T

his

Secti

on

equipped with saftey gear. SinceMark was twice forced to abandonship while commercial fishing, herealizes the importance of immersionsuits, EPIRBs and even a specialabandon ship bag intended for useshould they get driven ashore. Thisbag includes a tent, sleeping bags,cold weather boots and clothing,stove, food and a shotgun.

OV:What are the top skills voy-agers need to know before

going voyaging?

MR&NK:Good sailingskills, naviga-

tional expertise, and communica-tions — including radio usage andweather forecast reception, elec-tronic mail systems, remote man-agement of finances online — arepretty much axiomatic of course,as are the routines of near shorecoastal piloting, radar observation,anchoring and mooring, evencooking and provisioning. But I’dsay that most of the cruisers we’vemet who have ventured beyondthe typical Snowbird runs are fairlyskilled in these basics. What sepa-rates those who have pushed

much farther afield from the rest isa greater degree of self-sufficiency.The ability to install, maintain andrepair virtually every onboard sys-tem from the sails and rig, to theengine, outboard motor, electricalsystem, hydraulics, even the toilet,becomes essential. Similarly, someforeign language skill, adaptabilityto new surroundings, and anunderstanding as to how things getdone — or not — in a differentpart of the world are indispensable.We have seen some people quittheir cruising dream because theyno longer can live without thecomforts of home, be they materialor interpersonal, and they feel lit-erally like fish out of water. But tosum it all up, I’d say master yourgeneral seamanship and sailing,learn to do most mechanicalchores yourself, then be willing todo it all on your own wherever youare, while at the same time enjoy-ing what it is that is different therethan it is at home. Learn to keepan open mind.

For voyagers

Mark Royeand Nancy

Krill, thefarthest

destinationsrequire thebest skills

Mar

k R

oye

an

d N

ancy

Kri

ll p

ho

tos

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432009 OCEAN VOYAGER

OV:How do you prepare beforegoing on a voyage? What is

your planning routine?

MR&NK:We are pret-ty much the

same as most other voyagers as todetailed planning, but we startwith a great deal of day dreamingand fantasy. There is nothing bet-ter than to dream about whereyou’d like to go and do, and onlyafter some time dreaming begin todo the detailed planning. This wayyour planning will take intoaccount many more eventualitiesthan it otherwise would. I’d read,dreamed, and schemed everywhich way before finally sailing forthe Arctic and the Antarctic, andwhen we decided to sail to Patago-nia and Cape Horn it was becauseanother cruising couple hadshown us their photo collection oftheir time in Chile. Nancy leanedover to me and said, “That’swhere I want to go next.” So webegan to dream, and then to plan.

Once you have decided whereyou want to go, and why youwant to be there, you’ll have a fairnotion what it will require to doso. And by this I mean everything— how much time, money, provi-sioning, consumables, specialequipment and so on. So forexample we knew what specialgear we would need in Patagonia

and Antarctica before we leftMaine, and knew what we had toput aboard before we sailed, andwhat we could get later inArgentina. In the mean time, wespent a year and a half along theway. The cold weather clothing,skis, spare parts, extra line andanchors and so on were not nec-essary in Brazil, but they werealready aboard because a little bitof inquiring of friends, writtenaccounts and intuition born ofexperience told us that we couldnot depend on procuring theseitems locally. So that voyage wasplanned well before the voyagethat put us in position to finally go— rather like the trek to basecamp before trying for the sum-mit, the approach is a voyage inand of itself.

After considering special equip-ment or other matters, for exam-ple the very involved permittingrequirements for the Antarcticvoyage or special visas and so on,the timing and weather concernsof a voyage for us are driven essen-tially by history. That is to say thatwe treat the pilot charts and coastpilot references as gospel. Todaythey are all incorporated into com-puter programs as well, like VisualPassage Planner. So we always gowhen the going is good, as shownby sailing voyages for hundreds of

years. But we try to take that onestep beyond if possible, and do anypassage we can not only duringthe best season, but during thehistorically best month of that sea-son. As a result we have beenfrom the Arctic to the Antarctic,and have had only one gale at sea,and even that one was of shortduration. Of course we have hadheavy weather, such as brief butviolent pamperos off Argentina,and severe rachas (williwaws) inPatagonia, and some real scream-ers in northern Labrador, but theywere expected, or were only afterwe’d been able to get well securedin an anchorage.

After these considerations, forus, it’s a matter of routine generat-ed by experience. We know theexpected duration of the voyage,and we plug in a time proven pro-visioning list that we have refinedthat suites our tastes. We put onthe fuel we expect to need plus asafety margin of about double ifpossible (if you loosen the rig,range under power is very com-forting). When we returned fromAntarctica we still had one thirdof the fuel and half the water withwhich we departed, as well as pro-visions for several more months,albeit not much fresh produce.Thus we had assured a very widesafety margin.

Above, MarkRoye and NancyKrill enjoy asunny day inAntarctica. Left,Tamara passesan iceberg offLabrador.

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44 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

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Internet linkswww.oceannavigator.comOcean Navigator.Your favorite magazine(and seamanship school) has even morestories in its 16 years of archives.All linksmentioned below are posted.www.boat-links.comThe mother of all maritime links. Incredi-ble list of links to all things having to dowith the water.www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htmNWS marine product information. NOAA’sTim Rulon maintains an outstandingguide to all sorts of Web and radioweather resources.www.nhc.noaa.govNational Hurricane Center. Extensive trop-ical weather reports for the Atlantic andPacific oceans.www.ndbc.noaa.govNational Data Buoy Center. Get real-timeweather reports from buoys at sea andweather reporting stations.www.usps.orgUnited States Power Squadrons. Naviga-tion instruction.www.co-ops.nos.noaa.govNOAA oceanographic products. Real-timeand extended tide predictions, nowimproved.www.usno.navy.milU.S. Naval Observatory. Sun and moonrise/set times, moon phases, eclipses andother data.www.navcen.uscg.govU.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center, theoffice that maintains GOS, DGPS andloran. Lots of communications informa-tion, Local Notices to Mariners and more.www.oceanservice.noaa.gov/dataexplorerNOS Mapfinder. Once you master thecomplex interface, you can downloadlow-resolution (85-dpi) versions of NOAAcharts, aerial photos and more.www.chartmaker.ncd.noaa.govNOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. Info onordering charts, also Chart No. 1 andmany downloadable historical charts.www.marineplanner.comMarine Planner.An ambitious site with afull catalog of viewable and printableSoftCharts, weather, route making andmuch more.With charts for your PDA.www.weather.comThe Weather Channel’s Internet site.Offers weather-for-dummies-style prod-ucts, including radar and satellite cover-age, and zone forecasts.

www.royal-met-soc.org.uk The Royal Meteorological Society in theU.K. is a boon to the weather enthusiastor amateur sailor, providing links for fore-casts, satellite and radar images, anddetailed information on all weather-relat-ed activities.www.meteofrance.comAnother handy site for weather-relatedinformation is the French weather service,Météo France, which includes an English-language option for Franco-impairedusers.www.maptech.comMaptech’s MapServer.Well-organizedaccess to charts, topos, aerial photogra-phy and more.www.ssca.orgSeven Seas Cruising Association. Featuresvery lively and open discussion boardsand downright scary news flashes.www.pancanal.comPanama Canal. Information on the canal,including regulations and fees.www.arrl.org/tis/info/marine.htmlAmerican Radio Relay League. Learnabout ham radio for boaters.www.uscgboating.orgU.S. Coast Guard Office of Marine Safety.Regulations, publications and more.www.thedailysail.comThe Daily Sail (formerly Mad for Sailing).An excellent British site covering oceanracing.www.ussailing.orgU.S. Sailing Association.The major racingorganization in the United States.www.sailing.orgInternational Sailing Federation.World-wide racing news.www.orc.orgOffshore Racing Council. Details of multi-ple rating rules and worldwide race calen-dar.www.gpsinformation.netJoe Mehaffey and Jack Yeazels’ GPS infor-mation Web site. Much useful informationabout GPS,particularly Garmin handhelds.www.cgaux.orgU.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Boating cours-es and safety checks.www.boats.comAn excellent resource for prospective boatowners and for those researching prod-ucts.The site also offers access to theexcellent newsletter Scuttlebutt, whichsupplies daily racing news from aroundthe world.www.reedsalmanac.comReed’s Nautical Almanacs. Extensive linklists, cruising guide lists, free tide chartsand more.

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OV:What is the most valuable skillyou’ve picked up while voyaging?

MR&NK:Since I came tovoyaging after a

career as a professional mariner — I’downed and skippered a succession of fish-ing vessels throughout Alaska — I wasfairly well grounded in all of the basicseamanship, navigational, communica-tions and mechanical skills. Nancy had agreat deal of time on the work boats aswell, and we’d done a few long runsbetween Alaska and Seattle together. Forme, the most valuable skill I’ve picked upalong the way has been a second lan-guage. I have a long way to go, but cannow function fairly well in Spanish, ascan Nancy. We find that we do very wellif we are “on the same page” with thenative speaker. So we may not be able tocarry on a wide ranging discussion aboutgeneral topics, but I can talk with a fish-erman or diesel mechanic fairly well sincewe both know the underlying subject

those people who proved out for severalseasons.

OV:Do you find voyagers are more orless skilled than in years past?

MR&NK:I have not seen agreat difference in

the nearly nine years we’ve been at this,so I can’t really say. What I do see is avery great difference regionally. So thosewho only venture to Mexico or Snowbirdto the Carribean and back are generallyless skilled than those cruising the pointyend of things. But those out on the edgeeither have the skill to begin with or hadacquired it along the way.

That is not to say all of them are high-ly skilled, obviously. We saw occasionalpoor seamanship even in Patagonia andAntarctica, but for the most part the fur-ther you go the higher the standard. Wehave also met a much higher percentageof professional mariners the closer we areto the fringe. Retired ship captains andengineers, ex-navy, fishermen, round the

matter. Nancy has found the same thing,so in terms of practical use of languagewe both have gained that valuable skill.This was so even in Brazil, since Spanishand Portuguese have much in common,so I could at least deal with checking inwith the officials reasonably well by usingmy rudimentary Spanish.

OV:What skills do you most look forin a crewmember?

MR&NK:We have only oncehad another

crewmember along, as we are a cruisingcouple and three is a well known poorgroup dynamic. This was for Antarcticawhere the permitting process with thegovernment essentially demanded anoth-er crew. With the commercial boats thegreatest skill I looked for in crew was theability to learn new skills — I was alwaysskeptical of those who claimed to behighly skilled as it often proved not to bethe case, and then re-training was moredifficult. But then I’d try hard to keep

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46 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

world racers and so on. I suppose, like us,the appeal to them is the greater degreeof difficulty, a personal best if you wish, ofgoing beyond the trade wind routes. Wehave become close friends with several ofthese cruisers, those with some sort ofprofessional maritime background. Thereally rewarding part of these associationsis the high level of mutual respect for oneanother’s experience and skills, eventhough they vary from fisherman tonuclear sub engineer, and trading of skillswith each other. Professionals seem toalways be interested in up-grading theirskills, and instead of a trade conventionor bar association meeting, we just swapmarine experiences and skill sets whenev-er possible, or whenever it’s necessary dueto a particular situation.

OV:Who or what most inspired you togo voyaging?

MR&NK:The voyages ofYankee whalers,

sealers, and maritime fur traders of twocenturies ago. Although by today’s ethicwe cannot condone their activities, inthe context of their time these were thereal explorers. They went literally to theends of the earth, were driven by theirown entrepreneurial motives, and gener-ally kept their discoveries to themselves.At the same time, they had to be com-pletely self-sufficient in all regards, andtook tremendous risks. Even as late as1865, one out of every 17 whale shipsventuring into Cumberland Sound offBaffin Island was lost! We tried severaltimes for Cumberland Sound from

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

Halifax

Panam

a

St. Tho

mas

Berm

ud

a

Miam

i

No

rfolk

New

York

Atlantic distance table

Halifax 600 790 1413 756 1595 2338 1785 2708 2364 6492 4630 6800New York 600 271 1100 697 1434 2016 2246 3180 2815 6786 4770 6920

Norfolk 790 271 698 683 1296 1825 2401 3335 2979 6790 4723 6900Miami 1413 1100 698 956 991 1249 2900 3800 3578 6800 4879 6882

Bermuda 756 697 683 956 872 1702 2201 2903 2651 6269 4110 6300St. Thomas 1595 1434 1296 991 872 1072 2393 3323 3279 5904 3542 5886

Panama 2338 2016 1825 1249 1702 1072 3439 4351 4247 6508 4284 4093Azores 1785 2246 2401 2900 2201 2393 3439 946 1377 5040 3875 6282

Gibraltar 2708 3180 3335 3800 2903 3323 4351 946 977 5072 4180 6452Fastnet 2364 2815 2979 3578 2651 3279 4247 1377 977 5880 4873 7151

Cape Town 6492 6786 6790 6800 6269 5904 6508 5040 5072 5880 3273 4731Rio de Janeiro 4630 4770 4723 4879 4110 3542 4284 3875 4180 4873 3273 2338

Cape Horn 6800 6920 6900 6882 6300 5886 4093 6282 6452 7151 4731 2338

Azo

res

Gib

raltar

Fastnet

Cap

e Tow

n

Rio

de Jan

eiro

Cap

e Ho

rn

PILOTING & NAVOCEAN ALMANAC

Ho

ng

Ko

ng

Yoko

ham

a

Sydn

ey

Pago

Pago

Au

ckland

Ho

no

lulu

Papeete

Cap

e Ho

rn

Panam

a

Los A

ng

eles

Pacific distance table

Sitka 823 1302 1640 4524 7705 2386 4537 4635 6176 6595 5136 3620Vancouver 823 812 1091 4032 7248 2423 4396 4549 6191 6814 6361 4262

San Francisco 1302 812 349 3245 6458 2091 3663 4151 5680 6448 6044 4536Los Angeles 1640 1091 349 2913 6100 2228 3571 4163 5658 6511 6380 4839

Panama 4524 4032 3245 2913 4162 4685 4493 5656 6516 7674 9195 7682Cape Horn 7705 7248 6458 6100 4162 6644 4333 5381 6232 7301 10404 9642

Honolulu 2386 2423 2091 2228 4685 6644 2381 2276 3820 4420 4857 3395Papeete 4537 4396 3663 3571 4493 4333 2381 1236 2216 3308 6132 5140

Pago Pago 4635 4549 4151 4163 5656 5381 2276 1236 1565 2377 4948 4135Auckland 6176 6191 5680 5658 6516 6232 3820 2216 1565 1280 5060 4789

Sydney 6595 6814 6448 6511 7674 7301 4420 3308 2377 1280 4086 4330Hong Kong 5136 6361 6044 6380 9195 10404 4857 6132 4948 5060 4086 1585Yokohama 3620 4262 4536 4839 7682 9642 3395 5140 4135 4789 4330 1585

San Fran

cisco

Van

cou

ver

Sitka

Labrador, but the west side of theLabrador Sea is still very difficult. Wefailed on three attempts, even with apowerful diesel, plenty of fuel and goodcommunications. Their efforts can notbut be inspiring, no matter how we mayfeel about their exploitation today.

OV:What are your future voyagingplans?Where do you intend to

sail next?

MR&NK:We will sail fromMexico for Hawaii

in March, then Alaska in June. ThoughI spent 20 seasons all over Alaska’swaters, there is so much left undone.We will take Tamara along the AleutianIsland chain, and then into the BeringSea, finally nestling her into PrinceWilliam Sound. ■

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VoyagingSkills

Given the recent series ofcriminal incidents involvingvoyagers off the coast of

Somalia, voyagers frequently askme if I have ever been attacked bypirates during my two circumnavi-gations and numerous other pas-sages. Although I once sailed bythe Somalian coast on the wayfrom the Maldives to Aden, theanswer is “No.” I have found overthe years that my boat, or myself,are far more likely to attract theattention of criminals on landrather than at sea.

But there are a few regions to

which I would give a wide berth; afriend of mine who lived in Bruneifor many years told me several hor-rifying stories about pirates in theSouth Philippines. Like the Soma-lian pirates, these Philippine pirateswere desperately poor locals whoprowl the waters off their coasts forpassers-by. In many poverty-strick-en and lonely parts of the worldthere are opportunists who maypaddle or swim out to your boat tosee what they can pilfer if you areunwise enough to anchor nearby.

Probably the most openlylawless place I ever voyaged towas Colon, at the Caribbean endof the Panama Canal. I shouldhave been warned when Istopped by the local supermarket;standing by each cash register was

a tough-lookinghombresporting apump shot-gun. I wasmaking mysecondtransit of

the big ditch in theearly part of 1996; the place hadclearly deteriorated since my firstvisit in 1991, which was surprisingconsidering the US invasion hadoccurred in 1989.

In cahootsWe were warned at the yacht clubto go everywhere by taxi, a sensi-ble precaution unless the taxi driv-er was in cahoots with the localmuggers, which I suspect was thecase. A crewmember and I took ataxi into downtown Colon to buya fairly commonplace electrical fit-ting. At the first electrical store wewere told the fitting was availableat another store, just at the end ofthe block. We walked there alongthe crowded sidewalk while the

taxi followed us slowly. There wereseveral customers inside the store,as we waited three young menentered the store and dispersedthemselves. I paid little attention.At a sudden shout, one of them,who was directly behind me,threw his arm round my neck in achoke-hold. The second thrust hishand in the pocket which held mywallet. The third parried anyattempt by my crewmember tocome to my aid. Gasping forbreath, my gaze was riveted on theceiling tiles as I held on to the wal-let in my pocket. The assailantand I fought for the wallet andsuddenly something tore free.

The fellow gave a cry and allthree darted through the door andonto the crowded street. I lookedaround, the other customers hadprudently melted away, the assis-tants behind the counter graspedbaseball bats, but had made noattempt to help me. Why shouldthey? They lived there and had todeal with street thugs all the time,I was a gringo who would be gonein a few days. In my hand was a

Left, pirates onthe deck of ahighjackedfreighter are theusual image ofvoyaging lawlessness. But voyagers aremore likely toencounter prob-lems when goingashore, above.

An

dy

O’G

rad

y

Co

urtesy U

.S. Navy

World

girdling

voyagers

need to

keep their

wits about

them —

especially

on land

by Eric Forsyth

Cruising crimes

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Voyaging Skills

piece of the wallet, which was made ofthin leather. We had torn it in half, butunfortunately for the thief my half stillhad the money in it. It was a well choreo-graphed operation and could have beenmuch worse if they had used knives, so Ithink we were lucky. Apart from ascratchy voice and a sore throat for a fewdays I suffered no ill effects. Why did Ithink the taxi driver had tipped them off?Although he came into the store with usinitially, he left when the three entered.Also the thief knew exactly which pocketto go for.

An ancient skillPicking pockets is an ancient skill prac-ticed in much of the world, often bysmall gangs who are experts at causing asmall distraction. I have had my pocketspicked twice in Brazil, once by a bunchof kids who used the trick of squirtingsome green paste on my shoe and thendrawing my attention to the ‘ice cream’ Ihad apparently dropped on my shoe. In acrowded streetcar in Lisbon I was jostledby a gang near the ticket dispensingmachine, one of them neatly removedmy video camera from the backpack Iwas wearing.

In Guyana, on the north coast ofSouth America, a few dollars were liftedfrom my pocket while I was standing in aline at the post-office. Petty thievery wasso common that the pay phones in thestreets were free; the authorities hadapparently decided it was cheaper to payfor local calls than keep repairing thephones after theyhad been brokeninto. At least thatis what a residenttold me.

But sometimesit went beyondpicking pocketsand became moreviolent. The onlyother voyagermoored inGuiana while Iwas there was beaten when he returnedto his boat after midnight. An expensiveitem I lost to thieves while voyaging was alaptop computer, which also cost me a lotof lost data. I was returning to New Yorkfrom Uruguay by air for a couple weekswhile en route to Antarctica. The com-puter was not functioning properly. I fig-

ured I could get it repaired while home. Iwrapped it in a sleeping bag and stuffed itin a duffel, so it was not obvious. Ichecked the bag, but when I got homethe computer was gone. Clearly the X-rayscan had detected it at Montevideo. Ifthe security people are also dishonest, theanti-terrorist measures make life too easyfor them. To make matters worse, the air-line practically accused me of fabricatingthe loss; although I had boarding passesand the claim ticket, I could not producethe original sales invoice!

Fiona cleaned outThe most expensive loss I ever sufferedwas when I parked the boat at Raiatea inFrench Polynesia. My wife and I werecruising the Society Islands, she hadflown home and then developed a seriouscancer which eventually killed her. I flewhome to join her and left my Westsail 42,Fiona, at a small shipyard that servicedlocal charter boats. She was propped upon 55 gallon oil drums and locked, but Ileft a hatch slightly open under thedinghy on the foredeck to maintain someair circulation.

When I returned a year later the boathad been thoroughly looted, mostly oftools and electronics. There was no signof a forced entry. I had left the key to thecompanionway hatch with the yardowner and taken out insurance againstmost disasters, including robbery. I sus-pected the key had been lifted at somestage and the thieves had worked throughthe boat at their leisure. But the insur-

Video stills from EricForsyth showing anencounter off Java whenhe was closely approachedby a small freighter. Hadhe carried a gun, he wouldhave brought it on deck.Ultimately, the eventproved innocuous.

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492009 OCEAN VOYAGER

ance refused any claim citing theunlocked hatch under the inverteddinghy. I had no time to argue; the boatneeded an enormous amount of work toget her ready for a departure in a coupleweeks. This was the time the French offi-cials had given me to clear out of theislands before the arrival of the cyclones,which in fact did hit Tahiti two weeksafter we left.

Strange behaviorThe closest I ever came to an apparenthigh seas pirate was on a leg from Christ-mas Island to Phuket in Thailand. It wasturning into a long, mostly windless pas-sage; we were about 50 miles off the coastof Java jogging along under full sail atabout 3 knots. We became aware of thelow pitched rhythmic thumping of awheezing diesel engine which impercep-tively became louder and louder over anhour or two. It emanated from a disrep-utable-looking small freighter that slowlyovertook us on the port side. As it drew

alongside only twenty or thirty yardsaway, the noise was deafening and oilysmoke trailed over the calm sea.

We were baffled by its behaviorwhich seemed very suspicious, if I hadhad a rifle on board I would havechambered a round at that stage, but Ididn’t carry a gun. As a precaution westarted the engine, but left the trans-mission in neutral.

There seemed to be little activity onthe deck of the stranger, however. Justone crewmember calmly hanging outlaundry on the stern rail. Then thefreighter suddenly jogged towards us andthe stern slid only a few feet in front ofthe bowsprit. What was going on? Weeased the main sheet to slow the boat,but the visitor slowly pulled ahead and acouple of hours later its smoke and noisehad disappeared over the horizon.

It was a few weeks later when I foundout what the probable reason was when Idescribed the incident to an old Far Eastresident. He laughed and said there was

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no need to have worried. The Chinesecrew were simply transferring their ‘joss,’their bad luck spirit, to us. They believedbad luck came from a spirit that lurkedon their boat, if they came close enoughmaybe it would jump onto Fiona. I don’tthink it did; we made it to Phuket andhad a wonderful time over Christmas andNew Years.

I have never carried a gun —except when voyaging in polar bear ter-ritory. I sail unarmed on the assumptionthat any genuine pirates would almostcertainly outnumber and outgun us. Inmany countries carrying a gun results inserious problems with customs whenchecking in. Guns and ammunition areoften confiscated and getting themback may be difficult.

The incident near Java illustratesanother reason why having a gun may bea bad idea — something may appear omi-nous enough to cause the gun to be read-ied, and thus escalate the situation, whenthere is an innocuous explanation.

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(DHS/MEMA)

Continuing EducationCourse Offerings

2009

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Photo credits clockwise from top left: Ocean Resue Systems; Courtesy www.gozzard.com; Courtesy www.nordhavn.com; The Training Vessel "State of Maine"

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training partner specialists including but not

limited to: Downeast Maritime Training,

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Step aboard Maritime-built boats and meet the builders at the

Nova Scotia In-Water Boat ShowHalifax, Nova Scotia

31st July - 2nd August, 2009

Nova Scotia boats … … built for the sea!

www.nsboats.com

Plan your trip! Summer ‘09

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Mistaken identityMany years ago a friend of mine wasdelivering a small sailboat from St.Thomas to Texas with only a teenager ascrew. Off the coast of the DominicanRepublic they were approached by a smallmotor boat operated by a few scruffy-looking characters. No one had a radio,the men in the boat gesticulated wildlyand pointed to a distant dock on theshore. My friend ignored them and sailedstolidly on. After more yelling they pro-duced a rifle and put a shot through themainsail. Although he was convinced hemight be sailing to his death he put thetiller over and headed for the shore. Hetold me that if he had possessed a gun hewould have been tempted to make a fightof it. As he got closer to the dock he real-ized he was being headed by a wind shiftand put the tiller over to make a shorttack. The fellows in the power boat mis-interpreted this move and put anothershot through the sail. He rapidly resumedhis original course, sailing as close to the

wind as humanly possible. When he wastied up to the dock he watched in trepi-dation as the other boat came alongside.The leader jumped on board and in amixture of Spanish and poor English toldmy friend he belonged the DominicanNavy and he wanted to inspect hispapers. Naturally my friend had no cruis-ing permit for the Dominican Republicand he should have stayed outside territo-rial waters. He made his apologies, pro-duced a bottle of rum and in the morningwent on his way with nothing worse thana headache. It could have been a lotworse, he told me, if he had carried a rifleand made a fight of it.

What can be made from these yarns?Obviously there are a few spots in theworld that require a wide berth — youcan keep up to date on those areas on theradio nets. If you feel impelled to carryfirearms, be very careful you don’t exacer-bate the situation. And finally rememberthere are far more sharks on land thanthere are in the sea. ■

Contributing editor Eric Forsyth wasawarded the Cruising Club of America’sBlue Water Medal in 2000. He has madetwo circumnavigations and cruised both polarregions. Details of his cruises can be found atwww.yachtfiona.com.

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VoyagingSkills

In a rolly anchorage at the Pacif-ic side of the Panama Canal, thecruising net’s Controller brought

bad news: “To all cruisers, I justwanted to let you know that twocruisers had inflatable dinghiesstolen from the anchorage lastnight.” I felt a sinking feeling in mystomach. I quickly glanced over atmy own little inflatable, safe ondeck for the night.

As the net continued, bothunfortunate captains spoke abouttheir stolen dinghies. Both hadengines and were locked on cablesin the water. One was attachedwith thick old rigging wire, whichwas cut through with barely awhisper. A voyager who’d been inthe area for many months spoke

up: “Thieves aroundhere just want theengines, they probablyknifed the dinks andsank them.” Theengine can then besold on the blackmarket to fishermenor other boaters whoneed the horsepower.

Upsetting as itwas, the whole inci-

dent got me thinking about dinghysecurity. No doubt talking to localsand finding out about the securitysituation in the area is vitallyimportant, but how do you stopsomeone from cutting throughsomething as tough as riggingwire? I eventually found theanswer to that, and discoveredseveral ways to protect my dinghyfrom theft or from loss.

Thieves often strike where theyfind an easy mark, but can befoiled by anything that increases

How to

prevent your

dinghy from

being lost or

stolen

Story and photos by

Darrel Trueman

the time, noise, and visibility oftheir crime. That said, engines areusually the main target, the biggerthe better. When the two dinghieswere stolen in Panama, anothervoyager told me he also had adinghy in the water that night,trailing on a painter rope. Thetrick to avoiding theft, he con-vinced me, lies in having a smalloutboard, maximum two or threehorses. No self-respecting thiefwould lift such an engine, especial-ly when there’s little market for it.

For voyagers, an excellent anti-theft strategy is to carry two out-boards, one small and one large.Use the small engine when inports or other places with light fin-gered locals. Since many smallengines have an integral fuel tank,there’s also one less item to bestolen. You can then use the biggeroutboard everywhere else, particu-larly in remote areas or when youhave to dinghy a long distance.

For an outboard to be covered

by insurance its theft must be‘forcible and violent.’ In otherwords, it needs to be locked upsecurely. You’ll need at least twogood locks — one to lock the out-board to the dinghy, and one tolock the dinghy to a dock. Consid-ering that a hacksaw or hammercan get through a cheap lock inless than 30 seconds, considerFederal, Abloy, Abus, or othersturdy brands with corrosion resist-ant internal components.

Slot locks can also be a deter-rent to thieves as they restrictaccess to your engine’s clampscrews or prevent them from turn-ing. Stazo and Nawa brand lockscan slow a determined dinghypirate for several minutes. Perhapsmore importantly, a thief maydecide it’s all just too much trou-ble, and simply move along to findan easier mark.

One way to lose a dinghyHaving your dinghy stolen is one

Above right, acrowded dinghy

dock can be atempting target

to a dinghythief. One

approach toavoid theft is to

use a smallengine on yourdinghy, makingit less attractive

for a thief toresell.

Dinghy security

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thing, but losing it to sheer carelessness issomething else entirely. I should haveknown better, particularly at a place asremote as Kanton Island, 800 miles northof Samoa.

My sloop, Blue Dolphin, was anchoredin the massive lagoon when my solo sleepwas interrupted by a radio call fromAtlantis, the only other boat there.

“Blue Dolphin, are you missingsomething?”

“Uh… what?” “Your dingy.”I poked my head up into the cockpit

and looked around. My dinghy was gone.“My dinghy’s gone,” I said into

the VHF.“Yeah, do you see it on the shore

there?”I scanned the nearby lee shore of

Kanton Island’s massive lagoon and sureenough, there was my dingy. Phew. Had Ibeen anchored on the windward side ofthe lagoon, my dinghy would be manymiles away by now.

“Yeah, I see it. Thank you.”“We’ll be over in a minute to pick

you up.”I had tied the dinghy to Blue Dolphin’s

stern, but the painter had rubbed upagainst a fitting on the transom all nightlong, sawing it through. This happenedafter I’d changed the way I attached thepainter that evening, just to try some-thing different. Now, whenever I trail adinghy for any reason, I use two painters.

Get it out of the waterHoisting your dinghy up out ofthe water makes it much moredifficult to steal, less prone tocapsize in rough conditions, andless exposed to marine foul-ing. It’ll also prevent sealsfrom lounging in it — a prob-lem particular not only to theGalápagos. The disadvan-tages include the few extraminutes it takes to lift thedinghy and return it to the

Locking bars allied with solidlocks designed for the marineenvironment, like this Abusmodel, make the process ofremoving a dinghy enginemore challenging.

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54 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

water, and the fact that the occasionalfish and squid can no longer hop in toprovide you with easy bait.

Stern davits are a popular place tostore dinghies, and can provide platformsfor solar panels, fishing rods, or antennas.One experienced voyaging couple I methad davits, but used them only for liftingtheir dinghy when at anchor. Theyrefused to park it on the davits duringopen water passages, for fear of being‘pooped’ by a large following sea.

This is certainly a valid concern, asbeing hit in the stern by a large spillingwave could fill the dinghy with morethan a ton of water and spell disaster inheavy conditions. The answer is to installdavits that lift your dinghy very highabove the transom and out of the reachof tall seas. Or just stow the dink else-where, such as on the deck. You won’t beusing it on open water passages anyway.

Another way to get your tender out ofthe water is by using a halyard to winch

it up beside the boat, where it can belocked to a stanchion with a chain. Thetricky bit is in tying a harness that willkeep the dink and its outboard levelwhen they’re hanging in the air together.

Fenders can minimize chafe between thehull and the dinghy.

While on the subject of hoistingexpensive things in and out of the water,it’s well worth attaching a lanyard to an

Voyaging Skills

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2009 races of note

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552009 OCEAN VOYAGER

outboard. If you move the engine fromthe stern rail down to the dinghy, forexample, it’s good to know it’s tied onwhen it slips and heads for the bottom.An outboard engine harness is also agood insurance policy — particularly ifyou’re planning a long trip. A strong lift-ing harness, homemade or store bought,will give you a good handhold on youroutboard — an item that’s awkward tograpple at the best of times, let alone in arough anchorage.

No matter what method you use toget your dinghy out of the water, it’simportant that you’ve got a system that’sfast and easy to use. That’ll encourageeveryone to take the time to stow thedinghy properly.

Misidentification and misdirectionAccording to one voyager, it’s notenough to just paint your tender’s cowl-ing. “The reason you see so many out-boards missing cowlings in some ports isbecause the outboards were stolen andthe cowlings — which make them easyto identify from a distance — were dis-posed of. You’ve got to paint the entireleg as well.”

While you’re at it, another trick is tomake your outboard engine appear small-er than it actually is. One voyagershowed me his disguised 10-hp outboard,which sported the number 5. He’dscraped off the 10 and applied a 5 stickerhe’d bought at an outboard dealership.

Boat registration numbers paintedon the engine cowling may also detertheft. The crew of Amulet went furtherby using metal character stamps tohammer their registration number intothe blocks of their outboards. Consideralso that it may be better not to adver-tise the name of your boat on your ten-der, thus signaling to would-be thievesthat you’re away from home. Yourboat’s registration number painted onyour tender should be all the identifica-tion required, sufficient to comply withlegal requirement in most areas.

Brightly colored dinghies may alsodeter theft in some circumstances. Redor yellow can be good color choices,particularly if your dinghy doubles as alife raft.

Dinghy security comes in severalforms. Many dinghies are lost due to neg-ligence, so it pays to be attentive — crew

on anchor watch should keep an eye onany dinghy that’s in the water, for exam-ple. The main challenge is foiling deter-mined thieves, who’ve been known tocut large outboards out of transoms withchainsaws. Key solutions include havinga very small outboard, hoisting yourdinghy out of the water, and using qualitylocks and chain instead of wire cable.

Taken together, measures such as thesewill go a long way to ensuring you andyour dinghy continue to ride off into thesunset together. ■

Darrel Trueman has crossed the Pacifictwice, most recently solo on his 34-footColumbia sloop, Blue Dolphin. His dinghyis locked securely in Cairns, Australia.

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P R E V I O U S L Y O W N E D Y A C H T S

N O R D H A V N 7 6 ( ' 0 5 )“Inside Passage III” is anAft Pilothouse wide-bodymodel with the bulbousbow and cockpit extended4 feet. This series lendsitself very well to operationby owner, or by profession-al crew. She has all of theelegant transoceanic capa-bility that continues to vali-date Nordhavn’s reputationas the premier producer ofpassagemaking motory-achts. US and Canadianimport duty have beenpaid. Located in Washington.

Asking: $3,695,000For details contact Larry Gieselman at 949-496-4933

As a division of P.A.E., the developer and builder of Nordhavn trawlers, we are intimately familiar with each vessel on the market.We also have listings of other quality power and sail vessels. Please call our office nearest you. www.nordhavn.com

N-ON-Mar09

Nordhavn 62 (‘07) $2,395,000 Nordhavn 62 (‘04) $1,100,000 GBSNordhavn 62 (‘98) $1,965,000 Nordhavn 62 (‘93) $995,000 Nordhavn 57 (‘04) $1,100,000 Nordhavn 57 (‘01) $1,200,000 Nordhavn 50 (‘99) $825,000 Nordhavn 50 (‘99) $835,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘06) $900,000 GBS tax paidNordhavn 47 (‘06) $1,150,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘04) $995,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘04) $1,095,000 NZ tax includedNordhavn 47 (‘04) $945,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘04) $995,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘03) $875,000 Nordhavn 47 (‘03) $905,000 Nordhavn 46 (‘00) $715,000

Nordhavn 46 (‘99) $629,000 Nordhavn 46 (‘94) $485,000 Nordhavn 43 (‘05) $799,000 Nordhavn 43 (‘05) $849,000 Nordhavn 40 (‘07) $639,000 Nordhavn 40 (‘01) $449,000 Nordhavn 35 (‘04) $459,000 Nordhavn 35 (‘01) $389,000 Nordhavn 35 (‘01) $359,000 Hatteras 75 (‘88) $850,000 Alden 51 (‘95) PendingCranchi 48 (‘03) $485,000 Hatteras 42 (‘74) $128,500 Chaparral 27 (‘98) $29,750 440 Island Packet (‘07) $499,000 Catalina 36 (‘03) $119,900

“Inisfail” is a one of akind. She comes withhydraulic windlass, bow& stern thrusters, emer-gency bilge pump, cus-tom interior, teak andholly throughout. Everyelectronic possible withvery low hours. Locatedin Florida.Asking: $950,000 For details contact Ray Danet at 772-223-6331

N O R D H AV N 5 0 ( ' 0 4 )

“Stella Maris” presentsa unique opportunity topurchase a Nordhavn 43at a very attractive price.She has the well-provenNordhavn dry stackexhaust system andgravity feed fuel system.Located in Washington.

Asking: $849,000 For details contact DonKohlmann at 206-223-3624

N O R D H AV N 4 3 ( ' 0 5 )

N O R D H A V N 4 7 ( ' 0 5 )“Miss Fitz” ” offers excep-tional value in a pre-ownedNordhavn 47! Some equip-ment includes: Trac stabi-lizers, air conditioning withreverse heat, 12 KW North-ern Lights generator, Lug-gar wing engine, bowthruster. Located in BritishColumbia.Asking: $845,000For details contact BarbaraLippert at 206-223-3624

“Always Friday” is thenewest Nordhavn 55 tocome on the market. She is hull 21 of this line andis extremely wellequipped. Located in VirginiaAsking: $1,899,000For details contact Dave Balfour at 401-293-0910 Jeff Merrill at 949-355-4950

N O R D H A V N 5 5 ( ' 0 7 )

A D D I T I O N A L L I S T I N G S

Nordhavn Yachts NE • 222 Narragansett Blvd. • Portsmouth, RI 02871 • Tel: (401) 293-0910 • Fax: (401) 293-0914 • [email protected] Yachts SE • 600 NW Dixie Hwy • Stuart, FL 34994 • Tel: (772) 223-6331 • Fax: (772) 223-3631 • [email protected]

Nordhavn Yachts NW • 901 Fairview Ave. North, Suite A100 • Seattle, WA 98109 • Tel: (206) 223-3624 • Fax: (206) 223-3628 • [email protected] Yachts SW • 24703 Dana Drive • Dana Point, CA 92629 • Tel: (949) 496-4933 • Fax: (949) 496-1905 • [email protected]

Nordhavn Yachts Newport Beach • 151 Shipyard Way #4 • Newport Beach, CA 92663 • Tel: (949) 706-5543 • Fax: (949) 706-5548 • [email protected] Europe Ltd. • 10-12 Firefly Road, Hamble Point Marina • Hamble, Southampton SO31 4NB • UK • Tel: +44 (0) 2380 456342 • Fax: +44 (0) 2380 457741 • [email protected]

Nordhavn Australasia Ltd. • Level 30, AMP Place 10 Eagle St. • Brisbane Qld. 4000 • AUS • Tel: +61 (0)1300 783 010 • Fax: 61.7.3102 6253 • [email protected] For more brokerage listings, visit www.nordhavn.com

N O R D H A V N 6 2 ( ' 0 1 )“Patty M” is the firstNordhavn 62 to conquerthe globe! Delivered in2001 she toured the worldfrom California to Englandwith her original owners.Her current owner did anextensive upgrade fit outin 2006 before crossingthe Atlantic and Patty M isback in the Pacific.This isa captained yacht whichhas been given profes-sional attention and showsmuch younger than heryears. She’s ready for asecond lap around theplanet. Located in Mexico.

Asking $1,495,000For details contact Jeff Merrill at 949-355-4950

“Samba” is hull #49, wellinto the Nordhavn 40 IIseries — perhaps the mostcapable 40-foot passage-making powerboat everdesigned. She has the well-proven Nordhavn dry stackexhaust system and gravityfeed fuel system. Locatedin Washington. Asking: $595,000For details contact DonKohlmann at 206-223-3624

N O R D H A V N 4 0 ( ' 0 5 )New to the market, “SeaOnce” is a lightly usedNordhavn 46 that is readyto cruise. Over 30k inupdates have recently beendone. Located in RhodeIsland.

Asking: $685,000Dave Balfour at 401-293-0910 or Jeff Merrill at 949-355-4950

N O R D H A V N 4 6 ( ' 0 0 )

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572009 OCEAN VOYAGER

Fiddler’sGreen

Tom MorrisThomas de Witt CuylerMorris passed away on Dec.7, 2008. Born Nov. 20,1940 in Bryn Mawr, Pa.,Tom was founder of MorrisYachts, Bass Harbor, Maine,builder of world class voy-aging boats.

Morris was diagnosedwith cancer in the summerof 2007 and fought the dis-ease outliving all the doc-tors’ prognoses. Tomcrossed the bar at his home in Southwest Harbor surrounded byhis loving family.

Throughout his life, Morris was a visionary entrepreneur, he— like the boats he built — was understated, confident, strong,and purposeful. For the last 35 years he built boats that havebecome classics and that have set the standard for custom andsemi custom coastal and offshore sailing yachts.

Hal RothAuthor and two time Around Alone Race competitor Hal Rothdied on Oct. 18, 2008, at the age of 81 following a long battlewith lung cancer.

Roth and his wife of 48 years, Margaret, began voyaging in1966. After leaving their jobs they embarked on a 19 monthPacific adventure that became Roth’s book Two on a Big Ocean.Other books and adventures followed including Tow AgainstCape Horn, The Longest Race and an anthology published in2005. Roth’s last book, Handling Storms at Sea: The Five Secrets ofHeavy Weather Sailing was published by McGraw-Hill in 2008.

Murray DavisPublisher Murray Lloyd Davis died in Newport, R.I. on Dec. 4,2008. Davis was born in New South Wales, Australia in 1928,left school at 14 years old and moved to Melbourne to train andwork as a radio operator in the merchant marine during WorldWar II. After the war he studied journalism in England where hemet his wife to be Barbara Keefe. They purchased a 39-footsloop, Kanga, in Denmark.

After sailing in Europe they made a trans-Atlantic passage toTrinidad. They then moved to Australia where they started afamily and Davis published Australian Ocean Racing in 1967.That summer an Australian newspaper sent Davis to Newport,R.I. to cover the Australian Challenge for the America’s Cup.The family eventually moved from Australia and settled in New-port. Davis worked in New York for Boating magazine and then as

LOGBOOK 2008OCEAN ALMANAC

On-demand paper chartsHow long has it been since you referred to a paper chart for serious navigation? Ifyou are like most sailors today, it’s probably been awhile. Technology has made itconvenient and affordable for just about anyone to equip their boat with a GPS-inter-faced chartplotter and the software to take them almost anywhere they want to go.

But there is a dark side to this technology. A recent white paper prepared forMinnesota-based OceanGrafix, an on-demand printer of NOAA charts, points outsome of the dangers of relying exclusively on electronic charts for navigation. Thewhite paper challenges us to consider the downsides of navigation technology.System failure, computer reboot problems, corruptedsoftware are all problems that may be encounteredwhen you least expect them — and computers do fail,usually at the worst possible time. Also consider theaccuracy and timeliness of chart software updates, andnot to mention the difficulties of transferring chartingdata from one computer to another, licensing restric-tions, daylight readability, etc.

As navigation technology advances it will continue to play a bigger andbigger role for all mariners, but any prudent mariner recognizes the importanceof paper charts as a back up to their electronic system. They are cheap insur-ance and will be a welcome sight in the event that second laptop fails.

For more information and a copy of this white paper visit www.oceangrafix.com.

Russian sets record for lonely racetrackRussian yachtsman Fedor Konyukhov successfully completed a solo circumnaviga-tion of the Antarctic continent. As he did so, he was competing in the AntarcticCup Ocean Race, a challenging multidivisional race around the earth’s southern-most continent.

The Antarctic Cup Racetrack is a timed interocean race course that traverses theSouthern Ocean below 40° S and passes three of the most notorious capes on theplanet: Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and Cape Agulhas. The racetrack itself is dividedinto three lanes, each 300-nm wide: an outer lane between 45° S and 50°, 14,500

miles in circumference; a center lane, 50° S to 55° S,13,100 nm in circumference; and an inner lane, 55° Sto 60° S, 11,600 nm in circumference. Racers may tra-verse lanes but travel below 60° S is out of bounds.Race organizers may also close a lane or a part of alane in the interest of safety. The Racetrack is also divid-ed into 10-degree meridians. There are 18 gates locat-ed on selected meridians creating 18 Racetrack sectors.

The Racetrack is open to competitors during themonths of December, January, February and March.

Competing solo, Fedor Konyukhov sailed the Racetrack aboard his 85-footmonohull Trading Network Alye Parusa. It was the 56-year-old Russian sailor’s fourthcircumnavigation.After setting out from Albany,Australia on Jan. 26, 2008, hereturned unscathed 102 days 00 hrs 56 min 50 sec later, establishing a record timefor the solo circumnavigation. Race organizers say that he has now thrown down thegauntlet to yachtsmen around the world to break his 102-day record.

For more information on the Antarctic Cup Ocean Race visit: www.antarcti-cacup.com.

Cynthia Woods sinkingTragedy struck the 40th anniversary of the Regata de Amigos, a 610-mile race fromGalveston, Texas to Veracruz, Mexico, when one of the race boats sank. The sailboat

The year in review

BY JOHN SNYDER

An

tarctica Cu

p R

ace Track

Joh

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Joh

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58 OCEAN VOYAGER 2009

an editor in Boston for SAIL Magazine. Together with his wife, Barbara, Davis started Cruising World

magazine from their home in Newport and established SevenSeas Press and Café Zelda, a well know sailors haunt on lowerThames Street. Davis sold Cruising World to the New York Timesand retired to travel and paint.

He is survived by his daughter Kate of N.M.; son Paul of R.I.,and Manila, the Philippines; his sister Marie Townsend; brotherErnie of NSW, Australia; and Constance, his partner of 20 years.His former wife, Barbara, died in October of 2008.

Peter DuffPeter Duff, co-founder of Edey & Duff, Ltd. of Mattapoisett,Mass. died on Aug. 30, 2008 after a long battle with Parkinson’sdisease. Duff was born in 1936 west of Boston and was a graduateof Tufts University where he earned a degree in nuclear physics.In 1968 he co-founded Edey & Duff with Mait Edey and builtquality, affordable sailboats. Their first cruising sailboat was SamCrocker’s Stone Horse. Other designs followed including theshoal draft Shearwater, Dovekie, and Herreshoff designedDoughdish and Stuart Knockabout. Edey & Duff’s boats are wereperfect for gunkholing and are still being built in Mattapoisettwhere they continue to build one boat at a time.

Robert “Jack” LeFortRobert “Jack” LeFort, past vice president of the U.S. Sailing Asso-ciation and founder of the U.S. Sailing Center of Martin Countyin Stuart, Fla. died. He was 82 years old.

LeFort grew up in Germantown, Pa. and spent summers inOcean City, N.J., where he learned to sail. As a student at theUniversity of Pennsylvania he sailed as an undergraduate andlater coached the team.

LeFort graduated from the Wharton School of the Universityof Pennsylvania and joined his father’s design firm, Robert LeFortDesign Associates, a furniture distributor. In 1972, he establishedInterspace Inc. and collaborated with Philadelphia architects todesign interior office space, notably the Arco building in Philadel-phia, the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington andChrysler’s Word Headquarters in Michigan.

LeFort was past commodore of the Ocean City Yacht Club

LOGBOOK 2008OCEAN ALMANAC

Cynthia Woods, a Cape Fear 38R owned by Texas A&M University, foundered 11 nmsouth of Matagorda on June 6. The boat began taking on water at about 2345 andwithin seconds capsized. Search and rescue commenced after communication waslost and the boat missed its 0800 radio call. Five of the boat’s six crewmembersescaped and were rescued by the Coast Guard after an exhaustive 26-hour searchabout 23 miles from Freeport, Texas.A sixth crewmember perished.

The cause of the sinking is thought to be keel failure. Divers found the keel 32miles off Freeport using acoustic equipment. The hull went down about 27 miles offFreeport. Officials from Texas A&M vowed to spare no expense to determine thecause of the accident that sunk the donated boat. The university has contracted T&TMarine Salvage to recover the hull.

Cynthia Woods had a history of grounding. It is reported that the boat ranaground between three and seven times since it was given to the university in2005. A 2007 grounding was significant enough to separate the keel from thehull fore and aft.

After the grounding the boat was repaired by the same yard that assembled theboat when it was donated, but it is not clear whether or not a marine surveyor usedultrasound to inspect the work.While there was no annual inspection of the boat, atleast three people, including a painter and a diver cleaning the hull before the regat-ta, noted no damage.

As a precaution, a sister vessel has been taken out of commission. The accidentis under investigation by Texas A&M University and the U.S. Coast Guard.

400th Alerion design deliveredWarren, R.I., boatbuilder, Pearson Composites LLC, delivered its 400th Alerion Express28 in June. The R.I. boatbuilder also builds J/Boats, 44-foot sail trainers for the U.S.Naval Academy,True North expedition express powerboats, PDQ power catamaransand several other brands of sail, power and commercial vessels.

Pearson is often credited with introducing this popular style of elegant day sailer,a modern boat loosely based on the 26-foot sloop of the same name that Capt.Nathaniel Herreshoff designed for his personal use in 1912.

The popular appeal of the design gave rise to countless imitations over the years.Today a number of boatbuilders are meeting the demand for these boats with a vari-ety these “gentleman’s day sailers.”With delivery of the 400th Alerion Express, Pear-son may well have produced more of this style day sailer than all other builders com-bined. It seems only fitting that the Alerion is alive and well in Warren, R.I. not farfrom its Herreshoff roots in Bristol, R.I.

The popularity of the boats (available in a range of lengths from 20 to 40 feet)comes from their ease of sailing in a wide range of conditions and their handsome

The year in review

Theadventure of a lifetimeCELESTIAL

NAVIGATION

VOYAGES

ABOARD

SCHOONER

Virginia

Space is limited!

Call (757) 627-7400 for reservations.

Complete voyage descriptions at

SchoonerVirginia.org.

June 1 - 11, 2009 New London, Ct to Bermuda

June 16 - 26, 2009 Bermuda to Charleston, SC

November 11 - 20, 2009 charleston, SC to Bermuda

November 23 - December 2, 2009 Bermuda to St. Thomas

2007

©M

icha

el B

erm

an

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592009 OCEAN VOYAGER

and founded the club’s Heart Cup racing event to benefit theShore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point. According to his son,Jack LeFort’s greatest legacy was founding the U.S. Sailing Cen-ter of Martin County. With Jack at the helm, it became one oftwo Olympic trainings sites in the United States.

Helen C. JohnstoneHelen C. Johnstone, daughter of the Rev. Mary and Bob John-stone of J Boats died on June 4, 2008 in Washington, D.C.

Johnstone was born in Cali, Columbia in 1960 and was agraduate of Choate and the University of Rhode Island. Anaccomplished collegiate sailor she was first in the 1976 Inter-scholastics, third in 470’s at the 1975 Youth Champs and sixth inthe 1985 International Women’s Keelboat Championships. Sheis survived by her parents and brothers Stuart, Drake and Peter.

George Frederick “Fritz” Jewett, Jr.Fritz Jewett passed away in May 2008 at 81. Jewett, a successfulSan Francisco business man and philanthropist was born inSpokane, Wash. He learned to sail at his father’s family home onCape Cod.

A member of the St. Francis, Marin, San Diego, New Yorkand Ida Lewis Yacht clubs Jewett chaired five America’s Cupsyndicates for three yacht clubs from 1973 through 2000. Hissyndicate victories include Freedom who won the cup in 1980and Stars & Stripes who won the cup in 1987.

In 2000, he headed the St. Francis Yacht Club’s AmericaOne Challenge syndicate in New Zealand and was inducted intothe America’s Cup Hall of Fame.

Carl F. SwansonCarl F. Swanson of Arundel, Maine, passed away on Nov. 11,2008. Carl was born in New Bedford, Mass., in 1932. He gradu-ated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Class of ’53 andserved in the U.S. Navy and as second mate and chief navigatoraboard the S.S. United States. Swanson also served as Master onthe R/V Lulu, R/V Atlantis II, R/V Knorr and R/V Oceanus for theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institute between 1966 and 1997.He taught at Southern Maine Vocational and Technical Instituteand taught celestial navigation aboard the S/V Westward in the1990’s. Carl is predeceased by his wife Patricia and survived byhis sons Tobias and Ashley, daughter Heather and sister Barbara.

Francis C. Stokes, Jr.Trans-Atlantic solo sailor Francis C. Stokes made his final pas-sage on Aug. 3, 2008. He was 82 years old. Stokes was born inMoorestown, N.J. in 1926. After serving in the U.S. Army AirCorps he graduated from Williams College and ran his family’sfood canning business. In 1952, he married Nancy Buffum Tay-lor and started a family on Rancocas Creek in the New JerseyPine Barrens. Stokes bought his first cruising sailboat in 1968,and in 1970 made his first solo trans-Atlantic passage. Stokeswent on to compete in the OSTAR trans-Atlantic solo races in1976, 1980 and 1988. He also competed in Bermuda One-Two

LOGBOOK 2008OCEAN ALMANAC

classic looks. They maintain strict one-design standards and are easily handled by oneperson, thus eliminating the need to line up crew, etc. For more information on theAlerion Express 28 or other Alerion models visit www.alerionexp.com.

Transpacific rowBritish rower Roz Savage arrived safely in Hawaii on Sept. 1, 2008, having com-pleted the first leg of a three-year, three-leg ocean row across the Pacific to Aus-tralia. Savage set off from San Francisco in her 23-foot rowing boat, Brocade, onMay 24, 2008. She arrived in Honolulu after 99 days, 8 hours, 55 minutes and adistance of nearly 2,600 nautical miles. When she finally reaches Australia she willhave covered 7,600 nm of open ocean.

Savage is no newcomer to ocean rowing. In 2005-‘06 she rowed across theAtlantic, making history as the only solo female competitor in the Atlantic Row-

ing Race from the Canary Islands to Antigua. Inthe race she covered a distance of 2,935 nm in103 days.

Despite the harsh conditions and equipmentfailures she encountered in the Atlantic, Savagequickly set her sights on a new goal of being thefirst woman to row from the U.S. to Australia. Herfirst attempt to cross the Pacific in 2007 failed 10days into the voyage when her boat capsizedseveral times in one day after losing its seaanchor. She decided to abort the row and was

rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. Weather considerations prevented her from re-launching that year.

Her boat, Brocade, is named for her lead sponsor, Brocade CommunicationsSystems of San Jose, Calif. The 23-foot-long, 6-foot-wide carbon fiber boat was origi-nally built by Woodvale-Events for Simon Chalk, ocean rower and founder of thecompany that sponsors the Atlantic Ocean Challange. Dolphin Quay Boatyard, ofEmsworth, U.K., fit out the boat for Savage.

Through her voyages Savage hopes to raise awareness of environmentalissues, especially those facing the world’s oceans. As a writer and motivationalspeaker, she works to inspire others to rise to their own challenges — big orsmall. Savage’s blog from the voyage along with real-time route tracking can befound on her Web site www.rozsavage.com.

German couple completes second circumnavigationA German couple, Wolfgang and Heidi Hass, recently completed their second cir-cumnavigation aboard Kanaloa, a 46-foot Nordhavn trawler built in 1995. Comple-tion of the second voyage (which began in California in 2003) establishes a newrecord for the first twin circumnavigation aboard a production powerboat. Namedfor a great Hawaiian deity, their Nordhavn 46 logged almost 5,000 engine hoursand about 33,500 miles during the last five years.

Kanaloa’s Lugger engine, well designed systems and rugged hull all stood upwell to the rigorous ocean voyaging. The only breakdown that the couple encoun-tered came when the boat’s starboard paravane boom broke, off the coast ofMozambique. After some jury repairs the boom held up, seeing the couple all theway to South Africa. Now, safely back in Dana Point, Calif., (coincidentally whereP.A.E. Nordhavn is headquartered) the couple plans to spend several months layingover while Kanaloa receives maintenance and is readied for their next adventure.After revisiting the South Pacific the Hass’s hope to continue on to Shanghai, Chinaand visit single-handed sailor Zhai Mo, whom they befriended during their voyaging.

A successful circumnavigation is a respectable accomplishment for any sailor,and two in a row is awe-inspiring, but the Hass’s most recent voyage actually repre-sents their third global orbit — the first was completed aboard a 38-foot Van Damsailboat that they owned prior to the Nordhavn.

Co

urtesy R

oz Savag

e

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races with his son Whitall. In 1982-83 he sailed in the first BOCChallenge Solo World Race and finished second on his class. Heretired to South Thomaston, Maine, and published a memoir,The Moonshine Logs in 1994. He survived by his wife of 56 years,Nancy; sister Carol; daughters Clare, Agnes, Rachel; sons Arthurand Whitall; seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Olin J. Stephens IIRenowned yacht designer Olin J. Stephens II died in September2008. He was 100 years old. In July he was honored by the NewYork Yacht Club at their sixth biennial Race Week and classicyacht regatta. Born in New York in 1908, Stephens spent hisearly summers on Cape Cod where he learned to sail. In 1926, heenrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where hestudied naval architecture. He apprenticed at Henry Nevinsboatyard at City Island in the Bronx, N.Y., where he designedwhere he designed his own version of a 6-meter. By age 23, hehad designed the yacht Dorade.

In 1929, Stephens and yacht broker Drake Sparkman estab-lished the naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens in NewYork. Included among his legendary designs was Stars & Stripeswhich won the America’s Cup in 1987. Olin Stephens is survivedby his sons Olin III and Samuel; sister Marite Sheridan; andgrandson Olin J. Stephens IV. ■

LOGBOOK 2008OCEAN ALMANAC

Hybrid to use diesel and sunIsland Pilot, LLC of Miami, Fla., builder of the Island Pilot 435 Crossover Trawler plansto introduce a new breed of cruiser this year. The company, which builds its boats atUni Shine Marine in Zhuhai, China, has dubbed the new boat the Pilot DSe Hybrid12m (39’ in length).As a true hybrid, the motoryacht will incorporate solar and dieselelectric power and is built around a twin-hull structure for stability and to maximizeliving area as well as to provide space for the solar panel arrays.

The new yacht was designed in conjunctionwith naval architect George Petrie and can trav-el at 7 knots in the zero emissions mode and/orup to 13 knots under diesel power.A 6-kWsolar array and a 20 kW-hour battery bankeliminate any need for generator at anchor. Inaddition to being economical, the DSe Hybrid

12m will also feature many of the amenities found on conventional motoryachts suchas a large, well appointed galley and spacious accommodations.

According to Reuben Trane, president of Island Pilot, “At a time with record highoil prices, we are bringing to market a product that will dramatically reduce the mostvisible expense of a recreational motorboat — the cost of diesel.”

The company plans to introduce the boat at the 2008 Fort Lauderdale BoatShow in Florida. For more information visit www.dsehybrid.com.

Co

urtesy Islan

d Pilo

t, LLC

The year in review

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612009 OCEAN VOYAGER

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WebSmartBETA MARINE is the leading manufacturer of refined diesel propulsionengines from 10 to 90 HP all based on Kubota diesels. Offering user friendlyservice and maintenance and the latest spec EPA and CE certified engines andworld wide service. www.betamarine.net

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From theTaffrail

From landsman to sailorside with a hinged lid for easyaccess. But it was deep and spa-cious so you couldn’t reach thebottom easily. In rough weather,the food containers had a way ofsloshing around inside the reefer,so any lids that were not fullysecured would yield their dribblingcontents to the bottom of thereefer. These ingredients wouldcommingle into a grayish slurrywhose sickening smell would flyupward in a fermented whooshwhen you opened the lid.

The steward’s parting words tome, after emphatically licking hislips in the doorway, were that hewould be up on deck “catchingsome air,” in case I had questions.He scurried up the companionwaylike a fleeing troll, and I would notsee him again for several hours.

I had only joined the ship theday before and we’d immediatelyencountered rough weather. I wasa landsman previously, so whenthe galley started spinning androcking I didn’t have the sense thesteward did. I gripped the edge ofthe counter, took a deep breath,and lifted the lid.

Whoosh, from the reefer. Urp, from me.I first emptied the reefer by pil-

ing the food containers onto thecounters and galley sole. This was-n’t so bad, though, since I couldhold my breath when going deep,grabbing a container or two in theprocess. But when the reefer wasfinally empty I realized I had tolean into the bowels of the box tosponge out the slurry. The weightof my body was concentrated onmy gut, and I had to breathe,upside down, one toxic lungfulafter another, the pungent fumes

that swirled inside. I would heavemyself into position, lean over, andthen sponge up a gallon or two,and then claw my way out todump the bucket and try to catchmy wind in the fetid galley. Overand over. I lasted about 10 min-utes before I realized I was so sickthat I was going to lengthen mycleaning job by being ill.

I clawed my way on deck andwas greeted by a scene of carnage.Seasick bodies of my crewmateslittered the scuppers — “deckmeat” the professional crew calledthem. The sky was gray, the turbu-lent sea molten pewter and raggedwith streaks of foam. I staggered tothe leeward rail — urped a fewmore times — before finally releas-ing myself to the sea in a rush.

It was pure joy. Wheremoments before I had been themost miserable of men, I was nowexperiencing rapture like a savedman. After a minute of this I feltwholly refreshed and returned tothe galley to finish the job, a springin my step.

Days later, in calmer weather,I would climb to the top of themain mast, more than 100 feetabove the deck, and read aninscription, from Richard HenryDana Jr.’s Two Years Before theMast, that would remind mehenceforth of that time in thegalley: “There is not so helplessand pitiable an object in theworld as a landsman beginning asailor’s life.” ■

Contributing editor Twain Bradenlives in New Hampshire and is theauthor of In Peril and Ghosts of thePioneers.

They say you never forget thefirst time. This can be true ofmany wonderful things: love,

flying through clouds at sunset,catching a wave on a surfboard,the weight of a newborn child inyour arms. Unfortunately, this isalso true of seasickness. The cir-cumstances of the first time I wasseasick, while smashing along inthe Anegada Passage off the coastof the British Virgin Islands,almost 20 years ago, are as clear tome today as the letters on thispage. I was an assistant galleysteward, arguably the lowest lifeform known to ship’s crews theworld over, and I had been givenorders that I should clean out theday reefer.

The steward was a large manwith a greasy shock of hair that

was perpetually smeared across hisbroad forehead. He had wet fleshylips, which he was constantly lick-ing. He was disgusting and I hatedhim.

The day reefer on this sailingschool vessel was about the size ofan ordinary refrigerator, set on its

by Twain Braden

The

transition to

full-fledged

ocean

voyager can

have its

speed

bumps, but

the rewards

are great

On

ne V

an D

er Wal

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Beyond Virtual Reality!

Begin your journey today atwww.NavNet.com

Experience a world of 3D navigation that transports you beyond any conventional Chart Plotter, Radar, or Depth Sounder you’ve

encountered. Tremendously intuitive operation, lightning fast performance, and the ultimate in situational awareness are finally

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This Super Hero has new powers

Our new GlobalFix™ iPRO can save the day when your

life is on the line. It’s the ultimate in high-tech reliability,

thanks to exclusive new features like a digital display that

reveals the EPIRB’s electronic activities. With internal and

external GPS functions, it transmits your LAT/LON faster

than a speeding bullet.

Using the proven COSPAS-SARSAT system that has

saved over 24,500 lives, ACR beacons account for at least

60 percent of registered beacons

worldwide. This super model, with

extra powers and built-in redundancies,

will acquire a location even where GPS

can’t to bring help quickly. You can trust it to work because

the technology inside has been torture tested in impossibly

harsh conditions. And there’s no subscription fee. Who

says there are no heroes left?

AC

R E

lect

roni

cs, I

nc. i

s re

gist

ered

by

UL

to IS

O 9

001:

200

0

New iPRO display screen confirms EPIRB action

www.acrelectronics.com

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