So far this season tidal currents have had minimal impact on our planning. But from the entrance to New York harbor and north this changes. The channel that starts off Sandy Hook, New Jersey can give you three+ knots of help, or hindrance. Picking the best times used to entail laborious calculations. But now we just look at the current atlas data on any of numerous navigation computer programs, check waypoint ETA, and adjust accordingly. Sometimes this works and others it is like hitting all the red lights on your way home.
Read the rest »
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 17, 2011) | Comments (15)
One of the things we love about cruising is the variety of visual stimuli, and different life styles that come our way, in particular those with a marine flavor. In Europe we were in Cascais for an Open 60 regatta, and in Puerto Calero for the RC44 championships. Both were interesting technically, the people watching wonderful, and old world competitors do know how to throw a party.
Now, from Portsmouth, Virginia, we bring you a “Poker Run.” This is an event more in keeping with NASCAR than yachting, and these folks really know how to celebrate!
Before you think we’ve gone daft from too much cohabitation with unsailing, check out the photos which follow, the slide show (although it is R rated), and short v ideo. We promise you won’t be disappointed
Where to start?
The Dismal Swamp has been a perfect ending to this little cruise along the Intra Coastal Waterway. Lovely beyond the ability of this photographer to capture; quiet, and a variety of wildlife.
We’re a day from completing the Intra Coastal Waterway. Yesterday’s run was along the Alligator River Canal, essentially a straight line which screams “boring” when viewed on a chart. We found it just the opposite.
We now fully understand the appeal of the Intra Coastal Waterway as a cruising environment. It is quicker, and weather permitting, easier to go outside along the East Coast of the US . But if you are cruising the Waterway, as opposed to passing through on the way elsewhere, it has a unique appeal.
We have just found the perfect Father’s Day gift, Carol Parker’s new photo collection book titled Worlds of Possibilities.
We are now into Georgia, anchored for the last few days off exquisite Cumberland Island. Nothing could better illustrate the pull of places like the Intra Coastal Waterway than the photo above. Miles of untouched wilderness, deserted beaches, interesting boats and their crew to meet, wildlife, and the occasional town, line the ICW in parts of Northern Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
There are large solar arrays on many of the cruising yachts we meet these days. A combination of high efficiency monocrystal panels and MPPT controllers makes it feasible to get most, if not all, of your systems power from the sun. Of course mounting space is always an issue.
One of the true joys of cruising is finding the odd gem of an establishment. In the case of Cocoa, Florida, this takes the form of an ancient and wonderful hardware store, perhaps the most wondrous we have visited. S.F. Travis dates back to 1885, when an itinerant merchant, who traded the Florida waters in a shoal draft ketch, established the land based store.
If you carry an outboard larger than two horsepower some thought it going to have to be given to getting it on and off the dinghy. We have always used the spinnaker halyard for this where we were not carrying the outboard already mounted. But a davit or boom mounted on the radar arch (or on its own as above) makes sense as well. The key ingredient is going to be leading the tackle to a winch to make the hoisting and lowering of the outboard easier. 
There are many ways to build a good spinnaker sock, and this one has an interesting rigging detail on the control lines. Check out the red and green colors, so you can easily determine which is the port and starboard side. 
Barcelona’s Port Olimpico is home to many small and medium sized sailboats, all of whom spend their lives Med moored. Almost universally they have simple, light, and inexpensive passeral systems. The one above is our favorite.
One of the items that should be in the ship”s stores is a filled epoxy that will cure in a wet environment. This has all sorts of uses from underwater leaks to fitting repairs.
We have put together a high res slide show of our favorite Florida Keys photos. To have a look click 
One of the lessons we learned long ago is to leave fishing to the experts. So when David Kaul came by with friends Sue and Larry Hamilton, and offered us an extra mahi mahi they had aboard, being polite required we accept. Of course there is the issue of correct preparation, which Dave kindly offered to demonstrate. The photo series that follows shows the most masterful job of cleaning and filleting we have ever seen.
Wind Horse has her bow pointed towards Fort Lauderdale for a quick stop, then we are headed north. We’re just off the 600 foot (180m) depth contour, riding the Gulf Stream making 13.5 knots over the bottom. Marathon treated us to a lovely sunrise as we cleared the deck for sea.
Storing dinghies forward of the mast as in the photo above has benefits and problems.
The only reason we can see to cruise offshore in a multihull is speed. But if you go for the condo style cats the weight and windage will make you so slow that you will envy the daily runs of monohulls. On the other hand with long hulls, minimal accommodations, and low windage, fast sailing will be your reward.
We have been using the latest iteration of Coastal Explorer this spring. This is a clean, easy to use, and quite stable nav program.
If you are running a Windows computer you may have encountered crazy mouse syndrome. This occurs when the computer thinks the GPS signal is a serial mouse. Here is how we have dealt with this in the past:
Here are some more examples for the usefulness of radar trails. All of the photos have the trails in true mode, in other words, the actual track of the target.
This first example is coming in to the eastern side of the straights of Gibraltar. The targets without trails are not moving (in this case ships at anchor).
Radar trails are a big help in interpreting what a target is and what it is likely to do.
The fuel injection pumps used on diesel engines delivery precisely timed shots of fuel to the fuel injectors. The timing and volume of the fuel controls the torque and horsepower characteristics of the engine. Most engines also come with different ratings, which are typically related to the injection pump characteristics.
Our Deere 4045s on Wind Horse were rated M4, 150HP@2600RPM. M4 means Deere doesn’t want the engine to run wide open more than three hours out of 24. SInce we normally operate between 1750 and 1900 RPM the engines were lightly loaded. At the other end of the rating scale is M-1 which allow full throttle 24 hours a day, and delivers 105 HP at 2300 RPM.
We are happy to report Wind Horse is well rested after sitting in one location the last four months. Her systems are all operational, at least to the extent we can discern tied to a dock.
What we fear most in the design cycle is getting so locked into a single concept that we miss a much better approach. That is why we drag out the preliminary end of the process, to try and make sure we look at all avenues. Although the previous riff on the FPB 115 was good, this is much better. And it is not just the aesthetics ( with which we are still fussing). Thanks are due to the previously mentioned prodder (can you imagine coming up with this after having started construction!) for asking the right questions in a timely manner.
As we work on a new design we frequently refer to past projects. We used to overlay paper plots of lines drawings and compare how volume was handled above and below the waterline. There are the numeric values to review of course, but in the end, when you are talking about how a given shape is going to work at sea the designer has to visualize the hull in various combinations of waves. To aid in this process we would often scale the drawings so they were the same size to make comparisons easier.
Ed Firth, one of Circa’s engineers, has been with us in Arizona the past week, refining the preliminary FPB 112 design. We thought a few comments on the process might be of interest.
Carol Parker was kind enough to share some wonderful photos of the Sundeer 64, Raven, which she and husband Mike used to own. If you are stuck in depressing weather, waiting for spring, these will do a better job as an antidepressant than those little pills that are often prescribed. This first shot is near La Paz in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
We have always believed that the best approach to life, and keeping the mind fresh, is diversity of experience. So with an intense period coming up on the FPB 112, and a trip to New Zealand for sea trials on two FPB 64s in the offing, we decided to sneak out of the office for a few days. The fact that master photographer Joe Zinn was available to show us some of his favorite spots in Northern Arizona made the choice of where to go easy.
When the breeze starts to blow at anchor most yachts will shear – sail back and forth – at anchor. This can be uncomfortable, and substantially increases the load on ground tackle. The answer to this is a riding sail.
Prince William Sound, in southwest Alaska, is one of those places you just have to visit.
With photo collections and videos now somewhat more organized we have bandwidth to post a few more collections. We’ll start with Baja California and the Sea of Cortez.
While perusing the Cruising Club of America (CCA) website a few days ago we noticed an item on a partially completed book by Rod Stephens, he of Sparkman and Stephens fame (along with designer brother Olin). We knew, worked with on occasion, and immensely respected this wonderful seaman. Although our meetings and chats over the years were brief, we felt a connection (Rod’s book is available for download on the next page).
The watercolor above is of a Deerfoot 62. She is the second aluminum yacht we built and is a sistership to our own Intermezzo ll. Both were built in Capetown, South Africa. The photo was sent to us by Tim Gardner of Gardner Yacht Service, Orange Park, Florida. Tim’s comments follow.
Gordon MacKenzie sent us this great photo of three Sundeers anchored in Musket Cove, Fiji.
We get a lot of questions about range, fuel burn, boat speed, and how this works out in the real world. Whether you have an FPB or a trawler, the same basic issues apply. In this blog we are going to review the factors which impact the fuel equation and then compare data for several different types of vessels. The photo above and below of the FPB 83 Wind Horse, were taken in Gibraltar, a favorite (low cost) fuel stop. 
Every now and then we see something new which really works and is such an obvious answer that it is amazing it was not done previously.
If you have the dinghy rigged properly, and hanging over the side at anchor, single person launching is quite simple.
For most of us Somali piracy is a curiosity. But if you are crossing the Indian Ocean these days, even headed south towards South Africa, the risks are real. Stratfor is what we would call a private State Department or risk analysis outfit. Formed by George Friedman, they are considered the best in this business by the professionals. Their recently published report on Somali piracy
