Gone cruising…finally! From Santa Barbara to Neah Bay in Puget Sound.
Posted by Steve Dashew (May 9, 2006) | Comments (0)
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Dashew Logs
Steve and Linda write a regular column for SetSailors from wherever they happen to be. Join in as they cruise the world and discuss topics of interest to sailors everywhere. Here you’ll find their articles dating from 1996 to the present.
Ventilation (Muggy Memories)
Good ventilation is one of the most important of cruising amenities. Our lessons on this subject came the hard way. We first arrived in the Marquesas Islands aboard Intermezzo in the summer, and we had just two small dorade vents, no fans, no way to open the hatches at sea or when it was raining, and an awning that was awkward to use with blue stripes which increased the temperature substantially. Oh, and the topsides were a dark blue/gray shade, nicely absorbing the morning and afternoon heat. If you want a primer on ventilation, just do the opposite of everything we started out with!
When anchored or moored so the boat can swing head to wind, the foredeck hatch is usually best opened facing aft, so air can exhaust through it. Adding a foredeck awning will enable the hatch to be left open during rain squalls.
Posted by Steve Dashew (March 16, 2006) | Comments (0)
First Crossing
At the request of a SetSail reader, Linda recalls their first ocean passage aboard Intermezzo in 1977.
Posted by Steve Dashew (December 20, 2005) | Comments (0)
Pago Pago towards Fanning: Day 1
Local Knowledge
We asked the SetSailors to write about their sources for local knowledge.
Posted by Steve Dashew (September 6, 2005) | Comments (0)
Preparing Food for Long Passage
It is no secret that we enjoy good food. And we see no reason why we should change our eating habits on a long passage. If anything, food preparation and consumption is one of the things we look forward to at sea, and something which helps to pass the time in an enjoyable fashion.
Posted by Steve Dashew (August 15, 2005) | Comments (0)
Provisioning Past and Present, and Wind Horse Chili Recipe
The other day I was talking to my longtime friend and cruising buddy, Cheryl Schmidt, about provisioning. She and her husband Jim are preparing their 73-foot ketch Wakaroa (an early Deerfoot design) for their annual four- or five-month cruise. A typical passage for them would be a five-day trip from Auckland to Fiji. We are sea trialing our new non-sailboat, Wind Horse, in New Zealand and will be leaving for Fiji ourselves in about a month’s time.
Jim and Cheryl Schmidt, with our daughters Elyse and Sarah, in New Zealand in 1977.
Cheryl always pre-cooks enough meals for five or six days at sea. She freezes them in individual-size containers that she can take from the freezer to the microwave. The Schmidts like to spend a lot of time in the cockpit, and it’s easy for her to pop down below and heat up dinner – they can even eat out of the containers. A variety of plastic containers are available in supermarkets – you don’t need the expensive kind – the throw-away type works just fine for this, as long as it can go from the freezer to the microwave. She usually prepares comfort foods: soups, chili, lasagna and homemade chicken nuggets. She bakes cookies (as do I) and carries the pre-washed cut salads that are now available. For eating salads during the passage, she carries stainless steel bowls. This trip can be boisterous.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 16, 2005) | Comments (0)
Staying in Touch and Paying the Bills while Cruising
Staying in touch and paying the bills while cruising.
Posted by Steve Dashew (April 22, 2005) | Comments (0)
Ground Tackle
Ground tackle is probably the single most important system on the boat in terms of safety, comfort, and peace of mind. Our approach is based on a steep learning curve-which we survived-but which we would not want to repeat. The bottom line is this: we assume that we’re stuck in an anchorage where we cannot leave, the winds have put us on a lee shore, and bottom holding is poor. Our ground tackle systems are engineered to give us the best chances of a happy outcome in this type of scenario. The side benefit is that we are totally secure in anything less than awful conditions, and we can anchor on much shorter scope the 99% of the time conditions are favorable.
Posted by Steve Dashew (March 10, 2005) | Comments (0)
Preparing Crew for Offshore Passage
The Dashews answer our questions on how they would prepare crew for an offshore passage.
Posted by Steve Dashew (January 19, 2005) | Comments (0)
Cruising Weather Sources
There is so much weather data available today that capturing and absorbing it can be an overwhelming project. We look for a few good sources that apply to the area in which we are cruising-and then concentrate on those.
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 11, 2004) | Comments (0)
Blunders?
Linda and Steve recall some of their funnier blunders over the years.
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 26, 2004) | Comments (0)
Common Mistakes
We asked all our cruising contributors to write about the five most common mistakes they see when people first start out cruising.
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 16, 2004) | Comments (0)
Safety Gear
What, and how much safety gear to carry is one of the toughest questions to answer. What is right depends on your budget, risk tolerance, space available, and where you’re headed. It is easily possible to spend a very large chunk of freedom chips on this category of gear. And this is against the background that it will probably never be used!
We’ve recently been going through this process ourselves. In our case, we’ve got plenty of room on the new boat (83 feet). But just because we have the space, and can afford this gear, does not mean we are going to carry every possible item!
Here’s our approach. Easy gear first.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 3, 2004) | Comments (0)
Leaving the Boat
Advice for if you have to leave the boat, whether for a few days or for several months.
Posted by Steve Dashew (April 14, 2004) | Comments (0)
Jib Selection for Cruising
We asked the Dashews to write about what jibs they use for cruising.
Posted by Steve Dashew (February 26, 2004) | Comments (0)
Memories of Our First Christmas Aboard
Linda recalls their first Christmas aboard Intermezzo, in Mexico.
Posted by Steve Dashew (December 19, 2003) | Comments (0)
Hurricane Preparation
How would you prepare for a hurricane if no hurricane hole was available?
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 23, 2003) | Comments (0)
Propane
Our approach to propane has been greatly affected by an experience we had many years ago crossing the South Pacific. We were enroute between Bora Bora and Suvaroff, and the compressed trades were kicking along with 30-45 knots of wind.
Posted by Steve Dashew (May 2, 2003) | Comments (0)
Stability & Comfort Design Factors
Stability and comfort characteristics with sailboats are relatively easy. The more stable the boat, the faster and more comfortable it is. Since a key component of this stability is the vertical center of gravity (VCG-the center of all of the weight which makes up the boat), designers and builders work really hard at keeping high structure light. The other component of stability is the hull shape when upright and at various angles of heel. More beam equals more stability, but also creates drag. So there is a lot of refinement that goes into how the hull interfaces with the water.
Posted by Steve Dashew (March 28, 2003) | Comments (0)
The Next Boat #4
Surprising plans for the next boat finally revealed.
Posted by Steve Dashew (March 14, 2003) | Comments (0)
The Next Boat #3
The Next Boat #2
More on their thought process as they sort out what they need "the next boat" to be.
Posted by Steve Dashew (February 14, 2003) | Comments (0)
Keeping the Water Out: Mast Boots & Chain Plates
Keeping the water out – now there’s a topic dear to any sailor’s heart! In the olden days, before each passage we’d put all our clothes and bedding (and anything else we wanted to keep dry) into plastic bags-double plastic bags if we wanted to be sure. But over the years we’ve learned how to make boats watertight.
Posted by Steve Dashew (January 20, 2003) | Comments (0)
The Next Boat
Diving Gear
The question of how to deal with underwater maintenance and/or underwater fun is an interesting one. If you go for the whole package it means a significant amount of space, weight, and costs have to be carried.
When we started cruising seriously in the 1970s, we felt we needed SCUBA gear to clean the bottom and prop, clear fouled anchors, and for fun and games. Compressors were too large and too complex for our 50-footer so we carried four SCUBA bottles. Of course we also had two sets of wetsuits, two regulators, back packs, etc. A lot of space! Throw in the weight belts and things really got heavy.
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 25, 2002) | Comments (0)
Maneuvering In Tight Quarters Under Sail
Weather Sources (in Response to a Reader’s Questions)
Steve and Linda answer a reader’s questions about sources for weather data.
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 31, 2002) | Comments (0)
Staying Ahead of the Maintenance Curve
Modern cruising equipment is amazingly reliable if it is installed properly, and given a bit of preventative maintenance. That’s been a theme of ours for years.
The experience we’ve had on BEOWULF and that of most of our clients is the same. Whereas in the olden days we always joked that cruising was going from one exotic anchorage to another so we could work on our boats, this does not have to be the case.
There are a couple of keys to this success. The first is proper installation. This means keeping the gear dry, feeding it with the proper-sized hoses or wires as required, and minimizing the damage that can be caused by chafe and vibration.
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 21, 2002) | Comments (0)
A Magical Outboard?
Over the years we’ve owned a lot of outboards. Most have given us good service-we’ve never actually had one deteriorate to the point where it had to be replaced. Our current outboard is sixteen years old, and still running strong. As a year of outboard life is generally reckoned to be the equivalent of 12 human years, this makes it 192 years old.
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 12, 2002) | Comments (0)
Seller’s Remorse
The last few weeks of enjoying BEOWULF, while suffering a keen case of seller’s remorse.
Posted by Steve Dashew (October 4, 2002) | Comments (0)
Advice to a SetSailor on "Getting Started"
Steve and Linda’s advice to a family with questions about "Getting Started with Cruising".
Posted by Steve Dashew (August 21, 2002) | Comments (0)
The Purple Stuff Is It!
We’ve been giving BEOWULF a good cleaning and polish. This includes all of the engine room (even the bundled plumbing and wiring) the dinghy, inside of lockers, and interior hull surfaces. Except for the dinghy, which has stains on the inside from spilled gas/oil mix, and the engine room, which has not had a thorough cleaning in three years, most of the cleaning is a simple wipe down.
But for the dink and engine room, stronger measures are required. As a result we’ve done some scientific testing of various cleaners. Simple Green, Zep Purple, and Nature’s Orange, in concentrated and diluted ratios have been used. The result…(roll of drums)…Zep Purple is by far the best cleaner. Simple Green is second and Nature’s Orange is last.
The Zep Purple is a wonderful material in the engine room. Diluted at 3-3 we spray it on, do a quick brushing to loosen things, and hose off the dirt. We’re not sure about availability, but we picked ours up at Home Depot.
Zep Purple wins Beowulf’s seal of approval.
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 26, 2002) | Comments (0)
Remove Those Batteries!
Steve was so inspired by our "battery" topic that he has written a second article!
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 23, 2002) | Comments (0)
Batteries
The Dashews have answered SetSail’s questions about what kinds of batteries they use aboard BEOWULF, and how they maintain them.
Posted by Steve Dashew (July 18, 2002) | Comments (0)
Top Ten Cruising Lessons Learned
10 seamanship lessons learned on BEOWULF’s eventful passage from the Virgin Islands to Panama to San Diego.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 22, 2002) | Comments (0)
Malaria
We’ve had all sorts of experiences on boats – mostly good, a few bad. In the latter category are two bouts with vector-born (i.e., mosquito) diseases – malaria and dengue fever. In the former case, this was of the Falciparum type, often deadly. In our case it hit during the last round of the rock and roll dance contest at the Port Moresby (New Guinea) Yacht Club. It was down to us, the Liggetts, and one other couple for the championship, when I (Steve) collapsed. At the time I thought Al had slipped me a “Mickey” so he could win…
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 18, 2002) | Comments (0)
Arrival in San Diego
Resting peacefully on the Harbor Police Dock in San Diego.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 17, 2002) | Comments (0)
220 Miles from San Diego
As San Diego draws near, reflections on a too-rushed "delivery".
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 16, 2002) | Comments (0)
Ideal Conditions for Baja Passage
Ideal conditions for passaging up the Baja Peninsula.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 15, 2002) | Comments (0)
Underway Again after Quick Stop in Cabo
Stopping for a few hours in Cabo, then heading north – while the water temp grows increasingly colder ( 63 degrees F?!?).
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 14, 2002) | Comments (0)