Cruising World`s

Webb Chiles defies the law ✦ Angus Phillips at Trafalgar
MAY 2006
Easier to
handle; more
powerful, too
A Better
Breed of
Mainsails
The Oyster 56
Kuyenda off
Antigua
p. 78
Plus
✦ Lake Huron’s North Channel p. 54
✦ Scotland’s Caledonian Canal p. 60
✦ Reviews: Lagoon, C&C & Bavaria p. 106
$4.99
Canada $5.99
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M AY 2 0 0 6
A summertime romp through the
Great Lakes’ North Channel is the
stuff of lasting memories (see page
54). Photograph by Sharon
Matthews-Stevens.
FEATURES
54 North Channel Retrospective
TH E SAI LI N G LI F E
14 Shoreline
Two sojourns to this Lake Huron cruising ground
reveal a place that’s worth coming back to again
and again and again
by Mark Stevens
60 Old Home Week on the
14
Caledonian
A pair of world voyagers discover landscapes of
purple heather and their own family roots in
the waterways of deepest Scotland
edited by
Elaine Lembo
by Paul Howard
66 Open Hatches
Is it true what Murphy said: Anything that can go
wrong will go wrong? Well, the answer is no, and
that’s what makes us dangerously complacent
60
70 Lord Nelson Among the
Oystermen
24 On Watch
In the court of marital law,
is a promise made at
16 still binding after
35 years?
by Cap’n Fatty
Goodlander
by Webb Chiles
Yacht Style: Oyster Yachts organizes a latter-day
return to Trafalgar to mark the 200-year-old British
sea victory
The lochs of Scotland,
helping doctors help
children in Venezuela,
Dismal Swamp update,
Florida anchoring rights,
Mellish Reef musings,
and more
66
30 Letter from
Aventura
An arrival in Gomera,
Canary Islands, puts him
once again in mind of the
barely believable thing that
Columbus accomplished
by Angus Phillips
by Jimmy Cornell
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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70
5
HAN D S -O N SAI LO R
78 More Powerful Mains,
Less Muscle to Manage Them
Sails: We explore the means of balancing positive
roach with today’s state-of-the-art mainsail systems
by Jeremy McGeary
90 Faster, Easier Downwind Sailing
Upgrade: Get your whisker pole off the deck and
on the mast, where it’s more easily put to use
by Carolyn Shearlock
98 The Awlgrip Topsides Job, Part II
44
Step-by-Step Refit: We previously looked at how
to prepare a boat for new topside finish; now let’s
see how it’s done
TH E SAI LI N G LI F E
by Bruce Bingham
34 Passage Notes
Vava’u in Tonga is the
kind of place that persuades restless travelers
to settle down for a spell
by Gwen Hamlin
R E VI E WS
106 A Higher Level of Luxury
78
Boat Test: Building on a flybridge theme, the
Lagoon 500 offers nooks indoors and out
by Jeremy McGeary
40 Point of View
What can we learn from
the fact that there isn’t
any word for “duct tape”
in French?
by Gregory
Newell Smith
111 Head of the Class
Boat Review: The C&C 115, with its epoxy hull
and standard carbon rig, stands out from its
production-built peers
98
by Tim Murphy
112 A No-Compromise Cruiser
44 Under Way
Join the Sea Education
Association aboard
Corwith Cramer for an
education of a different kind
by John K. Bullard
Boat Review: With its new 39-footer, Bavaria
Yachts leaves the racing to others
by Jeremy McGeary
106
50 People and Food
168 Log of Ithaka
Take a tour with the Pied
Piper of the Cartagena
industrial-supplies scene
by Douglas Bernon
Classic Plastic: Stately overhangs and a sweet
sheer line distinguish the Niagara 35
by Jayne Finn
A spinach and mushroom
Northwest Breakfast
Nosh is transformed with
Southwest ingredients
by Kevin Krause
114 Sweetwater Sweetheart
116 Sail Like a Scout
114
New Products: A fire-suppression system, a
seasickness preventative, a filtering fuel funnel,
oil absorbers, night-vision glasses, and more
by Mark Pillsbury
D E PARTM E NTS
9 Editor’s Log
10 Mailbag
Cover: Photograph by photoaction.com
(www.photoaction.com/oystermarine).
118 Chartering News
166 Advertiser Index
6
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
EDITOR’S LOG
EDITOR
John Burnham
Director of Design William Roche
Executive Editor Tim Murphy
Managing Editor Elaine Lembo
Associate Editor Mark Pillsbury
Copy Editor John Wilson
Editors at Large Herb McCormick, Bernadette Bernon,
Steve Callahan, Gary Jobson, Cap’n Fatty Goodlander,
Angus Phillips, Kenny Wooton
Contributing Editors Douglas Bernon, Jimmy
Cornell, Barbara Marrett, Nim Marsh, Jeremy McGeary,
Lynda Morris Childress, Michel Savage, Alvah Simon,
Diana Simon
Associate Art Director Joan Taylor Westman
Assistant Art Director Shannon Cain
Editorial Assistant Sue Fennessey
PUBLISHER
Sally Helme (401) 845-5105;
[email protected]
MARINE ADVERTISING SALES
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Jason White (401) 845-5155; [email protected]
New England & Northern Europe
Michael Tamulaites (401) 845-5146;
[email protected]
Southeast & Caribbean
Jan MacMillan (252) 728-7884; [email protected]
Mid-Atlantic & Southern Europe
Ted Ruegg (410) 263- 2484; [email protected]
West Coast & Pacific Rim
Claudette Chaisson (760) 943-6681;
[email protected]
Central US & Eastern Canada
David Gillespie (303) 973-8636; [email protected]
Classified and Special-Section Sales
Michelle Roche (401) 845-5140;
[email protected]
Advertising Coordinators Trish Reardon, Maggie Wakefield
NON-MARINE ADVERTISING SALES
Detroit Focus Media & Marketing LLC (313) 670-0553
West Coast Steve Thompson, Mediacentric
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
George Brengle (401) 845-5103; fax (401) 845-5180
Events Manager Jennifer Davies
Events Assistant Jen Myer
OPERATIONS & ADMINISTRATION
Network Administrator Ryan Williams
Office Manager Kathy Gregory
PRODUCTION
Production Manager Robin Baggett
Advertising Services Manager Lindsey Martins
(401) 845-5124
Advertising Design Director Suzanne Oberholtzer
Production Artists John Digsby, Monica Alberta,
Laura Peterson, Lindsay Warden
Terry Snow President; Jo Rosler Chief Operating
Officer; Russ Cherami Director of Corporate Sales;
Martin S. Walker Advertising Consultant; Bruce Miller
Vice President/Circulation; Dean Psarakis Circulation
Business Director; Leigh Bingham Consumer
Marketing Director; Peter Winn Director of Circulation
Planning & Development; Vicki Weston Single Copy
Sales Director; Lisa Earlywine Director of Production
Operations; Jay Evans Director of New Media
Technologies; Mike Stea Director of Network &
Computer Operations; Nancy Coalter Controller; Dinah
Peterson Credit Manager; Sheri Bass Director of Human
Resources; Leslie Brecken Marketing Director; Heather
Idema Research Director; Dean Turcol Communication
Director
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Web: www.cruisingworld.com
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Mainsail Trim Points
W
hen I learned to trim a mainsail, the instructions
were pretty simple: Trim the boom inside the rail,
steer up into the wind, and keep an eye on the sail
just behind the mast for the first signs of a luff.
And don’t cleat the main, or you might get wet.
Over my years of racing, I’ve learned to watch the angle of the top
batten to try to point as close to the wind as possible. Sighting from
under the boom, I trim the sheet until the two are parallel, except
in waves or heavy winds, when it’s much faster to let the sail twist open a little. This
approach has worked on cruising boats I’ve sailed, too, but reading Jeremy
McGeary’s story on mainsails (see page 78), I noticed a problem. On many new
cruising mains, my trusty top batten no longer exists. These new sails can do lots
of clever tricks—they can flake, they roll inside the boom, or they roll in the mast.
But a rapidly increasing number are sold for in-mast furlers and have vertical battens or no battens at all.
With any main, you can still sight up the leech to see how tightly the sail is
trimmed, then experiment with different settings while watching wind and
speed instruments. This is a good way to improve your trimming eye, unless you
fall prey to what may be the ultimate obstacle to good trim for a mainsail—a difficulty I encountered last year on a bareboat charter. Standing at the wheel with
the bimini up, I couldn’t see any part of the mainsail. Sure, I could engage the
wheel brake or the autopilot, lean out over the stern pulpit, and have a look, but
that got old in a hurry. Fortunately, the solution to this is easy, and it was in evidence on nearly every boat with a pilothouse, hard top, or bimini at last winter’s
Miami Boat Show: They all had windows above the helmsman’s head.
How high your boat will point and how fast it will sail upwind depend on
more than its mainsail. At least as important are stability, underbody shape,
and headsail sheeting angles, not to mention good sails and a clean bottom.
But the fundamental goal remains the same for all boats: balance the helm so
the rudder works as little as possible. On a racecourse, a balanced helm is
plain faster. For anyone else, it just makes sense not to fight the wheel, and it’s
easier on the autopilot, too.
As in life, when I sail I’m always looking for tips on improving balance. If the
bow falls off when I ease the mainsheet in a puff, I know that’s a sign of leeward
helm, so maybe I should tighten the boom vang to help the leech hold its shape.
This can be done even if you have a solid, non-adjustable vang with an in-boom
furler; according to Dave Anderson of Schaefer, which makes the Boom Furler,
you can just “turn the mandrel [furler] a little.”
Want to solve the more common problem of weather helm? I start by tightening the outhaul, although I’ve learned the hard way that this has its limits. A
tired outhaul can fail if you’re too enthusiastic on the winch handle—but even
that would be a good outcome compared to Angus Phillips’ account in this issue
of a different, very expensive method of depowering the main (see “Lord Nelson
Among the Oystermen,” page 70).
You’d think the best main-trim advice might come from the most experienced sailor among our contributors, Webb Chiles, who writes this month
about a four-day trade-winds passage (see “Open Hatches,” page 66). But
Webb was a bit of a renegade on this trip and didn’t even bother to remove
the mainsail cover. Then again, he never had to worry about whether the
mainsheet was cleated.
John Burnham
Occasionally, we make portions of our subscriber list available
to carefully screened companies that offer products and
services we think may be of interest to you. If you do not want
to receive these offers, please advise us at (866) 436-2461.
9
MAILBAG
([email protected])
Pathfinder Runs Like a Rabbit
I
WAS A LITTLE DISMAYED THAT IN HIS
otherwise wonderful review of
the Nicholson 35 (“English
Channel Charmer,” January
2006), reviewer John Kretschmer
advised potential owners to avoid
vessels with a marinized Volkswagen
diesel of “doubtful reputation.”
These engines, called Pathfinders, are
the marine version of the strong, reliable,
and very efficient 40-horsepower industrial VW diesel built in Germany from
1978 to 1992. VW Rabbit pickup trucks
routinely put hundreds of thousands of
miles on the land version—at close to 50
mpg. Not only has the marine version
been a workhorse on Canadian fishing
boats for over a quarter century; the engine has also been cranking along quite
nicely in thousands of well-maintained
sailboats for years—including our 1982
Krogen 38.
Discussion on the Internet tells me that
any reputation issues stem strictly from
the Pathfinder’s early use of the (now
common) rubber timing belt. Evidently,
no one knew back then that with lack of
use, these belts could get brittle, break,
and ruin an engine.
But older VW mechanics
have also told me that this engine is still one of their favorites—easy to work on, including the belt, with parts still
available from any Volkswagen
dealer. Pathfinder Marine (514695-6676, pathfinder@pathfindermarine. com), a company in Montréal,
Canada, still provides customized manuals, parts, and advice—as well as new
and rebuilt engines.
I would certainly not avoid these little
diesels. Properly maintained, they should
run virtually trouble free for many thousands of hours—with the added benefits
of being easy to start, quiet, very smooth,
and quite stingy with the fuel.
Bob Heruska
Padanaram, MA
Thanks, Herb!
I MUST SAY THAT I REALLY ENJOYED HERB
McCormick’s final Editor’s Log (“Adios,”
February 2006). I really was envious of all
10
the great adventures he’s enjoyed, in most
cases thanks to opportunities afforded by
his affiliation with Cruising World. He’s
lived a lifestyle most of us only dream of.
After I read Herb’s editorial, it dawned
on me that I’d also enjoyed most of these
same nautical experiences as well. Not directly, of course, but through the pages of
Cruising World, thanks to your staff of
first-class writers and photographers.
Good luck, Herb, with your version of
retirement, and thanks for taking us
along with you for all these years.
Barry MacNeil
Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia
Drake Seen in a Different Light
IN HIS FEBRUARY MAILBAG LETTER HEADlined “A Disservice to Drake,” the Rev.
Michael R. Bingham critiques the characterization of Sir Francis Drake presented
in Derek Lundy’s “The Hard Way” (November 2005). Bingham refers to England
as “the greatest seagoing nation of the
world.” This was far from the truth in
1577, when Drake set out for the western
coast of South America. This was
a time before the great explorations of Raleigh, Cook, and
Scott. England was a poor nation, and Spain and Portugal
had split the world in half.
The few Dutch, French, and
English traders who sailed
beyond their home waters
did so at great risk. I feel that
Lundy showed no “bias” or “debasement
of language,” as Bingham claims, and that
he didn’t attempt to belittle Drake.
Although considered one of the greatest explorers of all time, which he was,
Drake’s journey was a gamble, and one
of luck and good fortune where many
others had failed. No one can argue
against his courage or seamanship, but
his voyage was nearly catastrophic at
every corner. The explorers of the time
knew the statistics, faced the dangers,
and accepted the risk. One can’t criticize
Lundy for his use of modern-day electronics and techniques. We live in the
modern age. To sail along Drake’s path
using 16th-century methods would be
risking life and property.
As for Drake’s integrity, both sides can
be argued. He was questioned by one of
his principal partners, an investor and
friend aboard the fighting ship Pelican,
for his piracy. Thomas Doughty was thus
executed by Drake on the Island of Blood
for his accusations rather than cast ashore
or tried in England. Still, Drake returned
home successful and with an enormous
amount of gold, silver, and spices, enough
possibly to finance England’s government
for a year. He rewarded his investors, including the queen, at a time when the
monarchy was facing bankruptcy. Thus
you might say he became a “state-sponsored terrorist-pirate,” but those were different times. Piracy was practiced by all
seafaring nations. Fair game was the rule
of law upon the high seas.
As legends go, his accomplishments
were celebrated, his wrongdoings denied.
Captain Matthew L. Rigby
Palm Beach Harbor Pilots
Not Always Pretty, But . . .
L ARRY B RODSKY “CAN ’ T STOMACH FATTY
Goodlander” (“Fed Up with Fatty,” Mailbag, January 2006), but I’m writing in defense of the Cap’n. In a sport riddled with
Brads, Patiences, Biffs, and Tads, Fatty is a
welcome addition to your great publication. He gives the idea of cruising a
human touch, which may not always be
pretty, but it’s always rewarding. It’s not
the destination but the journey, and Fatty
and his better half seem to genuinely
enjoy themselves. Isn’t that what it’s all
about? He took some heat (“Cap’n Fat: In
the Fire?,” Mailbag, July 2005) in the past
for his On Watch column (“The Downside of Circumnavigating,” April 2005)
presenting his view of America after he
and Carolyn came back. My take is that
he was just describing the wonderful
things that affected him from other
areas of the world, and upon his return,
he was a little disappointed in the materialism evident in this country. Can you
say “Paris Hilton”? I wish to cruise
someday, and it’s specifically because of
people like Fatty.
Bill Dutkovic
Los Angeles, CA
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Gear-Review Graphics
Editor’s note: In the January 2006 issue, Evans Starzinger
contributed an article (“Buyers Beware”) that reported on the
Seven Seas Cruising Association 2004 Equipment Survey of its
members. His article focused on the reliability of different types
of gear, including six brands of watermakers. Although the author offered caveats regarding aspects of the survey that were
likely to skew the results, such as small sample sizes, our graphs
of the data omitted some information from the survey, including
the average age of the equipment and breakdowns on a “per
year” basis. As a result, we received some justifiable criticism, a
sample of which, by the representative of a watermaker manufacturer, you’ll find below. Readers interested in studying the
data in the original survey should order it by writing to the
SSCA ([email protected]).
Evans Starzinger based his article on a survey conducted by
the SSCA of its 5,000 members, yet only 83 responded to
questions regarding desalinators (watermakers). Of those, 30
reported on survival-type desalinators, which received the
worst reviews—not surprising, because they’re designed for
emergency use yet are often used daily, which leads to frequent breakdowns. The remaining 53 respondents represent
only 1.06 percent of SSCA’s membership, and only six of these
commented on Sea Recovery desalinators, units that on average were 8.67 years old. Of these units, the breakdowns per
year were 0.086, which equates to an average of one breakdown every 11 years, seven months.
To put things in perspective, Sea Recovery ships more than
1,300 reverse-osmosis desalinators a year. We conservatively
estimate that there are in excess of 10,000 of our systems in
use today, many over 20 years old. Only six of SSCA’s members commented on a Sea Recovery desalinator, which represents only 0.06 percent of all boat owners using a Sea Recovery. Conclusion? Draw your own: Either SSCA’s membership
own small boats that don’t have desalinators, or Sea Recovery watermakers are so reliable that those in the “silent majority” are enjoying their fresh water and aren’t interested in
taking surveys.
Stephen M. Rollins
President, Sea Recovery Corp.
An Answer to the Riddle
CRUISING WORLD IS A TREAT WHEN DUTY TAKES ME ACROSS THE
Pond, so I was delighted to read “Riddles in the Sands,” Alastair Buchan’s excellent January 2006 article on cruising in
the wake of Erskine Childers’ Riddle of the Sands. Not only is
it a ripping yarn with historical resonance; it’s also a great
sailing story.
May I recommend for further reading The Riddle by Maldwin Drummond (Adlard Coles Nautical), with a forward by
Robert Childers. This well-researched book provides stacks of
background on Childers’ own sailing (including information
about his boat Vixen) as well as much historical context.
Commander Richard Twitchen, RN
Via e-mail
Correction
“BIGGER IS BETTER,” A REVIEW OF THE MORRIS 42 IN CRUISING
World’s March issue, incorrectly identified the roller-furling
system installed by the manufacturer. The furling system is
made by Schaefer.
12
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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SHORE
Edited by Elaine Lembo
THE 60-MILE-LONG CALEDONIAN CANAL, WITH ITS 29 LOCKS AND 10
swing bridges, joins four long, narrow, scenic lochs: Dochfour,
Ness, Oich, and Lochy, collectively called Great Glen. More than
1,000 pleasure boats transit the canal annually, and I can see
why. Rough, rocky hills slide down to the water’s edge, with fold
after fold of hills stretched to the mountains towering beyond
them. Castles or forts are on almost every prominent point, im14
ages enhanced by pastoral views of grazing shaggy Highland
cattle, longhaired sheep, and soaring eagles.
The canal can be entered at Inverness, in the northeast, as we
did in a recent transit (see “Old Home Week on the Caledonian,” page 60), or at Corpach, near Fort William, in the southwest, up to four hours either side of high water during opening
hours, 0800 to 1800 daily. Many locks are in towns or at crossC RU I S I N G WO R L D
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ALISON LANG E LY
Scotland’s Cross-Highlands Canal
LINE
Aboard the 95-foot Norwegian ketch
Sincerity, mate Mats Kristensen (left) and
Capt. Trygve Bratz enjoy a watch in the rain
between Invergarry and Laggan, on Loch
Oich in Scotland’s Caledonian Canal.
roads, the largest situated at Fort Augustus, at the foot of Loch
Ness, with a swing bridge and a seven-lock staircase at the heart
of the village. At this charming town, which features the Caledonian Canal Heritage Centre, busloads of people line the
canal sides to watch boats in transit. The lockkeepers, many of
them women, are very chatty in the way Scots people always
are. Mooring areas with floating docks or buoys are located
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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near points of interest, towns, or pubs. You can also tie up or
anchor near any lock. Each lock has a rise or fall of about eight
feet, with little turbulence and requiring only easy line work.
All lock and bridge keepers monitor VHF Channel 74. Thirdparty liability insurance of £1 million is required on vessels
locking through. Our Canadian insurance was for less than
Continued on page 16
15
SHORELINE
TO ERIC HALL, CARBON FIBER—HIS BREAD “No one’s ever worn carbon fiber before,
and butter in the marine-spar industry— and it turns out that you can push the
is a miracle material. It’s light, resilient, material pretty far.” And, ever the oneand helps boats sail faster. To his daugh- design racer, she keeps on pushing. Her
ter, Diana—or “Dini”—a world-champi- slick design style, her selective and draon match racer and
matic use of set stones
dinghy sailor, the
and gold or platinum
high-tech stuff has
edging, and her unique
inspired a line of unapplication of the
usual jewelry.
high-tech industrial
Pendants, rings,
material all make for a
bracelets, earrings,
distinctive line that’s
and cufflinks made
somehow both classic
from the space-age
and futuristic.
synthetic are the
Hall’s creations have
fruition of both the
been enthusiastically
years Diana spent
received by sailors and
working at Hall Spars
other athletes, not just
and Rigging in Brisfor their styling but also
tol, Rhode Island, as
for their durability and
well as her fine-arts
weather resistance.
degree in jewelry and
Her own sailing cametalsmithing from
reer has taught her
what kind of wear and
the Rhode Island
Diana Hall crafts carbon-fiber
tear athletes exact upon
School of Design.
jewelry. Hall grew up as
Hall says she came pieces for a market that apprecia Vanguard 15 dinghy
to understand how ates jewelry that’s also industrialstrength and weather-resistant.
sailor, ultimately becarbon fiber behaves
as a material at the same time she was coming a member of Betsy Alison’s
studying the art and design of rings, world-champion match-racing team. She
bracelets, and other jewelry. That acci- regularly races J/22s and J/24s in Newdental confluence of discoveries has de- port, Rhode Island. Find out more about
fined her artistic career.
her work at her website, Diana Hall Jew“In more ways than one, I’m in un- elry (www.dianahalljewelry.com).
Molly Sexton
charted waters,” Diana says with a laugh.
Dismal Swamp Gets Funding
Snowbirds heading north this spring on
the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway will
again have the option of using the Dismal
Swamp Canal. Thanks largely to a grass-
Funded again, the Dismal Swamp Canal
is open to southbound sailors.
16
roots lobbying campaign led by Penny
Leary-Smith, director of the Dismal
Swamp Canal Welcome Center (www.
dismalswamp.com) on Route 17 in North
Carolina, funding for the fiscal year 20052006 was included in the U.S. Federal
Government’s 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill to ensure continued operation of the canal through September
2006. Snowbirds heading south next fall
take note: The tireless Leary-Smith is already at work urging fans of this historic
and lovely waterway to keep the pressure
on their congressional delegates to perpetuate the funding for 2006-2007.
Jeremy McGeary
Continued from page 15
that—CAN$1 million—but our certificate of insurance was valid for the dates
we’d be in the canal, and the canal payment office let us proceed.
Any vessel entering and leaving the
canal at the western end, at Corpach,
that’s less than 150 feet LOA, with less
than a 35-foot beam and a 13 1/2-foot
draft, can transit the canal as far as Inverness if its mast height doesn’t exceed
115 feet, the height of overhead electrical transmission cables. Just outside the
canal entrance at Inverness, the Kessock
Bridge, with 89 feet, eight inches of
clearance, carries the A9 motorway
across Moray Firth, restricting entrance
from the east.
As for the costs of transit, the British
Waterways Board options range from a
one-day to a full-season pass based on
boat length in meters. The charge includes free tie-ups on walls, pontoons,
and buoys as well as use of toilets, showers, and laundry facilities where available.
According to the website of British Waterways (waterscape.com), a one-way,
eight-day passage costs £15.80 per meter
of boat length. Thus, a boat of 12 meters
LOA (just over 39 feet) would be charged
about US$321.55. A round-trip would
cost £10.80 per meter.
We arrived at the canal after closing
time and were instructed to go to Inverness for clearance. We moored at Longman Quay, which was a longer walk into
town than from the Muirtown Basin, inside the canal.
A small chart/brochure is handed out
at the first lock, where the fee is paid;
credit cards are accepted. British Admiralty chart 1791 covers the canal, but we
chose the inexpensive Caley Marina chart
printed for their charter fleet.
In the 1830s, a portion of the canal
near Dunaincroy was leaking badly. That
section was emptied, and webs of woolen
cloth, woven at a nearby mill, were laid
on the bed and up the inner banks of the
canal for a distance of 500 yards. On top
of this woolen patch, layers of “puddle”—clay, sand, and light gravel well
mixed with water—were placed and
worked in by foot. This patch has kept
the canal watertight ever since.
Paul Howard
s/v Carpe Diem
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ALEXAN DE R N ESB IT (TOP), ALLESAN DRO VITE LLI
High-Tech and Fit for the Runway
SHORELINE
HURRICANE SEASON IN VENEZUELA IS THE
perfect time for cruising sailors to get off
the boat and help out on land. That’s just
what a group from Marina Bahía Redonda, in Puerto La Cruz, accomplished in the
fall of 2005 by donating money and lots of
energy to the 14th Fundamigos Mission
for the children of eastern Venezuela.
operations to correct cleft lips, cleft
palates, and other acquired and congenital deformities.
Fundamigos, a non-governmental organization, handled housing, meals, and
transportation for the volunteers. Cruisers, led by recruiter Anne Robinson, raised
$375 for food and supplies. Cruiser Pam
Cooper organized a dozen
women to make bandages, then
joined others assisting with
cleanup in the operating rooms.
Other cruisers rocked recovering babies, translated for doctors, nurses, and parents, and
helped in the kitchen, preparing
800 meals a day for a week.
At a fiesta, surgeons Ana
Velásquez de Manyon and
Michael Goldwasser expressed
their gratitude to the cruisers.
Emotions ran high as gifts,
hugs, and thank-yous were exchanged between medical staff
and volunteers.
Volunteering for such proCruisers set up at a marina restaurant in Puerto La jects as Fundamigos requires
Cruz, Venezuela, and cut bandages for the
no medical background and
Fundamigos medical mission.
no fluency in Spanish; just a
The cruisers supported a team of 15 pair of willing hands is enough to give
medical professionals from the Carle children smiles and a life to smile about.
Clinic, in Urbana, Illinois, that spent a To donate, write to Fundamigos (Funweek at Hospital Universitario Dr. Luis damigos Hlp, Mun 1213, P.O. Box 025352,
Razetti. With their Venezuelan counter- Miami, FL 33102-5352).
Ellen B. Sanpere
parts, the team completed more than 140
Rounding the Horn with Strangers
Sailing with Strangers: A Story of Courage, Survival,
and Living a Dream by Charley Hester ($16; WingSpan
Press, 866-735-3782, www.wingspanpress.com). It’s
hard not to become virtual pals with the author, who
in this book, his first, draws readers in with a true tale
of sailing around Cape Horn on a budget. At 58,
Charley signed on with a group of, yes, strangers to
share expenses, eccentricities, and a voyage aboard a
middle-aged, 46-foot Morgan. The saga tests wills,
egos, marine parts, and rigging, and it’s all told in an
honest, practical voice. You may not be able to decide
whether you love or hate the ending; nonetheless,
you’ll look forward to hearing about more travels with
this particular Charley.
Jib Ellis
18
First-Class Seating
Most seats on rigid-bottom inflatable
dinghies consist of a slab of wood or fiberglass attached to the outer tubes with
glued-on straps. Over time, stress and
chafe tear the straps loose.
I prefer to use a 48-quart cooler that fits
perfectly between the tubes and sits firmly
on the sole. To make the arrangement
shipshape, I glued three strips of mahogany, each measuring one by one by 12
inches, to the sole with 3M 5200 structural
adhesive and attached straps to them to
hold down the cooler and the gas tank.
The wood strips keep the cooler and also
the gas tank from moving fore or aft.
This cooler does triple duty as seat, waterproof locker, and gas-tank restrainer.
In addition, I glued half-inch-thick foam
to both the bottom and top of the cooler.
The bottom foam helps cushion it on the
floor, while the top foam adds comfort as a
seat pad. I added a few foam chunks along
both sides to keep the fit snug.
The key is to get the right size cooler.
For my 11-foot aluminum hull, the 48quart model (measuring 24 by 12 by 15
inches) is perfect. It should fit easily (but
not too loosely) between the tubes and not
stand too high (mine is 15 inches high, the
maximum I’d want).
The cooler not only replaces the seat; it
also makes a great storage container for
safety gear and the dinghy anchor. It’ll fit
shoes, towels, and a picnic lunch, keeping
them all dry even when spray comes over
the bow.
Eric Sanford
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
E LLE N B. SAN PE R E (TOP LE FT), E R IC SAN FOR D (TOP R IG HT), COU RTESY OF WI NGSPAN PR ESS
Helping Children Smile
SHORELINE
JUST AS THE 2005-2006 CRUISING SEASON
got under way, three more coastal communities in the Sunshine State—St. Augustine, on the eastern coast, and Marco
Island and Gulfport, on the western—
followed a statewide trend in setting limits on cruisers’ anchoring rights.
St. Augustine passed an ordinance to
limit anchoring in Hospital Creek to 48
hours in a 60-day period. Hospital Creek,
a sheltered, non-navigated stretch off the
Intracoastal Waterway, is home to both
transient and long-term liveaboard cruisers. Now plans are in the works in St. Augustine for a harbor-management plan to
include a mooring field and greater anchoring restrictions, although officials at
city hall say it will be years before the
rules become a reality.
The reasons given by local governments are familiar to those on all sides of
the controversy and include concerns
about water quality, the disruption of
Initiative has banded together members
of the marine industry to address various
boating issues, including water access.
Anchoring rights remain low on the list
of priorities, as the focus is on increased
sale to developers of boat ramps, marinas, and boatyards. Sailors are urged to
make known their views about anchoring
rights by contacting the Water Access
Committee through the Grow Boating
website (www.growboating.org).
To stay current with changing anchoring
laws and issues, check with other cruisers
via e-mail message boards, including the
discussion board at the Seven Seas Cruising Association website (www.ssca.org) or
Claiborne Young’s The Salty Southeast
Cruiser’s Net (www.cruisersnet.net).
Moitessier: A Sailing Legend by JeanMichel Barrault, translated by Janine
Simon ($20; Sheridan House, 914-6932410, www.sheridanhouse.com). In 1969,
the world believed Bernard Moitessier had
gone mad
after he gave
up first place
in the Sunday
Times Golden
Globe and
kept on sailing until he
fetched up in
Tahiti. His
reason: “. . .
because I am
happy at sea
and, perhaps, to save my soul.”
Moitessier, born in Hanoi in 1925, was
forever torn between the culture and
mores of his parents’ native France and
those of its Southeast Asian colonies where
he grew up. When political changes
wrought by World War II drove deeper the
wedge between East and West in his
beloved Vietnam, Moitessier reacted by
sailing away aboard his junk, MarieThérèse. He thus became one of a group of
vagabonds who were romantic ideals for a
whole generation of cruising sailors.
He periodically suffered emotional
and financial lows. To recover, which
usually meant building another boat, he
worked fanatically at whatever job came
his way. He also wrote about his travels
and travails, efforts in which he was encouraged and aided by author JeanMichel Barrault.
Through his books, Moitessier became
an icon among sailors worldwide. In this
biography, Barrault succeeds in capturing
a wanderer’s life that encompassed the
successes, failures, and inconsequential doings left in the wake of a pelagic philosopher and free spirit. Sheridan House also
has published all of Moitessier’s books in
English translations.
Curtis and Lupe Tucker
Jeremy McGeary
The city of Gulfport, on the Gulf of
Mexico side of St. Petersburg, already had
an ordinance on the books restricting anchoring to 72 hours in Boca Ciega Bay, but
it had never seriously enforced it. It also
had a harbor-management plan to install
100 moorings and a five-slip courtesy
dock in 2005, but that was voted down.
Since late 2005, copies of the anchoring
ordinance, however, have been distributed
to local police officers to encourage them
to crack down on liveaboard vessels and
long-term anchoring in the bay.
Grassroots efforts circulating on various e-mail bulletin boards suggest that
cruisers making purchases at a chandlery,
supermarket, or other store should hand
the merchant a card that reads,“This purchase was made by a liveaboard cruiser.”
This would prompt local merchants and
officials to see the economic impact that
cruisers have on their community.
On a national level, the Grow Boating
Until recently, the city of Gulfport, Florida, has never seriously enforced its ordinance
restricting anchoring in Boca Ciega Bay, but a crackdown seems imminent.
navigation by anchored boats, the disorderly conduct of rowdy boaters, and the
unsightliness of neglected boats in the
harbors (see “Anchors . . . Away!,” July
2004, and “Welcome to Miami Beach?,”
Shoreline, January 2006).
A heated debate has begun in Marco Island, on Florida’s Sun Coast. For boats
heading south along Florida’s western
coast down to the Florida Keys or west to
the Gulf of Mexico, Marco Island provides ample opportunities to provision
and wait for weather. But local residents
banded together to influence city officials
to pass an ordinance to limit anchoring
to 72 hours, at a distance of no less than
100 feet from the shore or a private dock.
The ordinance was to have been in place
last March.
20
Pelagic Philosopher
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
JOH N J. R EVISKY (LE FT), COU RTESY OF SH E R I DAN HOUSE
Anchoring’s a Drag in Florida
SHORELINE
An Old Navigational Adage Rings True
SO
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
electronic charts. While Mellish appeared
on the paper chart, even at 3,500,000:1 our
large-scale electronic chart was selective
on detail. But we could hardly scan the entire ocean at 100,000:1 scale with our laptop computer.
The appearance of shrieking terns and
diving brown birds by the hundreds told
us when we were near Mellish. We turned
on the radar but got no return. Finally,
only a mile and a half off, the tip of a yellow-white sandbank peeked between the
swells ahead.
I steered directly toward the gleaming
bank, telling my nervous husband that
someday we might have to take the measure of a place for which we had no data.
But in truth, I was in the grip of a kind of
vertigo. The reality of
coming on soundings
160˚ E
150˚ E
shook me out of it, and
LA
Guadalcanal
we turned north to parND
10˚ S
S
allel the low, empty
sandbank, where a row
Louisiade
Archipelago
of coral rubble was
bared at us like rotting
CORAL SEA
VANUATU
teeth. Emerald lagoon
Mellish Reef
water shone in the dis17º 21' S
tance. The shallows
155º 54' E
20˚ S
ended, but I knew from
New
the C-Map that the reef
Caledonia
extended
farther.
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
Knowing that, I was
600
able to distinguish
LO
M
O
N
IS
Gr
ea
a
t B
rr
ie
r
R
ee
f
Cairns G
AUSTRALIA
Nautical Miles
0
22
300
A full moon over the Coral Sea did
nothing to ease our sense of foreboding
as we crept closer to a menacing reef
somewhere between New Caledonia
and Australia (see map).
white breakers to our northwest. We
sailed past these until Mellish was below
the horizon, then made course for the
Torres Strait and the Indian Ocean.
It was broad daylight, yet I sat in the
cockpit and felt a shiver as I realized how
easily we could have both been below,
seeing to lunch or retrieving e-mail. If the
large-scale electronic chart had been our
only guide, we could’ve been on top of
the reef and realized it much too late.
Electronic charts are easy to store and
browse. Paper charts are cumbersome
and expensive. But I can’t abide route
planning on a small screen, so I insist on
using paper for sailing and planning; still,
we don’t bother with paper charts for
harbors or even small-scale coastline
work unless they come as part of a package. One CD stores the information we
need—or think we need.
Mellish Reef was a timely reminder for
us of the old adage that’s printed on
charts and found on all the electronic devices and software available: “The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any
single aid to navigation.”
Ann Hoffner
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
AN N HOFFN E R, MAP BY SHAN NON CAI N
T HE FULL MOON FINALLY GLOWED ON A
clear sea three days into our 2,400-mile
passage aboard Oddly Enough, our Peterson 44. We were sailing to Darwin, at the
top of Australia, and so we’d miss the scattered reefs of the Coral Sea. We hugged
the coast of New Caledonia after leaving
its capital, Noumeá. Our west-northwesterly course should now take us over the
top of all of the Coral’s hazards, except for
one little obstruction, Mellish Reef. I
hastily entered a GPS waypoint.
A rhumb-line course took us directly
toward Mellish. Not knowing whether a
change in the trade winds would make it
a moot point, we chose not to alter course,
which meant that by midnight of our
fifth day, it was time to consider what to
do. I don’t know why a tiny spot in the
ocean has such gravitational force, but by
morning we were heading straight for the
reef at six and a half knots, with 12 knots
of wind and current pushing us.
The paper chart gave no indication of
the size of the reef, so Tom, my husband,
booted up the C-Map electronic-chart
disc, and we scanned the ocean in the
vicinity of 17 degrees 21 minutes south,
155 degrees 54 minutes east. Nothing
showed up except a blue kidney shape in
the 1,000-fathom line. Not until I reduced
scale to 100,000:1 did Mellish pop out,
with its anchorage, lagoon, and boat channel. From tip to tip it measured less than
six miles long, with three marked wrecks.
A bit startled, I returned topside and
scanned the horizon. We were still 30 miles
away, but the failure of the C-Map to show
anything on its large-scale chart made me
wonder what other dangers might be hidden in the blind reaches of the world of
ON
WATCH
A Winch for the Wench
I
1968, AND WE WERE GEARING UP FOR THE SUMMER
of Love. Carolyn and I were both 16 years old, and we
were at anchor in Lake Michigan, near Chicago. I’d just
replaced seven planks and sistered a dozen frames over
the winter, and this was our spring shakedown aboard
Corina, the 22-foot Atkin-designed double-ender I’d
purchased the year before. Corina was barely leaking now. The
world lay at our feet.
I was happy in that uncomplicated, straight-ahead way that
only the young can feel. But now it was late Sunday afternoon,
and there were storm clouds on the western horizon. Tomorrow
T WAS
Carolyn would have to be back at school, and I’d have to be back
at work. “I’ll crank the engine and power forward,” I told Carolyn. “You haul in the anchor rode. Tell me when we’re directly
above the anchor, and I’ll stop. You cleat it off, then I’ll reverse
and break the anchor out. Then I’ll stop again, and you’ll haul it
aboard. OK?”
“Sure,” she said.
It was a small anchor with very little chain, and she’d done it
before. But this time there must have been a mountain of Midwestern mud on its flukes. It was heavy. I could tell that by the
way she flexed as she hoisted it. OK, so I’m a cad. I admit I enjoyed watching her. She paused in mid-hoist to catch her breath.
“Isn’t there something to make this easier?” she asked me. “I
24
mean, like an electric anchor reel or something?”
“Yeah,” I said from the cockpit. “It’s called an anchor windlass,
and I’ll buy you one when you’re 50.” It was a throwaway line. I
didn’t even think about it, really. I just opened my mouth, and it
fell out. Who knew the gold digger would hang around for the
next 35 years in patient expectation?
Back in those days, I was far more of a traditionalist than I
am today. I had kerosene running lights outside and kerosene
cabin lamps inside. Every spring, with an open Dutton’s Nautical Navigation in front of me, I’d swing my compass and adjust
my father’s trusty World War II sextant. My only two concessions to modernity were a large-looped
radio-direction finder and an electronic
Accutron wristwatch.
Most of the time, Carolyn had no
problem with Corina’s small anchor,
short chain, and half-inch rode—not in
the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi
River, or in the tropics.
“I don’t need an anchor windlass,” I’d
tell my friends. “I’ve got a Sicilian on
the bow.”
It became a joke, I guess, but it was
also a strange and backward way that I
showed her respect. She was strong, on
all levels. She didn’t need coddling. So
what if other people couldn’t—or
wouldn’t—do it. She could. And did.
With an alluring smile.
Carolyn’s strength became legendary.
“Watch out,” I’d threaten my rumsoaked drinking buddies. “One word
from me, and my wife will knock out
what’s left of your teeth!”
When local sailors wanted to move an
engine, launch a dinghy, or shift some
cargo, they’d stop by our boat and ask if
Carolyn was available.
A brand-new
There was a dinghy race in St. AugusMaxwell VWC1500
tine, Florida, and Carolyn was such a
windlass with all
strong rower it was a forgone concluthe trimmings
sion that she’d win. As a joke, a friend
narrowly averts a
(still a friend, though admittedly a
disaster of the
dumb one) tied a cinderblock to the
relationship kind.
trailing edge of our dinghy’s skeg,
thinking Carolyn would get a good laugh when she discovered it
after a couple of strokes. But he used too much line. It wasn’t
visible to Carolyn, who thought she was just nervous about the
competition. But the townsfolk watched from the Bridge of
Lions and could clearly see the cinderblock rotating underwater
astern. They screamed and pointed.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
GARY M. G OODLAN DE R
In which the Cap’n asks: Is a promise made at 16 still binding 35 years later in
the court of marital law? BY CAP’N FATTY GOODLANDER
This just confused Carolyn. But she
never gave up and finished third out of 20
despite her, er, handicap. As she stroked
like an Amazon throughout her long, hot
ordeal, I remember thinking, “I’m the
luckiest man in the world to share my life
with that woman.”
So it became a tradition. Whenever
we’d travel in the company of other boats
and the anchor had to be raised, I’d famously “relax” in the cockpit as Carolyn
ran the foredeck. Occasionally, I’d help
out with a little moral support. “Come
on, Carolyn. Asses and elbows, please!
Yank it up, honey. That’s right, yo-yo it
back on the deck!”
Carolyn would be up there covered in
mud, dripping blood, and swinging anchors around as if they were cocktail
purses. But time marches on. As our wallets grew, so did our boats—and their related anchor gear.
In 2002, our daughter, Roma Orion,
came from college to visit us in Australia
as we cruised the Great Barrier Reef. One
day, we tried to anchor off Thursday Island, in the notoriously windy Torres
Strait. We couldn’t get our anchor to
hold. There was a swift current, and it’d
evidently hard-scoured the bottom.
Again and again we tried: rehoisting,
lowering, backing, and rehoisting. Luckily, Roma was with us. She works out,
plays rugby, and mountain bikes. But in
the middle of the third hoist, even Roma
fell backward, sat down, and rested. Only
Carolyn continued to hoist, with agonizingly painful slowness. And Roma gave
me a peculiar look; not an accusing one,
really, but just puzzled. As if something
was happening here that she couldn’t
quite figure out—but didn’t like.
My daughter gave me a
peculiar look, as if
something was happening
here that she couldn’t quite
figure out—but didn’t like
Three years ago, Carolyn turned 50. We
were in Chagos, about as far into the Indian Ocean from a West Marine as you
can travel. “Well?” Carolyn asked.
“Well what?” I said.
Carolyn reminded me of my promise.
“You’re serious?” I asked. “Think about
the extra weight of the chain and the
added expense of the windlass.”
“Are you reneging on your promise?”
she asked curtly.
“Of course not,” I said. “But I promised
‘when you’re 50,’ not necessarily ‘for your
50th birthday.’”
“Ah,” she said. “I would never have
married you if I had known that you’d
become a sea lawyer.”
That stung. With a sigh, I went anchorage begging. I didn’t find a lot of sympathy, but I did find an about-to-be-discarded windlass in the bilge of Canadian
Sunset.“It’s an SL 555 manual,” Jim Gracie
said. “It’s frozen up solid. But, hey, maybe
with a big enough sledgehammer. . . .”
It took a huge sledgehammer. Internal parts were squashed, bent, and
twisted. I beat shafts straighter, drilled
holes truer, and rasped bearings larger.
Finally, it was reassembled and bolted
to the foredeck. And it worked. Sort of.
Well, nearly.
“But I thought,” Carolyn said glumly,
“you know—an electric one.”
“I’ll buy you one of those electric ones
26
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
when you’re 70,” I said brightly.
This didn’t get a laugh. Not even a
smile. Worse, not even a glare.
I realized that what’s funny at 16 can be
sad at 50.
About six months ago, anchored within the fringing reef of Tahiti, we were hit
by a small but powerful squall. We
dragged. (I’ve dragged only six times in
my life. But that’s six times too many, and
this was one of them). This wouldn’t have
been so bad in sand, but we’d rested up
against a large coral head, and I was
scared to put the engine in gear to power
away. I didn’t want to damage the prop or
bend the shaft. So I zoomed out our
emergency lunch hook in the dinghy,
then returned to Wild Card to kedge her
off with brute force.
Carolyn was already straining at the
rode when I joined her. I gave it my all.
Nothing. A slight sea was building. We
were pounding a bit.
I wanted off, like, now!
“Pull, damn it!” I cried. “Don’t just
look at it, Carolyn, pull on the gawddang thing!” Nothing.
“Let’s pump it!” I shouted. “Get a
rhythm going. Now, and now, and—.”
Carolyn fell backward. I heard a sob.
She sat down with a thud, buried her face
in her hands, and said, “I can’t.”
I froze. I couldn’t believe it. Atlas had
shrugged, and for a moment my world
blurred. Then, with brutal clarity, I refocused. I was asking her to do the impossible and fully expecting her to accomplish it. What a fool I’d been, to miss the
pivotal moment when the joke had
soured. “That’s OK, honey,” I told her
gently as I trotted the dripping rode aft
to the sheet winches. “I understand, and
I’m sorry I—.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry,” she said
as she helped me tail. “It’s just that—.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s all my fault.
Truly. I apologize. For being deaf, dumb,
and blind.”
After that incident, our first port-of-call
in a developed nation was New Zealand. I
dashed ashore and bought a Maxwell
VWC1500 windlass with all the trimmings.
As I installed it on the foredeck, Carolyn, at
my insistence, worked on her tan, fussed
with her nails, and drank piña coladas.
“It’ll pick up more than 1,700
pounds,” I told her. “And it’s fast: 56 feet
per minute. We’ll be able to raise and
lower the anchor automatically from either the foredeck or the cockpit. And
there’s an electronic chain counter with
docking alarm.”
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
“It seems like a dream,” Carolyn said,
yawning. “A high-tech dream.”
“No,” I said. “Just fair payment on a
long-overdue bill.”
A few days later, just before we began
field-testing the windlass, I presented
her with a small, carefully wrapped, belated 50th birthday present. There was a
card, and it said things too private to repeat. Inside the box, set artfully amid
black velvet, was a small knitted pouch.
“What is it?” Carolyn asked, holding it
up for bemused inspection. “A gearshift cover?”
“A toe sock,” I said. “To prevent your
big toe from getting calluses from working the foot switch.”
She laughed. “Seems like you thought
of everything, Fatty,” she said.
Better late than never.
Fatty and Carolyn are cruising New Zealand,
anchoring on a whim, and getting ready to
head northward to Vanuatu in the austral fall.
27
LETTER FROM
AVENTURA
From One Voyager to Another
This tribute to Christopher Columbus is cast from the Canary Islands anchorages
from which many sailors set out to see the world BY JIMMY CORNELL
M
500 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, THE
shadow of Christopher Columbus still
lingers over the small port of San Sebastián, on the island of Gomera in the Canaries. Still standing after all these years is
the church where the great navigator and
the crew of his three ships prayed on the eve of their momentous voyage. Locals proudly point out the small house where he
stayed, while in a nearby courtyard is a deep well with a plaque
that reads: “With water from this well was America baptized.”
The most impressive remnant, however, is Torre del Conde, a
massive, red-stone fortress that’s now a museum dedicated to
that first transatlantic voyage.
A copy of the world globe drawn in 1492 by
the German cartographer Martin Beheim
shows Chipango, or Japan, more or less in the
current location of the Lesser Antilles. This was
the first time that the Earth had been depicted
in three dimensions as a sphere, and since it
was published a few months before Columbus
left Spain, the explorer was probably familiar
with Beheim’s work and may not have thought
he was sailing blindly into the unknown.
ORE THAN
Columbus stopped in Gomera on three of his transatlantic
voyages. Although the sheltered harbor and fertile island could
have been the main reason, the presence of beautiful Beatriz de
Bobadilla was probably the deciding factor. She was the widow
of the Count of Peraza, who was governor of the island. On his
death, Beatriz took over. By the time of Columbus’ first visit in
September 1492, she was in her late 20s and famous throughout
Spain as a great beauty. Their romance has fired the imagination
of Columbus fans ever since.
Gomera has always been my favorite island among the Canaries, so at the end of my voyage from South Africa, rather than
continue to the Mediterranean, I decided to keep Aventura III
here and see more of the Canaries. On my previous visits, I
hadn’t sailed much among the
islands, and like most owners
of the approximately 2,000
boats that pass through here
annually, I was guilty of regarding the Canaries just as a
convenient stepping stone.
Gomera is one of the smallest
and least developed among the
seven inhabited islands. Determined not to repeat the mistakes of their larger neighbors,
for many years the gomeros resisted all attempts to develop a
tourist infrastructure. Until recently, Gomera was the only island without an airport. But
change is under way: There’s
now a small airport in the south
of the island, and a new marina
in San Sebastián. The island’s
30
J I M MY COR N E LL
When Columbus first called at the island of
Gomera, this landmark tower (above) had
already been built. Before his fleet set sail, the
navigator’s crew provisioned from a fountain
leading to a freshwater well (right). A tribute
to Columbus (above, right) was constructed
near Palos, in southwestern Spain.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
Read Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot
Morison, published in 1942 and still in print. The American historian made trips in
vessels similar to Columbus’ while researching the two-volume work. That firsthand
experience, evident in the text via its tone, sets the biography apart from others about
Columbus and earned Morison the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1943.
Elaine Lembo
people are attached to a traditional life
style, and perhaps this is why the gomeros
are the butt of countless jokes among fellow canarios. Here’s one:“Why do the people of Gomera look up to the sky at midday and smile?” “Because this is when the
weather satellite takes its pictures.”
Behind the times they may be, but
there’s a certain wisdom in that, as shown
by the way they’ve chosen to adapt to
modern life on their own terms. Among
all canarios, the gomeros are closest to the
original Guanches, who’d inhabited these
islands since before Roman times. From
their ancestors, the gomeros have retained
a unique whistling language that makes it
possible to communicate over long distances in the island’s rugged interior.
When demonstrated for my benefit, I was
amazed to see what complex messages
could be transmitted between two
whistling islanders.
The sacred peak of Alto de Garajonay
dominates the island, and it’s the site of
an ancient stone circle that was used for
worship by the Guanches. From the
peak, there are stupendous views on a
clear day, with the tops of the islands of
La Palma, Hierro, Tenerife, and even
Gran Canaria, over 100
miles away, visible
above the clouds.
On the morn-
#
18ºW
17ºW
ing we left San Sebastián to sail to the
westernmost island of Hierro, the wind
was unusually light, but I knew that
wouldn’t last. The Canaries may boast
having one of the best climates in the
world, with benign winters and pleasant
summers, but local sailing conditions
aren’t to everyone’s liking. The high islands
generate their own
weather, with wind acceleration zones in the
channels separating the
islands. At least the
strong wind that filled in
ensured a fast passage,
and by mid-afternoon
we were tied up in Hierro’s new marina at Puerto de la Estaca. Neighboring La Palma now has
a new marina, too, and
the development of
marinas on every island
has been the policy of
the regional government, which is determined to exploit the mostly untapped
potential of the Canaries as an attractive
cruising destination.
Even for the sailor arriving from laidback Gomera, Hierro feels like a step back
in time. There’s hardly any traffic on the
narrow roads that wind their way among
16º W
13º W
14º W
15º W
30º N
Nautical Miles
0
30
60
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Lanzarote
29º N
La Palma
Tenerife
Fuerteventura
San Sebastián
de la Gomera
Gomera
Las Palmas
Hierro
C
32
28º N
Gran Canaria
A
N
A
R
Y
I
S
L
A
N
D S
well-tended fields and gardens. To preserve the fragile habitat, the sheltered
southern coast has been declared a nature
reserve, with strict rules concerning diving and even anchoring, but at least it’s
still possible to stop in a small cove below
Punta de Orchilla, at the western end of
the island. An old lighthouse stands on
this windswept headland, which, until the
voyage of Columbus, was regarded as the
end of the world.
As I looked out over the gray Atlantic
waters, my thoughts went back to that
great sailor whose deeds had done so
much to bring the world closer to how we
know it today. Against all odds, he managed to get King Ferdinand and Queen Is-
A replica of the Santa Maria (above)
sets off from Spain during the quincentenary celebrations in 1992. Only 54
miles from Saharan Africa (see map),
the seven main Canary Islands grow
increasingly fertile from east to west.
abella to finance his expedition and agree
to his various demands, which included a
share of all the riches brought back from
the newly discovered lands and a noble
title for him and his descendants. Few, if
any, of those promises were fulfilled, even
in his lifetime, and when he died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506, Columbus was virtually destitute.
By way of an epitaph, I’ll repeat the
words of Samuel Eliot Morison, author of
the award-winning biography of Columbus and his four voyages to the New
World: “Waste no pity on the Admiral of
the Ocean Sea! He enjoyed long stretches
of pure delight such as only a seaman may
know and moments of high, proud exultation that only a discoverer can experience.”
Jimmy Cornell is a Cruising World con-
MOROCCO
27º N
tributing editor.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
J I M MY COR N E LL, MAP BY SHAN NON CAI N
The Word on Columbus
PASSAGE
NOTES
Swallowing the Anchor
What makes cruisers put the voyage on hold and start a
business in paradise? Their reasons are compelling, insightful,
and intensely personal BY GWEN HAMLIN
haunts cruisers; it’s about as welcome a prospect
as going down with the ship. But it does happen. Sometimes it comes at the end of a voyage;
other times, a family call undercuts the plan.
Sometimes cruisers plain run out of money.
Often as not, though, it’s energy they run short on. One way or
another, the anchor usually goes down somewhere close to
home—but not always. A few sailors get snagged indefinitely in
Paradise. My husband, Don Wilson, and I were reflecting over
this as Tackless II, our CSY 44s, approached the town of Neiafu,
in Tonga’s Vava’u Group, where not one but two sets of cruising
friends had started businesses.
We arrived in achingly gor- Tonga’s scenic Vava’u Group
geous weather in which the (below) has lured some
blue of the sky and the green sailors back to life on land,
including Lisa and Ben
of the islands seemed to viNewton (right), who’ve started,
brate. The water was like among other businesses, an
glass, and the beaches were eco-park and an Internet
golden. Humpback whales café, and Baker Hardin
were spouting right and left. (bottom), who wants to
Don and I looked at each organize a yacht club.
other. We might be in trouble here.
The channel into the harbor winds through islands curled
tightly together, giving the illusion of sailing on a lake. Neiafu
sits atop a bluff on the eastern side of the anchorage, with a strip
of yachtie-oriented businesses squeezed at its foot along the waterfront. We’d barely picked up a mooring when an outboard
screamed alongside. “I know that boat!” a voice shouted.
It was Ben Newton of Waking Dream, a Cooper 416. He and
his wife, Lisa, had crossed with us from Mexico the previous sea-
son. The Newtons have more energy than a pack of 10-year-olds
and an equivalent sense of fun. What possibly could have tempted this young couple, only two years out of California, to put
cruising on hold and go back to work?
“We were tiring of the pack momentum,” Ben explains.
“Everybody was obsessing together over the upcoming passage
to New Zealand, and it wasn’t feeling right for us. Our idea of
cruising wasn’t to stay in a safe community the whole time. We
wanted to get out and learn how other people live. We woke up
one morning in the middle of it all and announced to everyone
we were going to stay.”
They stayed through the uneventful cyclone season, picking
people’s brains and trying to figure out what was needed to
open a business. By March, they were applying for business visas
34
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
GWE N HAM LI N
T
HE NOTION OF RETURNING TO LIFE ON LAND
and licenses and bringing in equipment.
Their major project is Tonga Sphere, a
sort of eco-park that they hope will appeal to Tongans as well as to tourists. It
features a hillside course for people to roll
down while inside of giant balls; there’s
also an inflatable trampoline shaped like
a castle for kids who love to bounce. Ben
has the equipment to add a canopy cable
ride by next year. To connect customers
with the park, they started Aquarium Adventures, an Internet café and boutique,
out of which they also run their third enterprise, Flying Coconuts, offering rental
sailing dinghies for harbor play.
“To survive here, you’ve got to diversify,” says Lisa, who works behind the busy
desk at Aquarium Adventures from 7
a.m. until 9 p.m. selling coffee, pastries,
local crafts, and Internet time. “It’s a great
adventure, because to really get into the
Tongan people, you’ve got to get past sitting in the pa’alangi world,” she says,
using the Tongan word for “foreigner.”
Clearly, the Newtons are the newest
kids on the block, but Neiafu’s yachtieoriented waterfront of bars, restaurants,
dive shops, and whale-watching operations turns out to be largely populated by
former cruisers. The well-known Mermaid Bar and Sailing Safaris complex was
started 35 years ago by cruiser Don Coleman, who still lives on a boat, although
it’s high and dry on land and has metamorphosed into a house. Holly Marsden
quit as crew of a 97-foot Jongert four
years ago to become the Mermaid’s manager and the voice of the Vava’u Yacht
Club, while John Beauchamp, owner of
Sailing Safaris Yacht Services, sailed in
from New Zealand in 1991 on Melinda, a
gaff-rigged ketch that’s still plying Tongan waters as a charter boat.
Over our welcome beers at the Mermaid, we met up with Baker Hardin,
whom we’d known four years earlier in
Ecuador. Baker and his wife, Cindy Russell, had sailed west on Lite N Up, their Islander 44, but delayed by mechanical
problems and weather, they’d ended up
not arriving in Vava’u until mid-December, just in time for Cyclone Waka, which
hit on New Year’s Eve 2001. After the
storm dragged most of the yachts in the
harbor—along with their moorings—
across the bay, someone observed that an
“I Survived Waka” T-shirt was needed.
This sparked the birth of Tropical Tease,
Cindy’s enterprise.
Cindy’s shop is downstairs from the
immigration office, and we found her at
work there churning out a batch of her
Tongan Dirt Shirts, T-shirts stained a
rich ochre color in a bath of local mud
and then screened with original designs
Cindy commissions from local artists.
Much of her business is customizing
shirts for cruisers, and she modeled a
shirt produced that morning with two
36
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
GWE N HAM LI N
Cindy Russell went to Fiji to sharpen
silk-screening skills before she started
selling Tongan Dirt Shirts, which are
dyed ochre, the color of island mud,
and rinsed in seawater.
didn’t want to go back.” His fantasy was
to find a remote island and move all the
gear off the boat to make an island home.
Vava’u was a “warm, slow, relaxed”
kind of place, more appealing to Robert’s
mindset than New Zealand, with its
complex regulations and the daunting
passage to get there. Persuaded by the
local statistic of one bad storm every 20
years, the Bryces decided to stay in Neiafu through cyclone season. Their boat
came through Waka relatively un-
scathed, and after the storm, Robert felt
energized. He plunged into business,
opening the Ifo Ifo Bar. A year later, he
sold it at a profit. “It was the first time
anyone had sold a business in Neiafu,”
he says, and that started him brokering
businesses and real estate from his computer desk at CocoNet. “In the States,” he
says, “you’re just a little guy in a big
pond, but here you can have impact.”
Of course, there’s more to Vava’u, and
the Vava’u Group, than just Neiafu. There
From their CocoNet Café and Laundry
on the northern end of Neiafu’s
waterfront, Roxanne and Robert Bryce
broker businesses and real estate.
Kiwi youngsters on a homeschooling
field trip. Before Tropical Tease, Cindy
had only dabbled in silk screening, but
she flew to Fiji to learn all she could
about the process before opening the
shop six months after Waka struck. The
business is successful, and life in Vava’u
agrees with her. “There’s none of the
pressure of the Americas here,” Cindy
says. “Here, your life is about your life,
not the world’s life.”
Another cruising couple whose anchor
went down permanently in Neiafu is
Robert and Roxanne Bryce, whose CocoNet Café and Laundry anchors the
GWE N HAM LI N
In 1991, Maria Megias and Eduardo
Echevaria sailed in on Rockin’ Blues,
their Cal 36, and now they make music
after dinner at La Paella, their restaurant.
northern end of the waterfront. In 1984,
Robert made his 50-foot ketch a state-ofthe-art vessel for its time, only to have to
sell it in Australia to return to the States.
In 2001, he envisioned a one-way trip for
his second voyage across the South Pacific, so he adopted a different strategy,
choosing Moonstone, a ferro-cement
boat that he considered expendable.
“I was fed up with all the red tape of the
United States,” Robert says. “When September 11 occurred, it reconfirmed that I
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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37
are 60 islands, with dozens of villages
scattered throughout and 42 anchorages
to delight sailors, whether cruisers or
bareboaters. We spent our first week
snorkeling and kayaking in out-of-theway spots that we had mostly to ourselves. When our beautiful weather succumbed to a tenacious trough with
blustering wind and rain, we took refuge
in a well-protected bay in the embrace of
Pangaimotu and Tapana islands. It’s a favorite anchorage of cruisers and bare-
boaters alike, and the floating Ark Gallery,
the creation of cruisers Sherri and Larry
Schneider, is in its center. The Schneiders
took off together from the United States
in 1981 on Moli, a 33-foot wooden cutter
built in 1918. Their goal was to take two
to three years to reach Australia. In the
Marquesas, however, Larry was called on
to help return the boat of an injured
sailor to the States.
“It started by accident,” Sherri says on
the deck of the Ark, “but delivering boats
defined our lifestyle after that.” For years,
the Schneiders mixed cruising Fiji, Tonga,
and New Zealand with deliveries. Larry
has made 18 trips back to the States, in
addition to deliveries to New Zealand,
Australia, and Hong Kong. In 1995, the
Schneiders made Tonga their permanent
base. They built the Ark, where Sherri
pursues her interest in painting and promoting local artists, while Larry keeps
busy between deliveries doing daysails on
Orion, their charter catamaran.
“We’ve really grown to respect the
people here and their non-materialistic
values,” Sherri says. “You may think they
think the way we think, but they don’t.
Money means little to them.” The
Schneiders don’t want to see Vava’u
change too quickly, to modernize too
fast. “It doesn’t do them any favors. We
pa’alangi should come here and learn
from them, not vice versa.”
This sentiment is echoed by Maria
Megias, who arrived in Tonga in 1991
with her husband, Eduardo Echevaria,
after a two-year cruise from Spain on
Rockin’ Blues, their engineless Cal 36.
After cyclone season, they sailed on to
Fiji and Thailand, but by 1995, they’d
sold their boat and returned to the
Vava’u Group to build their lively La
Paella restaurant on the hillside of
38
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
GWE N HAM LI N
With their respective enterprises
tethered to each other—Orion, the
charter cat, and the Ark Gallery—Sherri
and Larry Schneider have made Tonga
their permanent base.
Washed Ashore
These sailors have swallowed the anchor in Vava’u, and here’s a snapshot of the
businesses they run:
Ben and Lisa Newton * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Amusement park, Internet café, and dinghy rentals
Don Coleman * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bar
John Beauchamp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Boat charters and services
Cindy Russell * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * T-shirt maker
Robert and Roxanne Bryce * * * * * * * * * * * * Internet café and laundry
Sherri and Larry Schneider * * * * * * * * * * * Floating art gallery and day charters
Maria Megias and Eduardo Echevaria * * Restaurant
COU RTESY OF GWE N HAM LI N
Elaine Lembo
Gwen Hamlin and Don Wilson, of Tackless II,
have decided do another season in Vava’u,
and as Don says, that could mean trouble.
Tapana; it was the first restaurant in the
outer islands of Vava’u. “We came back
because it’s a quiet place, and because
the locals are content to have the
pa’alangi here doing our thing,” Maria
says. “Whatever we do, it doesn’t interfere with their everyday life.” Maria raises her eyebrows as she looks out at La
Paella’s fantastic view and observes, “All
the competition and jealousies are
among the pa’alangi themselves.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard this
comment. The pa’alangi community
competes for the dollars of a small, seasonal tourist base. “Why,” wonders Lisa
Newton, “should Tonga be considered to
have only a three-month tourist season,
when the weather is nicer than neighboring Fiji, which has tourism year-round?”
Despite the beauty of the Vava’u archipelago and its relatively good track
record of avoiding cyclones, Waka
notwithstanding, the vagaries of Tongan
royal politics and their impact on the
kingdom’s flat economy keep the pa’alangi entrepreneurs in some suspense.
Everyone investing here believes that
Tongan tourism is poised to take off, but
they’ve believed this for decades. Even so,
more tourist-oriented businesses open
every year.
All of these former cruisers fell in love
with their own version of Tonga, all of
them are involved in the community with
Tongan employees, and each of them
feels that what he or she is doing is the
right style of development for this island
group. In a community of just 100
pa’alangi, there are differences of opinion, but with cruisers in the mix, they
have shaped a haven that appeals to
sailors. They see the area’s fundamental
strength in what it does without: “Television, guns, crime, stoplights,” in the
words of Baker Hardin. And even though
all would like to see a steadier flow of visitors discover the place, no one, it seems,
wants things to change too much or too
fast in their Paradise Found.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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39
POINT OF
VIEW
The Duct-Tape
Conspiracy Theory
T
I’D LAST
seen it in Mexico, before we set sail for the South
Seas, when I taped the corners of the solar panels so the edges wouldn’t snag the sheets. For the
boat gremlins, everything is fair game. They can
strike in an instant. While working on the engine, I’ll set a wrench within easy grasp, and a moment later it’s
gone. After groping around hopelessly, I’m forced to unscrunch
myself from the engine compartment, and I won’t find the
wrench until I’ve searched for several minutes. It’s invariably
somewhere I know I didn’t put it.
Part of the gremlins’ game is always to
return what they’ve taken. Two days
after Atlantean, my Fast Passage
39, left Seattle bound for
Alaska, they pinched
the charger for the
electric screwdriver.
Four months later, it
was lying in plain
sight on the cabin sole
in the forepeak. But that
pales in comparison to the
missing duct tape. I tore the
boat apart looking for that fat
silver roll no man can live without. At night in my bunk, I thought
of places I hadn’t looked. Without
duct tape, how would I fix anything?
I found a small hardware store in Taiohae, on Nuku Hiva in
the Marquesas. My pocket-sized French dictionary had no word
for “duct,” but it provided translations for “tape” and “adhesive.”
Two Frenchmen ran the store, which stocked plumbing, electrical, and building supplies. While I searched through the aisles,
the men ignored me, arguing and poking one another as if they
were in a Left Bank bistro. I found masking tape, cellophane
tape, electrical tape—but no duct tape.
“Do you know what duct tape is?” I asked at the counter.
“Duck? You mean like a bird, un canard?”
I tried to explain what it was—a cloth-backed adhesive tape.
He showed me the shelf with all of the other adhesives, but he
couldn’t understand when I told him these simply wouldn’t do
the jobs that duct tape can. He dismissed me with a shrug and
mumbled something to his partner, who nodded. They’d found
something on which they could agree: Americans are fools.
After constant exposure to sun and salt from my long passage,
40
HE BOAT GREMLINS STOLE MY DUCT TAPE.
there was much to fix. One of the stainless-steel solar-panel
mounts had broken a weld. With duct tape, I could at least have
held it together, but until I could get it welded, I’d have to disconnect the panel and store it below. Then the man at the post
office told me where to find Neti, who had a welding shop.
With the broken solar-panel mount in hand, I followed a dirt
road over a low ridge east of town until I came to a heavy-equipment yard enclosed by a chain-link fence. Small warehouses and
shop buildings stood off to one side. The nearly deserted place
radiated heat and oil fumes in the heavy afternoon air. I nosed
around for several minutes until
a man came out of a building and directed me to the
open door of Neti’s shop.
Inside, Neti was lounging on an old lawn chair
while he spoke quietly
with a younger man, who
propped his elbow on a
stack of threadbare tires.
Neti was a grizzled old
fellow, and his arms and
hands were tattooed
with purple-pink burn
scars. Welding equipment, steel plates and
beams, and bits of scrap
iron lay scattered about the
shop. Despite his profession, Neti
wore only an unbuttoned shirt and shorts. Like all Marquesans,
his feet were as wide as dinner platters—and bare.
I showed him the broken mount. Could he weld it? He studied it for a moment and shook his head. “Inoxidable,” he said.
Stainless steel. He had no stainless-steel welding rod. I told him
I only needed it to hold until I got to Papeete, Tahiti. Would a
normal weld work? Yes, he said, but it would rust. That’s OK, I
told him. Would he weld it for me? “Not today,“ he said.“It’s too
hot. Come back tomorrow morning at 10.”
The next morning, I showed up at the appointed hour. Neti’s
shop was open, but he was nowhere to be found. The only person around was the younger Marquesan from yesterday, working in another shop on an old Renault. “Neti’s gone to town to
buy salad,” he said. “He’ll be back soon.”
I seated myself in the shade. After half an hour, the Marquesan
went into Neti’s shop and helped himself to a couple of tools.
“No Neti?” he asked. I told him I needed the mount welded today
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
HAL MAYFORTH
Duct tape, this cruising sleuth is told, is prohibited in French Polynesia to boost
the economy: If everyone had it, no one would ever buy replacement parts or
pay for services BY GREGORY NEWELL SMITH
because I was leaving tomorrow for Nuku
Hiva’s Baie de Anaho. “I can weld it for
you,” he said. He put down the tools, fired
up Neti’s arc welder, and in five minutes
the job was done. When I offered to pay
him, he laughed.“Pay Neti if you see him.”
I returned to Atlantean and painted the
fresh weld in lemon-yellow zinc chromate to buy it some time. After taking
care of a few more jobs, Atlantean was
ready to sail again.
Hiva Oa is the other major island in
the Marquesas, and its main town, with a
few thousand residents, is Atuona. The
anchorage there was narrow, crowded
with a dozen other sailboats, and more
soon joined us. On our private radio net
with friends back in Nuku Hiva, we’d
heard that the westward cruiser migration was in full swing, and new boats
were arriving every day. My friends Brian
and Mary Alice, on Shibui, showed up in
Atuona the day after we arrived. I borrowed Brian’s roll of duct tape, on pain
of death if I didn’t return it, so I could
show the shopkeepers what I needed.
There were two hardware stores in
Atuona, and at the larger of the two, the
Frenchman in charge was impressed with
the duct tape. “Très utile,” he said, unrolling a foot-long strip. I could almost
feel his male hormones surging at the
thought of the countless jobs he could
dispatch in a snap with it. His Marquesan
assistant’s eyes grew large. “Sorry,” the
Frenchman said. “We don’t carry this. We
would sell a lot if we did.”
Another important project was refilling one of Atlantean’s two propane bottles. At the hardware store, I discovered
that the only available propane (actually
butane, which is interchangeable) came
in large tanks—three times the size of
each of Atlantean’s—that were filled in
Papeete and shipped to the outlying islands. In defiance of the rest of the world,
the French have their own system of gas
fittings and regulators. I couldn’t hook a
French canister to Atlantean’s propane
lines, though I was assured the necessary
adapters were available in Papeete for refilling my own bottles.
Then I met Frederico, an Italian aboard
the yacht Toti who had the same problem.
Armed with a cumbersome French bottle
and various bits of hardware—but no
duct tape—we set up shop on a concrete
ledge in the shade of a mango tree and
struggled to jury-rig a system to gravityfeed the gas out of the French tank and
into our own. A group of Marquesan
boys hovered around us and offered useless advice until the nearby girls’ school
let out and their attention was diverted.
While the girls paraded by, one of the
boys demonstrated his tree-climbing
prowess and tossed large, ripe mangoes to
his friends, who tried to entice the girls
into conversation, offering them fruit. The
girls, however, weren’t interested in either
the boys or the mangoes, so the boys
shared them with us. They were delicious,
and Frederico and I made sticky messes of
ourselves. Somehow, the boys ate theirs
without smearing a drop of juice on their
faces or hands. After several hours, I gave
up on transferring the gas and took my
nearly empty propane bottle back to Atlantean. It was enough work for one day.
A week after I arrived in Papeete, Tahiti,
the administrative capital of French Polynesia, I was changing the engine oil and
performing other routine maintenance
when I noticed a trail of dried salt leading
to the weep hole on the cooling system’s
raw-water impeller. I took the housing
apart and discovered that the shaft seal,
SHAN NON CAI N
for which I had no replacement, was leaking. It was a garden-variety engine part,
easily replaced if I’d been back home.
I spent another hot, sweaty day trekking
through the outskirts of Papeete in my
search for the seal. Each place I visited directed me to another hardware store, autoparts store, or repair shop. Along the way, I
inquired about duct tape, and though every
other kind of tape was available, duct tape
wasn’t. I wound up at the maintenance facility for the Port of Papeete, at the oceangoing-shipping wharf. The man behind the
counter looked at my defective seal and jotted a few notes as I described the make and
model of my engine’s raw-water pump. He
disappeared into the back room and returned with a small box. “We do not have
the rebuild kit for your pump, but this one
contains the seal you need,” he said.
“Can you sell me only the seal?” I asked.
“Oh, no. You have to buy the whole kit.”
I asked how much it was and gasped at
the price: $80, just to get a $4 seal. But I
had no choice, not unless I wanted to wait
for a package from home. On the way
back to the boat, late in the day, I stopped
at a bookbindery, where for $10 they’d
sell me a roll of cloth-backed bookbind-
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
ing tape. The roll was so small I could
close my fingers around it—scarcely the
fount of all-purpose abundance I’m used
to—but it, too, would have to do.
Such is the life of a voyager. Fix one
problem, discover another. The setbacks
we encounter along the way—from problem identified to problem solved—are like
friction in an engine. The more friction,
the less efficient we are. But in part it’s this
problem solving that distinguishes the
traveler from the tourist. The tourist wants
a quick fix because in two weeks he’s on a
plane back home. For the traveler, the solution usually involves time: to learn the
processes of a place and to let those processes unfold. Most of the world moves at a
much slower pace than Americans prefer.
One afternoon, shortly before I was
ready to leave French Polynesia, I was sitting in the thatch-covered open-air bar of
the Bali Hai Hotel on the island of Moorea
and enjoying a happy-hour beer with a
young American known among the cruisers as Surfer John. Surfer John’s wife is
Polynesian, and they have a 2-year-old
daughter. He came to Moorea from Los
Angeles at the age of 17 when his father
took a job selling time-share condomini-
ums. He lives with his wife’s extended
family on a nearby stretch of land, where
his in-laws grow fruits and vegetables.
After another round, I asked the question
that had been bothering me:“So why can’t
you buy duct tape in French Polynesia?”
“Think about it,” Surfer John said. “You
can do anything with duct tape, right?”
“Of course. That’s why I need it.”
“The French aren’t stupid. The locals
would use it for everything. They’d hold
their cars together with it. They’d patch
the plumbing. They’d probably build
houses with it.”
“You’re saying it’s a conspiracy by the
French government? To keep duct tape
out of the hands of the people?”
“You got it.”
Gregory Newell Smith—a Pacific Northwest writer, musician, and
delivery captain—is the author of The Solitude of the
Open Sea ($16; 2005;
Seaworthy Publications,
www.seaworthy.com), the
story of his 1990s circumnavigation aboard the Fast
Passage 39 Atlantean.
43
UNDER
WAY
Seasoned by the SEA
Students get a hands-on course
in sailing and science during a
semester aboard Corwith Cramer
BY JOHN K. BULLARD
44
On board the 134-foot Corwith Cramer (top), students
learn hard science and the details of sailhandling. Chief
mate Chris Havard (above) instructs his watch in the
fine art of celestial navigation.
the 3,500-mile voyage, the students also learned everything
from meteorology to cooking for the 32 souls on board to how
every system on this 134-foot brigantine works—and how to repair things when they don’t.
During the first third of the trip, from St. Croix to Bermuda, the weather made life easy as the students raced to absorb
so much new material. Despite six weeks of study at the camC RU I S I N G WO R L D
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COU RTESY OF TH E SEA E DUCATION ASSOCIATION
W
CORY CRAMER FOUNDED THE SEA
Education Association (SEA) in 1971,
he said, “We didn’t want [just] to
teach people how to sail. What we
wanted to do was take them to sea so
they’d learn to love the sea.”
Last spring, 34 years later, the vessel that bears his name was
doing just that. College students from the 199th class to join a
SEA Semester were sailing the brigantine Corwith Cramer from
St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, to Bermuda, then to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and on to Woods Hole, Massachusetts. They
departed on May 7 and arrived home on June 14.
As President of SEA, I joined these students for the leg from
Bermuda to Lunenburg. For this trip, Corwith Cramer was
under the command of Captain Sean Bercaw. The oceanographic research, a distinguishing characteristic of the SEA program, was directed by Amy Smith. Sean and Amy were assisted
by three mates, three assistant scientists, a steward, and an engineer. All help teach the 20 students subjects ranging from
oceanographic research, using state-of-the-art scientific equipment, to celestial navigation, using sextants and tables. Along
HEN
pus in Woods Hole, the students found
that sailing a tall ship in the deep ocean
was a difficult undertaking, even for the
students who’d had some experience
sailing smaller vessels in coastal waters.
After we made a three-day port stop in
Bermuda at St. George’s Island, Mother
Nature decided to up the tempo. We
headed north on the east side of a low
46
one stormy night in 1969 on my first
Transatlantic race.
We ferried everyone ashore in our inflatable rescue boat, and despite the
calm sea, the surf at the beach gave
everyone a Welcome to Sable Island
dunking in the 41 F water. For three
hours, we visited with the five atmospheric scientists who constitute Sable’s
human population. Because one of our
program’s goals is to educate students
about science, whether or not it’s their
major, it was instructive for them to see
firsthand how life is for scientists who
occupy the farthest human frontiers.
We also observed the 300 head of one
of North America’s few remaining herds
of truly wild horses. We saw thousands of
seals and birds, and there was birth and
death in evidence all around us. Jerry
Forbes, the senior scientist, took us by
shipwrecks new and old that dot this
graveyard of the Atlantic.
Then we pressed farther east to the
Gully, a deep ocean canyon created by an
ancient river. As we mapped it with our
acoustic Doppler current profiler to share
Continued on page 48
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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G EORGE SM ITH
SEA president John K. Bullard presents a
quarterdeck lecture on fisheries policies.
that was blocking the way for many boats
trying to reach New England from
Bermuda. Conditions that would make
sailing a 40-footer—like the Concordia
yawl I sail with my wife, Laurie—very
strenuous and wet were made to order for
the Cramer.
We rode north on the Force 7 gale
winds along a deep eddy of the Gulf
Stream and the resulting 15-foot seas, not
touching the engine and only stopping
for regular deployments of scientific gear.
Still, a good number of students found
themselves tested by the conditions.
After six days, we crossed the Gulf
Stream just south of the continental
shelf. T-shirts gave way to layers of
fleece under foulies. As the water got
colder and greener, it came to life with
porpoises, pilot whales, shearwaters,
fulmars, and even a puffin.
We made good time, and the weather
broke for a couple of days, so Captain
Sean decided we could visit Sable Island,
off the coast of Nova Scotia. We anchored
off the northern shore of this remote 30mile sandbar. I’d been excited about visiting Sable Island since I first sailed by it
Haitian Sea Rescue Heralded
COU RTESY OF TH E CR U ISI NG CLU B OF AM E R ICA
O
n a clear and breezy early March morning in 2005,
the crew and students then aboard the brigantine
Corwith Cramer were busy deploying oceanographic
sampling equipment a day’s
sail from Jamaica when they
came upon a 25-foot boat
carrying 51 Haitian refugees.
The 35 adults and 16 children,
including babies, were clearly
in trouble since their sailboat
had lost its mast and was
adrift many miles from the
nearest land.
The action taken that day
by the Cramer, a sailing classroom of the Sea Education
Association of Woods Hole,
Massachusetts, earned SEA
Captain Steve Tarrant and his
crew the Rod Stephens Trophy for Outstanding Seamanship,
presented earlier this year by the Cruising Club of America. The
trophy recognizes “an act of seamanship that significantly con-
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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tributes to the safety of a yacht or one or more individuals at sea.”
Upon spotting the distressed sailboat on the morning of
March 9, Captain Tarrant immediately contacted the U.S. Coast
Guard and SEA, then ordered
his ship’s lifeboat launched to
carry a Francophone student,
Anita Kasch, to speak with the
refugees. Kasch learned that
they’d been at sea four or five
days without food and were
quickly running out of water.
With no other vessels nearby,
the refugees were brought
aboard the Cramer, where
they were given easily digested
food and water. A temporary
toilet was installed on deck
and a shelter was rigged to
give the Haitians shelter from
wind and spray. A day later, the group was turned over to Jamaican authorities at Port Antonio.
Mark Pillsbury
47
Learn at Sea
There are a number of options available for those seeking educational opportunities
at sea. These range from programs associated with military and merchant-marine associations, such as the U.S. Naval Academy and various maritime academies, to semester-at-sea offerings from such institutions as the Sea Education Association. SEA operates college-credit semester programs as well as summer high-school programs. For
more information, visit the group’s website (www.sea.edu).
The American Sail Training Association is one resource for additional information.
The organization operates as a clearinghouse of sorts, publishing the directory Sail Tall
Ships! (ASTA, $15) and maintaining a website (http://tallships.sailtraining.org).
M.P.
Continued from page 46
this information with the Canadian Department of Fisheries, we were visited by
a rare northern bottlenose whale.
Then we headed west, and after a lowpressure system that had brought two
weeks of storms to Nova Scotia moved
east, we had nothing but starry nights and
sunny days of powering through calm
seas. We arrived in Rose Bay, just outside
Lunenburg, as May turned to June.
Thirty-two people, mostly students,
using a vessel as intensely as we use ours
cause a lot of wear and tear and dirt.
48
We’d blown out the 3-year-old mainsail
and had minor tears in the main staysail
and the forestaysail. We all turned to for
Field Day, and in six hours of intensive
cleaning, we had the Cramer looking
ready for port.
We pulled into Lunenburg at 1500 on
June 1. This UNESCO World Heritage
Site has a 250-year history as a working
waterfront, and it’s fighting hard to keep
that relationship to the sea (see “A Legendary Waypoint Goes Up for Sale, and
Its Soul Fights Back,” Shoreline, March
2006). We were delighted to be part of
this connection, if only for three days.
I left the Cramer and its crew in Lunenburg to catch up on work in Woods Hole,
but I rejoined the ship for the last night as
she anchored off New Bedford, Massachusetts, my hometown. During the last
two weeks of the cruise, students one at a
time assumed the responsibilities of the
mates and assistant scientists. It never
ceases to amaze me how these students
can handle extraordinary responsibilities
that have so long been part of seafaring.
Cory Cramer may have said he didn’t
want just to teach people how to sail, but
after their voyage, these college students
know more about going to sea than most
of the people who call themselves sailors.
And it’s evident in their faces and their
stories that many of them have fulfilled
Cory’s dream: They do love the sea.
John K. Bullard is president of SEA, which
also operates a similar vessel, Robert C. Seamans, in the Pacific. While Corwith Cramer
was making her Caribbean and North Atlantic
cruise, Robert C. Seamans was taking a similar number of Stanford students from Hawaii
south to Palmyra and back.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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PEOPLE &
FOOD
Mexican Makeover
A cruising couple sailing south of the border subjects a favorite Pacific Northwest
breakfast to a southwestern spin BY KEVIN KRAUSE
O
NE OF THE MANY THINGS MY WIFE, CATHERINE,
and I enjoy about cruising is experiencing
local foods. We have fun rising to the challenge of adapting our favorite recipes using
local ingredients. While living in the Pacific Northwest aboard Tao Min, our Magellan 36 ketch, we had many a rainy morning to develop the
Northwestern sandwich, a hearty breakfast made with wholegrain bread, fresh spinach and mushrooms, and eggs and
cheese. Making and enjoying it became a weekend ritual.
After 10 years of living aboard and retrofitting the boat,
we left our home port of Bainbridge Island, Washington,
to head south to Mexico and points beyond. As we’ve
cruised Mexico, we’ve found that many of the ingredients
for our favorite breakfast are less available. We needed a
new weekend-morning fix. We figured that any village
large enough to support a mercado—that is, a supermarket, which in and of itself is a feast for the eyes—could
supply one for the palate as well. Even small villages with
one tienda, or mini-mart, often surprise us with the variety and quality of produce.
While spinach and fresh mushrooms are occasionally available in Mexico, our south-of-the-border version of our old
morning favorite takes advantage of ingredients that are available just about everywhere: fresh corn tortillas, peppers,
cilantro, zucchini, tomatoes, and limes. We look forward to the
further evolution of the breakfast sandwich as we continue to
explore new cruising grounds.
The Makeover: South-of-the-Border Surprise
Heat butter and canola oil in a pan. When the butter
is melted, sauté the onion for 1 to 2 minutes,
then add vegetables. Stir and cook, covered, for 1 minute. Add seasonings,
stir, cover, and cook for 1 minute.
Whisk eggs together, pour into
pan, and mix well with the vegetables. Shape to tortilla size.
Place one tortilla on the mixture and cover for 1 minute.
When the vegetable/egg mixture is mostly cooked through,
flip the sandwich so the tortilla
faces down. Add the cheese, then
cover with the other tortilla. After 1
minute, flip and heat the other side. Serve
hot. Garnish with fresh cilantro.
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 poblano pepper or
1/2 jalepeño pepper, diced
1/4 small zucchini, diced
1/2 small tomato, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder (or fresh
minced), to taste
Cilantro and oregano
(dried or fresh), to taste
Lime juice, to taste
2 eggs
2 corn tortillas
2 or 3 slices cheese (Oaxaca
or Monterey Jack)
2 teaspoons butter
2 slices sprouted-grain bread
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 slice onion, chopped
1 or 2 fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning
to taste
Generous handful fresh spinach leaves
1 egg
Bread-sized slices Pepper Jack cheese
50
Over medium heat, melt a teaspoon of
butter. Coat one side of each slice of bread
in the melted butter and set aside. Add the
remaining butter and the canola oil to the
pan. When the butter is melted, sauté the
onion for 1 to 2 minutes, then add mushrooms and cook, covered, for 1 minute. Add
seasonings and spinach, cover, and cook for
1 to 2 minutes, until the spinach has wilted.
Crack the egg into the pan and mix well
with the vegetables. Shape to bread size.
Place one slice of buttered bread, with the
buttered side up, on the mixture and cover
for 1 minute. When the vegetable/egg mixture is mostly cooked through, flip the
sandwich so you’re grilling the slice of
bread. Add the cheese slice and the other
slice of bread, butter side up. When the bottom side is grilled, flip to grill the remaining
side. Makes one sandwich. Serve hot.
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LYN DA MOR R IS CH I LDR ESS
Our Favorite Ritual: Northwest Breakfast Nosh
BY MARK STEVENS
NORTH
CHANNEL
RETROSPECTIVE
SHARON MATTH EWS-STEVE NS
The lessons of a first cruise to this wild and pristine Ontario cruising
ground pave the way for a transcendent experience on the second
54
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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S
hyly at first, then blossoming into
ethereal shades of pinks and limes
and lavenders, the very skies themselves began to dance. As I watched
this spectacular light show, the aurora borealis, I understood why
the Algonquins call it the Spirit
Dance. It was a sign from the Great Spirit himself,
a celebration marking our return to Lake Huron’s
North Channel.
In the preface to her Well-Favored Passage: A
Guide to Lake Huron’s North Channel (1982; Peach
Mountain Press), Marjorie Kahn Brazer describes
the North Channel as a “flight of the soul to a distant haunt—of peace, of timelessness, of mystery,
of aching beauty.” On this trip, my wife, Sharon,
and I were joined by our two sons, Shaun, 15, and
Adam, 10, and Sharon’s parents, Bert and Lucy
Matthews. And on this North Channel sojourn, more than on our first trip here, I felt
those very qualities deep in my soul. This
was no mere bareboat charter; it was a lifealtering experience.
That first visit to the North Channel, in 2002,
began on July 1, Canada Day, an appropriate date
insofar as the channel is the perfect metaphor for
Canada. This is the North Country: massive granite boulders, tree-covered islands, and pure blue
water. This is home to Manitoulin Island, the
largest freshwater island in the world and, more
significantly, the home of the Great Spirit, Gitchi
Manitou. Sharon and I and the two boys sat in the
cockpit of Rowdy’s Revenge, an Aloha 32 we’d
chartered through Canadian Yacht Charters (CYC)
in Gore Bay, Ontario, and watched incandescent
fireworks, not northern lights—bursts of red,
green, and yellow accompanied by cannonades that
rumbled through the bilge.
The next morning, I was anxious to be off, but
After our first North Channel sojourn, the
Benjamin Islands—and South Benjamin, in
particular—were our idea of paradise with
their pink granite outcroppings, scrub
pines, and countless solitary anchorages.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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55
On our second visit, the crew of the
Hunter 410 On Purpose lands on South
Benjamin Island for a few hours of
exploration. Our sons, Shaun (left)
and Adam, scour the beach.
56
port of call. It wasn’t to be.
A line squall smashed into us right after
we passed the headlands outside Gore Bay.
I tried to run west past it, but another curtain of rain followed the first. We turned
north, but yet another squall line rolled in,
followed by thick fog. The rain came in
horizontal ribbons, and we limped back
into harbor, sodden and discouraged. I
erased the rhumb line on my chart and revised my float plan. I’d gone head to head
with the channel and decisively lost my
first battle, and throughout that first
cruise, I was plagued by the thought that
I was going about it all wrong.
Return to the Channel
My float plan for the second trip, two
years later, was less rigid. In fact, from the
minute I stepped off the dock onto the
SHARON MATTH EWS-STEVENS
Ken Blodgett, CYC’s proprietor, counseled patience. He spread the chart on a
picnic table and suggested anchorages
and other points of interest. “Always
make sure you know where you are,” he
said, indicating a spot that first shows 30
feet of water, then three feet.
Blodgett nodded in the direction of a
scuba-geared man on the dock, mask in
one hand, fins in the other. “People have
been known to, uh, touch here,” he said,
pointing to the chart.“My son goes under
every boat to make sure everything is
sound after every charter.”
We soon learned the channel demands patience. Clouds rolled in before
we left the dock. Rain fell in liquid
sheets. An hour passed, then two. Sometime around 2 p.m., we got a break. The
sun broke through, and I
cast off for our first
deck of On Purpose, a Hunter 410—also
provided by CYC—I felt like I’d come
home. On my first trip, I’d scampered
around the dock asking others about their
favorite anchorages and hearing their lies.
This time, I told my own. On this trip, the
elements would dictate our course. This
time, I’d write my plan in pencil. This
time, we’d ride the winds on a beam reach
for paradise. With roughly 300 islands to
choose from, almost all of them uninhabited, my biggest dilemma would be picking my pleasure.
A sailor setting out from Gore Bay and
heading west ends up beating into the
prevailing westerlies while crossing the
exhilarating expanse of blue water that
marks the widest part of the channel.
Crack off the wind a bit and you come to
Whalesback Channel, a delightful, 17mile stretch that includes Beardrop Harbour and John Island. Dotted with a variety of islands—some bare rock, some
covered in trees—this passage offers
plenty of deep water, though you need to
monitor your chart and keep an eye out
for shoals. Marjorie Kahn Brazer called
Whalesback “one of the most beautiful
passages in the world.”
But for me, paradise meant the Benjamin Islands, farther east, where we
headed via a beam reach in 15 knots of
wind, a quick two-hour passage from civilization to pink-granite outcroppings.
This time, I knew the entry into the bay at
the south end of South Benjamin. This
time, we didn’t have to be quite so careful
dodging the smattering of rocks called
the Sows and Pigs. In this bay, on our first
visit, we’d spent our first night out, and it
was here that the seeds of a fresh North
Channel philosophy began to germinate.
Now I lazed in the cockpit, read a book,
sipped wine, and inhaled the scent of
pine and the smell of wood smoke from a
campfire on the shore.
The next morning, I swam in crystalclear water and sipped another coffee.
When the crew woke
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Blind River
La Cloche Mountains Mount
McBean
Whalesback Channel
Oak Bay
Beardrop Harbour John Island
Benjamin
C H A N N E L South Benjamin Islands
Island
False Detour
Channel
Drummond
Island
NORTH
Gore Bay
Little
Current
46º N
Baie
Fine Killarney
Kagawong
missionaries. Channel cruisers
can still see remnants of the Jesuit
school at Wikwemikong, on Manitoulin’s eastern side, and an
ancient roofless structure squatting on a low-lying island just
west of Little Current.
Wikwemikong
Nautical Miles
0
84 W
MANITOULIN ISLAND
LAKE HURON
Land of the Haweaters
European farmers arrived in the
UN
NA
early
19th century. Unfortunately,
ITE
DA
D
ST
the thin soil and the granite outAT
ES
croppings that create such a beautiful cruising ground make the
85º W
83º W
87º W
entire region bad for farming.
C
LAKE SUPERIOR
GEORGIAN
AN
MINNESOTA
A
U.S DA
BAY
ONTARIO
The dearth of arable land gave
.
82º
W
Upper
Georgian
Peninsula
rise to the appellation “HawLes Cheneaux
Bay
NORTH CHANNEL
Islands
eaters” for islanders past, who
Mackinac Island
46º N
North Channel
supplemented their meager diets
Straits of Mackinac
narrows to 100
with the plentiful, if somewhat
Manitoulin Island
Tobermory
yards wide at Little
bitter, hawberries. Today, the
WISCONSIN
Current.
term lives on, and the annual August bash
Bruce
LAKE
Peninsula
held in Little Current is known as the
HURON
44º N
light, then blue as Haweaters’ Festival.
the sun marched
By the late 1800s, lumber had become
Milwaukee
Port Huron
LAKE
west, followed by king. Islands still bear the scars of that
MICHIGAN
Nautical Miles
indigo in the twi- depredation. The vast forests you glide
Detroit
LAKE ERIE
0
120
60
light. The island has past have regrown since lumbering died
42º N
Chicago
long offered shelter out. No primary-growth forest remains.
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
OHIO
from storms that Much of the land has been ceded to First
roar up Lake Huron, Nations tribes, and this accounts for the
up, we dinghied over to a 200-foot-high and it retains a magic that time can’t lack of cottages and other development on
granite outcropping and climbed it to erase. Though denuded of much of its the islands in these pristine waters.
scan the channel, which was visible for pristine forest, the island is still a remarkFor all its beauty and its wealth of secret
miles from this perspective. Our boys able and friendly destination in its own anchorages, the channel is also a great
swam from a wide ledge far below the right, a delightful combination of First place to cruise because you can provision
ridge, then skipped stones across the Nations land, farms dotting rolling hills, within 30 miles of anywhere you’ve anwater. A single boat headed east, its white lonely roads, and great stands of new- chored. Gore Bay, where CYC is based, is
sail standing out against the indigo hump growth forest.
on the western side of a deeply recessed
of Manitoulin Island. Except for two other
Manitoulin itself is the last bastion of bay. It’s ideally suited for provisioning, and
boats swinging at anchor in the same bay, the Niagara Escarpment, a limestone ridge CYC itself maintains a well-stocked chanwe couldn’t see another sign of humanity. that marches across Ontario from Niagara dlery. If you go ashore here, check out the
We’d found paradise on a beam reach.
Falls. In the middle of the channel, low- museum housed in the old jail or rent a
We left our anchorage late. Our course lying wooded islands give way to the bike and head out West Bluff Road to one
on our first trip had been more ambi- majesty of pink-granite outcroppings, of the oldest lighthouses on Manitoulin.
tious: We’d departed by 0800 and made while farther north, you get true Canadian
for Little Current, about 30 miles to the Shield geology, with alabaster quartzite Victorian Kagawong
east, the track on my GPS straight as an heights, such as the La Cloche Mountains,
Between Gore Bay and Little Current,
arrow. But this day, we had plenty of wind thrown in for diversity.
the pretty little town of Kagawong boasts
and buried the rail a couple of times. Still,
Although aborigines had been here for prime Victorian architecture. Stretch
we covered a mere six miles over the 9,000 years, no major settlements were your legs by hiking the Cup and Saucer
ground, the track on my GPS best charac- established, so European explorers used Trail, sampling its panoramic views of the
terized as “meandering.” This day, we the waterway primarily as a fur-trading channel, then take a dip at the foot of
traveled to a new universe, discovered a route to territories farther west. The first Bridal Veil Falls. Little Current features a
new time zone, and learned that the jour- European reportedly landed here around variety of shops, many of which sell First
ney is key, not the destination.
1610, followed shortly thereafter by Jesuit Nations artwork. Spend a day strolling
The heights of Manitoulin Island
tree-lined streets, watching boats negotimarked the southern boundary
ate the swing bridge
of this passage, first green in
the early morning
10
20
Manitowaning
CA
M
I
C
DA
CANA
U.S.
H
I
G
A
SHAN NON CAI N
N
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57
At Little Current, this little swing bridge
connects Manitoulin Island to the
Ontario mainland.
THE LITTLE
CURRENT
CRUISERS NET
Y
ou wake up with some chest pain.
Could be the jalapeños from last
night, but your spouse is nervous
and thinks you should call someone. Or you
simply want to reach your brother, who’s
cruising nearby, but you can’t raise him.
You’re in a great anchorage, but it’s a cellphone black hole. If you’re cruising in the
Lake Huron’s North Channel, you’re in luck.
Flip on VHF Channel 74, and you’ll
hear, “It’s 9 a.m. Welcome, boaters, to the
Little Current Cruisers Net.” You’ve just
tuned into a local North American VHF
radio network for cruisers, and for the
next 15 to 20 minutes, along with hundreds of other like-minded sailors, you’re
in touch with the rest of the world.
58
overnight at Wikwemikong Bay Marina, a
gorgeous log structure with 60 slips operated by local First Nations bands. If you
venture to the channel’s northwesterly
reaches, pull into the new marina facilities at Blind River, the largest town on the
channel, and provision there.
For all the charm of the villages,
though, it’s the wilderness setting and deserted, unspoiled anchorages that keep
people coming back to the channel.
Roughly 70 miles east of the Straits of
Mackinac in northernmost Michigan, the
North Channel demands a significant investment of time for cruisers determined
to cruise there from Chicago, Detroit, or
other points to the south. If achieving
The announcer identifies himself as Roy,
commodore of the Little Current Yacht
Club. Roy is Roy Eaton, and he’ll be the
first to insist that this program isn’t about
him—and of course, in the larger sense, it
isn’t. But without Roy, there’d be no program. Roy is a lifelong North Channel
sailor, certified Canadian Yacht Association
instructor, retired principal in the local
schools, and ham-radio operator. He’s an
affable, burly, avuncular sort, with a professional on-air delivery no doubt perfected
over all those years of making announcements over school intercoms.
Three years ago, while cruising in the Bahamas, he developed a Canadian news program. He pulled in news off his onboard
SSB radio, wrote his scripts, and sent a few
minutes’ worth of news of Canada out over
the Caribbean airways. It was a big hit.
When he returned home, he wondered why
a similar service couldn’t be offered in his
Bruce O’Hare (left) and Roy Eaton take
a breather at Cruisers Net HQ.
local cruising area. The geography was perfect for it.
Little Current, Ontario, is where the
North Channel narrows to 100 yards.
Sailors can’t get from one end to the other
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SHARON MATTH EWS-STEVE NS (TOP), FR E D BAG LEY
that connects the island to the mainland,
or simply playing darts while sipping a
cool one on the patio at the Anchor Grill.
Wikwemikong and Manitowaning, farther east on Manitoulin, offer fascinating
glimpses of First Nations culture. Tie up
at the town docks in Manitowaning and
tour the 200-foot steamship Norisle, a
fine example of the ships that once sailed
the Great Lakes. Check out the Assiginack
Museum, another attraction housed in a
former jail. Sample some summer theater
at the Burn’s Wharf Warehouse.
If you want even more culture, First
Nations style, visit De-Bah-Ja-Mah-Jig, a
fascinating dramatic production that relates the area’s aboriginal heritage. Dock
Nirvana was easy, everybody would do it,
and there’d be little to brag about once
you gained it. From the east, you must
traverse the length of Lake Huron. You
can either hug Huron’s Canadian coast,
which can mean constant cross seas and
nasty waters north of Tobermory, at the
tip of Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula, or you
can stay in the Michigan lee.
Those who head north up the Canadian shore should cross into Georgian Bay
and make for such attractive anchorages
as Baie Fine, a 17-mile-long fjord, or pull
into Killarney and watch the world go by
before heading west for the main waters
of the channel.
After a long, arduous passage, you may
want to book a shorebound berth at the
Killarney Mountain Lodge and Outfitters, a rustic family inn with a sailorfriendly atmosphere. Lodge director Jennifer East keeps her 24-foot Shark sloop
at the dock here. Should you decide to
spend a night ashore, you can dock your
boat right in front of the resort, or stay
aboard and avail yourself of the comfort-
SHARON MATTH EWS-STEVE NS
able berths and hot showers.
From the west, you must head up Lake
Michigan. If this is your route, consider
visiting Mackinac Island. Or spend a day
or two exploring another hidden gem of
the north, Les Cheneaux Islands, on
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Then head
north and approach the passage through
False Detour Channel. The rhumb-line
distance from Port Huron to the channel
is roughly 200 miles; from Chicago, it’s
closer to 300 miles.
Rather than sail a hundred or more
miles to get to the channel, you might
consider driving or flying there and chartering a boat instead (see “North Channel
Chartering,” right).
At the end of our second cruise, we
pulled into Oak Bay for our last night on
the water. A great boulder of granite sheltered the north shore. Sea grasses at the
west end of the anchorage bent before insistent winds. For the past few days, we’d
sailed according to the whims of the channel, reaching anchorages dictated by prevailing winds and our own moods. A forest
lurked on the south shore, and we hiked
through it, sensing, as the wind whispered
in the aspens, the presence of the ghosts of
voyageurs and aboriginal hunters and fishermen. No longer mysterious and brooding, the woods became a sanctuary.
The setting sun bathed Mount
McBean’s quartzite peaks in blazing scar-
let. Long after twilight, we sat in the cockpit sipping wine under black skies. I reflected on my first trip, realizing that I’d
been determined to uncover all the channel’s secrets and had formulated overly
ambitious float plans. This time, we’d
dropped the hook and spent lazy afternoons swimming off deserted beaches.
This time, we poured second or even
third cups of coffee before weighing anchor. The stars came out above us, forming a scintillating tapestry across ebony
velvet. This was the way to cruise the
North Channel.
without going through it. It’s a great place
to reprovision and get locally made ice
cream, and within a few miles of town in
both directions are, as Roy says, “dozens of
five-star anchorages.” He realized that few
Great Lakes sailors have a single-sideband
radio on their boats; instead, they rely almost exclusively on VHF channels. But
with all the high hills, VHF coverage is
spotty in the region’s tiny coves.
Enter Bruce O’Hare, another local sailor
and owner of the Anchor Inn Bar and Grill,
located on Little Current’s harbor. He
bought a VHF unit and mounted an antenna on the roof of his bar, 90 feet off the
ground. The Canadian coast guard, which
zealously monitors use of marine radio
traffic on VHF, gave its tacit support, and
on July 1, 2004, the Little Current Cruisers
Net was born. Unlike its Caribbean counterpart, the Little Current Net has no commercial support and no commercials.
Roy starts his day at 6 a.m., updates the
local weather, gets world and Canadian news
off the Internet, sprinkles in some sports and
entertainment gossip, and always includes
news from the Little Current area. Then it’s
off to his studio under the stairs of Bruce’s
bar. At 8:58, he goes on Channel 16 to remind boaters to switch to Channel 74. Every
broadcast opens with, “Is there any emergency, medical, or priority traffic?” This is
your chance to get help with that chest pain.
And every broadcast ends with call-ins.
Boats over a 50-mile radius call in by name
and location, often adding tidbits about
northern lights or where a taxi can be found.
If Roy gets a garbled message, he asks for a
relay from another boat. This is when you
get passed through to your brother in the
next cove over.
How successful has the Little Current
Cruisers Net been? During that first summer,
as few as three boats would call in a day. In
the summer of 2005, upwards of 40 called,
and for the year, the net recorded 1,022 callins from 342 boats. Roy estimates that while
only one in 10 boats actually calls in, several
hundred hear the broadcast every day.
This year, the tower on the bar roof is 120
feet high, and a new 25-watt unit with improved wiring has gotten the signal farther
and clearer. This year, Roy plans to incorporate more local weather into the program by
installing a local weather station and looking at three surrounding Doppler weather
Internet sites to help local sailors with their
plans for the day. And Bruce has promised
to move him out from under the stairs and
into a room with a view of the waterfront.
So if you’re in the North Channel next
summer, check your clock, turn on the
VHF to Channel 74, get another cup of
coffee, and wait for, “Good morning,
boaters. It’s 9 a.m.” That’ll be Roy calling.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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NORTH CHANNEL CHARTERING
Y
ou want to check out the fabulous North Channel? Well, listen up: Two charter companies serve the area with a variety of boats, both power and sail. Remember that charter fleets are in constant flux and that some of the boats
listed here may not be in the fleet when you arrive.
As we went to press, Canadian Yacht Charters (Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island,
Ontario, Canada; 800-565-0022, www.cycnorth.com and e-mail [email protected])
had in its bareboat charter stable boats ranging from a Pearson 27 to a Jeanneau 49,
along with eight Hunters (29, 31, 33, 34, 356, 36, 386 and 426), a Beneteau 331, a
Catalina 350, and a Jeanneau 40.3.
Discovery Yacht Charters (Little Current, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada;
800-268-8222, www.sailingdiscovery.com and e-mail [email protected]) had available for charter three catamarans, ranging from 36 to 42 feet; three Catalinas, from 34
to 40 feet; and a Hunter 30, a Beneteau 321, a Dufour 34, and a GibSea 37.
If you’re looking for a boat aboard which to explore the wild North Channel,
there’ll be one available to suit the tastes of most any cruiser.
Nim Marsh
Mark Stevens lives in Bolton, Ontario, with his
wife, photographer Sharon Matthews-Stevens.
They sail their Contessa 26 on Lake Ontario.
Fred Bagley
59
BY PAUL HOWARD
Atlantic voyagers
bound for Cape Horn
catch up with relatives
and longtime friends
along Scotland’s
cross-Highlands canal
Old Home Week
M
y wife, Fiona McCall, and I had
sailed Carpe Diem,
our Bleu Marine
Manta 38 catamaran, from Canada
to Iceland, then to the Faroe Islands.
From there, we intended to go nonstop
to Inverness, Scotland, at the eastern end
of the 60-mile-long Caledonian Canal.
60
This waterway cuts a southwesterly
groove through Scotland, joining
the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in
bucolic fashion.
The British government hired James
Watt in 1773 to make a survey for the
canal. Opened in 1822 after 19 years of
construction by Scottish civil engineer
Thomas Telford, the canal offered herring-fishing and small cargo boats an al-
ternate route from the Atlantic to the
North Sea and encouraged economic
growth in the Highlands. At the time it
was built, there was also the threat of
French privateers capturing vessels along
the coast. In our case, we simply wanted
to traverse Fiona’s homeland through the
canal (see “Scotland’s Cross-Highlands
Canal,” Shoreline, page 14) as a high
point of our longer journey—a voyage
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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FIONA MCCALL
On the
Caledonian
Carpe Diem descends Neptune’s
Ladder, above Corpach, accompanied
by a trio of Dutch rowers, who camped
on the canal’s shores at night. In the
background looms Ben Nevis, at
4,406 feet the highest mountain
in Great Britain.
from Toronto to Iceland’s Horn, or North
Cape, then way south to Chile’s Cape
Horn. We’d planned to transit the canal
in late August, when the purple heather is
in bloom on the surrounding hills and
the days are mostly sunny.
As we approached the Orkney Islands,
to the north of Scotland, Orkney Harbour Radio on VHF Channel 16 announced an impending Force 8 gale from
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
the southeast, the direction we were
headed. I searched the pilot and charts for
suitable shelter. Whitehall, on Stronsay in
the Orkney Island group, was about 10
miles off our track. “Whitehall is a good
harbor,” said the reassuring voice on the
VHF.“There’s no clearance for foreign arrivals there, but you can call in at the pub.
If you leave when the weather clears, no
one will complain.”
Blind Man’s Bluff
We rounded Start Point, on the isle of
Sanday, as the wind headed us, and we
changed course to reach up the channel
in the dark toward Whitehall. We were
now in water protected by the surrounding rocky islets and reefs for which this
part of the world is infamous. We’d double-reefed the mainsail and were flying
our number-two jib, but Carpe Diem was
61
3˚ W
G
Die
m
Orkney
Islands
5˚ W
Sanday
Whitehall
Stronsay
6˚ W
Pentland Firth
2˚ W
eb
Isle of
Lewis
Cromarty Firth
M
North
Uist
s
Caledonian
Loch Oich
Canal
Loch
Corpach G Lochy
G
Sound of Mull Fort William
Ben
Tobermory G
Nevis
Staffa
Isle of
Iona
ATL
Gulf of Corryvreckan
ANTIC OCEA
30
SCOTLAND
NORTH SEA
Scarba
G
Glasgow
%
EDINBURGH
Gigha
60
Mull of
Kintyre
IRELAND
ir th
Oban
Sound
of Jura
N
Nautical Miles
0
F
G
ra
Bunessan
56˚ N
Island
of Mull
rn
f Lo
irt h o
G
Ju
Se
Inner Hebrid
ao
f th
57˚ N
es
eH
South
Uist
F
ay
or
G
DunaincroyG Inverness Loch Dochfour
H I G H L A N D S
Great Glen Loch Ness
eb
ride
Ou
te
r
H
58˚ N
s
ENGLAND
NORTHERN IRELAND
G
Portpatrick
“Nice to see you,” said sister-in-law Gay in her usual brisk
manner. “Come along, now, we have a birthday party to go
to,” she told us, as if we’d just stepped off the local bus
still making nine to 10 knots in the increasing wind. I felt like a blind man fleeing up a dead-end alley.
Fiona kept updating our position using
the GPS, and I monitored the radar.
About a mile from the first buoy, we took
in the sails and started the engines. There
were intermittent rain showers, and I
feared running past the buoyed channel
to join the wrecks noted on the chart. We
followed the narrow, hooked channel
into the miniscule harbor. The mole was
lined with small fishing boats, so we tied
up at the end in the worst of the surge.
In the morning, we walked around the
tiny village, meeting a woman in her 80s
who’d seen us sailing in the previous
night. She spoke with an accent incomprehensible to my North American ears,
but Fiona, a Scot by birth, interpreted.
The woman’s late husband had been a
fisherman, and so was her son. It was a
shame about the decline of the herring
fishery that had once made the island
prosperous, she remarked.
62
“When was that?” Fiona asked.
After a long pause, she said, “The last
good year was 1939.”
About noon, a gusty northwest wind
developed, so we set sail, looking in awe
at the rocks and islands we’d passed in the
night. Following the coast, we kept a safe
distance from the shore, and in a brisk
offshore wind, we made the 127 miles to
Cromarty Firth in 19 hours. Upon our arrival at the marina near Longman Quay,
in Inverness, the harbormaster summoned customs and immigration officials. While finishing clearing in, Fiona’s
brother and sister-in-law drove up. We’d
e-mailed them about three weeks earlier
from Iceland saying we might arrive at
about this date.
“Nice to see you,” said sister-in-law Gay
in her usual brisk manner. “Come along,
now, we have a birthday party to go to,”
she told us, as if we’d just stepped off the
local bus. I’d been up most of the night,
and it wasn’t yet 10 a.m., but we couldn’t
let down the relatives we’d sailed 4,500
Into the Canal
Two days after the party, we invited the
whole family to sail with us from one side
of Inverness to the other, from Longman
Quay to the Muirtown Basin. Climbing
the first two locks of the Caledonian
Canal—there are 29 altogether—was a
great adventure for everyone; you’d have
thought we were crossing an ocean. The
basin was a good spot to catch up on
maintenance because chandleries and
other shops were nearby. Bus service into
town was excellent, and Fiona bought a
rusting folding bicycle. We stayed there
for 10 days.
We entered Loch Ness and motored
against a light southwest wind to
Urquhart Castle, a national historic site
occupied since 1165. A landing pontoon
is there, but we were waved away by charter boats that pick up and drop off passengers touring Loch Ness and visiting
the castle ruins. Nearby, Loch Ness is at its
deepest, 970 feet. We anchored close to
shore in 30 feet of water and took the
dinghy in to the float.
Just before sundown, we motored to
Drumnadrochit harbor, home of the
Loch Ness Monster Exhibition Centre.
The British Waterway Board requests that
fishing boats transiting the canal turn on
their sonar as they cross Lock Ness. The
Board pays 50 pence (US$.75) for each
paper sonar recording, which is scrupulously scanned for monstrous images. For
the record, some have been noted.
After six days of sunshine and awesome scenery, we made out the distinct
shape of Ben Nevis, Scotland’s 4,406foot mountain, the highest in Britain
and a signal that the end of the canal
was near. Six days after leaving Inverness, we locked down the eight basins of
Neptune’s Ladder, dropping 64 feet in
500 yards before entering the final basin
at Corpach, where we lay for several
days. We were lucky to see an original
After 19 years of construction, the 60mile-long canal, with 29 locks, was
opened in 1822 as an alternate route
from the Atlantic Ocean to the North
Sea (see map, above). The 95-foot
ketch Sincerity (opposite) locks
through in mid-canal.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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SHAN NON CAI N
ri
d
e
miles from Canada to visit. Fiona’s brother, Alastair, was in the car keeping their
dog from the birthday cake for their eldest son’s 1-year-old boy. We climbed in,
and off we went.
Ro
u te
7˚ W
of C
arp
e
4˚ W
ALISON LANG LEY
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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63
“puffer,” one of the few remaining
steam-powered ships that worked this
area a hundred years ago, enter the canal
and lock through.
During our transit, we saw many canoeists—they camped ashore at night—
on the waterway, as well as cruising
boats from all over the United Kingdom,
Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, and Czechoslovakia.
Most had crossed the North Sea to go
through the canal and sail among Scotland’s fantastic Western Isles before returning through the canal to their respective home ports, thus avoiding the
64
long and arduous trip around the top of
Scotland through Pentland Firth.
Once through the canal, cruising
choices abound: Islands and channels are
scattered north, south, and west. We
planned to sail up the Sound of Mull to
Tobermory, circling the Island of Mull,
then visit Staffa and the Isle of Iona on
the west side, returning to Oban in 10
days. Oban, the main town in western
Scotland, is famous for whisky and gemstones, but it also offers a choice of marinas and yacht clubs.
As we sailed up the Sound of Mull,
Fiona used a cellphone to call Michael
and Kirstin Robertson, a couple we’d met
on Chesapeake Bay in 1977. Back then,
this Highland couple was preparing to
sail across the Atlantic back to Scotland
with their children, Bodil, 8, and Sandy, 6;
we were returning to Toronto by way of
the Intracoastal Waterway after two years
in Europe. Kirstin answered the phone.
“Look out your window and you’ll see
us,” Fiona told her. “We’re the catamaran
flying the red spinnaker.” Kirstin flew
down to the water’s edge with her phone
and guided us through some tricky rocks
and shallows into a tiny anchorage. We
went ashore for tea and Kirstin’s homemade bread and marmalade.
It was a short sail to Tobermory, where
we spent a few days hiking on the island
and enjoying the town. The cultural
center, An Tobar, that night was having
a ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee), a community party. We listened to musicians,
singing groups, and recitations in Gaelic, and we watched dancers and children
playing bagpipes. Fiona dragged me to
the floor to fling myself about in a
strenuous Gay Gordons dance.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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COU RTESY OF FIONA MCCALL
A well-tuned crew (above) locks through
near the Muirtown Basin: Fiona handles
the aft line, the author bulls the midships one, while friend Ben Patterson
controls the bow. Fiona and Paul motor
along a canalized section of the
Caledonian (left). Tobermory (opposite),
at the north end of the Sound of Mull, is
a colorful destination for westbound
canal cruisers.
FIONA MCCALL
Mendelssohn’s Retreat
On the western side of Mull, the weather was calm enough to visit the uninhabited island of Staffa. We anchored in 60
feet of water and dinghied through a
three-foot swell to a landing stage. The island is formed of giant basalt columns,
but the main attraction is Fingal’s Cave, a
cavern 66 feet high and 227 feet long that
in 1829 inspired Mendelssohn to write
his Hebrides Overture.
Icons who’ve raved about this natural
phenomenon include Keats, Tennyson,
Scott, Verne, Queen Victoria, and the
painter Joseph Turner, who exhibited
Staffa, Fingal’s Cave at the 1832 Royal
Academy exhibition. New York advertising magnate Jock Elliot bought the island
in 1986 and presented it to the National
Trust for Scotland to mark the 60th birthday of his wife, Elly.
We spent two days without going
ashore at Bunessan, waiting for gale-force
winds and pelting rain to let up. One
night, as we settled in to go to sleep, I
heard scratching and movement on deck
and went to investigate. A small, dark
mink, accustomed to foraging for fish
scraps caught in the scuppers of nearby
fishing boats, had slunk aboard. I chased
him round and round the deck until I finally forced him down the transom steps.
He stood his ground—a snarling, twopound mink challenging a 200-pound
man. Eventually, he dove into the water
and swam off.
While there’s an anchorage off Iona, because of the rough and unsettled weather
we decided to leave Carpe Diem in the
more protected Bunessan harbor. From
our anchorage there, we hitched a ride to
the ferry crossing point for the Isle of
Iona, off Mull’s southwestern tip. Iona has
been the regional center of Christian religion and culture since St. Columba established a monastery there in 563. Centuries
before that, it was a center of religion for
sun-worshiping Druids. The island is the
burial place of 48 Scottish kings as well as
for royalty from Ireland and Norway.
The Isle of Iona is also the place where
Fiona vacationed as a teenager. We explored the restored stone cathedral, and
we walked across the island to the farm
where Fiona used to stay. The small boy
with whom Fiona planted potatoes 50
years ago, John MacInnes, is now the
owner of the prosperous farm that overlooks the white sands and turquoise waters of Seal Cove. We sailed from Bunessan through the channel separating Mull
from the Isle of Iona. The wind was brisk,
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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CALEDONIAN CANAL CONTACTS
F
or general information about destinations, activities, events, and maps for
the Highlands of Scotland, log on to Visithighlands.com (www.visithighlands.com). For information on Scotland’s 127-mile canal network, see the
British Waterways/Scotland website (www.scottishcanals.co.uk). Charter boats are
available through Caley Cruisers Boating Holidays (www.caleycruisers.co.uk). In Fort
William, the Snowgoose Mountain Centre (www.highland-mountain-guides.co.uk)
rents canoeing, kayaking, and hiking gear. Along the Great Glen Way, hire bikes, including tandems for canal-side cycling, are available through Wilderness Cycles
(www.fiddledrum.co.uk/cycles.htm), at Fiddlers Highland Market. Absorb Loch
Ness atmospherics via a webcam (www.lochness.co.uk/livecam/) and Incident at
Loch Ness, an odd, documentary-like film directed by Zak Penn and starring
Werner Herzog.
CW eds.
blowing at a typical 20 knots, and under
double-reefed mainsail we completed our
circuit of Mull and returned to Oban.
Most Dangerous Stretch
Heading south from Oban, toward the
Irish Sea, you must time your travel with
the tides. The Gulf of Corryvreckan, between the islands of Scarba and Jura, is
notorious for its tide race. According to
our pilot, Corryvreckan, with one of the
largest permanent whirlpools on Earth, is
the most dangerous stretch of water
around the British Isles.
We timed our passage to arrive at maximum favorable flow. It was just past
spring tides, and the predicted race could
reach 8.5 knots. As we were swept along,
the difference between the knotmeter
and the GPS kept climbing until, fighting
the whirlpools, we reached a maximum
current of over seven knots. We anchored
at Gigha, a small garden island off the
mainland coast, and heard on BBC Radio
that it was for sale by the American absentee owner for several million pounds
sterling, including the manse and the
farms worked and occupied by some of
the local families.
We had a fantastic spinnaker run past
the impressive cliffs of the Mull of Kintyre (where, in the 18th century, the last
family of British cannibals had feasted on
unwary travellers) and arrived at the tiny,
perfect harbor of Portpatrick. Our stay
was extended several days when westerly
gales swept through the area. Here, in our
last Scottish harbor, we realized that this
chapter of our voyage had ended. It was
time to begin our next great adventure.
Paul Howard and Fiona McCall completed
their four-year voyage from Toronto to Horn,
in Iceland, to Cape Horn, in Chile, in July
2005. They’re currently debating whether or
not to sell their beloved Carpe Diem.
65
Open
Hatches
Although it could,
trouble doesn’t rear its
head on the author’s
first trade-wind run
in a decade
I
seldom tow the dinghy, and
on those rare occasions
when I do, I usually regret it.
My present dinghy is the
fourth or fifth Avon Redstart
I’ve owned. Weighing only
40 pounds and unencumbered by an outboard motor, it can be lifted from the
water with one hand and lashed on deck
in a minute, so I really have no excuse not
to do what I know is the right thing. Yet
sometimes I don’t.
The most recent incident was one fine
day when I was motoring from Neiafu, a
town in the Vava’u Group of Tonga, to an
anchorage that was seven miles away at
Vaka’eitu island.
The Vava’u Group consists of 60 or so
small islands clustered together like
pieces of a not-quite-assembled jigsaw
puzzle. The narrow channels of water
66
separating them are mostly sheltered and
smooth, but when I turned the corner of
Kapa island, a line of clouds moved overhead, and the wind abruptly gusted to 25
knots. For the next two miles, the dinghy
tied alongside the port beam of The
Hawke of Tuonela practiced aerobatics. It
spun, dove, climbed, and attempted barrel rolls and even an Immelmann turn.
And I regretted towing it.
I had reason to think about this when a
few days later I set out from Neiafu again,
this time bound for Savusavu, Fiji. I was
going to sea, but I hadn’t fully prepared
Hawke for sea as I usually do.
The deflated dinghy was stowed in the
aft part of the cockpit instead of beside
the starboard quarter berth belowdecks.
Although I’d tightened various straps
and put up shock cords to secure books, I
hadn’t raised the lee cloths on the upper
DESPITE THE POTENTIAL for trouble, a
hatch left open during a four-day, 400mile downwind ride proves to be no
problem for the author and his Hawke
of Tuonela.
berths, which serve as shelves in The
Hawke of Tuonela’s main cabin.
I hadn’t removed the two cowl vents
from near the stern, and I hadn’t completely filled the water tanks.
The dodger was down.
I hadn’t put my makeshift covers over
the cockpit stereo speakers.
And, most incongruously, one of the
two deck hatches was open.
I was embarking on my first downwind passage in the trades in more than
a decade and after tens of thousands of
miles sailed. The sky was blue, with only
a few scattered white clouds. The wind
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY WEBB CHILES
blew 15 knots from slightly north of east
rather than south, but that didn’t matter,
for my destination was 400 miles west.
The barometer was steady. The waves
were only two feet high as Hawke, under
jib alone, pulled away from the shelter of
the surrounding islands.
But a small voice inside me said,“Webb,
old man, if you don’t do what you know
is the right thing, you deserve whatever
happens to you.”
Which, if true, proves what a good person I’ve become in my old age, because I
didn’t expect anything bad to happen,
and it didn’t.
Several years ago, I read an article in
The Atlantic Monthly that was a revelation about the notorious Murphy and his
law, which, of course, states that if anything can go wrong, it will.
The article discussed the investigation
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
of airplane crashes, and the author concluded that one of the causes is often
complacency, which leads to negligence
in maintenance and operation. Not only
is Murphy’s Law wrong, the author declared, but it’s also completely and dangerously wrong. The reality is that what
can go wrong almost always goes right.
Just as there are thousands of things that
can go wrong with an airplane, there are
other thousands that can go wrong with a
sailboat at sea. The mast could fall down,
the rudder fall off, the hull crack. But
most of the time they don’t. Problems can
arise when we assume they never will.
This is so obviously true that I wonder
whatever motivated Murphy to declare
the opposite. He must have had a very
bad day.
I did have one problem on the passage.
Well, actually two, if you count running
DRAMATIC SCENERY and sky greet
the cruiser arriving in Savusavu, a
destination whose time has not
yet passed.
out of DVDs to watch in the evenings,
which is roughly equivalent to a friend of
mine, the owner of an Amel 53-foot
ketch, declaring that the only problem he
had on one passage was that the washer/dryer wouldn’t work when sailing on
starboard tack.
My problem was that on the first afternoon, I misplaced an island. Specifically
Late, an isolated volcanic cone about 20
miles west of the main Vavu’a cluster. I’d
seen it off to the west at sunset a few
weeks earlier on the passage up from New
Zealand. I’d seen it from both Chidiock
Tichborne and Resurgam, two boats I
sailed on earlier voyages. But I couldn’t
67
see it now, and as hour by hour Hawke
romped west in what seemed to be unlimited visibility, I still couldn’t see it.
The chart plotter reassured me that
Late was south of our track, but it wasn’t
until sunset that I actually saw the cone
silhouetted against its own small, private
cloud in the fading light.
Two hundred miles ahead of me lay
dozens of islands and reefs, but there was
show. Looking north, I saw the Big Dipper for the first time in a long time. The
Southern Cross was visible to the south,
Scorpio was behind me to the east, and
Orion stood low in the sky ahead.
I debated leaving the cruising spinnaker up. There was no question that it
was the right sail for the conditions, but I
prefer not to have to mess with it in the
middle of the night. But the moon was
no land in the way that night, so I watched
the last episode of the second season of
The Wire and went to sleep.
The wind lightened during the night,
and The Hawke of Tuonela began to roll
excessively, so the next morning I set the
cruising spinnaker, which increased boat
speed by only a half a knot but smoothed
out the ride wonderfully. Heeled a few degrees to port, the green sloop schussed almost silently across glassy, gently undulating water for the rest of the day.
I spent the morning belowdecks reading and the afternoon on deck listening to
music. The Monitor steered. I didn’t
touch a line. It didn’t seem as though
Hawke was moving at all. I was reminded
of a story I wrote a long time ago called
“Sailing to Africa.” In the story, a solo
sailor making a trade-wind passage to
Durban, South Africa, sails unknowingly
one night through a fog bank into another dimension in which his water and provisions never run out and he just keeps
sailing west, finally forgetting that he’d
ever had a destination.
That evening after dark, I had a fine star
THOUGH NOT STOWED properly, an
Avon Redstart proves less of a problem
stuffed into a corner of the cockpit than
it did on a previous trip, when it was
tied alongside Hawke and the wind
kicked up.
68
just past full and would provide light, so I
decided not to make a change.
An increase in wind to 14 knots woke
me at midnight.
I got up and went to the companionway. The sky was still clear and star filled.
No clouds heralded a sudden squall. The
seas remained slight, and the Monitor
was in control. Hawke was heeled only a
few degrees farther than earlier. Boat
speed was up to seven knots. It was, in the
end, fine sailing.
I lay down again, but listening for any
change in sound that might mean a further increase in wind, I couldn’t get back
to sleep. Had it been daylight, I would’ve
left the spinnaker up. But it wasn’t, so I finally got up and went on deck, lowered
the sail, and unfurled the jib. It’s been a
while since I’ve been on a boat that
broached, and I’d like that interval to
continue lengthening.
The dawn of another warm trade-wind
day—blue sky, slight seas, moderate
wind—found me edging the boat a bit
south to line up with Oneata Passage, one
of many such openings through Fiji’s Lau
Group of islands. The chart plotter put
Hawke at 18 degrees 24 minutes south,
and 18 degrees 30 minutes south would
keep us clear of all
dodgy bits of coral.
Although this passage is three miles
wide, and I wasn’t exactly threading the
needle, in the past,
while navigating by
sextant, I’d chosen
the safer alternative
of doglegging farther
south around the end
of the group. This
was because Chidiock
Tichborne had no engine and, on my last
time through here,
Resurgam’s engine
had been dead since
Panama and I didn’t
want to chance being
becalmed at night
among reefs. I could
row Chidiock, an 18foot open boat, but I
could never get the 36-foot Resurgam
moving very well with the five-foot-long
Avon oars.
The wind had decreased again, and it
was now a spinnaker day, but I didn’t set
it; under the jib, Hawke and I would be
more maneuverable.
The mainsail cover had yet to come off,
and the deck hatch had yet to be closed.
Around noon, land appeared off the
port bow in the form of a hill on Mothe
island. Two hours later, I saw desultory
surf on the outlying reef of Oneata island, to starboard. And around sunset, I
was off a village whose lights came on as
the sky darkened. There’s always something poignant about sailing past a place
you’ll never visit while imagining the
lives of people you’ll never meet. I was
content to do so, but really, I had no
choice. I respect Fiji’s decision to keep
visitors out of the Lau Group, where, I’m
told, traditional life continues. We may
bring in dollars and jobs, but by doing so,
we change everything.
That night was one of those awakeevery-hour nights. People ashore who
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hear that you have a boat in the South
Pacific almost invariably comment on
how lucky you are, but they don’t consider the price you may have paid in
many ways, including lost sleep.
I didn’t plan to awaken every hour
that night, as I sometimes do when
near land or shipping, but it just happened. A collapsing sail or a change in
the boat’s motion, although just small
things, regularly awoke me, but I always
got quickly back to sleep, even after
going on deck at 0400 to trim the jib
and the Monitor to get us back on
course once again.
Dawn found two islands a safe distance to the northeast and The Hawke
of Tuonela 110 miles from Savusavu.
Although I was in no rush, by noon
the wind was so light that I reset the
spinnaker and let the tiller pilot steer to
keep us on an exact compass course.
This wasn’t hard work, but beneath the
high tropical sun, I found myself covered with sweat.
A few hours later, the wind veered,
collapsing the sail. I lowered it and
again unfurled the jib. Boat speed was
only three knots, and I began to think I
might have to power to reach port the
following day.
After sunset, Hawke glided between
galaxies, the pinpoints of bioluminescence in the water duplicating pinpoints of light in the starry sky. I was
sitting on deck, admiring the cosmos,
when a dark line of cloud formed to
the east. As it reached Hawke, eight
drops of rain fell, and I almost closed
the deck hatch. The wind freshened
enough to send the boat reeling
through the sea at an astounding—
comparatively—five knots all night
long, and dawn found the marker on
the corner of the reef at Savusavu,
obligingly where it was supposed to be,
seven miles directly ahead.
Four hundred miles. Four days.
Hatches never closed. A wave never on
deck. Some lovely, gentle sailing under
spinnaker. Warm, star-filled nights. I
get tired of the trades after a while, as
one can of eating too much candy. But
this passage wasn’t long enough. I wanted to go on, sailing eternally westward,
toward nowhere, just sailing.
After a winter spent Stateside, Webb
Chiles was headed back to The Hawke
of Tuonela, in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, for another season of roaming
about the South Pacific.
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RIGHT ON TIME FOR SAVUSAVU
ruisers are always telling you that you’ve arrived too late for one place or
another. I’ve done so myself. But as of June 2005, here’s a place for which you’re
not too late.
Savusavu, on Vanua Levu island, is the easternmost and northernmost of Fiji’s four
ports of entry. Clearing in is painless. The Copra Shed Marina, reachable on VHF Channel
16, will direct you to a mooring and generally ferry the officials to you.
The harbor, called Nakama Creek, is a 200-yard-wide inlet between the mainland of
Vanua Levu and a small islet and reef. It’s well protected from all but a narrow arc of west
wind. While I was there, I never saw more than a ripple on the water.
The Copra Shed was once an actual copra shed, but the marina isn’t an actual marina.
No slips exist, but there’s a
dinghy dock and moorings.
The renovated building also
houses a restaurant, Internet
café, travel agent, bottle
shop, showers, and the
Savusavu Yacht Club, where
you can get a cold draft beer
for about US$1.20.
Moorings are available
from other sources, including a New Zealand ex-pat
and former cruiser named
Curley Carswell, who’s been
in Savusavu for 34 years,
runs an 0830 radio net every The town on Savusavu (above) offers enough hustle
and bustle to provide the basics, without disrupting
morning, and provides a
range of yacht services. A few the relaxed air enveloping Vanua Levu (top).
weeks earlier in Tonga, another sailor had told me that “Curley Carswell is Savusavu.” He
certainly is the man from whom to seek local knowledge.
The town, the expected mix of Fijian and Indian, runs for several blocks along the shore
road. An open market offers fresh produce. There are some restaurants, many small shops,
and one place big enough to call itself a supermarket.
Tourism isn’t extensive. The people seem genuinely friendly. The setting is pretty. The
general quiet is broken only by a few dogs; mad roosters that, with a cavalier disregard for
dawn, crow at all hours; and the two-a-day bells of Evangelical church services on Sundays. I like the place, and as of June 2005, you’re not too late for it. But I have no idea of
Savusavu’s shelf life. You’d better leave now.
W.C.
C
69
YACHTSTYLE
Lord Nelson
Among the
Oystermen
Two hundred years later,
Britain’s best-known sea
battle was commemorated
by a fleet of cruising sailors
gathered off southern
Spain’s Atlantic coast
W
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N ICO MARTINEZ /OYSTE R MAR I N E
ords by the
millions have
been written
about Horatio,
Lord Nelson,
Britain’s greatest sailing hero. Books chronicle his victories over the Spanish off Cabo de São
Vicente, where, with cutlass in hand, he
personally led boarding parties to capture two enemy ships; at the Nile, where
his men seized 13 French vessels; and at
Copenhagen, where his squadron destroyed much of the Danish fleet during
the Napoleanic Wars.
But the greatest triumph by far for the
diminutive, fearless, one-armed, oneeyed admiral was at the Battle of Trafalgar, off the southern coast of Spain.
There, in 1805, he led a fleet of 27 British
ships to a bloody, four-hour triumph that
squelched for good Bonaparte’s budding
aspirations to conquer Britain by sea.
It was the last big naval battle in history
to be conducted under sail, and it was
heroic in every respect. Nelson and his
second-in-command, Cuthbert Collingwood, boldly swept down on a soft, following breeze to overwhelm a superior
force of 33 French and Spanish warships
in a bloody, gunwale-to-gunwale confrontation that cost 5,000 lives, 90 per
cent of them French and Spanish.
Among the unfortunate victims was
the admiral himself, cut down by a musC RU I S I N G WO R L D
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BY ANGUS PHILLIPS
Two cruising Oysters race on the
Bahía de Cádiz, in Spain, during the
UBS Oyster Trafalgar Regatta.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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71
ket ball fired from the rigging of the
French 74-gun Redoutable. In the heat of
close combat, Nelson, as always, refused
to seek shelter or anonymity, urging his
gun crews on as he paced the quarterdeck
of the 100-gun Victory, an easy target by
virtue of the medals and medallions he
refused to remove from his jacket.
Just an hour into the fighting, a marksman’s ball struck him in the shoulder,
ripped through a lung, and lodged in his
backbone, paralyzing him. He was carried below to endure a short, painful
death. “Ah, Mr. Beatty,” he bravely told
the ship’s surgeon, “you can do nothing
for me. I have but a short time to live; my
back is shot through.”
Nelson hung on just long enough to
learn that the British had trampled the
combined foes, capturing 14 or 15 Spanish and French vessels and routing the
72
rest into flight. “That is well,” he told his
captain, Thomas Hardy, “but I bargained
for 20.” Then Nelson whispered, “Thank
God I have done my duty,” asked Hardy
to kiss him, and passed into what Britons
still call “the immortal memory.” His
body was ferried to England in a cask of
brandy and accorded the hero’s welcome
he richly deserved.
F
or all the glorious words that
have been written about Nelson and Trafalgar in the 200
years since, it’s a sad fact that
most Americans know very
little about the battle, the stakes, the man,
or even the place. Truthfully, now, where
did you think Trafalgar was? If you’re like
me, you knew it as a square in London
that celebrates a battle. Beyond that?
To the British, who celebrate Trafalgar
Day each October 21, it still means a lot,
and to Richard Matthews, the founder of
Oyster Yachts and a lifelong admirer of
Nelson, the 200th anniversary last fall was
a moment too important to let slide. Oyster, with help from UBS and a few other
longtime sponsors, organized an Oyster
Trafalgar Regatta in El Puerto de Santa
María, Spain, with two days of racing,
three nights of elegant parties, and one
at-sea observance sure to be fondly remembered by all who took part.
It’s one thing to read words in books,
and quite another to see for yourself. Like
Nelson’s fleet, assembled Oysters numbered in the 20s when dawn edged over
the rocky Spanish coastline on the anniversary of the battle in 2005. It was a fine
morning, with light southwesterly breezes
rippling the surface under a carpet of stars.
A leftover sea swell rocked the boats.
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N ICO MARTI N E Z /OYSTE R MAR I N E
YACHTSTYLE
Brooding Cabo Trafalgar lay backlit in the
morning glow, halfway between Gibraltar
and Cádiz, looking exactly as it would have
to the long-dead combatants. Regatta participants had been briefed at a lecture the
night before and knew conditions were
much the same as those that had greeted
the rival fleets sailing these precise waters
200 years earlier, to the minute.
Something there is about sunrise at sea
that stirs a man deep in his heart. Against
a backdrop of such momentous history,
my reactions went visceral. It made my
stomach tighten and the hair stand up on
the back of my neck to imagine those 33
Spanish and French warriors wearing
ship in this same soft light, aiming to run
for cover along the rocky coast while the
blood-hungry British bore down from
offshore, the breeze at their backs.
If this had been a great battle on land—
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Gettysburg, say, or the Bulge or Gallipoli—some monument doubtless
would stand to identify the time and
place. Here at sea, all is just as it always
was and always will be.
It’s downright eerie.
Lord Nelson, a 180-foot replica, closes
ranks with part of the Oyster Trafalgar
fleet gathered offshore of Cabo
Trafalgar, Spain, to mark the 200th
anniversary of the famous sea battle.
T
sighted the combined Franco-Spanish
fleet about 11 miles to leeward. Nelson
signaled, ‘Prepare for battle,’ and all 27
British ships cleared for action. British
ships now piped men to breakfast.
“At about this same time, [French] Admiral Villeneuve, realizing battle is inevitable, signals for his combined fleet of
33 French and Spanish ships of the line to
‘wear ship together,’ changing course
back to Cádiz, resulting in chaos and confusion among the inexperienced crews.”
And so it began.
The Oyster fleet for this loose re-enactment was led by Matthews himself in his
he stillness was broken by
the crackling of the VHF. It
was Richard Taylor, longtime Oyster employee, manning the radio on the flying
bridge of the committee boat, a power
cruiser temporarily renamed Pickle after
the frigate that carried news of the victory and Nelson’s death back to London.
“Oyster Fleet, Oyster fleet, this is Pickle,”
intoned Taylor.“It is now eight bells in the
morning watch. At first light on 21 October, 1805, in a light southwesterly breeze
and under overcast skies, the British fleet
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YACHTSTYLE
new, 72-foot, carbon-fiber speedster,
Oystercatcher XXV, which looked somewhat out of place amid a decidedly more
cruising-oriented gaggle of Oysters with
roller-furling mainsails and headsails.
Matthews, a hulking bear of a Brit who
founded the company 33 years ago after a
brief career selling coffee machines, had
arranged for a special guest at the regatta,
whose arrival was next on the agenda.
It was the aptly named Lord Nelson, a
180-foot British square-rigger replica
owned and operated by Jubilee Sailing
Trust, which takes disabled people to sea
to broaden their horizons. Jubilee reckons Nelson, with an arm shot off in
Tenerife and an eye lost in combat off
Corsica, was the greatest disabled sailor of
all time, and it honored him by naming
its flagship after him.
“Here she comes now,” said Oyster second-in-command Alan Brook, scanning
the sea with binoculars. To the west, pale
sunlight glinted off a rectangular patch of
white, barely visible in the distance—the
signature silhouette of a square rigger.
The plan, carefully devised by Taylor,
Brook, and Matthews over several
months, was to assemble the Oysters into
two squadrons when the Nelson arrived,
arraying the fleet in a line roughly parallel to the coast, and then slowly motor to74
ward Cádiz in a pattern similar to that of
Villeneuve’s fleet two centuries before.
The Nelson, out to weather, would sail
down into the line of boats as the British
boats had, aiming to split the faux
French-and-Spanish fleet in the middle.
The hope was that Oyster owners,
using a liberal dose of imagination,
would get a sense of what it was like to be
set upon by 27 square-rigged ships, but
even Matthews agreed it was a stretch,
not to mention a plan rife with peril. “A
lot of people thought we were mad to try
this. The weather could have absolutely
ruined us if it’d decided to blow,” he said
later that day, flush with success. “But we
were lucky.”
The problem, in fact, turned out to be
too little wind. The skipper of Lord Nelson reported by radio that he was having
a hard time getting on station by the appointed hour. Motorsailing in light air, a
luxury his predecessors lacked, he was
making six knots. But he was well in
range when the next crucial signal came
from Oystercatcher.
At precisely 1148, Matthews’ crew
hoisted an array of signal flags duplicating Nelson’s famous pre-battle exhortation to the troops at the same hour:
“England expects that every man will do
his duty,” it read, and a cheer arose from
the Oyster sailors. Moments later, working instructions were added: “Engage
the enemy more closely,” and the battle
was on.
To say the upshot was in any way,
shape, or form a recreation of the greatest battle in British naval history stretches credulity, but you make do with what
T
imes were simpler back then,
when the smell of tarred
marline hung in the air and
decks ran red with blood.
The great battle was joined
in earnest at 1220, when Collingwood’s
Royal Sovereign broke through the ragged
French and Spanish line, guns blazing; the
slower Victory came through 20 minutes
later, cutting just astern of Villeneuve’s
flagship, Bucentaure, and raking it with a
ferocious broadside.
From that point it was sheer chaos, by
all descriptions. “We were engaging on
both sides; every gun was going off,”
wrote a Marine Lt. Rotely aboard Victory.
“It beggars all description; it bewilders
the senses of sight and hearing. There was
the fire from above, the fire from below,
besides the fire from the deck I was upon,
the guns recoiling with violence, reports
louder than thunder, the decks heaving
and the sides straining. I fancied myself
in the infernal regions, where every man
appeared a devil. Lips might move, but
orders and hearing were out of the question; everything was done by signs.”
Which—as someone noted facetiously
at one of the after-racing parties earlier in
the week—might have served as a decent
description of what racing was like during the two-day run up to the celebration
at sea. Indeed, having done my part spinning the electric winches and hoisting
and handing sails on Oysters for two
days, I’d say Nelson was lucky he didn’t
have modern-day Oystermen for gun
crews, or we might all be munching foie
gras and talking parlez-vous today.
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N ICO MARTI N E Z /OYSTE R MAR I N E
John and Sonia Marshall receive the
Class One winner’s silverware from
Philip Smith (left), a representative of
the sponsor, UBS.
you have. Indeed, it was a mild surprise
to the Oyster owners that, other than a
passing cruise ship and a couple of puzzled yachtsmen who stopped by to
watch, no spectators were out there on a
fine autumn day. “I’d have thought the
Brits would send a warship,” mused
Tom Bentley of Austin, Texas, owner of
the 62-foot Oyster Second Wind and the
only American skipper on hand.
The frigate HMS Chatham was close
by, in port 27 miles away at Cádiz, but apparently the exigencies of European
Union diplomacy weighed against its
participation, and Oyster owners themselves were warned against any bombastic
shows of jingoism before they left the
dock. England, France, and Spain are economic partners now. You don’t poke
sticks in political hornets’ nests.
YACHTSTYLE
M
atthews, a lifelong racer who last summer won
the race around the Isle of Wight against such
star-studded rivals as Maximus and Mari-Cha
IV, set the stage for the Oyster event when he
lectured competitors at a skippers meeting before the first race. “I don’t mean to sound silly,” he said, “but I
must remind all skippers that if you try to duck another boat, it’s
not enough just to wait till the last moment, then turn the wheel
and expect the boat to respond. You must also ease the sails. I
know this sounds basic, and I don’t want to insult anyone. Those
of you who already know what I’m talking about can ignore it,
but there are those who do not.”
Matthews indeed knows whereof he speaks. Oyster runs regattas for owners two to four times a year in various far-flung
ports, from the Caribbean to the Solent to the Mediterranean,
and racing is always a key part of the program. I asked Brook,
the number-two man at Oyster and another lifelong racer,
about the decision to emphasize competition in these big, elegant, heavy, expensive cruisers.
“It’s fun for the owners,” he said, “and it gives them a chance
to learn about their boats.” Oyster generally puts one or two experienced crew aboard each boat, he said, and these guests make
suggestions that may help to widen the skipper’s understanding
of performance. “It helps to hear that the headsail leads might
be moved a stop forward or that the leech line needs to be tightened. They can try it and see how it helps.”
In three races on the Bahía de Cádiz, where Villeneuve’s fleet
was blockaded by Nelson for months before emerging for the
battle off Trafalgar, I saw plenty of room for learning on Oysters.
We had light winds the first day, when I was placed aboard
British businessman Bob Beeston’s 62-footer, Star of Acabar,
along with paid captain Ben Bowen, Beeston’s wife, June, and his
23-year-old son, Jonathan.
We were doing pretty well early on, rounding the first mark
among the fleet leaders, but things came to a halt when Beeston
turned downwind. It’s never easy to keep a heavy boat going
downwind in light air, and things went to custard in a hurry. One
by one the back-of-the pack boats, carrying momentum we
somehow never mustered, rolled by. Late in the exercise, the 53foot Out of India hove up to leeward, slowed in our bad air, and
then, for reasons inexplicable, plowed right into our lee side. No
harm done, as Jonathan and Ben raced to the lee rail with fenders
to hold off the interloper, but it left us all scratching our heads.
Next day, the breeze was up. I was on a new, pearl-gray 72footer called Luskentyre, owned by a young Briton named Mark
Blythe and crewed by a group of his friends. The paid crew of
three was off on vacation. Their absence was felt in the first race,
when nobody remembered to feather the propeller and we
never could get the boat up to speed. The pros were missed
again in the second race, when just before the start, the coiled
cruising spinnaker washed off the foredeck in its sock and
streamed out behind the boat. It was a challenge to get it safely
back aboard, and it left us well behind the fleet at the gun.
But Luskentyre, flying new, carbon-fiber sails and no longer
towing the propeller, took off like a scalded rabbit on the triangle-shaped course and had passed half a dozen boats by the first
turning mark. I was busy trimming headsails, but I noticed
halfway through the first leg that the mainsail looked peculiar—
almost inside out, with a great reverse bubble in the middle.
The main trimmer said it was nothing to worry about, but
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C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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when we tacked around the first mark and the mainsail filled on
the new tack, his eyes went wide. “Something’s wrong,” he said,
just about the time we heard a horrendous rip and the $30,000
sail parted at the foot, then tore up a seam clear to the mast.
Everyone who ran forward to get the main down found himself sliding around dangerously on freshly spilled hydraulic oil.
A bit later, we sorted out what had happened: It turned out that
both the boom vang and the outhaul worked off the same hydraulic power point, and the man in charge of flattening the sail
by pumping the vang down had the switch on backward and
was instead pumping the outhaul out. With no safety stop built
into the system, he’d cranked it so far out that it literally shredded the sail.
The oil came from a separate hydraulic system, shooting out
when a fitting at the bottom of the staysail furler worked loose.
The leak wasn’t connected to the sail troubles, but it left a hell of
a mess. We set out for the dock with scrub brushes and dish detergent in hand and had the wreckage cleared before nightfall.
But Luskentyre’s racing was done, and it was a reminder that big
boats and inexperienced crews can be a dangerous combination.
That night, I shared a table with the Luskentyre crew at a memorable formal dinner at Castle San Marcos, in El Puerto de Santa
María. The featured speaker was Lt. Cmdr. David Harris, MBE, a
naval historian and a former captain of HMS Victory, Nelson’s
ship, which serves today as a museum in all its restored glory in
Portsmouth and is still commanded by a Royal Navy skipper.
Harris opened his remarks by calling Trafalgar “arguably the
most important naval battle in history” and “the sea battle of superlatives.” Then he took off like a freight train, recounting the
oft-told tale with all the verve and energy of author Patrick
O’Brian’s mythical Captain Jack Aubrey, who loved to replay
Trafalgar for his officers at the dinner table after a few bottles of
wine, using silverware to signify the ships.
“Nelson went right at ’em!” Aubrey would exult, and Harris
said no different. The genius of the admiral’s plan, he contended, was its unconventional nature. Sea battles in the 18th and
early 19th centuries were generally fought broadside to broadside, with parallel lines of combatants battering each other till
someone gave up. Nelson took another tack, splitting his fleet in
two and sending two lines into the foe from the perpendicular,
essentially T-boning the enemy line in two places.
It was risky business, because it meant that all during the approach, the British ships could be peppered by broadsides from
the French and Spanish but had no serious guns mounted on
their bows to respond. It wasn’t until they “crossed the T” that
the advantage shifted, and the British could unleash their fresh
broadsides into their helpless foes.
In the end, the daring strategy worked, and all Britain heaved
a sigh of relief, knowing the combined forces would never again
be able to muster the sea power to invade England across the
Channel, as was Bonaparte’s fervent hope.
For that great gift, Matthews raised a tot of rum to Nelson’s
memory, honoring him in a traditional toast of the Royal Navy.
“A willing foe and sea room,” said Matthews, hoisting his thimbleful of Pusser’s as Oyster owners and crew followed suit.
“To the Queen, God bless her!”
Angus Phillips, the outdoors/boating writer for The Washington
Post, is a CW editor at large. He recently returned from sailing
among Antarctica’s remote South Sandwich Islands.
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77
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
Practical solutions and techniques for the bluewater sailor
SAILS BY JEREMY M CGEARY
More Powerful Mains,
Less Muscle to
Manage Them
IT’S A CLASSIC CHICKEN-OR-EGG
question, but with a nautical
twist: Does sail design drive the
evolution of sailhandling gear, or
is it the other way around?
When it comes to sails, ease of
handling is high on the cruising
sailor’s wish list, even if that means giving up some performance. But as sailcloth technology and sailhandling gear
evolve to meet this expectation, all sailors
can today expect to sail faster and with better control. Boat designers have eschewed the
brutal-to-trim 150-percent genoas of a few
years ago and embraced small jibs along with
the modern full-battened mainsails that generate
lots of easily controlled power.
“Those 150-percent genoas at 6- or 7-degree
sheeting angles only pushed the boats sideways. Then
as soon as you cracked off, you had to put up a different sail,” says Rodger Martin, designer of such leadingedge performance cruisers as the Quest 33 and the Aerodyne 46. “Boats that sail fast have small jibs and big mains.
Look at dinghies and Open-class boats.”
Martin favors a big, full-battened mainsail on a mast
stepped well back in the boat. “If the mast is too far forward,
you get the catboat effect off the wind,” he says. “Open-class
boats have long Js, so you end up with a low-aspect sail on each
end of the boat. We’ve found that you need a small overlap to benefit from the slot effect between the main and the jib; otherwise,
you’ll be slow upwind in light air.”
Big mainsails provide drive off the wind as well as on, but if you
Sail design
evolves with new
hardware to better
harness the wind
78
J E R E MY M C G EARY
The advent of fulllength vertical
battens for in-mast
furled mainsails
means these
powerhouses can
now carry a healthy
roach and still roll
up easily at the end
of a day’s sail.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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Mains cut for
both racing and
cruising boats
often sport fulllength horizontal
battens at the top
of the sail, allowing the sailmaker
to build in plenty
of roach higher
up the mast,
where it translates into power.
On a conventional
main, a popular
batten configuration employs two
partial but extralong battens in the
lower part of the
sail. This makes
handling easier,
especially on
smaller boats that
don’t have elaborate batten-car
systems to control
twist of the battens when the sail
is being raised
and lowered.
JOH N B U R N HAM
need a boost in
light conditions,
modern variations
on the cruising
chute are waiting
in the wings (see
“Breaking the
Code,” May 2005).
At the front end
of the boat, the
widespread acceptance of roller furling has meant that many who
cruise near-shore waters can
get away with just one headsail for the season.
Now, the growing presence
of in-mast and in-boom
mainsail furlers—and the corresponding development of
batten systems to maintain
sail shape—means mainsails
can be larger and stronger but
still easily handled from the
safety of the cockpit. Add a
conveniently placed electric
winch or two on the cabin top,
and you’re sailing with your
fingertips instead of grunting
over winch handles or sweating things out at the mast as
you try to throw in a reef.
Elbow Grease and
Then Some
Most production boats
today come with all the mainC RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
sail controls in the cockpit, on
the premise that it’s safer to
handle the sails from there
than by going forward to the
mast. This is true, but there
are drawbacks to this approach that can’t be overlooked. When hauling up the
mainsail from the cockpit, it’s
difficult to winch and watch at
the same time, especially if
you’re working under a
dodger. When pulling horizontally off a cabin-mounted
winch, your back is bent, and
you’re relying only on the
strength in your arms, even
with a self-tailer. And the
winch itself isn’t in the best
position ergonomically for
cranking—you can’t get over
it to use your trunk muscles.
You’re also working against
the friction created when the
line passes through turning
blocks and, usually, a clutch.
An alternative preferred by
such sailors as John Harries
and Phyllis Nickel,
who sail Morgan’s
Cloud, a 56-foot
aluminum cutter,
is the tried-andtrue winch on the
mast, where they
can watch for
hang-ups and intervene when, or
even before, they
occur (see “Rigging for Shorthanded Sailing,”
October 2005). Working at
the mast, it’s natural to look
up while you’re pulling down,
so you can ensure, for example, that battens don’t snag in
the lazy jacks. You can put
your back into the task without putting it out, and on
most cruising boats, you can
get the sail most of the way up
by hand, using the winch to
finish the job and to tension
the luff.
COMMON SAILCLOTH TERMS
Bias: A diagonal across a piece of fabric at 45 degrees to the warp and fill.
Fill: The yarn or fiber running across the width of the fabric at right angles to the warp.
Laminate: A layered fabric made by bonding scrims and/or taffetas to one or two plies of film.
Scrim: Nonwoven, formed sheet of yarns held together with resin.
Taffeta: A light woven fabric used on laminates to add durability and abrasion resistance.
Warp: The yarn or fiber running the length of a fabric.
Source: Bainbridge International website
J.McG.
79
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
For real performance,
whether racing or cruising,
it’s hard to beat a main with
full horizontal battens (left).
The battens, when used in
conjunction with such sail
controls as the cunningham,
vang, and topping lift, produce efficient sail shape and
can be used with either an
in-boom furling system or
flaked with the sail on a
conventional boom.
This is where technology
comes into play. A walk down
the docks of last year’s boat
shows revealed that manufacturers of even modest-sized
sailboats are putting electric
winches to work, allowing the
crew to raise sail—and sheet it
in—with the push of a finger.
Of course, this added horsepower comes with the responsibility of paying attention to
one’s surroundings. The owner
of a boat that was recently test
sailed had blown apart a block
on the vang by using the electric winch on the outhaul without first easing the vang!
Based on several option
sheets, it appears that an upgrade to an electric winch on
a new boat starts at about
$3,500 for, say, a Harken 44,
and that includes wiring and
installation. Doing a retrofit
requires installing a heavyduty circuit breaker and
heavy-gauge wiring, and the
motor may intrude into cabin
space. But this may be a small
price to pay for the muscle a
strategically placed electric
winch can lend to a variety of
linehandling tasks.
Viva the Roach
A major breakthrough in
mainsail handling came 30
years ago when Ted Hood introduced the Stoway Mast.
Competitors quickly adopted
the technology, and most spar
makers now offer in-mast
furling systems and a variety
of choices in the way they’re
driven, from manual to electric and hydraulic motors.
Today, many mainstream
builders provide in-mast
furling as standard equipment. A drawback to this
convenience, however, has
been the loss of performance
caused by the fact that horizontal battens can’t be used
to improve sail shape (more
on this in a moment).
Looking to build a better
“sail trap,” innovators next developed in-boom furling systems. While it comes with its
own set of operating foibles,
in-boom furling makes possible, and for smooth operation
even depends on, a full-battened, positive-roach mainsail
(see “The Amazing Vanishing
Mainsail,” October 2000, and
“Managing the Main,” October 2005).
After all, maintaining the
proper sail shape is the key to
getting the most out of your
mainsail. While sails continue
to come in many sizes and
shapes, if you’re ordering a
new non-mast-furled main
today, chances are it will be a
full-battened or partially fullbattened design.
First, the full battens prevent
a luffing sail from the flogging
that can destroy it, starting at
the leech. Chris Howes of
Doyle Sailmakers says that
even two full-length battens in
the top of the sail will prevent
the “burgee effect,” in which
the upper part of the sail initiates the flapping. Doyle’s standard mainsail on smaller boats
today has two full-length battens in the top half and two
shorter ones in the lower half.
This arrangement prevents
the sail, when its being
dropped, from pivoting
around the batten halfway up
the luff and binding, which
REEFING PROGRESS, TOO
eefing techniques have evolved as well. Most mains today
are reduced in size by slab reefing. If you’re old school,
you reef at the mast. You take up on the topping lift, ease
the halyard, attach the reef tack to a hook on the gooseneck or to a
shackle on a wire pendant, then take up on the halyard. Next, you
haul in the clew pendant that leads forward, often to a winch on
the boom. Last, you ease the topping lift. If you have mast pulpits
and well-arranged hardware, you can do all this quickly and in relative comfort, especially if your mainsail has full-length battens.
If you reef from the cockpit, unless you have single-line reefing, you’ll have two pendants for each reef, for a probable total of
six tails. The procedure is similar, except that between your pendants and the halyard and sheet, you’re probably juggling four
lines on two winches. Many boats thus outfitted have an airspring vang that will support the boom without the aid of the
topping lift; if not, that’s one more line to lead aft. But under the
dodger, you remain dry.
R
80
Single-line reefing is becoming popular as
a clutter clearer. Seldén Mast offers booms set
up for it, and it comes standard on Tartans, but it’s not difficult to
retrofit. Each reef has a single pendant that starts out like the clew
pendant, but at the gooseneck it’s turned through a block up to
the reef tack cringle, thence down to the gooseneck again and aft
to the cockpit. It simplifies the reefing process, but the friction created by pulling the line through both cringles makes it hard to
haul the clew in taut. This is an occasion in which an electric
winch—carefully tended—would prove most handy.
J.McG.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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B I LLY B LACK, I LLUSTRATION COU RTESY OF HAR KE N
Using a couple of blocks and fairleads, a simple
single-line reefing system can be retrofitted on
a smaller cruising sailboat.
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
can occur on smaller rigs that
often aren’t fitted with special
cars to support the battens on
the mast track. On bigger sails
equipped with batten cars,
Doyle usually makes all the
battens full length.
From a performance standpoint, the battens permit the
sail to be larger, give it an elliptical shape at the head,
and—by holding its draft forward, where it generates more
drive and less heel—extend
the range of wind speed the
main can withstand before it
has to be reefed.
The full-battened sail delivers its benefits at a price,
though. There’s the dollar cost
of more sophisticated hardware, particularly the gear
that’s needed to handle the
compression loads the battens
create at the sail’s luff. On
boats under 35 feet or so, this
isn’t significant, but it goes up
rapidly with sail size and, especially, with the amount of
roach (for a close look at batten cars, see “Slip-Sliding
Away,” October 2004).
82
Jerry Latell, who owns the
Ullman Sails’ franchised loft
in Deltaville, Virginia, says
that the advantages of full
battens make them the way
to go. “They extend the useful life of the sail,” he says,
“not just by preventing flogging but because they hold it
in shape even when the fabric gets tired.”
However, chafe can be a
problem in particular areas,
such as the spots where the
full-length battens lie on the
shrouds when running or
reaching in a seaway. For
those planning extended voyages and lots of downwind
sailing, Latell recommends
chafe patches.
The Vertical Challenge
Many cruising sailboats
today can’t benefit from the
big-main/small-jib combination because they have inmast furling systems that constrain the mainsail to a
hollow-cut leech, eliminating
the roachy top end that contributes to a sail’s power.
Now, proponents of in-mast
furling have responded to the
drawbacks stemming from a
hollow-cut leech, and the big
news in sail evolution today is
the development of vertical
battens that poke the leech of
the in-mast furling sail into
positive territory, making it
more competitive with sails
with full-length battens of the
horizontal kind.
Seldén Mast recently redesigned its extrusions, enlarging the cavity and widening the aperture to admit
vertical battens. Seldén USA’s
Scott Alexander says this is a
response to growing demand
in Europe for in-mast furling
mainsails that offer comparable performance to that obtained with full-battened
conventional sails.
“It all began about seven
years ago,” says Joe Cooper, of
Hood Sailmakers. “That’s
when Peter Lund, a sort of
mad-professor Swedish sailmaker, experimented with
fishing-pole technology to
make full-height battens in a
furling mainsail.” Hood’s European division became involved when Lund asked
Hood to supply him with
cloth. “Hood’s cloth is proprietary, but Lund wanted it because its strength on the bias
would better support the batten loads,” says Cooper. The
goal was to build positive
roach into sails that were still
compatible with existing inmast furling mechanisms.
Also in Europe, Elvström had
separately been developing a
vertical batten system, and
Butch Ulmer of UK-Halsey
worked with that company’s
Swedish loft to develop sails
for the Najad line of cruising
sailboats. Ulmer, though, isn’t
sold on the full-height battens, and he cites, among other
caveats, the problems that
arise when the battens aren’t
perfectly parallel with the
mast when furling the sail.
While Hood, according to
Cooper, has built several hundred vertical-batten sails
worldwide, sailmakers on this
side of the Atlantic have been
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WWW.PHOTOACTION.COM /OYSTE R MAR I N E
To power up
the mainsail,
sailmakers
began adding
partial vertical battens.
These allow
the sail to be
stored in the
mast, while
permitting
at least some
roach to
be built in
for better
performance.
Historically,
an in-mast
furling system has
meant a
mainsail with
a hollow-cut
leech. Such
sails lack the
power of a
conventional
main, meaning more
work has to
be done by
the headsail.
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
With in-mast furling
and reefing (left),
vertical battens mean
proper sail shape can
be maintained even
as the amount of sail
is reduced. A benefit
of this system is that
adjustments in the
amount of sail
carried isn’t limited
to one or more reef
points or slabs
of sail.
slower to promote the concept
of full-height battens. According to Seldén’s Alexander,
Doyle is the only sailmaker to
really run with it.
Doyle has tried other approaches to improve the performance of furling mainsails.
One stab at it was the Swing
Batten, which pivots on the
leech of the sail and is controlled by an endless line led
to the boom. Its sailing position is perpendicular to the
leech, where it supports posi-
tive roach. “But you have to
pay attention,” says Doyle’s
Chris Howes. “If you forget to
‘undeploy’ the batten before
you attempt to furl the sail,
you’ll have a problem.”
Doyle now favors fixed vertical battens. In the more common application, the mainsail
of a 50-foot cruising boat
might have battens along the
leech that are 5 or 6 feet long.
They don’t permit as much of
an increase in sail area, but
they’ll support a straight leech
instead of the hollow-cut
leech necessitated by having
no battens at all, and they
eliminate the “cup” that forms
in the leech of a battenless sail
and not only looks bad but
kills efficiency.
“Short vertical battens have
been around for a long time,”
says Henry Little of North
Sails Rhode Island, “and
North has been using them
for quite a few years.” He says
they don’t permit much additional sail area—about 10 to
12 percent over a hollow-leech
sail—“but they do create a sail
that actually behaves in a normal way when you use your
conventional trimming tools:
your sheet, traveler, and vang.”
North won’t deploy these battens on Dacron sails, Little
says, because the compression
on the battens strains the fabric on the bias, and the result
after time is a stretch line between the in-sail ends of the
batten pockets.
To eliminate this problem,
Doyle next moved to a rollaway mainsail with fullheight battens running parallel with the luff from the
foot to the leech. Called the
Zenith Mainsail, it can be cut
with considerable roach,
bringing its performance
more in line with that of
conventional mainsails.
Full-height battens also help
shape the sail when it’s partially furled, or reefed, because
horthanded crews and full-battened sails both benefit
from the installation of a set of lazy jacks on a modern
cruising boat.
A basic set of lazy jacks consists of three or four lines attached to
the boom and held up by a line that attaches to the boom about
three-quarters of its length from the gooseneck and to the mast
somewhere above it’s halfway point. Their name suggests that
maybe you could set ’em and forget ’em, but if you do, lazy jacks
will slap on the sail, especially if you’re bouncing along through
waves. Minor adjustments to their tension will quiet them down;
some are designed to be brought forward to the mast once under
way. Helpful as they are when lowering the sail, lazy jacks can be a
S
84
hindrance when raising it, when they can catch the battens. Slacking the lazy jacks and pulling them forward helps, but you can best
avoid snags by watching the sail carefully as you hoist.
Martinus Van Breems figured out a way around the hoisting
hang-ups by incorporating the lazy jacks into the sail. His solution is the Dutchman, the key feature of which is series of
monofilament lines attached to the topping lift and threaded
through the mainsail in such a way that the sail flakes itself as it’s
lowered. These guide lines complicate the sail cover but they
cause minimal chafe, they’re practically invisible, and their
windage is negligible.
J.McG.
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B I LLY B LACK
MAIN TAMERS
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
the sail is less prone to the bag
that forms when an unsupported leech rolls up faster
than the foot.
Still, the vertical-batten
concept isn’t made of fairy
dust. First, the system only
works well in masts that have
the capacity, both within the
sail cavity and in the width of
its opening, to accommodate
the additional bulk of the battens. Secondly, unlike horizontal battens, they can only
be installed with the sail hoisted. Perhaps more to the point
for the cruiser far from a quiet
haven, the battens are very
long, they can only be removed with the sail unfurled,
and the sail can’t be dropped
with the battens in it.
To get around the plain unwieldiness of full-height battens, early versions were assembled from shorter lengths,
somewhat akin to tent poles.
Problems with failed connec-
86
SAILS, SPARS, AND FURLING RESOURCES
SAILMAKERS
Doyle Sailmakers: (781) 639-1490, www.doylesails.com
Hood Sailmakers: (401) 849-9400, www.hood-sails.com
Neil Pryde Sails: (203) 375-2626, www.neilprydesails.com
North Sails: (203) 877-7621, www.northsails.com
Quantum Sail Design Group: (410) 268-1161,
www.quantumsails.com
Sails East: (708) 776-6151, www.sailseast.com
UK-Halsey International: (410) 268-1175, www.ukhalsey.com
Ullman Sails: (804) 776-6151, www.ullmansails.com
MAINSAIL-FURLING SYSTEMS
Charleston Spars: (704) 597-1502, www.charlestonspar.com
Facnor USA: (704) 598-1105, www.facnor.com
Formula Yacht Spars: +44-1590-610063, www.formulaspars.com
Furlboom: (949) 642-9530, www.furlboom.com
GMT Composites: (401) 253-8802, www.gmtcomposites.com
Hall Spars and Rigging: (401) 253-4858, www.hallspars.com
Leisure Furl: (949) 858-8820, www.forespar.com
Matrix Masts: +64-9-4275472, www.matrixmasts.com
Profurl: (401) 683-5055, www.profurl.com
Reef Rite: +64-9-407-8794, www.reefrite.co.nz
Schaefer Boom Furler: (508) 995-9511, www.boomfurl.com
Seldén: (843) 760-6278, www.seldenmast.com
US Spars (Z-Spar): (386) 462-3760, www.usspars.com
J.McG. and Mark Pillsbury
tions, usually resulting from an
uneven furl, led to bigger problems: The sail is useless with a
broken or missing batten.
Meanwhile, many sailmakers remain unconvinced about
vertical battens. For example,
Doug Stewart, who’s a design
consultant and owns the
Quantum loft in Tortola,
B.V.I., says he tries to steer
folks away from vertical battens and would rather see
them go with in-boom furling
if they want convenience plus
sail shape.
Vertical Battens in Action
Still, Hunter Marine has
sufficient confidence in the
Doyle/Seldén combination to
offer the Zenith system as a
“boat show” package in 2006
on some of its larger models.
Steve Pettengill, Hunter’s director of offshore testing, says
he and Hunter’s designer,
Glenn Henderson, have been
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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working with the sails for about four
years, refining details to obtain the reliability the company demands in order to
offer the setup as an option.
Key features of the Seldén design are
the mast slot offset to starboard and a
furling mechanism that allows the sail to
wind up only in one way on the mandrel.
The batten pockets are on the port side of
the sail so that they roll inside the sail and
are less likely to catch on the lip of the slot
on their way in or out.
Pettengill, a performance guy himself,
favors conventional sails, but he acknowledges that customers buying in-mast
furling (about 80 percent of those who
buy Hunter boats 33 feet and over) now
have the option of sailing the boats to almost the same potential they’d have with
a conventional full-battened sail. But he
notes that the system requires its operator
to be alert to its idiosyncrasies and to pay
attention to the effect the vang and outhaul have on the shape of the sail as it’s
being furled.
UK-Halsey has also been working with
Hunter, but it favors shorter battens. Butch
Ulmer doesn’t see the bias loading on the
sailcloth as a big problem, especially as his
firm’s sailmakers mitigate the “batten
poke” issue by being conservative with the
amount of roach they put in the sails.
Proving that vertical battens are ready
for prime time, they passed the realworld test for Bill Wiard, who loves to sail
but wasn’t looking forward to making a
passage from Eleuthera in the Bahamas to
Puerto Rico on his son’s Catalina 40 with
its in-mast furling mainsail. In a coup of
family diplomacy, he bought his son a
new Doyle mainsail—with full vertical
battens—and thoroughly enjoyed the
trip. “The boat was at least a knot faster
on all points of sail,” he said. “The last 24
hours, when we were in full-on trade
winds, we averaged 7.75 knots.”
Once Wiard and his shipmates got their
technique down, they found the sail
worked smoothly with no modifications
to the boat’s Charleston Spar mast, even
when the battens weren’t in perfect synch.
“If the battens were skewed, say six inches
over their length from being parallel with
the mast slot,” he says, “the sail still rolled
up fine.”
Wiard’s sail was made at the Doyle
Ploch loft in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sales
manager Tim Stodola admits the full-vertical-batten sail is something of a quiet
revolution. “We’ve put a lot of R&D into
getting them to this point,” he says, “and
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we’ve been making them for about three
years now. Virtually every Hylas sold
today now uses them.” He’s found that the
system works quite well with some of the
older furling masts, like the Hood Stoway
and Charleston Spar’s sections, because
they have wide entry slots. “The battens
themselves really don’t take up much
room inside the cavity,” he says.
Wiard has had a good experience with
a new approach to handling the cruising
mainsail. But many sailmakers remain
cautious about pushing the concept on
their customers while they sort out the
wrinkles. Cruising sailors with in-mast
furling systems will want to keep an eye
on developments as the evolution of
techniques for stowing the mainsail continues to unfurl.
Jeremy McGeary is a Cruising World contributing editor.
87
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
BABY AND THE BEAST
our boat’s mainsail is its principal driving force, so
whether you’re old school or not, a flaker or a furler,
get to know it well and take care of it so that it’ll take
care of you.
The North Sails Rhode Island loft is a service shop, performing
maintenance and repairs on sails from pocket cruiser to megayachts. “We have two distinct types of customer,” says Henry Little.
“Our regular New England sailors use the boat at most from May
to October and bring the sails in every winter for inspection. I’ve
seen sails that are still in good shape after 15 to 18 seasons because they’ve been looked after.” The other customers are the
cruisers, on boats big and small, who go south to the Caribbean
for the winter. “They drop off their sails for inspection in October, before they leave, and again when they return in the spring.”
Despite the hard use and the extended exposure to tropical sun-
Y
88
These days, there’s no lack of alternatives for putting the
mainsail to bed. One option is a boom-mounted sail pouch
(left), fashioned after the patented Doyle StackPack. A
scooped-out Park Avenue boom (top) comes standard on the
Tartan 3400. If you’re using in-mast or in-boom furling, make
sure the portion that remains exposed is covered by a UV
shield (above).
closed. GMT Composites offers a similar boom on a custom basis.
Sails that furl into the mast are quite well protected, but the
small area at the clew that’s usually left exposed needs a UV shield
on both sides.
Makers of in-boom furlers have devised clever covers that draw
closed along the length of the boom aperture. The head of the
sail, though, might remain exposed if you choose to leave the halyard attached for quick getaways. Make sure that part of the sail
has a UV cover.
J.McG.
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DAN I E L FOR STE R (LE FT), B I LLY B LACK
light, Little says well-tended sails have lasted 12 or more years. If
you catch those areas of worn-out stitching or patches of sunburn
in time, your sail will reward you with its longevity.
Between visits to the service loft, the best thing you can do for
your mainsail is to keep it covered when not in use (see “Assessing
and Preventing UV Damage,” May 2003).
A sail cover can be as simple as a snap-on one or as sophisticated as Doyle Sailmakers’ StackPack, or the many variations that
others have copied from it. The StackPack is a two-sided sail cover
attached to the boom and held open by battens that anchor and
are supported by the lazy jacks. Once the sail is tucked away, you
close the cover with its full-length zipper. When the sail is hoisted,
an integral membrane sewn to the sail pulls the sides of the StackPack snug against the sail.
On boats with high booms, a little athleticism is required to work
the zipper on these covers, especially close to the mast. Fit steps and
handholds to your mast to provide a secure vantage from which to
work. They’ll also help when you attach the halyard.
On recent models from Tartan Yachts, you can perform the whole
operation from closer to the deck: The mainsail flakes into a
scooped-out Park Avenue boom with an attached cover that zippers
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
UPGRADE BY CAROLYN SHEARLOCK
Faster, Easier Downwind Sailing
W HEN OUT CRUISING , THE
wind, it seems, is always on
the nose or dead astern. A little over a year ago, my husband, Dave, and I installed a
mast-mounted whisker pole
on ¿Qué Tal?, our Tayana 37,
and since then, we’ve more
than doubled the amount of
time we spend under sail because we’re now able to make
good speed with the wind
astern. And as a plus, our sail
plan is better balanced, often
allowing us to use our Monitor windvane while on a run.
The trick to putting a
90
whisker pole on your boat is
to make it easy to use. A linecontrol pole mounted on a
mast track is simple to deploy
and stow. The pole can’t get
away from you when setting
sail, and its weight is supported by the rigging.
After looking at several
boats, we designed our system so that the pole is attached to a car on a track on
the front of the mast. Blocks
on the car and the mast,
along with cam cleats on the
mast, allow a single line (the
inboard control line) to raise
or lower the inboard end of
the pole. The pole’s control
line, meanwhile, determines
how much of the telescoping
pole is extended. A topping
lift supports the weight of
the extended pole, and a
foreguy and afterguy keep
the outboard end of the pole
from moving. The foreguy
also ensures that a wind shift
won’t smash the pole back-
¿Qué Tal? sails downwind in
the Sea of Cortez with its
genoa poled out and pulling
efficiently (above). For proper trim, the inboard end of
the mast-mounted whisker
pole should be raised so that
it’s perpendicular to the
mast. The inboard end of the
pole travels up and down on
its T-track and is positioned
by the inboard control line,
which runs through top and
bottom cheek blocks and a
pair of cam cleats on the
mast (right).
ward into a shroud, breaking
the pole or the stay. And finally, a chock at the base of
the mast secures the pole
when it’s not in use.
If you want a double-pole
arrangement for double headsails, the setup for each is identical except that the tracks will
be mounted just to each side
of the center of the mast and
with enough room between
them for the cars to easily pass
side by side.
CAROLYN SH EAR LOCK
Hardware and a little
elbow grease gets
your whisker pole off
the deck and onto
the mast, where
you’ll use it
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
ADVERTISEMENT
Adventure
Charters
Don’t miss one
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AMERICA’S CUP IN VALENCIA
LOUIS VUITTON CUP
MAY 3-18, 2007
One week of bareboat chartering in the
beautiful Balearic Islands of Spain
Seven days in Valencia, with welcome and
farewell dinners
The cost of $4,800 per person includes round-trip
airfare from New York, six nights’ hotel,
one-week charter with starter provisions,
transfers, and local taxes.
This trip has an optional add-on.
LOUIS VUITTON CUP (NO SAILING)
May 11-18, 2007
Stuart Streuli (top), courtesy of The Moorings/Sebastian Laugier
The cost of $3,400 per person includes round-trip
airfare from New York, six nights’ hotel,
transfers, and local taxes.
This trip has an optional add-on.
AMERICA’S CUP
JUNE 14-29, 2007
One week of bareboat chartering in the
beautiful Balearic Islands of Spain
Seven days in Valencia, with welcome and
farewell dinners
The cost of $4,975 per person includes round-trip
airfare from New York, six nights’ hotel, oneweek charter with starter provisions,transfers,
and local taxes.
This trip has an optional add-on.
Sail Spain’s
BALEARIC ISLANDS
AMERICA’S CUP (NO SAILING)
JUNE 22-29, 2007
The cost of $3,700 per person includes round-trip
airfare from New York, six nights’ hotel,
transfers, and local taxes.
This trip has an optional add-on.
OPTIONAL ADD-ON TOUR OF SOUTHERN SPAIN
MAY 18-25, 2007 AND JUNE 29–JULY 6, 2007
KING YACHT CHARTERS
800-521-7552 or 860-536-9217
www.sailingcharters.com or
e-mail [email protected]
Seville, Cordoba, Segovia, and Madrid are a few of the enchanting
medieval cities with centuries of history and a variety of cultures that
we’ll visit. • The cost of $1,950 per person includes seven nights’ hotel,
three of which will be in a parador in Toledo, one of the oldest towns in Spain.
Prices (subject to airfare increases) are per person based on double occupancy.
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
Topping lift
Pole-extension line
Afterguy
Foreguy
Pole Length and Other
Measurements
The first step in this project
is to determine the length of
the pole for your boat. When
the pole is extended, its length
needs to be the same as the
length of the foot of the sail.
The foot of our genoa is 24
92
feet, so we ordered the Forespar LC 13-24 (the pole is 13
feet long collapsed and 24 feet
long when extended). We also
ordered it with an inboardend fitting that would match
the fitting on the car on the
mast. If the pole is too short,
the rig won’t be efficient be-
cause the sail won’t be fully
extended. If it’s not the right
diameter, it can also be dangerous because the pole may
break due to overloading.
Before installing the pole,
invest a little time in planning. Are there any fittings
on the front of the mast that
need to be moved? Next, look
at your mast and find a vertical area for mounting the inboard control line; this surface must be unobstructed
for the full length of the
track, with an additional 6
inches on either end. The line
doesn’t have to be right next
to the track. For us, the only
place that didn’t have winches or cleats in the way was on
the curve of the mast, presenting a slight problem for
mounting two cam cleats that
control the line. In the end,
however, it proved workable.
We had a local woodworker
make two mounting blocks
for us, flat on one side and
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
CAROLYN SH EAR LOCK
The author’s line-controlled
whisker pole came with
attachment points for the
topping lift, foreguy, and
afterguy. At anchor, she adds
a loop of line and a blockand-tackle arrangement that
serves as a dinghy hoist.
Using Your Track-Mounted Whisker Pole
A single whisker pole is typically set to windward when sailing
tended, the foreguy and afterguy should hold it 3 to 6 inches
downwind. We’ve found that we can use the pole when the ap-
ahead of the forward shroud.
parent wind is within 10 degrees to 50 degrees of dead astern.
• Unfurl (or hoist) and sheet in the genoa, setting it so that the
To use the pole, follow these steps:
clew is just at the pole jaws.
• Set the jib-lead block as far aft as possible on the side on
• Make any adjustment you need to the height of the inboard
which you’ll be setting the pole.
end of the pole so it’s perpendicular to the mast. Then adjust
• Take the pole out of the chock and swing it forward and out-
the foreguy and sheeting as necessary. You may have to ease the
board over the lifeline on the windward side, then hook it onto
afterguy some so the pole can swing farther forward for the op-
the jib sheet.
timum sail position. Once the sail is set, the afterguy can be re-
• Cleat the afterguy to a deck cleat behind the shrouds and the
moved until it’s needed to douse the genoa.
foreguy to your forward deck cleat. The latter should be tight
To stow the pole, reverse the steps, first stowing the sail, retract-
enough so the pole can’t swing aft and hit a stay.
ing the pole, then stowing it in the chock. To jibe, we find it’s best
• Use the topping lift and the inboard control line to move the pole
to stow the pole, jibe, then reset it on the other side.
into a horizontal position at the approximate height you want.
As winds increase, you can leave part of the genoa furled and
• Use the control line on the pole to extend the pole, adjusting
not extend the pole all the way, or use the pole with a staysail,
the foreguy and afterguy as needed. When the pole is fully ex-
again not extending it fully.
curved on the other to match
the curve of the mast.
There are four key measurements to make, called A,
B, C, and D (see “Pole Layout,” page 94). A equals the
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
height above deck of the bottom of the stowed pole. If
anything on deck is immediately in front of the mast (in
our case, a staysail traveler),
measure it, then add 2 inches
for clearance. If nothing lies
in the way, measure 2 inches
above the deck so that the
pole won’t scrape it when
being stowed. B equals the
distance from the jaw end of
C.S.
the pole to the top side of the
pole chock. Put the pole chock
on the pole as close to the
jawed end as it will comfortably fit, then measure the distance from the jaw end of the
93
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
Pole Layout
F
C = Length of
pole and car
F = Height of the
top of the end of
the T-track (A + C
+ 3 inches)
C
B = Distance from
the jaw end of the
pole to the top side
of the pole chock
G
G = Minimum
length of Ttrack needed
(F – D)
A = Height
above deck for
the bottom of
the stowed pole
E
B
A
pole to the far side of the
chock. C equals the length of
pole and car when the two are
attached. D equals the lowest
height above deck you would
set the pole. When in use, the
pole should be set perpendicular to the mast and squared
with the height of the genoa
clew. This is hard to measure
because the clew will ride
higher as the sail goes out, due
to the angle of the forestay. On
a windless day, if you take the
clew of the genoa straight
back to the mast with equal
tension on the leach and foot,
you can then measure the distance of this point on the mast
from the deck and be assured
that you’ll never need to set
the pole below this height.
This point marks the bottom
of the whisker-pole track.
Now make three quick calculations for three other necessary measurements: E (the
height of the top side of the
pole chock) equals A plus B. F
(the height of the top end of
the track) equals A plus C
plus 3 inches. G (the minimum length of track needed)
equals F minus D.
94
D
D = Lowest
height above
deck that you’d
set the pole
Steps for Installation
Be sure you’re familiar with
what needs to be done to securely attach the mast hardware and to prevent corrosion
in a metal mast or rot in a
wooden one. Overall, this project is much easier with two
people: one up the mast in the
bosun’s chair doing most of
the actual work, and one on
the deck assisting.
The track: Begin by marking the top and bottom ends
of the track on the mast, using
the measurements worked
out earlier. Then find the center front of the mast by measuring around the mast from
one edge of the mainsail track
to the other, then dividing
this in half. Mark the center
near the top and bottom
marks, and use a long straight
edge (the track itself works
well) to connect these points
with a pencil line.
Working from the top of
the track to the bottom, attach the track to the mast with
machine screws, centering the
screw holes on the line you
just drew. If you have an aluminum mast, drill and tap the
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
JOSE PH COM EAU
E = Height of the
top side of the
pole chock (A + B)
Eye strap
Cheek block
Track
Cam cleat with
fairlead
Car with
blocks
Pole
Inboard control line
Cam cleat
with fairlead
Eye strap
Cheek block
Pole chock
Though not drawn to scale, this illustration shows the components of the mast-mounted whisker-pole system that we installed on ¿Qué Tal?.
CAROLYN SH EAR LOCK, I LLUSTRATION BY JOSE PH COM EAU
holes carefully so the screw
heads will lie flush with the
track. If any screws protrude,
the pole will be difficult—
if not impossible—to raise
and lower. Similarly, if you
have to piece the track together from shorter lengths, make
sure they’re smoothly aligned
and butted together.
Next, put the car on the
track. Attach a halyard to the
top side and a light line to the
bottom of it. Slide the car up
and down the track a few
times, checking to see that it
travels smoothly. If it catches
on any screws or joints, fix
A wooden block provides a flat mounting surface for the cam
cleat on a curved mast section.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
95
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
Parts List and Cost
This list assumes that your sailboat has an aluminum mast.
You’ll also need a few small cotter pins and some corrosion inhibitor. If you have a wooden mast, you may have to use different
fasteners, and you’ll also need some epoxy or bedding compound.
With parts purchased in La Paz, Mexico, the total cost for
mounting the whisker pole on our Tayana 37 was $1,786. All
parts were new and of high quality. We hired a professional rigger to work from the bosun’s chair, which cost an additional
$280, for a total of $2,066. We already had a topping lift in place;
if you need to add one, the parts will cost about $75. We designed the system, ordered the parts, did the prep work, and
worked with the rigger on installation day.
• Line-controlled whisker pole with one jaw end and with
one socket end matching the fitting on the mast car
• Mast chock (it must match the diameter of the pole)
• Mast car
• Two eye straps, each 2 inches long
• Two cam cleats with fairleads
• Four 1/4-inch (1/2 inch long) stainless-steel machine
screws for eye straps (dead ends)
• Four No. 10 3/16-inch stainless-steel machine screws for
cleats and fairleads (the length depends on whether mount
ing blocks are needed)
• Three 1/4-inch (1 1/4 inches long) stainless-steel machine
screws for mast chock
• Three stainless-steel washers for the mast chock
• Several 1/4-inch (3/4 inch long) flat-head machine screws
for T-track and end caps (the quantity to be determined by
the length of track plus two for end caps)
• T-track; its width—generally 1 1/4 inches—is determined
by the car (see main story for determining the length; it’s
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96
best if it’s all one piece)
• Two track ends for track
• Two cheek blocks with 1 1/2-inch sheave
• Pop rivets for cheek blocks
• Two nonswiveling single blocks with 1 1/2-inch sheave
• Two micro-stamped D shackles to attach blocks to car
• 5/16-inch polyester braid line for inboard control line on
mast (requires three times the collapsed length of pole plus 5 feet)
• 3/8-inch polyester braid line for foreguy (measure with
pole fully extended)
• 3/16-inch polyester braid line for afterguy (measure with
pole fully extended)
• Two wood mounting blocks for cam cleats (if needed)
C.S.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
CAROLYN SH EAR LOCK
them now. When the car runs
smoothly, leave it on the track
and install the track end stops.
The pole chock: Attach the
pole chock to the mast according to your measurements. Be sure to use washers
between the screw heads and
the pole chock.
The inboard control line:
On the side of the track with
the unobstructed run for the
control line, attach cheek
blocks 3 inches above and
below the ends of the track.
On the other side of the track,
attach eye straps at the same
heights. Note: The bottom
cheek block and eye strap
should be above the pole
chock; if necessary, shorten
the distance between them
and the base of the track.
Next, draw a line between
the outer edges of the two
cheek blocks. Two cam cleats
with fairleads should be
mounted along this line, one
approximately 3 feet off the
deck, the other about a foot
above the first. Use shaped
wooden blocks if needed to accommodate a curved section
of mast. The two cleats should
open toward each other.
Once the hardware has been
installed, tie one end of the inboard control line to the lower
eye strap. It should be led up to
the lower car block, down to
the lower cheek block, up
through the two cam cleats,
through the upper cheek
block, down to the upper car
block, and then secured to the
upper eye.
Foreguy and afterguy: AtC RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
Unfurling the genoa is done
with the pole in place. It’s an
easy job if the jib fairlead on
deck has been moved aft.
tach the foreguy and afterguy
to their attachment points on
the pole. The foreguy is connected to the outer end of the
pole; the afterguy is fixed to
the far end of the inboard,
larger section of tubing.
Stowing the pole: With the
foreguy and afterguy attached,
use the inboard control line to
bring the car all the way down.
Then attach the pole to the
car. Raise the inboard end of
the pole and stow the now
lower outboard end of the
pole in the chock. (Note: In
rough weather, we tie a line
around the mast and pole so
that the pole can’t come out of
the chock.)
Coil the foreguy and afterguy and secure them at the
base of the mast.
A topping lift: If you need to
add a topping lift, install a single
swivel block with an eye strap at
a point as high as possible on
the front of your mast. This
block has considerable force on
it, so use quality hardware. Run
the topping line through the
block and tie one end of it to the
topping-lift attachment point
on the pole with a bowline.
Cleat the other end at the mast
and secure the bitter end.
Your new whisker pole is
now ready for use.
Carolyn Shearlock and her husband, Dave, are readying ¿Qué
Tal? for a summer of gunkholing in the Sea of Cortez.
97
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
STEP-BY-STEP REFIT BY BRUCE BINGHAM
The Awlgrip Topsides Job, Part II
LAST MONTH, IN PART I OF THIS
two-part series, we went over
the basics of surface preparations to provide a fair and
smooth substrate for the application of Awlgrip epoxy primer
and the final high-gloss topcoats. All of the steps—filling,
fairing, sanding, and cleanup
—are actually procedures
you’ll want to follow before applying any type of finish. Remember, the key to any refinishing job is patience.
In the remaining steps, in
addition to exercising pa98
tience, you’ll need to follow
instructions to the letter, measure carefully, and practice the
application technique you
plan to use. With diligence
and luck, your old boat’s topsides will soon look better
than new.
My first piece of advice?
Seek and surround yourself
with experience. Applying
primer and the final topcoats
are the parts of the refinishing
job that are most intimidating
for amateurs. So if you’re getting the jitters, befriend someone who’s worked with Awlgrip before, and make it worth
his or her while to coach you
and be present when you
begin to apply the materials,
whether you’re doing so by
means of spraying or by using
a roller and a brush—a threeperson technique that’s also
called “rolling and tipping.”
My second tip: Log on to
the Awlgrip website (www.
awlgrip.com/awlgrip_pages/
application_guide.htm) and
print out the instructions that
apply to your chosen application method and materials.
The Awlgrip website is a trove
of information, techniques,
and recommendations pertaining to spray-gun specs,
rollers, brushes, and masking
media. Build a notebook of
relevant pages, and highlight
the most critical paragraphs.
Remember to keep track of
temperatures and relative humidity for several weeks before your application days so
you can become familiar with
daily weather profiles. You
want to pick application days
that are calm, as close to 72 F
as possible, and have a long
If you follow the directions
and work with patience,
you’ll be rewarded with a
high-gloss topsides finish
that reflects your hard work.
period of very low humidity
(under 40 percent).
Test Your Mixtures
Here’s an idea that I’ve used
every time I’ve applied Awlgrip to a boat: At your local
home-improvement center,
purchase a 4-foot by 8-foot
sheet of panel board (one
brand is Abatibi). This is a
very inexpensive tempered
Masonite with a glossy plastic
side. It looks a little like countertop laminate, and it has a
frictional coefficient that simulates sanded gelcoat and
epoxy primer. Use the panel
board for testing your
sprayable or brushable epoxy
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
B R UCE B I NG HAM
Once the prep is
done, you can either
spray or roll your
way to a bright,
glossy, durable hull
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
ers used in Awlgrip primers
and topcoats contain dangerous chemicals that must not
be breathed and shouldn’t
contact your skin or eyes.
Wear boots, solvent-resistant
gloves, and a painter’s paper
jumpsuit; tape the wrists and
ankles to reduce vapor entry.
Applying these finishes in an
enclosed space, such as a
tent or building, is especially
risky, so positive-pressure
respiration equipment must
be used. Try to position yourself upwind of the spray or
vapor cloud to minimize the
chance of breathing liquid
particles and fumes. When
sanding epoxy primers and
urethane topcoats, the same
precautions should be used.
� A siphon-feed gun has the advantage of being very stable, but you can’t spray upward or downward without the risk
of sucking air and the resulting spitting of fluid. This makes it
difficult to spray from underneath an overhanging transom.
You have to keep a siphon gun level.
� A gravity-feed gun is a little hard to hold because with
the weight of the canister
above the gun and your hand,
the gun wants to turn over.
But you can spray at all angles without sucking air and
spitting fluid.
100
and urethane topcoat mixtures to make sure they’re
flowing easily without sagging, running, or leaving
brush marks or an “orange
peel” effect. After you’ve applied your coating to this test
surface—lay it flat to simulate
a deck or stand it up to simulate a hull—you can wipe off
the panel board with Awlgrip
reducer or lacquer thinner so
it can be used again.
Mixing Components
Chances of your success
will be heightened if you
carefully calculate the quantities of Awlgrip components
you’ll need and use graduated measuring containers to
assure accuracy. Medicalsupply outlets and photographic-equipment retailers
are excellent sources for containers for measuring liquid.
The mixing ratios shown
in the Awlgrip instructions
and online manuals are optimum. But I’ve found it’s best
to begin by using slightly less
spraying or brushing reducer. Test the mixture on your
panel board, then adjust the
amount of reducer based on
the feel and flow of the mixture. Once the calculated
components have been combined and the product is
ready to apply, reducer
should be added in increments of one capful.
During the actual spraying
or brushing application, it’s
common for another worker
to periodically add very small
quantities of reducer so as
not to disturb your progress
and rhythm.
Awlgrip Application
A professional will always
choose to spray Awlgrip
primers and topcoats, rather
than roll and brush. Since the
infrastructure of the yard to
handle these applications is
in place and the equipment is
at hand and ready to go,
there’d be little reason to roll
and brush. Spraying is fast;
covering the topsides of a 40footer takes only 15 to 20
minutes, and recoating can
be done an hour later. But
protecting nearby boats, cars,
and buildings from overspray requires covering
everything with paper and
visqueen. The boat’s cabin,
deck, lifelines, stanchions,
boom, and mast base must
also be protected from overspray, and this takes time.
The do-it-yourselfer will
need to weigh spraying’s results against its difficulty of
application and its cost.
Spray equipment is expensive to purchase or rent. If
you’re considering renting,
keep in mind that you’ll need
the equipment (compressor,
hoses, spray gun) to lay on
perhaps two coats of primer
as well as a minimum of two
topcoats. Don’t forget to add
in the time for setup and
cleanups, and remember that
your applications windows
will probably be restricted by
temperature and humidity to
a few hours around midday,
so the sprayer and compressor might be sitting mostly
idle for a day or two ringing
up rental fees.
Spraying requires a second
person to provide canisters of
fresh mix, tend hoses, move
ladders or scaffolding, look
for holidays, and lend a hand
with the cleanup. If you find
someone with spraying experience beyond your own,
maybe you should be the
backup person.
Spraying Techniques
If you’ve tried to spray a
lawn chair or fence with a
spray gun or spray can and
ended up with runs, you probably shouldn’t try to spray
your boat—at least not without some practice.
There’s a knack to spraying
that takes time and repetition to acquire. Professional
painters and experienced
amateurs discontinue the
flow of fluid a split second
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
B R UCE B I NG HAM
� The solvents and reduc-
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and delight in the generous spirit
of the Thai people.
The cost per person of $4,150 to
$4,350 (depending on boat)
includes round-trip airfare from
New York to Bangkok/Phuket,
10 days of sailing, split provisioning, three nights’ hotel, welcome
cocktails with dinner, and more.
An optional add-on to exotic Chiang
Mai, Thailand, and Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat is available.
Contact King Yacht Charters for details.
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
� Most professionals prefer the pressure-pot type of gun,
which permits the spraying of both sides of very large boats
without running out of fluid. The fluid is placed into a pressurized container and delivered to the gun through a hose. A second hose connected to the gun provides air. The air and fluid,
controlled individually, are mixed at the nozzle of the gun. Few
rental companies carry pressure-pot equipment.
� All Awlgrip coatings, whether primers or topcoats, should
be applied in thin coats rather than in a single heavy coat. The
manufacturer specifies minimums of two thin coats that can
be applied in as little as an hour apart. Three-topcoat applications are preferred.
before ending the stroke, and
they don’t start the flow until
a split second after the beginning of the next stroke. If you
observe a seasoned painter,
you’ll notice this very short
pause in the flow of fluid just
as he or she reverses the direction of the stroke. At no
time does the fluid continue
flowing while the spray gun
is motionless.
With a gravity-feed or
siphon-feed gun, this is simply a matter of releasing the
trigger; the flow of both air
and fluid stops. But with a
pressure-pot gun, the trigger
is only partially released,
which interrupts the fluid
supply but not the air supply.
This is done to prevent the
fluid from spitting when it’s
reintroduced to the airflow.
If you intend to spray a hull
that’s shorter than 30 feet,
you’ll be able to use either a 2quart gravity-feed gun or a 2quart siphon-feed gun. These
will provide enough fluid capacity to cover one side of the
boat. Have a second filled container ready for a quick change
when you get to the bow or
the edge of the transom.
If all coats can’t be applied
during the same window, at
least a full day should pass to
allow the coating to enter its
secondary curing cycle before
recoating. The first coat
should be scratch sanded with
very-fine-grit paper to promote adhesion of the subsequent coats.
Begin spraying the side of
the hull that will heat up first
due to sunlight. You don’t
want to spray Awlgrip onto a
hot surface. Be sure to start
spraying at the upwind end
of the boat to prevent the
overspray from falling on the
freshly coated surface.
Rolling and Tipping
Rolling and tipping is a
viable alternative to spraying, especially if you’re refinishing a boat under 27 feet,
although I applied Awlgrip to
my 35-foot Saga with rollers
and brushes, and Jean Marie,
a CSY 44, was rolled and
tipped beautifully by my
friend Tom Service.
When applying the epoxy
primer by brush, I recommend using the high-build
product with enough brushing reducer added to promote smooth drying. This
will ensure adequate primer
thickness after sanding. You’ll
have to work rapidly because
the epoxy tends to set quickly
and doesn’t have the leveling
quality of enamel. You
should expect brush marks
and curdling at overlaps.
While rolling is fairly
straightforward, tipping is
more complicated. In this
technique, the painter uses
only the tips of the brush’s
bristles to delicately stroke
and smooth out any lines in
the Awlgrip. There’s really
very little back-and-forth
brushing done when stroking
out Awlgrip. It’s not like painting a porch. It’s more like
smoothing out freshly laundered satin bedsheets.
Rolling and tipping should
be a three-person operation:
The roller applies the material, staying just ahead of the
tipper, who sets the pace.
Meanwhile, the third person,
the tender, feeds fresh material to the roller, adjusts the
of the very best brushes available, roller pans with liners,
lots of paper buckets, and roller covers. I prefer the white
foam roller covers by Quali-Tech, which are available from
any home-improvement store, although Awlgrip recommends Deluxe Mohair Rollers or Foam Rollers by Redtree
Industries. Don’t use foam brushes, as they tend to melt into
the coatings.
1 02
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
B R UCE B I NG HAM
� For rolling and tipping, you’ll need to purchase several
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C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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103
HANDS-ON
SAILOR
� As the roller
lays down wet
Awlgrip, the tipper
gently strokes out
the “orange peel”
and any lines left
by the roller.
While the roller
leads, it’s the tipper
who sets the pace,
because the latter
always should
work with a wet
brush tip.
� The amazing
thing about correctly mixed and
applied Awlgrip
topcoat is that the
brush strokes
remain visible for
a few discouraging
minutes, then
miraculously level
out into a mirrorlike gloss.
� The application of Awlgrip offers an outstanding way to bring a
mature or damaged hull and
deck back to life
and luster, as the
author proves
with his restored
1974 Ensenada 20,
whose hull is as
glossy as new.
Awlgrip hardens and cures in steps. The
topcoat can be handled, sanded, and
masked within 12 to 24 hours; this is
called the first curing cycle. At this stage,
the topcoat appears to be dry and can be
exposed to weather. The second curing
cycle requires 72 to 96 hours, during
which the material becomes much harder,
abrasion and chemical resistant, and very
difficult to sand. At the end of the second
cycle, the boat can be returned to limited
service. The third cycle requires 14 to 21
104
days for the topcoat to develop its final
physical properties. Afterward, the boat
can be put safely into full service.
Washing Awlgrip with water and a mild
detergent, taking care to rinse thoroughly,
will add years to the finish. To maintain
the mirrorlike luster, use Awlwash to
counter the buildup of dirt and grease
that can cause dulling. It’s recommended
that you periodically wipe your topcoat
with a soft cotton cloth or chamois. AwlPrep, acetone, kerosene, toluene, or lacC RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
B R UCE B I NG HAM
Caring for Awlgrip Topcoat Finishes
mixture with brushing reducer as called
for by the tipper, and exchanges brushes
with the tipper every five minutes or so.
The tender also moves ladders, adjusts
staging, uses a tack rag where necessary,
and provides for the requirements of
the roller and tipper so they won’t have
to slow their pace or rhythm.
A point on tipping: I’ve done it both
ways many times, and I’m convinced
that tipping on a vertical axis is far better than stroking horizontally. This is
because it’s far easier to maintain a wet
edge moving vertically between horizontally applied strokes than working
horizontally from the end of a large
panel to the beginning of the next. It’s
also helpful to be working with gravity
rather than perpendicular to it.
Because rolling and tipping is a much
slower method of application, it’s difficult and usually impossible to apply two
coats in a day. It’s best to scratch sand the
new finish with very-fine-grit paper early
on the next day, use the tack rag, then
apply a second coat near midday.
The same rolling and tipping technique, by the way, should be used for
primers to reduce curdled overlaps.
Given the fact that opportunities for
restoring older yachts often lie within
affordable reach, there’s no reason for
the do-it-yourselfer not to consider the
application of Awlgrip as a way to give
new life to a great old boat. It takes commitment, patience, practice, and money,
but the results are astounding when
done by the book.
Bruce Bingham created the 20-foot worldcruising Flicka and edited and illustrated CW’s
Workbench column for almost six years.
British Virgin Isles
[email protected] BVIsailing.com
800-648-3393 or 1-284-494-2490
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quer thinner may be used to soften the
heavy buildup of grease or grime.
Awlgrip can be waxed with products that
don’t contain abrasives. Even then, wax only
those areas that have become dull or hazed.
Don’t allow teak cleaners to come into
contact with Awlgrip because they contain
acids and other caustic chemicals that may
attack the finish. Using Awlcare, a protective polymer sealer, removes mild stains
and increases the resistance of the finish to
attack from acid rain and other pollutants.
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C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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105
REVIEWS
New technology, boats, and gear for the cruising sailor
BOAT TEST
BY JEREMY McGEARY
Building on a theme,
Lagoon scales its
concept of a raised
steering station up
to the 50-foot realm
CATAMARANS HAVE BEEN AROUND
long enough that their sheer
size and the vast expanses of
living quarters they provide
should no longer surprise us
Editor’s note: Responses by
the builder to several of the
author’s observations are included at appropriate points
within this article.
106
the way they once did. Yet still
they do, especially when a
builder incorporates a design
wrinkle that adds yet more
living and working space.
Lagoon Catamarans introduced the concept of the flying bridge to its line of cruising catamarans on the Lagoon
440, and the new Lagoon 500
exploits it to the full—in this
case, on a platform that’s designed for luxury ocean cruising in either a private-ownership or a charter context. The
flying bridge is a dramatic solution to the old problems of
where to put the steering station and whether it’s best protected behind the bridgedeck
saloon or exposed on the
quarter, on the port side, on
the starboard side, or on both
sides. Every location has its
boosters, but the flybridge
trumps much of the debate,
although it does add another
factor to the appearance equation: Sun protection over the
flybridge adds another visual
layer and requires the boom,
and the entire mainsail, to be
elevated farther to clear it.
Perhaps that was sufficient
reason why the Lagoon 500
we saw during the 2006 Boat
of the Year (BOTY) testing
had no bimini over the flybridge, just a spray dodger
over the steering station. According to Nick Harvey, director of Lagoon America, a bimini with windshield is
provided standard.
Being at the helm so high
above sea level takes a little
getting used to. Still, there can
be no doubt the elevation is a
great help in negotiating tricky
entrances in clear waters. A
guaranteed plus is having the
helm on centerline. You don’t
have the parallax error inherent in steering from an offcenter station: You know the
boat really is going where
you’re pointing it.
With the boat’s control station removed, complete with
the sailhandling equipment,
the traditional cockpit isn’t
the cockpit any more but
purely a lounging and dining
area, and it’s well sheltered beneath a solid roof. Its communication with the bridge is via
three deck hatches; the only
vestige of sailboat gear is one
end of the mainsheet, led to a
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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B I LLY B LACKB I LLY B LACK
A Higher Level of Luxury
winch so it can be dumped
from below if a gust comes up.
“There’s no possibility for the
sheets and halyards to become
entangled in the feet of owners or guests relaxing in the
cockpit,” says Harvey.
Those so inclined can sit
with the skipper aloft, enjoying the scenery and watching
for sea life from an advantageous vantage point, something that isn’t easy to do on
many cats on which the
bridgedeck saloon blocks
much of the view from the
cockpit. Others looking for a
quiet place to chat, read, or
simply bask will find it in a
sunken seating area forward
of the house.
Numbers can be deceiving.
The Lagoon 500 may be“only”
51 feet long, but it’s a catamaran: The sails are big, and the
gear is beefy and heavily
B I LLY B LACK
The appointments in the
Lagoon 500’s cabin (above)
offer all the stuff of luxury.
Lagoon’s flybridge (below)
provides three separate
outdoor areas for lounging:
in the sheltered cockpit
under the hardtop, in the
breeze forward of the mast,
or at the central nerve center
upon the bridge.
loaded. If the prospective crew
doesn’t include a couple of
young, athletic types, the electric winches aren’t really an
option, a sentiment shared by
Harvey, who says, “The Lagoon 500 is equivalent to a 75foot monohull in every aspect, from sail plan to living
space belowdecks.” For that
reason, he insists that all his
dealers recommend the electric option for the primary
winches as well as the mainsheet/traveler winch, all of
which were installed on the
test boat.
With sheets eased, the Lagoon 500 behaved as though
20 knots of wet wind were
nothing, zooming along at 10
knots and over, steady as a ferryboat, and giving a preview
of how it would devour the
passages that lie between the
Caribbean’s Windward Islands. It was also a little disconcerting, because from the
elevated bridge, it was impossible to see rapidly approaching hazards behind the jib. A
simple remedy is to post a
crewmember in one of the
bow-pulpit seats to enjoy a
fine ride while keeping the
necessary lookout. “To the
issue of seeing hazardous ob-
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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107
REVIEWS
jects,” points out Harvey, “the
genoa is equipped with a clear
window to allow the helmsman to see through.”
On the wind, the boat is a
little less agile, which is more a
function of the type in general
than it is of this boat in particular. The 500 has fixed keels
and not daggerboards, so it
won’t cling terribly close to
the wind, and the rapid loss of
momentum when you turn
two hulls into the wind means
tacking lacks the drama it creates on a fin-keeled monohull.
We did notice that the big cat
handled the chop very well.
Lagoon’s designers, Marc Van
Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost, have been studying
the interaction between waves
and the hulls and bridgedeck
of cruising catamarans. The
Lagoon 500 embodies the results of their research in the
gull-wing configuration that
fairs the hulls into a nacelle
molded under the centerline
of the bridgedeck.
To get an idea of what it’s
supposed to do, I peered
through the escape hatch in
the aft stateroom. Given the
underlying wave train, the
wind waves, and the bow
waves off each hull, there was
a lot going on, but whenever it
appeared that a wave was big
enough to slam into the
bridgedeck, the center of the
gull wing deflected it with a
gentler impact. I don’t know
what the motion would be like
in a sloppy ocean seaway, but
on Chesapeake Bay in a moderate northeast blow, it was
very comfortable.
Pushed by a pair of 75horsepower Yanmars with
saildrives, the Lagoon was
among the quieter third of
the boats we tested in CW’s
2006 BOTY contest. At 2,800
rpm, she made 8.3 knots and
generated 75 decibels of
LAGOON 500
LOA
LWL
Beam
Draft
Sail Area (100%)
Displacement (light)
D/L
SA/D
Water
Fuel
Mast Height
Engines
Designer
Price (base)
51' 0" (15.54 m.)
49' 0" (14.93 m.)
28' 0" (8.53 m.)
4' 7" (1.40 m.)
1,193 sq. ft. (110.82 sq. m.)
38,808 lb.
(17,603 kg.)
147
16.62
254 gal. (960 l.)
254 gal. (960 l.)
78' 0" (23.77 m.)
2 x Volvo 55-hp.
diesel saildrive
Marc Van Peteghem,
Vincent Lauriot Prévost
$700,000
Lagoon America
(410) 280-2368
www.cata-lagoon.com
noise in the main saloon; at
3,400 rpm, she made 9.1
knots and 78 decibels.
If the word “lagoon” conjures an image of cool tranquility, it’s manifested inside
the bridgedeck saloon. The
absence of angular “speed”
shapes might have something
to do with it. Lagoon has stuck
to its rectangular, vertical windows, now firmly established
as a brand identifier, because
when compared with windows on a slope, they allow
less direct sunlight, and therefore heat, to enter the boat.
They also allow full headroom
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Charters
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January 10 - 25,
2007
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of yachts from Sunsail in the Andaman Sea. Sail among
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secluded beaches, snorkel over coral reefs, browse open-air
markets, and delight in the generous spirit of the Thai people.
✦ Cost per person of $4,150 to $4,350 (depending on boat)
includes round-trip airfare from New York to Bangkok/
Phuket, 10 days of sailing, split provisioning, three nights’
hotel, welcome cocktails with dinner, and more.
✦ An optional add-on to exotic Chiang Mai, Thailand, and
Cambodia’s Angkor Wat is available.
For information, contact King Yacht Charters
(800-521-7552 or 860-536-9217, www.sailingcharters.com
and e-mail [email protected]).
108
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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B I LLY B LACK
around the perimeter of the
saloon, and the style permits
mounting grabrails on the exterior at a height someone
walking on the side decks can
easily reach.
From the interior, the windows give the saloon a sedate
feeling; they’re not trying to
make it look as though the
boat’s going 35 knots. Coupled with the simply styled yet
nicely made furniture, which
includes a handsome expandable table, they create a relaxing atmosphere. On a boat yet
to receive its owner’s impress,
it was a little clinical perhaps,
but the basic decor of dark
mahogany bulkheads and
trim set off by white gelcoat
surfaces lends itself to many
interpretations. Someone who
knows how to work with fabrics and seaworthy decorations could make it cozy,
charming, or showy at will.
The galley is “up” but set
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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The Lagoon’s twin engines
are installed aft in the boat
at the transom steps.
Access via hatches to all
the engine’s components
is ample.
down a step to bring the cook’s
head near to the same level as
seated company, which also
provides him or her with a
view outside without stooping. It’s not a large space, but
it’s backed up by an adjacent
pantry area in the port hull
that provides extra work surfaces and storage.
To starboard of the galley is
the nav station and a duplicate
set of engine controls so the
boat can be driven from inside, something it might be
very nice to do on a dreary,
wet, windless day when steering from the flybridge would
be better for the complexion
than for the spirits. These controls need protection—it’s too
easy for curious fingers,
whether of BOTY personnel
or children, to render the
helmsman above impotent.
But, Harvey points out, “The
engine controls are quite high,
out of reach of a child. The
Raymarine joystick won’t engage until you depress the
button at the top. Before that,
moving the joystick from side
109
REVIEWS
to side won’t have any impact on the
steering.”
Lagoon offers three interior layouts in
the 500. In all three, the port hull houses a forward stateroom and an aft stateroom, each with a private head, and the
pantr y. The starboard hull gets rearranged. In the “charter version,” it
mirrors the port hull except that a small
crew cabin occupies the space opposite
the pantry. The “owner’s version with
skipper”—the version I sailed—keeps
the forward cabin and devotes the rest
of the hull to a larger stateroom, and
the “owner’s version” gives the owner
the entire hull.
Lagoon has long experience both in
eliminating the railroad-coach effect
that’s common to the interiors of all
catamarans and at using the available
width efficiently. An ergonomic bonus
resulting from the gull-wing hull form is
a gentle pitch to the stairways leading
down to the hulls. Also, because the extra
width along the upper inboard sides of
the hulls is at eye level, it adds to the
sense of spaciousness. Further, it creates
more stowage space in the cabins and
permits easier access to the athwartships
berths in the forward cabins.
In the sheer volume of the interior, the
Lagoon 500 echoes Harvey’s comments
about the boat’s size in relation to
monohulls. “This boat is right on the
edge,” he says, referring to the demarcation between a boat that might be handled by an experienced owner and family and one that’s more likely to be put in
the charge of a professional crew of a
skipper and cook/mate. I have to agree
with him. As a young, ambitious skipper, I’d have enjoyed the challenge of
maintaining such a vessel, with all its
high-end equipment and its auxiliary
systems, just for the chance to sail it to
the islands. Now that I’m silver around
the temples, I’d prefer to hire that skipper and his mate to take care of the boat,
so I could simply call from the office
and say, “Pick me up in Fort de France a
week from Sunday.”
Harvey says the Lagoon 500’s twin hulls
were designed to carry a significant payload, so that loading the boat up with
cruising toys, gear, fuel, and water (254
gallons of each) shouldn’t have much effect on performance beyond softening the
motion somewhat.
To operate all the boat’s appliances
when under way or at anchor, a genera110
tor, too, is essential. It’s housed in a
large machinery space in the bridgedeck
forward of the mast, accessed through
the sunning cockpit, along with the
propane storage locker and other auxiliary equipment. The Lagoon satisfies
European standards for an oceangoing
yacht, but here’s a case in which it runs
afoul of U.S. standards. According to
the American Boat & Yacht Council
(ABYC), propane should be in its own
self-draining, self-ventilating locker
constructed so that nothing else can be
stored in it. ABYC’s reasoning: In the
event of a leak, escaping gas, which is
heavier than air, ought to disperse without entering any enclosed area, especially one containing such an ignition
source as a generator.
Says Harvey: “The propane bottles are
stored in a ventilated, sealed, and waterproof locker. A ventilation drain runs directly from this propane locker out to
under the bridgedeck. This locker happens to be in another larger compartment, but the bottles themselves aren’t
loose in that compartment. In the event
of a leak, the gas wouldn’t be able to escape the actual propane locker and would
be drained outside the boat.”
Standards conflicts aside, the systems
are carefully installed and generally easy
to service. The main electrical panel is a
good example: It’s on the aft bulkhead in
the saloon, and the back of the aft-facing
seat in the cockpit hinges up, supported
on gas springs, to provide generous access
to its inner workings.
The engine compartments are separate
from the accommodations and entered
via hatches in the deck at the top of the
transom steps, an arrangement that in
still waters offers excellent access.
The Lagoon 500 is truly a crossroads
vessel. Someone moving up in size is
going to have to think about crew, which
is why Lagoon provides for that eventuality in all its layouts. A sailor tempted to go
to power might choose it as a transition
boat, gaining space, comfort, and the flybridge view without yet having to give up
the sails. And then there’s the lure of the
charter business, which the builder has
also anticipated. In sum, the Lagoon 500
offers a sea of possibilities.
Jeremy McGeary is a Cruising World contributing editor. For his take on the growing
cruising-catamaran scene, see the upcoming July issue.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
BOAT REVIEW BY TIM MURPHY
Head of the Class
B I LLY B LACK
Combining an epoxy
hull and a carbon rig
with a no-nonsense
Tim Jackett design,
the C&C 115 is a
comfortable winner
R OUNDING THE CORNER AT
Gray’s Reef during last summer’s Chicago-Mackinac
race, I was in the aft cabin of
the C&C 115 prototype when
shouts from my mates in the
cockpit roused me from what
was never destined to be a
peaceful slumber.
“Thirteen!” cried the
helmsman, his eyes on the
speedo. On a boat with 33
feet of waterline, that’s a
lucky number, indeed. I
rolled out and dashed to the
deck for the exhilarating run
down the Straits of Mackinac
to a podium finish.
It was one of several very
happy moments aboard the
model that would go on to
earn accolades as Sailing
World’s Overall Boat of the
Year for 2006 as well as Best
Racer/Cruiser.
C&C Yachts was founded in
1969 by George Cuthbertson
and George Cassian in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,
Canada. But a fire in 1994 all
but ended C&C’s life in Ontario, and in 1998 the folks
behind Tartan Yachts bought
the name and several molds.
From that moment on, C&C’s
fate has been intertwined with
that of Tim Jackett, the head
designer who virtually grew
up with Tartan Yachts. Like
other recent models, the C&C
115 is his brainchild.
While both Tartan and C&C
have historical claims to both
sides of the racer/cruiser divide, since coming together
under one umbrella, the two
lines have been deliberately
distinguished. Jackett has tailored the Tartan line toward
the cruising end of the spectrum and the C&C more toward the performance end.
Secrets to C&C’s success lie
in several strategic choices.
The most important of these
was the decision to build
epoxy boats on a production
scale. Epoxy is tricky to work
with, but done right, it’s flatout the best resin with which
to build boats: stronger,
stiffer, and more resistant to
osmosis than either polyester
or vinylester. Impregnated,
vacuum-bagged, and postcured in a sandwich with unidirectional E-glass and Corecell linear-polyurethanefoam coring, these boats start
with a top-notch structure.
C&C offers four models (the
99, the 110, the 115, and the
121), and Jackett expects to
build 40 units of the 115 this
year alone.
Another strategic choice
was to invest in a facility that
C&C 115
LOA
LWL
Beam
Draft
Sail Area (100%)
Displacement
Water
Fuel
Engine
Designer
Sailaway Price
37' 9" (11.50 m.)
33' 0" (10.06 m.)
11' 11" (3.63 m.)
6' 8" (2.03 m.)
781 sq. ft. (73 sq. m.)
11,800 lb. (5,352 kg.)
70 gal. (265 l.)
26 gal. (98 l.)
28-hp. Yanmar
w/ saildrive
Tim Jackett
$215,000
C&C Yachts
(440) 357-7223
www.c-cyachts.com
builds carbon spars: Every
C&C 115 comes standard
with a carbon rig. With a tube
that’s half the weight of and
stiffer than an equivalent aluminum rig, the 115’s weight
aloft is markedly diminished,
and the boat is that much
more stable. The boat’s righting moment at 1 degree is
1,200 foot-pounds.
All of this adds up to a boat
with a light-ship displacement-to-weight ratio of 146
and a sail area-to-displacement ratio of 24, based on a
100-percent mainsail and
foretriangle. For those who do
plan to bang around the
buoys, the boat’s IRC rating is
1.07; the PHRF rating is between 63 and 72. What’s it all
mean? Fun, that’s what.
Accommodations are simple and elegant—nothing
stripped-out here—with a
double berth in each end and
saloon settees that work as
singles. The interior joiner
work is finished with a pleasing cherry. A 28-horsepower
Yanmar with saildrive quietly
delivers ample power.
All in all, you’d be comfortable to take this boat anchoring, but you’d be thrilled to
take it sailing.
Tim Murphy is Cruising World’s
executive editor.
With a couple or a crew, the
C&C 115 is a fun boat to sail.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
111
REVIEWS
BOAT REVIEW BY JEREMY MCGEARY
A No-Compromise Cruiser
No longer splitting
tacks between racer
and cruiser, Bavaria
Yachts commits its
39 Cruiser to the
loungers among us
tack by virtue of the high seat
back on the island settee that
completes the four-sided dining area. The bonus in this
arrangement is the full-size nav
table and the roomy aft head.
While the two aft staterooms
are basic sleeping quarters
with enough standing room to
permit dressing and undressing with relative ease, the master cabin forward has all kinds
of space, a large berth, a dressing seat, and a private head.
This is a cozy haven wherein to
pass the quiet hours when in
port, not a reposi-
BAVARIA 39 CRUISER
LOA
LWL
Beam
Draft
Sail Area (working)
Displacement
Water
Fuel
Engine
Designer
Sailaway Price
112
39' 2" (11.94 m.)
35' 2" (10.72 m.)
13' 0" (3.96 m.)
6' 1" (1.85 m.)
890 sq. ft.
(82.70 sq. m.)
18,260 lb.
(8,283 kg.)
95 gal. (360 l.)
55 gal. (208 l.)
Volvo w/ saildrive
J&J Design
$190,000
Bavaria Yachts USA
(410) 990-0007
www.bavariayachts.com
tory for damp sail bags. In the
saloon, the plush upholstery
beckons a crew happily weary
from a day in wind and sun to
sink into its padded excess.
On deck, the cruising focus
is evident in the substantial
double anchor rollers on the
stemhead. In the cockpit, a
large steering console accommodates today’s big-screen
nav aids but tends to dominate the space. Access forward
when boarding from the transom entryway would be difficult without the Lewmar folding-wheel option. There is no
factory-installed provision for
line tails tumbling from the
cabin-top rope clutches, so a
couple of tail bags on the bulkhead may make sense.
The solid breeze, fluctuating around 15 knots with frequent higher gusts, that prevailed throughout Cruising
World’s Boat of the Year testing session last October
proved to be above the range
that several of the performance cruisers, the Bavaria
39 among them, could handle
comfortably under full sail. As
they all did when on the wind,
A Lewmar folding wheel
opens access through the
transom into the cockpit.
the Bavaria rounded up
strongly in gusts, even with
full rudder on, until we reduced sail area considerably.
This we achieved most effectively first by rolling up some
jib, then by reefing the main.
Thus reined in, the boat still
sailed quickly and responsively.
Structurally, the Bavaria is
reassuringly conservative. The
hull is made from solid laminate below the waterline and
an Airex-cored sandwich
above, and it’s stiffened by
glassed-in hat-section frames.
In the bow area, Kevlar reinforcement improves impact
resistance. The cast-iron ballast keel is attached to the hull
with stainless-steel keelboats,
double-nutted and backed up
by washers.
Comfort, performance,
strength: What more could
you ask for in a dedicated
cruising boat?
Jeremy McGeary is a Cruising
World contributing editor.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
B I LLY B LACK
B Y SEPARATING THE CRUISER
from the racer, the builder is
free to be more lavish with appointments and to add a little
weight if that will enhance the
boat’s cruising appeal. It appears that Bavaria Yachts has
done just that with the Bavaria
39 Cruiser, one of its new
range of models aimed specifically at cruisers. Belowdecks,
the boat is furnished with
generous quantities of
thoughtfully designed mahogany joiner work, and
above, the cockpit is sculpted
more for the needs of loungers
than for energetic line tailers.
The Bavaria 39 has a threecabin layout, two aft and one
forward; in a 39-foot boat, that
pretty much dictates an alongthe-side galley in the saloon.
This boat certainly has enough
beam to carry it off, and the
galley is workable on either
LOOKING FOR YOUR
DREAM BOAT?
IT’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BOAT SHOW, AND IT’S RIGHT ON YOUR DESKTOP.
NewBoats.com
is the Internet’s premier resource
for boat buyers. Visit our state-of-the-art site and you’ll
find information on every type of boat available in North
America, including:
• Boat reviews
• Manufacturer’s Specifications
• Pictures
• Streaming Video
• Much more
Our unique format allows you to sort boats by the
features and specifications you need, including type,
brand, length, beam and hull style. You can save the
results of your searches for later review, or click on
handy links to find retailers in your area.
REVIEWS
CLASSIC PLASTIC BY JAYNE FINN
Sweetwater Sweetheart
TRADITIONAL LOOKS COMBINED
with modern features draw
frequent compliments for the
Niagara 35, which was designed by Mark Ellis and built
from 1978 to 1990 by Hinterhoeller Yachts in St. Catherines, Ontario.
Under way, the boat is stable
and stiff, and we’ve had the
rail of our Niagara 35, Phantasia II, in the water only once,
when beating down Lake
Huron in 20 knots of wind.
On that same trip we hooted
and hollered downwind at
over 8 knots on a day on which
virtually no one else was out.
While the boat tracks and maneuvers well, sail trim and the
right sail combinations really
make or break progress upwind or in light air.
A sudden encounter with a
rock in poorly charted Georgian Bay assured us that Hinterhoeller built a tough boat.
No water came in, and the
only visible damage was mangled lead on the leading edge
of the keel.
Below the waterline, a semibalanced spade rudder complements a longish rather than
deep keel that’s massively faired
into the hull with a substantial
sump. The hull is semicored
and needs to be monitored, but
Niagara 35s aren’t known to
have blister problems.
On deck, a short bowsprit
extends the foretriangle and
supports double anchor
rollers. Later models came
rigged with an inner forestay
on the large and secure foredeck, and many older ones
have been similarly retrofitted,
once duly reinforced. The keelstepped, single-spreader rig is
staunchly supported with
double lowers, and the chainplates tie into accessible interior knees heavily bonded to the
hull. Jibs can be sheeted to an
aluminum toerail on the bulwark or to an inner track on
the wide side decks. On older
boats, the balsa-cored decks
should be checked for water
saturation around fittings.
The cockpit seats have high
backs for comfort and are
long enough for stretching
out; beneath are deep lockers.
A drained and vented
propane locker aft holds two
20-pound tanks. A bridgedeck keeps the
NIAGARA 35
LOA
LWL
Beam
Draft
Sail Area
Ballast (fin keel)
Displacement
Ballast/D
D/L
SA/D
Water
Fuel
Engine
Designer
1 14
35' 1" (10.69 m.)
26' 8" (8.13 m.)
11' 5" (3.48 m.)
5' 2" (1.58 m.)
598 sq. ft. (55.6 sq. m.)
5,500 lb. (2,495 kg.)
15,000 lb. (6,804 kg.)
.37
353
15.7
80 gal. (303 l.)
20 gal. (76 l.)
Westerbeke
29-hp. diesel
Mark Ellis
companionway secure.
The interior of our Niagara
35 was one of two configurations. It’s an unusual but intelligent design for extended
coastal cruising for a couple.
The companionway leads to
the aft cabin, which has a
smallish double berth to port
and a quarter berth to starboard with a stand-up nav
station on top of a large dresser at its head.
Doors lead from the aft
cabin to the head and to the
galley. Another door opens to
the head from the saloon,
which is largely forward of the
mast. Sitting in the saloon
with these doors open, you
have a view of the entire length
of the boat, which—with over
6 feet of headroom and lit
by four fixed windows, four
opening ports, and four
hatches—has a sense of
openness that belies its size.
When fitted with lee cloths,
the saloon settees either side
of the drop-leaf table make
excellent sea berths.
A pleasing sheer line and
old-school overhangs
define this graceful cruiser.
A hanging locker to starboard and drawers and lockers to port separate the saloon
from the forward cabin,
which on our boat is given
over to sail stowage, bins,
lockers, and a workbench
complete with vise. A deep
chain box low in the bow can
be divided for chain and rode.
The engine, behind the
companionway stairs, is more
accessible than on many boats
this size.
Some Niagara 35s have had
lavish upgrades, which can be
reflected in their prices, but
early boats in basic condition
are listed as low as $50,000.
Prices for the later Encore
version, which has a conventional V-berth forward, tend
to be higher.
Jayne Finn and her partner, Mike
Evans, will take Phantasia II from
Cobourg, Ontario, this summer to
Gaspé and the Bras d’Or lakes.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
MI KE EVANS
Freshwater origins
and fresh ideas produced a salty cruiser
in the Niagara 35
BUYERS
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REVIEWS
NEW PRODUCTS BY MARK PILLSBURY
Sail Like a Scout
When Old Murphy
strikes, the Boy
Scout motto—
Be Prepared—
can save the day
Fire Foe
116
Oil Eradicator
safe around people and
equipment, and it has both
UL and U.S. Coast Guard approval. The self-contained
Fire Foe operates using
a self-activating temperature-sensitive tube.
In a fire, heat fills the affected compartment,
causing the tube delivery system to flood the
area. Envirogel absorbs
heat energy and covers
the combustion to prevent reignition. The system is maintenance
free and can be easily
installed. Models
(starting at $100) are
available for compartments ranging in
size from 15 cubic
feet up to 130
cubic feet.
Sailing can’t be a
whole lot of fun if
the skipper and crew
are sick as dogs. Queasy
Pops and Queasy Drops ($5
per container) from Three
Lollies are all-natural lollipops
and hard candies developed to
provide quick relief from an
upset stomach associated with
motion sickness. The Queasy
products rely on essential oils
and aromatherapy to tame the
tummy, alleviate dry mouth,
and also provide a quick
energy
boost. Both products come in
seven flavors: peppermint,
cinnamon, sour lemon, papaya, ginger, sour raspberry,
and green tea with lemon.
To meet the challenge of
stricter environmental laws,
Clean Water Solutions offers
the Oil Eradicator line of devices (starting at $15) that can
help you eliminate the telltale sheen of oil on the
COU RTESY OF TH E MAN U FACTU R E R S
BATTLING THE ELEMENTS AND
dealing with the unexpected
are all part of what makes sailing interesting, challenging,
and rewarding. It’s also what
keeps us going back to the
chandlery time and again.
While the purists out there
may scoff at the idea of an engine in a sailboat, most cruisers appreciate the purr of a
well-tuned auxiliary at the
appropriate time. But with
power comes the danger of a
fire on board. Fire Foe is an
automatic fire-suppression
system from Sea-Fire Marine
that uses Envirogel as an alternative to Halon and its replacements. Envirogel is a
noncorrosive substance that’s
Queasy Pops and Drops
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
water that can result from
pumping out the bilge. The
eradicators are open-cellfoam carriers that float on the
water’s surface in the bilge and
absorb hydrocarbons, which
are then attacked by microbes
present in the foam. During
the process, the hydrocarbons
are converted into edible fatty
acids, which become food for
fish and vegetation. The
4000 Series camera
COU RTESY OF TH E MAN U FACTU R E R S
process lasts up to 90 days.
They’re available in a range of
sizes appropriate for small
boats up to vessels over 65
feet. There are 4- and 8-foot
models for use around docks,
and they can be tied together
to make a boom.
Water in your fuel is a sure
way to muck up the ride
home or a
1018i camera
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
dinghy excursion. Mr. Funnel, from Shurhold Industries, combines a filter with a
polypropylene funnel to separate water and contaminates
from fuel as it’s being poured
into a tank. The funnel (starting at $23) is inserted in the
fill opening, and as gas is
poured through, debris is removed so it can be disposed
of later. The device is lightweight and self-cleaning,
and it’s manufactured
to exceed marine safety standards. Mr.
Funnel is available in
three models, with
Mr. Funnel
flow rates ranging
from 3.5 gallons per
minute to 15 gallons per range from a utilitarian wine
minute. The funnel can rack to a tie-down for fire
be purchased through extinguishers and
Shurhold distributors and oxygen tanks.
under the West Marine
brand.
Perhaps the last thing you
For the
need on a pitching sailboat is
seaborne
to have pieces of gear rolling
scouts among
about. To keep these items
us who want to
in their places, Davis Inbe very
struments has come up
prewith Quick Fist
pared
clamps, which come
and
in standard and super
blindQuick Fist
sizes (starting at $10
sided by
for a standard pair).
nothing,
Easily
mounted,
there are
Quick Fist clamps
new lines of
are made of heavyproducts from Night
duty, transportationVision Technologies. The
grade rubber and are fastened 1018i camera ($17,000) has
with the pull of a strap. improved resolution and ofThey’re UV resistant and can fers five lens options with
focal lengths of 5.8 mm. to 25
mm., producing fields of view
measuring from 11 degrees to
50 degrees and allowing the
detection of people at a distance of 1,500 feet. The 1018i
can continuously rotate 360
degrees, gives operators full
pan and tilt control, and, unlike a handheld, can be used
withstand extreme from a location protected
heat and cold. The from the elements. The 3000
clamps can grip objects Series (starting at $35,000)
measuring from 7/8 and the 4000 Series (starting
inch to 7 1/2 inches at $68,000), meanwhile, inand weighing up to corporate thermal, Genera50 pounds. Uses tion III Image Intensifica-
tion, low-light, and color
cameras in one remotely mounted housing.
The systems are designed for the harsh marine
environment with stainlesssteel hardware and components encased in a shell
charged with inert gas for
protection against the elements. Depending on the
model, viewing ranges extend from 2,600 feet to 3,500
feet.
Mark Pillsbury is a Cruising
World associate editor.
Company Contacts
Clean Water Solutions:
(401) 846-4141,
www.cwsius.com
Davis Instruments:
(510) 732-9229,
www.davisnet.com
Night Vision Technologies:
(972) 554-3944,
www.nvti-usa.com
Sea-Fire Marine:
(800) 445-7680,
www.sea-fire.com
Shurhold Industries:
(800) 962-6241,
www.shurhold.com
Three Lollies:
(866) 773-4443,
www.threelollies.com
117
Cruising World’s
CHARTERING
Ne ws and Notes on Sailing Vac ations
Great Lakes, Bay Breeze Yacht Charters of Traverse City,
Nautor’s Swan, the 40-year-old Finnish builder of luxury
cruising and performance sailboats, has opened a charter di- Michigan, now offers crewed and bareboat charters in the
vision within the company’s U.S. headquarters in Newport,
Caribbean, specifically in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands,
Rhode Island. The office represents Swans from across the
the Windward Islands, and the Grenadines.
To kick off the new service, Bay Breeze is offering a 5-percent
United States and the Caribbean, including a fleet of new,
discount in addition to regular specials offered by the barecompany-owned Swans based in Guadeloupe, in the French
boat-charter companies with which it works.
West Indies, and available for charter throughout the
“Our staff, many of whom have considerable sailing and
Caribbean.
powerboat experience in the Caribbean, know firsthand the
Carolyn Cox Titus, a 24-year veteran of the charter industry,
charter operations there,” says John Kraft, Bay Breeze owner.
is charter manager. She’s the former owner and operator of
“We’ve personally met with many of the captains and crews,
Cox Marine, which focused on yacht management, charter
we’ve toured boats, and we can help with everything from boat
sales, and crew placement.
selection to sailing itinerary, hotel accommodations, and ferry
“Carolyn brings with her a wealth of experience in the charter
schedules.” For details about Caribbean and Great Lakes charindustry that promises to help our clients match the right boat
ters, contact Bay Breeze (877-941-0535, www.bbyc.com).
to their specific needs,” says Steve Barker, vice president of sales.
Sailors can charter the full
line of yachts for personal
Doctor Joins Crew
cruising or racing. They
Curlew Charters, which
range in size from 48 to 112
conducts event and termfeet and come crewed and
length trips from Dana Point
provisioned. Other yachts,
and Newport Beach, CaliforCOMPANIES
motor and sail, are available
nia, has appointed Edward A.
ADVERTISING
Years in US/
Ad.
worldwide in lengths from
Taub, M.D., as ship’s doctor
THIS MONTH**
Phone Business Can. Carib. Euro. Pacif. Page
50 to 350 feet.
and wellness specialist.
CHARTER
Each sailboat is equipped
Captain Bob Harrison, who’s
Sunsail
800-797-5307 30
x
x
x
x
123, 128
with televisions and DVD
operated Curlew, a 1926 Alden
The Moorings
888-703-3176 37
x
x
x
x
119
Kiriacoulis
800-714-3411 26
x
x
129
players, watersports toys,
schooner, since 2002, will
Tortola Marine Management, Ltd. 800-633-0155 26
x
122
and fishing gear as well as
work with Dr. Taub to add
Footloose Sailing Charters
800-814-7245 36
x
132
the clients’ requested cuiwellness programs to a range
Conch Charters, Ltd.*
800-521-8939 18
x
132
Horizon Yacht Charters, Ltd.*
877-494-8787
8
x
131
sine. Experienced crews
of themed charters already ofBarefoot Yacht Charters*
784-456-9526 21
x
x
x
128
help clients take the trip at
fered aboard the 81-footer.
CYOA Yacht Charters*
800-944-2962 26
x
129
their own pace, whether it’s
The
sailboat, which is certified
Fun In The Sun Charters
800-327-0228 27
x
133
by the U.S. Coast Guard to
a leisurely cruise with no
The Catamaran Company
800-262-0308 19
x
x
x
120-121
Bay Breeze Yacht Charters*
877-941-0535 24
x
x
132
responsibility or a fastcarry up to 36 passengers, ofVIP Sail & Power Charters*
866-347-3335 26
x
131
paced run with the guest at
fers corporate trips, teamIsland Yachts*
800-524-2019 27
x
134
the helm. Both couples and
building seminars, birthdays,
Olympic Yacht Charters
877-247-3323
4
x
x
132
Antilles-Sail.com
011 590 590 901 681 5
x
133
weddings and parties, holiday
families are welcome. The
BareCat Charters, Inc.
800-296-KATS 14
x
134
charters, and memorials at
office is at the Newport
Southwest Florida Yachts
800-262-7939 21
x
133
sea.
Shipyard (1 Washington
BROKER
Ed Hamilton
800-621-7855 33
C
C/B
C/B C/B
134
Street, Newport, RI 02840;
Dr. Taub is an avid sailor
King Yacht Charters
800-521-7552 13
C/B C/B
C/B C/B
134
who’s served as ship’s doctor
401-619-0968, www.
Star Clippers
800-442-0556 14
C
C
C
127
for two cruise lines. For denautorswan-usa.com).
* Also broker ** This directory is a list of charter companies advertising in this issue; it is not an endorsement by the
editors. Classified advertisers not listed. Listings are arranged in fleet size order.
tails, contact the company
“Charter companies” listed maintain fleets of bareboats and report that they maintain chase
(949-922-2759, www.
Sailing for Snowbirds
boats/personnel, carry liability insurance, return security deposits in 10 working days, deliver
the boat contracted (or same size, type, age, condition, or better), supply MOB gear, and offer
sailcurlew.com).
Besides serving the sailing
pre-charter briefings. “Brokers” are not affiliated with any charter company; they book private or
company- owned boats, crewed or bareboat. C = Crewed B = Bareboat
community of the northern
Elaine Lembo
118
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
COU RTESY OF NAUTOR’S SWAN
Swan Charters Available through Nautor’s
Why not now!!
US SAILING Certified Schools are your window to the wonderful world of sailing. Learn to
Bareboat Certification at J World, America’s Top Rated Sailing School.
Earn US Sailing cruising certification in renowned Key West FL or Newport RI.
800-343-2255 • www.jworldschool.com
EXPERIENCE PERFORMANCE SAILING! J World offers
sailing courses for beginners, racers and cruisers. Spend
full days sailing on the water in sunny San Diego. Learn
from world class coaches aboard J/80 sportboats.
800-666-1050 www.jworld-sailing.com
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www.ocscsailing.com
Learn to sail with confidence! OCSC
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800-223-2984
To advertise your
US SAILING Certified School
in this space please contact:
Michael Tamulaites
Cruising World
401-845-5146
or
Hart Kelley
US Sailing
401-683-0800
JEREMY McGEARY
©Billy Black www.BillyBlack.com
Adventure
Charters
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
September 8 - 16, 2006
Majestic fjords, waterfalls, and breathtaking scenery
Sail, Learn to Cruise, Learn to Have Fun
abundant with wildlife will surround this Pacific
Northwest charter from Vancouver to Desolation
Sound. Explore bays and coves by day and relax in
secluded anchorages each evening.
A seaplane will return us to Vancouver, offering a
stunning flight over our sailing route. Or choose to help
deliver the boats back to Vancouver.
Cruise Control
We Gurantee it.
Over 100,000 Graduates Since 1964
The cost of $1,900 per person includes one night’s hotel,
welcome cocktails and dinner, starter provisions,
eight-day charter, and the seaplane flight.
For information, contact King Yacht Charters
(800-521-7552 or 860-536-9217, www.sailingcharters.com
and e-mail [email protected]).
Florida • Caribbean • Bahamas • New York • New Jersey
Adventure
Charters
Chesapeake
Bay
BILLY BLACK
800-221-4326
www.offshore-sailing.com
October 4 – 13,
2006
Historic Annapolis, Maryland, and the United States
Sailboat Show will be the start of our first Adventure
Charter to Chesapeake Bay. We’ll sail on the largest
estuary in the United States past historic lighthouses to
Colonial waterfront villages rich in maritime history.
We’ll feast on local crab and other seafood while
enjoying the many quiet anchorages along the rivers.
Cost per person of $1,750 to $1,850 (depending on
your choice of boat) includes nine nights’ charter, VIP
Day tickets to the boat show, starter provisions, and
welcome dinner.
For information, contact King Yacht Charters
(800-521-7552 or 860-536-9217, www.sailingcharters.com
and e-mail [email protected]).
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Cruising World’s
BROKERAGE
Where You’ll Find The Best Used Boats On The Market
BOAT
OF THE
MONTH
53' AMEL SUPER MARAMU KETCH
With almost 100 of our new AMEL 54's sold, the majority to SUPER MARAMU owners, the
supply of and prices on the SUPER MARAMU have never been more attractive. Just like the market on
anything tangible, the primary influence on value is supply and demand. As I have sold all the new
AMELS to North American since before electricity, I have a nice supply of only the best kept boats
whose entire histories are know to me. Real value. No surprises. Opportunity is knocking…
Please see our brokerage advertisement on page 140-141.
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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135
-Building Daysailers through Passagemakers-
A Whole New World
in Sailing Innovations
1996 Hunter 26
Water ballast trailerable, with Mariner 8HP
outboard, trailer, VHF, knotmeter, depth
sounder, and Navico tiller autopilot. Doyle
main and jib, also dodger, swim ladder, horseshoe buoy, PFDs, and lifesling. $19,900
Harbor North, Inc. 800-451-7245.
2000 Hunter 340
Super clean and well maintained with pressure
water, refrigeration, and bimini – asking
$94,900. Harbor North, Inc. 800-451-7245.
2004 Hunter 36
Outfitted to the max. Roller furling mainsail and jib, air
conditioning with reverse heat, folding wheel,
Raymarine electronics, Lewmar Windlass, DingyTow system, powerful 27 HP Yanmar diesel, and cradle. Stored indoors. $139,900. Extended warranty
still in effect. Harbor North, Inc. 800-451-7245.
1997 Hunter 420 Passage
$179,900. The Passage 42 is built on a 43'
hull. The 2 feet extra adds additional space
that enhances the cruising and liveaboard
experience. H&S Yacht Sales, Marina Del Rey,
888-325-4482.
1999 26' Hunter 260
Wheel steering, bulb keel model with an
electric start Yamaha 9.9 outboard. Always
stored indoors when not sailing. Super clean
and well cared for vessel. $28,900, includes a
custom galvanized trailer. Harbor North, Inc.
800-451-7245.
2000 Hunter 340
Possibly the most meticulously cared for boat
you'll ever find! Cruised to Alaska and still
shows like new. Yanmar Diesel, Cabin Heat,
Fully Battened Main, A/P & Radar! $94,500.
360-714-9004, signature-yachts.com.
1995 Hunter 37.5
$ 79,900. Large aft cabin, roomy salon, complete galley and private v-berth. Full batten
main with Dutchman flaking system, roller
furling 130 headsail, knot, depth, VHF.
www.tidewatermarina.com, 800-960-8433.
2004 Hunter 420
$229,000. Like- new condition. Bow thruster,
ST600 autopilot, chartplotter, air conditioning,
generator and full cockpit enclosure.
www.tidewatermarina.com, 800-699-7245.
2003 Hunter 306
$74,900. Custom Winter Cover, Bimini,
Refrigeration, In-Mast Furling, Roller Furling,
Solid Vang, ST60 Knot, Depth, Wind,
ST400+ Autopilot, Raymarine GPS, cradle.
RCR Yachts. 716-856-6314.
1999 Hunter 340
Lightly sailed, in nice condition. A/C, refrigeration, elec. windlass, dinghy w/outboard, knot,
depth, wind, autopilot, full batten main w/rigid
vang, recent upgrades and more. $83,900
Massey Yacht Sales 941-723-1610, 727-8247262, 239-334-3674, www.masseyyacht.com.
2002 Hunter 41
$184,900. TOTALLY TURNKEY CRUISE
READY. Generator, AC, GPS, Color Radar &
Chartplotter, Auto Pilot, SSB, SkyMate E-Mail,
Dinghy & 9.9 Honda OB. Massey Yacht Sales.
941 723-1610, 727-824-7262, 239-334-3674,
www.masseyyacht.com.
Hunter 430
$30,000. in mast furling, roller furling jib,
Radar, plotter, GPS, autopilot, VHF, inverter,
elec halyard winch, elec anchor windlass, SSB
Gplate installed. 8 KW generator and 100 Amp
alternator. 972-221-3000. La Vida Starships.
1998 Hunter 310
$59,900. Wheel, Diesel, Roller Furling, Lazy
Jacks, Speed, Depth, Autopilot, GPS/
Chartplotter, VHF, AM/FM/CD w/speakers,
Electric Head w/Macerator, Dodger & Bimini.
RCR Yachts. 716-856-6314.
2002 Hunter 340
Fully Battened Mainsail & Electric Halyard
Winch! Lightly used and well equipped for
Northwest Cruising. Cabin Heat, Radar &
Chartplotter, Cockpit Enclosure and more!
$97,500. 360-714-9004, signature-yachts.com.
Hunter 410
$179,900. Roller furling jib, in-mast furling
mainsail, electric anchor windlass, air
conditioning systems, Raymarine ST60 Wind,
ST60 Speed, ST60 Depth, Raytheon ST7000+
autopilot system, GPS/Chartplotter, VHF radio.
972-221-3000. La Vida Starships.
1999 Hunter, 450 Passage
$234,900. Center cockpit features a huge
owner's cabin with private tub-shower. Luxor
is spottless with fresh bottom paint and hull
detail and wax. H&S Yacht Sales. Oxnard.
888-325-4482.
Whether new or used, Hunter has the sailboat to meet your aspirations.
For further information on any NEW Hunter model log on to huntermarine.com
JOEL F. POTTER • CRUISING YACHT SPECIALIST, L.L.C.
Passion for Passagemaking
THE NEW AMEL 54’
QUALITY TIME
This is what your days aboard should be all about. Sharing moments of serenity and
adventure with family and friends. Enjoying the world's finest stress reliever which
is uneventful and effortless passagemaking under sail. Recharging our souls with the
pleasure that comes from a restful life at sea, be it for the weekend or around the
world. AMEL ownership is a top quality experience from beginning to end because
of the top quality efforts we make to ensure it is so.
QUALITY IN DESIGN. The AMEL 54 was conceived and designed to be the safest, easiest to manage and
maintain, as well as the most comfortable sailing yacht in this size range. A cruising couple can handle her alone in
all circumstances, even the most trying. Four watertight bulkheads define six watertight compartments. There is a
fully weather/sun/spray protected helm station beneath a fiberglass dodger. You will enjoy immediate and complete
access to all maintainable components throughout the boat, including a full size/stand up engine and machinery
space beneath the cockpit. Swift and seakindly under sail, 200 miles a day runs are easily obtained. The AMEL 54 is
designed to thrive as a liveaboard offshore cruising yacht.
QUALITY IN CONSTRUCTION. Our exclusive one piece/full monocoque construction eliminates the typically
weak, leaky and trouble prone hull to deck joint. All mechanical equipment receives a prototype process where the
installation is perfected. Attention to the smallest of details and overall fit and finish is second to none. Each and
every 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 to
train me so I know the AMEL 54 from masthead to keel. I can fully explain any aspect of the boats construction and
outfitting. We have always had a one price/no hassle purchase program. We have never delivered a new boat even
one minute later than promised. Our after sales service and warranty department is second to none. Just ask anyone
who owns an AMEL…
NEW AMEL 54 AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION IN FORT LAUDERDALE.
BY APPOINTMENT, PLEASE.
JOEL F. POTTER - CRUISING YACHT SPECIALIST, LLC
Amel’s Sole Associate for the Americas
Phone: 954-462-5869 • Fax: 954-462-3923 • Email: [email protected]
CONVENIENTLY LOCATED IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
140
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
JOEL F. POTTER • CRUISING YACHT SPECIALIST, L.L.C.
Passion for Passagemaking
53' AMEL SUPER MARAMU
MILLENNIUM 1999
53' AMEL SUPER MARAMU
MILLENNIUM 2000
Like a lot of our AMEL customers, I sold this one to clients who had
never owned a big boat before. Once I demonstrated that with the all
furling rig, electric winches, and powerful bow thruster she was easier
to manage than most little boats, they were sold. We spent a lot of time
together considering how to best outfit and option the boat to enhance
their time aboard. Her list of included equipment is quite extensive and
in good repair. After crossing the Atlantic, this Super Maramu
circumnavigated the Caribbean a couple of times to the delight of her
only owners and their family and friends. Very well preserved, her
interior woodwork shows as new and the boat has that freshly
scrubbed feeling that denotes careful and considerate usage. Needing
very little other than new owners and a destination she is priced just
under $400,000. You will be hard pressed to find more boat for the money
elsewhere. (sistership photo)
I sold this one owner boat to a cruising couple who enjoyed her in the
Mediterranean before an uneventful crossing of the Atlantic and
several years of enjoying the Caribbean. Used as a commuter cruiser in
recent years, her owners come aboard for a few weeks or months as
they can and move her to new environs. They find themselves
increasingly in the "back to work" mode with less and less time to enjoy
their Super Maramu, hence the reluctant decision to sell their
re-locatable cottage. Nicely outfitted with everything you would expect
of a boat with these capabilities, you can be nearly as comfortable
aboard as you are at home. Watermaker, washer/dryer, deep freezers,
generator, air conditioning…like all the Super Maramus I have ever
sold, the creature comforts ensure domestic tranquility. Priced below
any comparably equipped model of the same year, this AMEL
represents very good value for the money. (sistership photo)
53' AMEL SUPER MARAMU
MILLENNIUM 2003
If you are kicking yourself for not ordering a new SUPER MARAMU
before they recently went out of production, well, this is the boat for
you. Sailed across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean and then to a
dock behind her only owners home here in Florida, this boat gets
washed and polished more than it gets used. Sailed only during the
winter months and safely stored ashore the rest of the year, this boat
still smells new. Built as their last boat, the equipment list is extremely
comprehensive and includes not only the usual AMEL fare, but pages
and pages of all the stuff that turns a boat into a passagemaker. You can
literally put your personal gear and some provisions aboard and go just
about anywhere your heart desires. What about the last boat part?
Well, they looked at the new AMEL 54. Yes, it's that good to
make them trade up from this creampuff. I'll be happy to show you both.
(sistership photo)
45' SCHEEL C/B KETCH
One of my all time favorite midsized cruising boats. I sold this beauty to
her current owners 13 years ago to the day. A swift and well balanced
sailing yacht, her centerboard allows shoal water access while the 70
hp diesel will effortlessly push her at 8 knots when the wind is contrary.
The cockpit is supremely comfortable and well protected from the
elements. Down below are two oversized staterooms each with
attached heads. The owners head is ensuite and features a bathtub.
The u-shaped galley is ready for gourmet endeavors and adjoins the
raised deck saloon, both of which are bathed in an abundance of
natural light with a superb view out thanks to the sensibly oversized
ports. Built in Maine, she's both yar and sensible. Realistic sellers have
swallowed the anchor and returned her to me to find new owners who
will continue to enjoy her. Priced right to encourage a quick sale, this is
a true bargain.
JOEL F. POTTER - CRUISING YACHT SPECIALIST, LLC
Amel’s Sole Associate for the Americas
Phone: 954-462-5869 • Fax: 954-462-3923 • Email: [email protected]
CONVENIENTLY LOCATED IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
141
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C RU I S I N G WO R L D
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WWW.MOORINGSBROKERAGE.COM
CONTACT US TODAY!
800-850-4081
• WORLDWIDE
• LICENSED AND BONDED
• OVER 35 YEARS EXPERIENCE
LEOPARD 62 2003
5 double staterooms with private
heads. Can remain in crewed charter
with income and no expenses.
Only one available. Asking $1.85M.
onth
eM
h
T
l Of
Dea
2015 SW 20th Street, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315
nous parlons Français • wir sprechen Deutsch • se habla Español
USA • BVI • France • UK
LEOPARD 42 2001
LEOPARD 38 2000
Popular bluewater cruiser, liveaboard or day cruiser. 3 cabins/2 heads. Owner's
model with private suite to starboard. Hugh cockpit and storage lockers. Twin 40 hp
diesel. Complete electronics including autopilot and chartplotter. Asking: $199,000.
2 Master suites with walkaround island
berths and 2 guest cabins all with
private baths. Fully equipped for
cruising. Asking: $299,000.
BENETEAU 50 2000
LEOPARD 47 2001
LEOPARD 45 2000
DUFOUR/GIBSEA 43 2001
3, 4 and 5 cabin layout available
w/private head/shower, twin steering
stations, crew quarters. Lying Caribbean.
From $199,000.
Four luxurious staterooms with ensuite
heads. Equipped for cruising with full
electronics, generator and air conditioning.
Loaded and ready to cruise. $369,000.
“Boat of the Year” by Robertson & Caine. Four
luxurious staterooms with ensuite heads. Proven
“bluewater cruiser.” Sail away with complete
electronics, galley equipment, etc. Lying Ft. Lauderdale,
Caribbean and Mediterranean. $299,000.
3 cabin layout. Hugh owner’s suite
with settee that converts to a 4th cabin.
Performance cruise equipped, largest
cockpit in its class, dual helms.
Electronics. Asking $139,000.
BENETEAU OCEANIS 411 2000
BENETEAU 391 2001
BENETEAU 361 2000
BENETEAU 332 2000
Master Suite w/separate head and
pullman berth. Excellent family or
liveaboard cruiser. GPS, Autopilot, CD,
much more. From $129,000.
New to market. Popular design with
value and appeal in the marketplace.
3 cabin/2 head layout with large cockpit
and dockside A/C. Asking $125,000.
Great weekend and distance cruiser.
Complete electronics, autopilot,
refrigeration, and more.
Asking $89,000.
Hugh aft berth, full head mid ship,
spacious L shaped galley and broad
cockpit allow for comfort and ease of
cruising. From $64,500
Select Brokerage
EXCLUSIVE DEALERS
Purchase a new Leopard catamaran,
fast and agile, built for bluewater
cruising, designed for your comfort.
Loaded with standard equipment.
Choose from our optional owner’s layouts.
www.leopardcatamarans.com
42’ Beneteau 42CC 2003 LOADED! private owner. Reduced . .$169,000
39’ Beneteau 393 2001…..New to market. Ready to cruise . . . .$125,000
36’ Beneteau 361 2000 Make offers! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$89,000
33’ Beneteau 332 2000 Ready to cruise best value . . . . . . . . . . . .$69,000
Catamarans
55’ Lagoon completely refit 2003/2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$540,000
53’ Fountaine Pajot Marquiese..LOADED..Factory custom .$459,000
47’ Leopard 2005..Owner’s suite..Better than new Loaded! . .$579,000
45’ Leopard 1999 Crew maintained w/gen & air . . . . . . .$329,000
45’ Privilege 1995, Gen, Air, H20 Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . .$259,000
43’ Leopard 2005, Owner’s version, LOADED!! . . . . . . . .$455,000
42’ Leopard 2001…charter management-call for details . .$299,000
38’ Leopard 2000…LOADED! w/A/C . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$209,000
38’ Admiral 2000 Located Ft. Lauderdale . . . . . . . . . . . . .$199,000
Own your yacht the smart way! Footloose Sailing Charters is a subsidiary of The Moorings,
with a fleet consisting of former Moorings yachts between 5 and 8 years old based in Tortola.These
yachts are offered at great prices through our ownership program, with up to 9 weeks of cruising
each year, no operating or maintenance expenses and attractive guaranteed monthly income.
For details call 1-800-850-4081 or visit www.footloosecharters.com.
Clients Français Bienvenus!
Your South Florida
Dealer for...
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'05 Beneteau 473, 76hp Yanmar, A/C, Sailaway ....$293,265
'05 Beneteau 343, A/C, Sailaway ....................................Call
'05 Hunter 31, Mariner Package, A/C, Sailaway ....$102,340
'05 Beneteau 323, Swing Keel, A/C, Sailaway........$106,930
'05 Hunter 33, Mariner Package, A/C, Sailaway .... $112,810
'05 Beneteau 393, 54hp Yanmar upgrade, A/C,Sailaway ..$176,900
'05 Hunter 36, Mariner Package, A/C, Sailaway ....$148,775
2006 Catalina 309.................................New Model on Order
'05 Hunter 38, Mariner Package, A/C, Sailaway ....$183,760
2005 Hunter 33
Mariner pkg.
2005 Clearance pricing!
2006 Catalina 350
Loaded, A/C, Autopilot, Sailaway
$173,680
FACTORY AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER
2 0 0 6
I N
S T O C K
2006 Catalina 309 ....................................................................................................................................Call for price
2006 Catalina 34, autopilot, ultraleather, full electronics ..............................................................................$143,350
2006 Catalina 350, loaded, A/C. Autopilot, Sailaway, LeisureFurl boom ......................................................$173,680
2006 Catalina 400, loaded, A/C, radar, Autopilot, Sailaway ........................................................................$249,665
2003 Catalina 36
This trade-in will be blown out!
1993 Morgan 38 CC
Only $125k.
Call Fokke at 561.351.7333
2005 Hunter 38
A/C, Mariner Package, Sailaway
2005 Clearance Pricing!!!
2000 Dufour Nautitech 395
Call Michel Benarrosh
at 917.331.7665
2001 Beneteau 411
Like new. Call Harold at
954.439.7977
1990 Taswell 43
2 s.r., air, gen. Call
Charles Archer @ 401.885.0229
2001 Jeanneau 43
DS. Gen. In Paradise. $179k
Call Gary at 954.609.6282
2001 Dufour 433
Cruising World Boat Of The Year.
$130,000. Call Michel @ 917.331.7665
1999 Leopard 45
Air/gen, $319k. Call Michel
Benarrosh at 917.331.7665
2000 Beneteau 463
Two available from $136k. Call
Michel Benarrosh at 917.331.7665.
1999 Catalina 470
$260k Call Doug
at 305.742.3070
2004 Beneteau 473
Loaded. Call Fokke Dejong
at 561.351.7333
2000 Dufour Atoll 50
$168k. Call Michel Benarrosh
at 917.331.7665
1993 Beneteau 50
5 s.r./5 heads. Try $119k.
Call Gary at 954.609.6282
1987 CSY/Gulfstar 50 CC
Call Paul at 561.703.4367
1994 Beneteau 62
640,000 Euros. Call Michel
Benarrosh at 917.331.7665
1981 Irwin 65
Complete refit. Call Doug Prince
at 305.742.3070
Beneteau 403
3 s.r., air, only $124k. Call Michel B
@ 917.331.7665
2006 Beneteau 57
Call John Byrnes at 954.303.7034
New CNB 70
Ready in 8 months. Call Michel
Benarrosh at 917.331.7665
1993 Dynamique 80
Sexy Briand design. Only $575,000!
Call Michel 917.331.7665
SEE DETAILS ON 22,235 USED SAILING YACHTS AT WWW.EASTERNYACHTS.NET
SELLING? CONTACT US FOR A FREE, NO-OBLIGATION APPRAISAL. WE NEED LISTINGS!
VISIT OUR YEAR-ROUND BOAT SHOW AT OUR PALM BEACH FACILITY.
2182 S.E. 17th Street Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 • 954-828-9071 • Fax 954-828-9075
1177 Avenue C. Riviera Beach, FL 33404 • Phone 561-844-1100 • Fax 561-844-8946
[email protected] • www.easternyachts.net
A J
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!
Boat of the Month:
Wauquiez 41 PS
S IN
TO
C
K
S IN
TO
C
K
S IN
TO
C
K
US Debut – Wauquiez 41 PS
Beneteau 343 - Designed by Berret/Racoupeau, the new
Beneteau 343 is targeted to appeal to the discerning owner
who wishes to find a finely finished yacht at an attractive investment level. Featuring more volume, a bigger interior, and better
performance than it’s predecessor the Beneteau 331. The 343
provides standard features that few sailboats of her size offer,
including a separate stall shower.
In the purest Wauquiez tradition, the Pilot
Saloon 41’s inside accommodations favours
the comfort of the most demanding crew.
Teak remains the dominating essence, while a
resolutely different style and interior design
enhance the 41’s strong personality. The
simple and efficient deck layout of the Pilot
Saloon 41 also combines elegance and
comfort. Now a trademark of the Pilot Saloon
range, the sleek curved coachouse perfectly
blends with the hull lines and shape of the
Pilot Saloon 41. Come and get Your first
hand look — She has just arrived!
Sabre 386 - Cruising World’s winner of the Best Mid-size
Performance Cruiser and the Overall Best Domestic Boat
of the Year Award! No matter what your sailing lifestyle, the
Sabre 386 is for you! Whether you opt for cruising, racing or
a combination of both, the Sabre 386 will not disappoint!
Beneteau 42 CC - Designed by world-renowned naval architects, Groupe Finot, the 42CC is a classy bluewater passagemaker that features numerous standard innovations at an
unbelievable value. She entices the traditional yachtsman with
the beauty of her striking classic transom. This brand new
design’s sleek deck line creates a lean fetching profile while
maintaining utmost functionality.
Select Brokerage Listings:
30 Baba ’83
$ 67,500
31 Pearson ’87, ‘88
2 From $ 43,900
37 Dickerson ’83
Reduced $121,500
41 Dehler ’01
$229,900
37 Tartan 3700 ’02
Reduced $249,500
42 Hunter Passage CC ’96
$169,000
32 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey ’03
$ 84,900
38 Shannon PH ’81
33 C&C ’86
$ 47,000
38 Beneteau 381 ’98, ’00, ‘01
34 Nordic ’84
35 Tartan 3500 ‘02
Reduced $ 69,900
$ 199,500
$199,500
From $133,900
42 Sabre ’89
$159,900
42 Beneteau 42s7 ’95
$149,900
38 Sabre MK II ’89 Reduced
$149,000
42 Beneteau 423 ’04
$219,000
38 Hunter 380 ’99
$129,900
43 Jeanneau 43ds ’01
$249,000
39 Mariner ’81
$ 99,000
43 Morgan ‘85
$ 99,000
36 Cheoy Lee ’69
$ 69,900
40 Beneteau 405 ’95 Reduced
$ 99,900
44 C&C ’87
$144,000
36 Beneteau 36 CC ’01
$124,000
40 Bayfield ’84
36 Beneteau 361 '01
$119,500
40 Catalina 400 ’95
36 Catalina MK II ’96
$ 84,900
40 Wauquiez 40s '04
36 Sabre ‘87
$ 94,900
41 Beneteau 411 ’98, ’99, ’02
35 Beneteau 351 ’95
2 From $ 82,900
Reduced $110,000
45 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey ’98
$149,900
46 Beneteau 461 ‘99, ‘00
$219,000
47 Bavaria ’01
From $159,900
47 Beneteau 47.7 ‘01
$224,900
2 From $194,900
$229,000
Reduced $279,900
ANNAPOLIS, MD: 7350 Edgewood Rd • Annapolis, MD 21403 • Phone (410) 267-8181 • Fax (410) 267-7409
DELTAVILLE, VA: 274 Bucks View Lane • Deltaville, VA 23043 • Phone (804) 776-7575 • Fax (804) 776-7373
www.annapolisyachtsales.com/cw • email: [email protected]
Approved Agents
Authorized Dealers
Yacht Sales
New Bavaria 50 - $279,000
4 or 5 Cabins, 3 Heads
Sail Away Price inc:
Commissioning & delivery to Caribbean,
autopilot, anchor package, CD stereo,
VHF and safety package.
• TAX FREE PURCHASE
• TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
• PRIVATE PURCHASE
OR
• CHARTER MANAGEMENT
• YEAR ROUND SAILING
• NEW & USED YACHTS
New Bahia 46 - $499,000
4 Cabins, 4 Heads
Sail Away Price inc:
Commissioning & delivery to Caribbean,
antifoul, anchor package, CD stereo,
VHF and safety package
BROKERAGE
DEAL
of the
Bavaria 49 - 5C/3H - 2003
$230,000 - Based BVI
MONTH
Beneteau 323 - 2C/1H - 2006
$129,000 - Based BVI
Bavaria 34 - 2C/1H - 2000
$64,900 - Based BVI
Bavaria 32 - 2C/1H - 2001
$59,000 - Based BVI
Bavaria 42 - 3C/2H - 2005
$225,000 - Based Grenada
MORE GREAT USED YACHT DEALS
BAVARIA 32 - 2C/1H 2002
$75,000 - Based BVI
BAVARIA 36 - 3C/1H 2002
$115,000 - Based BVI
Bavaria 44 - 4C/2H - 2002
$175,000 - Based BVI
BAVARIA 36 - 2C/1H 2005
$149,000 - BVI
Bavaria 46 - 4C/2H - 2005
$269,000 - Based BVI - Fully Loaded Spec
HUNTER 460 - 3C/2H 2000
$189,000 - GRENADA
www.horizonyachtcharters.com
Bavaria 38 - 2C/1H - 2005
$150,000 - Based Grenada
British Virgin Islands - Grenada - Antigua - St Martin
Leopard 4500C - 4C/4H/AC - 1999
$305,000 - Based Antigua
[email protected]
Tel: 284 494 8787
Fax: 284 494 8989
Toll Free: 877 494 8787
Bavaria 37 - 3C/1H - 2000
$74,900 - Based BVI
PO Box 11156
St. Thomas, USVI, 00801
Leopard 3800 - 3C/2H - 1999
$185,000 - Based BVI
LOCATED
AT
LAUDERDALE MARINE CENTER
2019 SW 20th St., Suite 220, Ft. Laud., FL 33315
Tel: (954) 522-8650 • Fax: (954) 522-4342
RE
DU
CE
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E-mail: [email protected]
www.jordanyachtandship.com
www.jordanyachts.com
www.jordanyacht.com
49' HYLAS 2000
Custom build. In-mast furling, gen, air, 316 stainless
throughout, three cabins, 88hp Yanmar, top condition.
Price reduced to $415K.
53' AMEL SUPER MARAMU 1995
A rare boat on today’s market with all the gear: two
cabins, two heads, generator, air conditioned, radar,
dinghy OB, and stern steps. Too many items for this ad.
Call for more details. Asking $375K
BENETEAU 50 FARR DESIGN 1999
Lovely dark blue hull with 3-cabin owners model/2 heads.
6' draft, generator, air conditioning, inmast mainsail
furling. 80hp Volvo with low hours. A well taken care off
vessel, with numerous upgrades by a knowledgeable
owner. Like new condition, Asking $325,000.
ALDEN CARAVELLE SLOOP 1969
Classic design in excellent condition, rebuilt engine with
low hours, new exterior teak, toerail, cockpit, hatches,
interior is in excellent condition. Want a bigger B-40 this
is the design. Asking $99K
52' IRWIN 1981 KETCH
Great 3-cabin, 2-head vessel. Fully A/C. Large queen cabin
w/stall shower. Twin forward cabin, large V berth cabin.
Shoal draft w/5'6". watermaker, self tailing 48 Lewmar
winches, New Profurl. All the gear to do some serious
sailing in a great liveaboard ocean vessel Asking $154,900.
44' HYLAS 1989
By far the best Hylas 44 we have ever seen. Constantly
upgraded including new Norseman Boom furling in ’99,
new mainsail, new staylock rigging in ’98. Liferaft, RIB
dinghy OB, 4.5 Northernlight genset, W/D, Watermaker,
The list goes on. She is near perfect. Asking $239K
54 C&C PILOT HOUSE CUTTER 1984
Solid offshore feel. Raised salon with 3 cabins 2
heads. Inside steering along with aft cockpit steering.
Loaded with gear, Perkins 4-236 main w/only 750 hrs.
20KW Onan genset w/ 450 hrs. New batteries, Large
tankage 300 gallons of water & fuel. Asking $250K.
48' TAYANA CUTTER 2000
A great boat & a great deal, all the gear, Caribe dinghy, OB,
7.5 Gen, A/C, Stainless ports, W/D, low hour 75hp
Yanmar Diesel, in-boom furling main, all furling sail system.
Pullman cabin forward. Queen berth aft. Stall showers,
swim platform. See Jordanyachts.com. Asking ONLY $330K.
44' CAMPER NICHOLSON KETCH 1979
World Cruiser with roller furling mainsail, rebuilt 85hp
Perkins, many recent upgrades. Two cabins, two heads
with large after cabin. Great boat and a great price.
Asking $99K
41' WAUQUIEZ 1995
Ed Dubois has designed a lot of great sailboats and this
one is at the top of the list. Shoal draft 6' 43hp Volvo, low
hrs, cruise at 7kts. 2 heads/2 SR. Great electronics from
Trimble Inmarsat C transceiver, GPS, ST 7000 Raytheon
AP, Heart inverter, GPS & more. Asking $159K.
44 CSY WALKOVER CUTTER 1978
In mast electric furling, electric furling on
headsail,New paint job on hull and deck in 2005,
Genset, Air/conditioning, Autopilot, repowered larger
diesel with low hours, first class condition, and shoal
draft. ASKING $109K.
RE
DU
CE
D
FRERS DESIGNED HYLAS 46 - 2 TO CHOOSE FROM
1995 – 46' Standard rig, well maintained, shoal draft $299K
1995 – In-mast furling, gen, electric winches, shoal draft,
1 owner, $329K
SISTERSHIP
4750 EXPLORER CUTTER 2000
42' NASSAU / TATOOSH 1984
58' STEEL PH KETCH 1966/89
Built by Hans Christian designed by Chuck Paine. This is
Complete refit 2005. New Paint, sails, air conditioning,
Rare find on today’s market built by Cammenga in Holland
a high quality limited production ocean island cruiser. 3
electronics, cushions, canvas. New Hood furling. All
designed by Van de Mere. Classic configuration that has
cabins 2 heads, AC, Leisure Furl in boom furling.
new varnish. Skeg hung rudder. Two staterooms.
had an ongoing refit since her owner acquired her in 1978.
Beautiful solid teak interior w/design & function that is
Robert Perry designed this fast cruiser. Passport
Hull was gutted & replated where necessary, new wires
rarely seen in production boats. One of the best vessels
quality interior. Ready to go. Asking $129K
& plumbing, new 150hp Isuzu main engine, 20KW
we have had the pleasure to represent. Asking $550K.
genset, bow thruster. 3 cabins, 2 heads. Asking $149K.
56' Sundeer 1994. Bow thruster, great sailing machine, constantly upgraded ............Only $475,000
42' Alden Caravelle Yawl 1969. 100 hrs on dsl, complete refit int. & ext. Great condition ......$99,000
51' Formosa 1979. New paint, rebuilt engine with 10 hours, new rigging, no teak decks ..$195K
40' O‘Day Sloop 1986. Owner model in top shape.....................................................................$69,500
46' Morgan 1984. Gen, Air, two cabins, two heads, Great condition ....................Reduced to $99,000
38' Morgan Sloop 1980. total refit unbelievable condition ........................................Asking $69,000
44' Custom Hylas 1989. New engine, gen, gear............................................Never chartered $220,000
35' Freedom 1994, New batteries, canvas, bottom job, like new interior .... Reduced to $110,000
43' Elan Sloop 1990. Four cabin, like new condition, paint, sails etc. ..............................Only $99,000
33' Dakota Catamaran 2002. Really fast ......................................................................Asking $79,000
443 Beneteau Oceanis 1992. Farr design 3 cabin Clean ....................................................................$149,000
Rob Jordan • Tom Harney • Al Bullard • Pepper Rodda • Jim Hunter
148
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
FLORIDA YACHT
South Florida
Dealer
CHARTERS & SALES, INC.
Florida Yacht is proud to be the Southeast dealer for Jeanneau sailing yachts. With proven experience,
elegant craftsmanship, superior construction, design innovation, performance and comfort,
it’s no wonder Jeanneau is the world’s leading yacht builder.
Boats In Stock
49DS
42DS
2007 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49DS – This deck
salon model is seagoing, elegant and fast! Enjoy the
impressive view from the spacious salon; choice of interior
lay-outs, with 2/3/4 cabins. Safety enhancements include
high ballast ratio for better stability, Kevlar-reinforced
hull construction, in-mast furling with powerful genoa,
impressive electronics package.
2007 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42DS – All new for 2006 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40.3 – Designed
40.3
2006, incredibly spacious 2 cabin/2 head live-ability
below; with the sleek signature deck salon lines of
our larger models. Twin helm design facilitates comfort in
the cockpit, cockpit table integrates mount for chart
plotter at helm; equipped with latest Raymarine electronics
package. Available for Charter Ownership Program.
by Daniel Andriew and winner of the Cruising World
Magazine Best Value award in 2005, this exquisite and well
designed yacht features twin helms, large cockpit, wide
decks, all-teak interior and white headliner. Layout options
of 2 or 3 cabins are available to customize your needs.
Available for Charter Ownership Program.
Select Brokerage Listings
53
485
52
1999 Oyster 53 DS - Impeccable example of this 1986 Tayana 52 – Excellent condition with major 2005 Island Packet 485 - Absolutely beautiful and
49DS
42DS
finest world cruiser. 3 SRs layout plus workshop. Impressive
list of equipments and upgrades include among others: Bow
thruster, Dive compressor, Webasto heating, generator &
more. Contact Leonardo Nigro at 786-252-3872.
Asking $895,000.
refit and refinish in 2005. 3 cabin/2 head, great
features, and great sail plan. Perkins 80 hp. Too much to
list. At our docks in Miami Beach Marina, Florida
Yacht Charters & Sales 305-532-8600 Contact David
Dodgen x110.
fully loaded. Cutter rigged. 3 A/C units/8kw
gen/dingy/outboard/3 electric winches/bow thruster/washer/full electronics w/dual E80 displays. Lying at Dinner
Key Marina—Ready to go! Asking $730,000.
456
45
410
456 Hunter Passage 2002 – "Migue" is a well
equipped one owner boat with low hours. Equipment
includes, in-mast furling, air, generator, bow thruster, windlass,
inverter Raymarine 6001 autopilot, duel station color radar
and chart plotter. Must be seen to be appreciated. Asking
$255,000.
1998 Robertson & Caine 45’ – "Windchaser", 1999 Lagoon 410 - 4 cabin 4head, never been charAmerican flagged 4 cabins 4 head catamaran. Extensively
upgraded-new tramps, upholstery, electronics, davit,
hoses, air conditioning, and generator. Boat Located in
Key West. Contact Vanessa Linsley 305-934-1718
tered, in excellent condition, new generator 200 hr’s, new
sail drives,new sails, fully equipped ready to join any charter fleet or private cruiser. This Cat won’t last long at $
324,500.00. Two to choose from. Call 305-807-3110.
New Jeanneau Models Now Available For Our Charter Ownership Program
Discover an investment the whole family can enjoy!
F L O R I DAYAC H T. C O M 305.532.8600 800.537.0050
Miami Beach Marina
MIAMI
390 Alton Road, Suite 3
BEACH
Miami Beach, FL 33139 [email protected]
KEY
WEST
BAHAMAS
Cruising Boat Headquarters
New & Brokerage
Call today for yacht specifications and availability —
many are at our docks now.
www.easternyacht.com
MA RI
MA RI
8' — 50'
MA
49' — 66'
Massachusetts 781-749-8600
25’
26’
26'
27'
27’
28’
28'
28’
28’
29’
29’
29’
30’
30’
30'
30’
31’
32
32'
33’
34’
34’
34’
34’
34’
Catalina from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,200
Beneteau 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24,900
Catalina Capri 26 1991 . . . . . . . .14,900
Seasprite 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16,000
Isl. Packet 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39,900
Beneteau 281 1996 . . . . . . . . . .39,900
Catalina 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33,900
Oday 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19,000
Cape Dory 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16,500
Isl. Packet 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69,500
Ericson 1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16,900
J Boat 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36,500
Catalina 309 2006 NEW . . . .In Stock
Tartan 1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20,900
Catalina 5 from . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18,500
Pearson 1974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12,500
Catalina 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93,400
Hunter 326 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . .84,900
Catalina 320 from . . . . . . . . . . . .69,500
Pearson 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49,700
34’ Hunter 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32,500
Pearson 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44,900
Tartan 1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24,900
Catalina MKII 2005 . . . . . . . . . .132,000
Catalina MKII 2005 NEW . .In Stock
34’
35'
35’
35’
36’
36’
36’
37’
37’
38’
39'
39’
39’
42’
42’
42’
42’
42’
44’
44’
44’
44’
45’
48’
MA RI
32' — 54'
37' — 48'
Catalina MKII from . . . . . . . . . . .89,000
Isl. Packet from . . . . . . . . . . . . .124,900
Isl. Packet 350 1999 . . . . . . . . .180,000
Jeanneau SO 35 2006 NEW . .In Stock
Catalina from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46,900
Pearson 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72,500
Catalina MKII from . . . . . . . . . . .94,900
Isl. Packet 370 2005 NEW . . .In Stock
Tartan 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219,500
Beneteau 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149,900
Pearson 1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115,000
Dehler 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197,900
Dehler 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189,900
Catalina 42 MKII 2005 NEW .In Stock
Isl. Packet 420 2005 NEW . . .In Stock
Beneteau CC 2002 . . . . . . . . . . .179,000
Parson 424 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . .84,900
Allied XL 1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92,500
Islander 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51,900
Vanderstadt Pimpernel 1970 . . . .29,900
Isl. Packet 440 NEW 2006 . . .In Stock
Catalina Morgan NEW 2005 . .In Stock
Jeanneau SO 45 NEW . . . . . .In Stock
Isl. Packet 485 2006 NEW . . .In Stock
Rhode Island 401-683-2200
27' Vancouver 1981..................................35,500
28' O'Day Sloop 280 1989.......................12,000
28' Catalina - NEW 2006...............IN STOCK
29' C&C MK II 1983.....................Sale Pending
30' Catalina 309 - NEW!! 2006.....IN STOCK
30' Catalina Tall Rig New Listing 1988..35,900
30' Catalina 1988 .....................................32,000
31' Pearson 1987............................Sale Pending
31' Beneteau 1991....................................49,000
32' O'Day 322 1988 .................................34,800
32' Catalina 1996 .....................................69,000
34' Catalina - REDUCED!! 2005 ..........SOLD
35' Jeanneau SO - NEW 2006.......IN STOCK
35' Catalina 2002......................................SOLD
36' Catalina - IN STOCK 2006 ...........170,000
36' Jeanneau Sun Fast New Listing 1993 . 89,000
37' Tartan 372 1990 ...............................139,900
40' Catalina 400 - NEW!! 2006.....IN STOCK
40' Hunter 1995......................................110,000
42' Hunter 2003......................................214,900
43' Jeanneau Deck Salon New Listing 2003...255,000
43' Gulfstar MK II 1977 ..........................75,000
44' Catalina Morgan 440 - NEW 2005..IN STOCK
45' Jeanneau SO 2000............................269,000
49' Jeanneau Deck Salon 2005....................SOLD
46' Jeanneau Prestige 46 - NEW 2005...IN STOCK
Jeanneau 49 DS
Catalina 440
2005 Catalina 34 MKII
1987 Pearson 36
Catalina 350
Catalina 36 MKII
2002 Hunter 326
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35
Jeanneau 43 DS
2001 Tartan 3700
2000 Dehler 39
2003 Hunter 42
Jeanneau 54
335 Lincoln St., Hingham, MA 02043
Fax: 781-740-4149 • [email protected]
Catalina 387
39 Alexander Rd., Portsmouth, RI 02871
Fax: 401-683-0961 • [email protected]
Southern Trades
Southern
Trades
Caribbean Yacht Sales
www.southerntrades.com
Box 6, Village Cay Marina, Road Town, Tortola, BVI
284-494-8003, 8009 fax • email: [email protected]
75' Ron Holland aluminum ketch. Stunning 10
guest plus crew layout in excellent condition. This
yacht is in a turn key successful charter program.
NEW LISTING asking $750,000
60' Ocean modern schooner. 6 guests + crew. Fully
refit including sails and paint in '01. Recent service and
ready to go. Prior to current private owner, she was very
popular charter yacht. NEW LISTING $269,000
56' Dufour Sloop ‘94. 5 cabins + crew. US
Documented, Upgraded from charter over the last
2 years. Shows very nice. REDUCED TO
$239,000/offers!
All of Our Listings,
With Photos, Are Available
on Our Web Site
www.southerntrades.com
42' Privilege ‘94. 4 Cabins + 4 heads, galley
down. Gen, A/C, full electronics and a very
well operating charter business $289,000
68’ Irwin Owner’s Version Ketch ‘88. 6 guests
+ crew, all powered furling sails, walk in cockpit,
large RIB. Very successful in crewed charter or
excellent family cruiser, on of the very last ones
built. NEW LISTING: $579,000
51' Hylas. 51’ Hylas 3 cabin, 2 head sloop ‘91.
Furling boom, bow thruster, water maker, full electronics, teak decks. Shows absolutely great. Perfect family
cruiser. JUST REDUCED TO: $249,000
48’ Cheoy Lee Bob Perry design ‘81. 3 cabins +
2 heads, new sails, new canvass, sails and shows
very well...perfect family cruiser NEW LISTING
$144,500
62’ Dynamique ‘94. 4 double cabins + 4 heads. This
was the last one built and is offered by the original
owner for the first time. Not one of the models that has
been heavily chartered... fully equipped. Perfect charter
opportunity. Asking $399,000/offers
46’ Peterson ketch ‘78. Same owner for 24 years !!!
Center cockpit, 2 cabins + 2 heads. One of the most
popular cruising yachts ever. This one is in good
shape. NEW LISTING $135,000
76' South African Catamaran NEW. Full width, on deck,
master stateroom. Guest cabins for 6 + 4 crew. All the most
modern materials and equipment. Hull #2 will be in the Miami
Show Feb. '06. #2 is available now either outright or it is offered
for Fractional Ownership. Sole Caribbean Dealer. $4.1m
68’ Irwin charter Version Ketch ‘88. Hot tub on
deck, 8 guests all with private heads/showers + 4 crew.
Fresh paint, fresh sails and canvass, shows exceptionally well...The most successful monohull in charter:
NEW LISTING $499,000
92’ Custom Steel Motorsailer 2000. 12 guests +
crew. Unbelievable fly bridge with hot tub, large covered aft deck. All the comforts of a motor yacht with
the range of a sailing yacht. Absolutely perfect for
charter. NEW LISTING $1.65m
68’Aluminum cutter by K. Sondergaard (US built) ‘89. 2
Huge VIP suites + crew. 3 private, ensuite heads. Fully air
conditioned, water maker, washer/dryer, beautiful teak decks.
Absolutely stunning yacht with active charter business.
REDUCED TO $499,000
125' Custom Harris schooner '03. 12 guests + 4 crew.
Very economical to operate. Trans Atlantic motor range.
Could be an expedition yacht, excellent luxury crewed
charter yacht, maybe an adventure charter or very
comfortable private world cruiser. Asking $2.95m
58' Voyage. Catamaran ‘03. All necessary equipment and
toys for continued charter. Extremely busy charter schedule
is possible. This yacht shows as new and is a distress sale
(sistership photo) REDUCED TO $950,000
45' Fountaine Pajot. “CASAMANCE” catamaran ‘89. 4
doubles + 2 large heads. Dive compressor + tanks, raft,
large RIB, generator, full elctronics, new upholstry, new
hatches and ports. Shows very well, one of the better
deals on a cat: REDUCED TO $199,000
44’ Catana Catamaran ‘95. 4 double berths + 2
singles + 4 private heads. Generator and 3 air
conditioners. New main in ‘03. Recent engines.
Super successful charter business. REDUCED
TO $279,000
152
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
Massey is the Florida Headquarters
for Catalina and Hunter Yachts
Largest Hunter Inventory in Southeast US
Largest Catalina Inventory in Southeast US
2006 Hunter models include the 31, 33, 36, 38,
41AC, 41DS, 44AC, 44DS, 45CC, 46LE.
Most models in stock. Immediate delivery.
2006 Catalina models include the 28, 309, 310,
320, 34, 350, 36, 387, 400, 42, 440, 470.
Most models in stock. Immediate delivery.
Call Massey Today for Complete Price and Delivery Information
For Online Boat Show – www.MasseyYacht.com
65 Steel Schooner ‘87 . . . .$285,000
53 Roberts Alum.‘96 . . . .$379,000
47 Vagabond ‘87 . . . . . . . .$224,000
46 Morgan ‘84 . . . . . . . . . .$109,000
46 Hunter ‘05 #325 . . . . .$252,000
46 Hunter ‘04 #320 . . . . .$250,900
46 Hunter ‘00 . . . . . . . . . .$244,900
45 Jeanneau 45.2 ‘99 . . . . .$249,000
44 Morgan CC ‘90 . . . . . .$159,900
43 Roberts-Steel ‘91/’95 . .$129,500
42 Vagabond Ketch ‘89 . . .$149,900
42 Hunter CC ‘96 . . . . . . .$157,900
42 Catalina MKII ‘01 . . . . .$194,995
42 Catalina 3-cabin ‘93 . . .$135,000
42 Catalina ‘89 . . . . . . . . . .$99,000
41 Morgan Classic ‘87 . . . .$92,900
41 Hunter ‘02 . . . . . . . . . .$184,900
41 Beneteau 411 ‘00 . . . . .$152,000
40 Catalina MKII ‘01 . . . . .$169,900
40 Caliber LRC ‘96 . . . . . .$159,500
40 Block Island 40 ‘59 . . . .$119,900
38 Morgan ‘78 . . . . . . . . . . .$59,900
38 Catalina 380 ‘02 . . . . . .$139,900
38 Catalina 380 ‘02 . . . . . .$139,500
38 Beneteau ‘98 . . . . . . . .$143,900
37 Jeanneau ‘03 . . . . . . . . .$124,900
37 Island Trader ‘79 . . . . . . .$58,900
37 Hunter ‘96 . . . . . . . . . . .$94,900
37 Hunter ‘84 . . . . . . . . . . .$39,900
36 Catalina ‘99 . . . . . . . . .$106,900
35.5 Hunter ‘95 . . . . . . . . . .$66,000
35 Beneteau ‘88 . . . . . . . . .$56,500
34 Hunter 340 ‘99 . . . . . . .$83,900
34 Hallberg Rassy ‘02 . . . .$224,000
34 Cabo Rico ‘91 . . . . . . .$129,900
34 Cabo Rico ‘90 . . . . . . .$135,000
33 Nauticat ‘86 . . . . . . . . . .$92,900
33 Hunter ‘93 . . . . . . . . . . .$57,000
33 Caliber ‘88 . . . . . . . . . . .$62,900
32 Island Packet ‘94 . . . . .$114,900
32 Hunter ‘01 . . . . . . . . . . .$69,500
32 Hunter Vision ‘89 . . . . . .$39,900
32 Catalina 320 ‘00 . . . . . . .$89,000
32 C&C 99 ‘03 . . . . . . . . .$119,900
31 Catalina 310 ‘01 . . . . . . .$74,900
31 Bristol ‘83 . . . . . . . . . . . .$56,500
30 Nonsuch ‘86 . . . . . . . . . .$75,000
28 Freedom Cat Ketch ‘83 .$29,500
27 Com-Pac ‘87 . . . . . . . . .$26,900
Hunter and Catalina
Custom Outfitting Quote
in less than one hour with
2001 Catalina 42 • 194,995
2002 Hunter 410 • $184,900
2002 Catalina 380 • $139,900
Excellent!
1987 Vagabond 47 • $224,000
1996 Hunter 376 • $99,900
59’ Block Island 40 • $119,900
Just pick your yacht
and call with your options.
Hunter 31, 33, 36, 38, 41, 41DS, 44, 44DS, 45CC, 46LE
Catalina 28, 309, 310, 320, 34, 350, 36, 387, 400, 42, 440, 470
Come to our 2006 All Cruisers
Rendezvous & Boat Show
May 19-21, 2006. Call for Info.
St. Pete, FL 727-824-7262 • TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525
Call Sheryl Boddy for
Best Rate Yacht Finance
Quotes and FREE
Pre-Qualification
941-723-3991
Bill Wiard
Al Pollak
Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 • TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130
Ft. Myers, FL 239-334-3674 • TOLL-FREE 800-763-3157
Since 1977
Three Florida Locations
Brad Crabtree Scott Pursell Frank Hamilton
John Kelley
Ben Fowke
Dan Howland
Terry Clark
Jim Klimczak
[email protected]
Your Satisfaction is Our Measure of Success
Est. 1972
www.rcryachts.com
selected listings
boat listings updated daily
50' C&C Custom 50, 1971 ..........$92,000
40' Beneteau First 40.7 2000 ....$199,000
37' C&C 37, 1983 ........................$59,900
34' C&C 34 1981 ........................$32,500
30' Pearson Flyer 1982 ..............$17,900
28' Albin Cumulus,1980 ............$17,500
28' J/28, 1986..............................$44,900
26' J/80 w/trailer 2000 ..............$37,500
30' Olson 30 1983 ......................$19,900
35' C&C 35-3 1984 ....................$51,900
Dealers for: J/Boats, Sabre
Beneteau & Hunter
tel: (716) 745-3862
fax: (716) 745-9671
e-mail: [email protected]
NEW LIST:
$255,038
DEMO SALE:
$199,900
Prestige Yacht Sales
2005 NAUTICAT 321 Pilothouse Motorsailer
The Nauticat 321 is sporty, elegant, super strong, & comfortable – a great sailing boat
with superior motoring speed as well. The interior of the 321 is a showpiece of Finnish
craftsmanship. Inside & Outside helms; two private cabins; large head/shower; 360
degree view from pilothouse settee; balance of new boat & engine warranties; tall-rig;
bow thruster; auto pilot; plus much, much more. Call Michael @ 800-926-2878
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
155
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CRUISING THE NET
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Large charter yachts worldwide.
(800) 346-5355. CYBA member.
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CHARTERS:
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Gorda,
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Florida Keys
Tropical Bayfront Hideaways
Non-smoking units only, complete
with 22’ sailboats and spectacular
sunsets. (305) 743-8454. www.flsail
ing.homestead.com
Florida Keys-Bahamas
1-800-FLA-BOAT
Best Rates! Sail & power yachts, 19’41’, bareboat or captained. TREASURE HARBOR MARINE, 200
Treasure Harbor Drive, Islamorada,
FL 33036. (305) 852-2458, Fax (305)
852-5743. www.treasureharbor.com
Virgin Islands
Sailors become competent bareboaters aboard Belami, our 53’
Amel Super Maramu! $3195./couple includes groceries. It’s a great
deal! Dr. Wayne Witt, www.be
lamicharters.com
Go Native Yacht Charters
Miami Beach, FL
Easy access to Keys & Bahamas. Bareboat & crewed charters. ASA facility.
uality yachts and service. Privilege
39, Athena 38, (3) Lagoon 38s, Island Spirit 37, Seawind 1200, 1160 &
1000 catamarans. Beneteau 35 &
Hunter 326 & 290. (800) 359-9808.
E-mail: [email protected] Website:
www.gnyc.com
Florida Keys
On 41’ Morgan,
$1895 Week
Sail Bahamas/Florida Keys on well
equipped Morgan 41. Competitive
rates, friendly Captain. Rates starting at
$1895/wk for up to 6 people! www.is
land-adventure.com (800) 876-8929.
Virgin Islands
42’ Luxury Catamaran
With Captain
4 guest, only $4,395/wk, plus food.
(Cook also available.) CHARTERINGS LOWEST PRICE!! (340)
344-4446. www.caribbeansailin
gadventures.com
BVI Bareboat
CSY 44 “walk-over” cutter. Professionally maintained. Great rates - Nanny Cay - Tortola. www.GoldyLux.com
or Wally at 1-800-253-5462.
Charter The Largest
Bareboat Available
In The Virgins
63’ of luxury for 6 lucky guests.
Professionally
maintained.
www.shiwara.com
Experience Cruising
Breathtaking BVI
Open invitation to my home, Charteryacht, S/Y PIRATE’S LADY. R.S.V.P.
www.oceanrealmadventures.com
CHARTER:
POWERBOAT
Yacht Charters & Sales
Sailing School
800.447.0080 [email protected]
www.yachtingvacations.com
PDQ 32 & PDQ 36 From
Hopetown, Bahamas
Fully equipped 32’ OR 36’ Catamarans; or pretty cottages on Harbor
entrance; or combo. Full info & contact @ www.come2hopetown.com
or (561) 202-8163
cruisingworld.com
CRUISING WORLD
MAY 2006
A Couple Of Dogs
Cruises
Luxury yacht charters. 2-4-6 people,
2-crew. USA, Bahamas, Miami, Key
West, Tampa, Out-Islands. Hamilton
Yacht Services. More at:
www.Hamiltonyacht.com
[email protected]
For Classified Ad
Information
call Michelle Roche
401-845-5140
CHARTERS:
EAST COAST
Main
e!
CHARTER BOAT
DATABASE SERVICE
Cruise stunning
Penobscot Bay!
Fully equipped, expertly
maintained bareboats
JOHANSON BOATWORKS
www.jboatworks.com
toll free 877-4JOHANS ▼ Rockland, ME 04841
SAIL MAINE’S
PENOBSCOT BAY & BEYOND
Heart of Maine’s Best Cruising
Great Sail & Power Boats
Grand Banks, Hinckleys, Crealock, O’Day,
Pearson, Hunter, Columbia & Many Others
BUCK’S HARBOR MARINE CHARTERS
www.bucksharbor.com
(207) 348-5253 S. Brooksville, ME 04650
North Carolina
Pamlico Sounds, rivers, Outer Banks
and Ocracoke Island. Bareboat or captained, sail or power, 27-42’. Investment opportunities in Charter/Management available for PACIFIC
SEACRAFT, CATALINA, SAGA.
CAROLINA WIND, (252) 946-4653.
www.carolinawind.com
Lake Champlain
126 miles long. Pristine freshwater
sailing. Secluded coves, quaint harbor
towns await you. Meticulous yachts
28-41’. WINDS OF IRELAND, (800)
458-9301, windsofireland.net
Sail The Sounds
Mystic, CT
Try one of our quality 24’-50’ sailboats. ASA Certification courses.
(860) 536-5486 www.sailthe
sounds.com / (860) 536-4656
www.sailtime.com
Newport, Rhode Island
New Beneteau 42’s, 46’,
& Custom 50’
Classic Hinckley 49’ w/2 cockpits!
Bareboat or Captained. May 1 - Oct.
30. www.bareboatsailing.com (800)
661-4013.
157
Bareboat Charters
Nantucket Sound From
Chatham
Catalina 30. Many Amenities!
$1,350/wk. (508) 945-1870.
Bareboat Martha’s Vineyard
34’ Pacific Seacraft
One of “The World’s Best Sailboats”,
homeport Vineyard Haven, weekly,
(781) 837-2639.
CHARTERS: FOREIGN
Phuket/Thailand
SWAN 55 US$700/week/person, incl. MAXI 77 (25 ft), Bareboat
US$100/day. Bungalows: US$30/day
with aircon, TV, fridge. Tel/Fax: 66
76 381 934; www.biga-sailing.com
Email: [email protected]
Charter The World
Talk To The Experts
With first hand local knowledge of chartering in: Italy, Tonga, Tahiti, New
Zealand, Australia, Galapagos, Greece,
Turkey, Scotland, Finland, Seychelles,
Africa, New Caledonia, B.V.I., Belize,
Caribbean, Bahamas, Sea of Cortez,
Balearic Islands, and Croatia. We know
about travel details, land arrangements,
local provisioning, itineraries and even if
there is peanut butter! Try a cabin on a
crewed monohull or catamaran. Join a
flotilla for a great time with like-minded
sailors. KING YACHT CHARTERS,
INC. (800) 521-7552. info@sailingchar
ters.com www.sailingcharters.com
Greece Yacht Charters
Bareboat, skippered, cabin cruises... US based company. Call toll
free 1-877-850-1519. www.Char
terAYachtinGreece.com GLOBE
MERCHANT.
Greece - Mykonos
Private elegant 58’ sailing yacht. 2
to 8 guests, 5 cabins, 5 WC. Very
fast & impressive. Year-round professional skipper/ guide. Low direct rates from owner (no agents).
www.arianna.gr Email: S/Y-Arian
[email protected]
CHARTERS:
SOUTH PACIFIC
Australia’s
Whitsunday Islands &
Great Barrier Reef
Bareboat yacht & powerboat charters, www.yachtcharters.com.au
Cruise Exotic Fiji
Aboard 53’ Yawl, SeaHawk
www.seahawkfiji.com
Full Service, Captained & Crewed
Island Style Cruising Adventures.
Hawaii Sailing Charters
Featuring Beneteau, Bareboat, ASA
Sailing School. www.honsail.com
(800) 829-0114.
Sail Southern California
80 sailboats available at 6 locations.
Late model boats 27-50’. marinasail
ing.com (800) 262-7245.
So. California Channel Islands
National Park
Experience top sailing conditions
in the WORLD. Santa Barbara Sailing Center. Whales year around,
world class hiking, diving, fishing,
kayaking. (800) 350-9090.
SBSAIL.COM
WindPath Sailing
Stop Dreaming, Start Sailing!
WindPath offers luxury sailboat leaseshares in your local waters for a fraction of the cost of ownership. SF Bay
Area. WWW.WINDPATH.COM [email protected]
Beautiful BC!
Yacht Charters & Instruction
www.bosuns.ca
Cruise the Spectacular Gulf & San
Juan Islands, from Sidney, BC Canada. 1-800-226-3694. BOSUN’S
CHARTERS LTD.
cruisingworld.com
158
Sail British Columbia’s
Gulf Islands
Basic to Advanced Courses. Skippered Sailing Vacations. Save with
US$. (800) 661-5388. www.Capt
Macs.com, [email protected]
CHARTERS:
WEST COAST
CHARTERS: PACIFIC
NORTHWEST
For Classified Ad
Information
call Michelle Roche
401-845-5140
Canada’s Largest
Bareboat Charter Company!
The newest & largest fleet of
Bavaria, Dehler, Hunter & Catalina yachts. Base’s situated in the
Gulf Islands & Desolation Sound
in beautiful British Columbia.
Power & Sail from 30 to 50 feet in
length. TOLL FREE 888-999-6419,
Fax: (604) 687-3267. www.cooper
boating.com
BELLHAVEN
SAILING
SCHOOL
CHARTERS
Bareboat and Luxury Charters
SAIL - POWER
6 day ASA Cruise-N-Learn
www.bellhaven.net Pacific Northwest - San Juan
800 542 8812 [email protected]
714 Coho Way, Bellingham, WA 98225
d.com
orl
m
com
ld.
r
WindPath Sailing
Stop Dreaming, Start Sailing!
WindPath offers luxury sailboat
lease-shares in your local waters for a
fraction of the cost of ownership.
Stamford CT, Cape Cod, MA, Annapolis, MD, Sag Harbor, NY.
WWW.WINDPATH.COM
[email protected]
Lake Champlain
136 miles of freshwater. Sail our 2003
Hunter 356. Uninhabited island anchorages, hiking trails, beaches.
CHAMPLAIN CHARTERS www.champlaincharters.com (518)
963-7278.
ALBATROSS Charters
Greece, Turkey, Italy &
Caribbean Windward Islands
An American owned & operated
company. Sail your dream vacations with Albatross. Quality reliabe charters on the finest yachts.
Monohulls, Catamarans with or
without crew. One Way charters
available. (800) 377-8877, (856)
778-5656. WWW.ALBATROSS
CHARTERS.COM
Desolation Sound
Yacht Charters Ltd.
Discover magnificent DESOLATION SOUND and PRINCESS
LOUISA INLET on one of our
26’-45’ sail or power yachts. Closest full service charter base to
Desolation Sound & northern
Vancouver Island. Toll Free
1-877-647-3815. www.desola
tionsoundyachtcharters.com
ing
ruis
c
.
w
ww
Chesapeake
50’ Navigator Pilothouse with 3 staterooms available for crewed or bareboat charter. www.seafleet.net (310)
561-0095.
Fabulous North Channel,
Canada
Power/sail. 25 boats, 27’-50’. Best
freshwater boating worldwide.
CANADIAN YACHT CHARTERS,
Box 215, Gore Bay, Ontario, P0P
1H0, (800) 565-0022. info@cyc
north.com, www.cycnorth.com
Sail Thailand
And SE Asia aboard fully equipped
and professionally crewed Tayana
55. Great smooth sailing conditions, exotic romantic island anchorages. Rates from $4,950 per
week. www.thailand-sail-char
ters.com Phone: John @ +66 (0)
48-426-206.
ngworld.co
ruisi
c
.
w
ww
wo
www.AnnapolisBayCharters.NET
The BEST on the BAY since 1980
Check out our great selection of
over 25 new and late model monohulls and catamarans. ABC the
Most Trusted Name in Sailing on
the Bay! Call Carolyn today and
discover excellence without high
prices. (800) 991-1776. We now
offer charters throughout the
Caribbean.
CHARTERS:
GREAT LAKES/
NORTH CHANNEL
www.cruisi
ngw
MARKETPLACE
Chesapeake Bay
Awarded “Best of the Bay” for yacht
charters. Bareboat, captained, or ASA
instructional charters on new, fully
equipped and impeccably maintained sailing yachts. Visit our website. BAYSAIL SCHOOL & YACHT
CHARTERS, www.baysail.net (410)
939-2869.
CLASSIFIEDS
ONLINE
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
MARKETPLACE
EXTENDED
CHARTERS
A New Concept In Cruising
Live The Dream
For A Month Or Year
Exotic locations, luxurious catamarans, affordable, doable, fun. WHY
WAIT? www.Seabbatical.com (780)
419-3882.
CHARTS
Charts
Savings Up To 80%
High Definition Prints
Current edition charts reproduced
on heavyweight bond paper. So. Pacific, Mex, Med, USA, Caribbean,
Worldwide. Free index. Sample chart
$5. Affordable electronic chart backups. 31 years quality service.
BELLINGHAM CHART PRINTERS
DIVISION, TIDES END LTD., P.O.
Box 1728C, Friday Harbor, WA
98250. (800) 643-3900, FAX 360468-3939, www.tidesend.com •
Email: [email protected]
Whitby 42
Ted Brewer Designed
6 located from Boston to Florida & 2
on the Great Lakes. Inventories vary
and most are extensive. From
$99,500. Call Doug (705) 527-0442
or www.yachtsls.com
Endurance 44
Ocean Ready
Excellent condition long keel heavy
displacement cutter. Watermaker,
liferaft, windvane, autopilot, wind
generator, solar panels 2004, rib &
15hp, SSB 2004, radar, chart plotter
2004, freezer 2004, separate fridge
2004, lots of new items added. Major overhaul by Hinckleys of Maine.
Ready to go, lying Ft. Lauderdale.
$120,000. Email: phillip.liber
[email protected] (786) 287-1191
http://delphinus.bravehost.com
Garcia Passoa 50, Year 2001
Thoroughly equipped, autonomy,
comfort, performance. Asking price
590,000 Euros VAT paid. www.pas
soa50.com Contact: [email protected]
Lord Nelson 41
1982. New Yanmar, radar, GPS.
Many upgrades. Great liveaboard
blue water cruiser. Bay City, MI. fair
[email protected]
MacGregor 26M
New, nicely equipped, priced to
move, possible delivery. Salt Lake
City, Utah. Paul, (801) 209-0293.
Don’t Buy The Wrong Boat!
Use seasoned experts - not brokers for objective advice on purchase/refit. Highly experienced, professional
consultants. Surprisingly reasonable;
very cost-effective. YACHT ADVISORS LLC, (410) 703-4500.
www.yachtadvisors.com
CRUISING WORLD
MAY 2006
Hallberg-Rassy HR39
2000 Model, Atlantic vet outfitted
for cruising, lying Alameda, CA (408)
756-2750.
BOATS WANTED
Donate Boats
RV’s, Junkers, Property, Garage items.
Running or Not. Tax-deductible. Free
Removal. Homeless Ministries SM,
(800) 903-4483. Email: Rando
[email protected]
DAYSAILERS/DINGHIES
Cal 40 Hull #66
Re-fit in 02 & 06. New engine, awlgrip hull & decks. CRyder@Ran
dRFlorida.com, Chris (561)
626-8550.
Pacific Seacraft Orion 27 MKII
83 Delivered 84 one owner “Custom
Show Boat”. View @ http://mem
bers.cox.net/wrr $66,250 firm.
Oceans? Ready !
45’ Cape Dory Ketch
Classic beauty, solid, exceptional seakeeping, extensive upgrades.
$250,000. (207) 592-2420.
Nonsuch 33 (1988)
$140,000 Cdn. Impeccably, professionally maintained, continuously
upgraded. Beautiful fresh water boat
with all the extras. (Icom, Robertson, Lighthouse, Northstar, Garmin,
Seafrost, Espar) Joseph Harris - (514)
695-6957.
BOATS FOR SALE
MacGregor * Catalina * Hunter
Beneteau * Hobie Cat * Precision
Largest sailboat dealer in Rocky
Mtns. All trailerable models in
stock. Marine store, repairs,
lessons, financing. THE ANCHORAGE, Boulder, CO, (303)
823-6601. http://www.theanchor
age.com
Belami Is For Sale
We have a new Amel54 on order!
We with some sadness must sell BelAmi our 1998 Amel Super Maramu. Lying in St. Thomas where she
had spent her entire life,loving care
has kept her in superb condition.
All the standard equipment plus
much more. New sails. She is ready
to go anywhere and do anything
asked of her. $450,000 includes as
much orientation as you need by
me to know her well. For info and
sea trials call me. Dr. Wayne Witt,
(865) 995-2884.
You COULD Circle The Globe
In A 40 Foot Nordhavn
But Why Not Travel In A
Pristine 50 Footer?
Ocean Bear, launched late in ‘97, is a
rare dual walk-around (safer in all seas
and easier to dock) version with Niad
stabilizers and bow AND stern thrusters.
A $100,000 plus retrofit in 2004 including the same computers Navy Seals use
- and state of the art radar and AIS!
$720,000. Contact Captains Steve or
Jo-Ann Leimberg at steve@leim
bergservices.com or at 484-432-6441 or
610-529-4050, eastern U.S. time.
Inflatable Boats
Lowest prices in USA! 11’ dinghy
only $899. Sizes 7’ to 14’. (866) 2997740. www.BoatsToGo.com
BOAT PLANS/KITS
James Wharram Designs
Catamarans from 14-63’
Design Book $26.50 (Can. $31), includes shipping, JAMES WHARRAM DESIGNS, Greenbank Rd. Devoran, Truro, TR3 6PJ, UK. Tel. +44
01872 864792, Fax +44 01872
864791. www.wharram.com
BOAT BUILDING
MATERIALS
Epoxy Fiberglass Carbon Kevlar
www.raka.com
Best selection. Lowest prices. Daily
UPS shipping. Raka Catalog. (772)
489-4070. www.raka.com
TAYANA 37 PHX
Cutter Tallrig Bowthruster. Lighthouse windlass, Bristol! Finest
example afloat. Serious enquiries
only. Details: powdertrap@island
net.com (866)769-8727.
cruisingworld.com
159
MARKETPLACE
MARINE ENGINES &
ACCESSORIES
Save Your Aft!
Using one of our 1400 + patterns, or
your pattern, let our craftsmen create a
comfortable, durable, and stylish set of
all-weather cushions for your cockpit.
Find your custom, closed cell foam
cushions at www.bottomsiders.com
or call us toll free at 800-438-0633
for more info.
BottomSiders, 2305 Bay Ave., Hoquiam, WA 98550
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 360-533-4474
Peel and stick
contact
adhesive
system
Washable, high
temperature
engine room
surface
High
density
polymer
sound barrier
Sound
absorbing
fire retardant
foam
Shut Up!
Up to 90% diesel-noise reduction
with SPM™ Soundproofing Tiles.
Many more unique products.
www.sailorssolutions.com (631) 7541945.
Type 316 Stainless Steel
Heats faster. Stays hot longer. 10 year
warranty. Made in USA. 17 models vertical - horizontal. (508) 541-9133,
www.allcraft.net
DIVE ALL DAY
SUPER
SNORKEL
Enjoy real diving freedom with an
WITH
™
unlimited air supply! It’s compact
and lightweight. You can take it to
your favorite dive spots.
Call or Write for Information On All Models
INNOVATIVE DESIGNS INC.
3785 Alternate 19 North Suite C
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
(727) 934-4619
MORE GEAR
High Quality,
Custom Innerspring
Mattresses
Mast Mate
Climb your mast alone with Mast
Mate. Flexible nylon ladder. Attaches to any mainsail track or slot.
Thousands in use. Satisfaction guaranteed. Made in the USA for 20 yrs.
Free brochure. 21 Ocean Street,
Rockland, ME 04841. (800) 5480436. WWW.MASTMATE.COM
Visa/MC/Amex.
• Mattress folds for easy installation
• Designed for the marine
environment
• Available in various firmnesses &
thicknesses
• Several V-Berth options available
• Masts
• Booms
• Hardware
• Rigging
Dwyer Aluminum Mast Co.
203-484-0419
160
Wind Power
Water Power
Alternators
Solar Power
Inverters
Chargers
Batteries
Providing Affordable
Power Systems For
Over 30 Years!
FREE CATALOG! HAMILTON
FERRIS CO, 3 Angelo Drive, Dept
CW, Bourne, MA 02532. (508) 7439901, FAX (508) 743-9961.
HANDCRAFT
MATTRESS CO.
800-241-7751
dwyermast.com
POWER TO SPARE!
Dinghy-Tow
If you’re planning to cruise or are
actively cruising, join the growing
number of sailors who have already
solved the problems of towing, storing and motor removal with DinghyTow. Call toll-free 1-888-DINGHYTOW (1-888-346-4498), Fax (905)
888-9440, www.dinghy-tow.com
www.hamiltonferris.com
®
West: 1935 Deere Ave., Irvine, CA 92606
East: 1602 NW 23rd Ave,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
800-241-7751 • Fax 714-241-8316
www.boatbeds.com
Rigging Only
Small ad, small prices. Winches,
standing rigging, furlers, windlasses, life lines, travelers, running
rigging etc. Catalog: www.riggin
gonly.com, [email protected],
(508) 992-0434.
TANK TENDER
The Original Precision
Tank Measuring System!
Accurate tank soundings have never been easier when one TANK
TENDER monitors up to ten fuel
and water tanks. Reliable, nonelectric and easy installation.
HART SYSTEMS, (253) 858-8481,
Fax (253) 858-8486, www.thetank
tender.com
R
A less costly ROPE &
WEED CUTTER which
is easier to install; under
water if necessary
www.prop-protector.com
Fax 514-697-0911 • 1-800-618-6748
Traditional And Electronic
Navigation Equipment
FREE, world’s largest navigation catalog. Astra IIIB marine sextant, Celesticomp V computer, GPS, nightvision, plotting tools, weather instruments, software, electronic charts,
star charts, radios, binoculars, books,
videos, and more! CELESTAIRE, 416
S. Pershing, Wichita, KS 67218. Tel:
(316) 686-9785, Fax: (316) 686-8926.
Email: [email protected]. See entire catalog at http://Celestaire.com
cruisingworld.com
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
™
Four models adjustable to fit boats up to 14': Univer-sal
Model, $74.95 (pictured), for inflatables up to 350lbs
with no internal lifting eyes. Uses single lifting point. XL3
or XL4 Series, $82.95 or $105.95, for
RIBs up to 450lbs with 3 or 4 internal lifting eyes. Uses
single lifting point and SS hardware. For Davits, $98.95, for
inflatables up to 400lbs to be raised/stored by a set of
davits, includes SS hardware. (all plus S&H)
Sea-Steps
MARKETPLACE
Dinghy-Lift
™
Sea-Steps are lightweight, non-scratching,
soft nylon boarding and safety steps. 4”
wide webbing cradles your foot, as the grab
handle steadies your climb. Attaches to
cleats, winches, or inside inflatables for
easy re-boarding.
1-Step: $23.95, 2-Step: $34.95,
3-Step: $45.95(All plus S&H)
C-Level, Inc., Box 9165, Noank, CT 06340 1-800-998-8683 www.clevel.com
BUGBUSTERS
Lead ballasted companionway &
hatch insect screens. Sogeman Inc.
Tel: (800) 261-9004, Fax: (800) 2611165. www.sogeman.com
Boat Leather
(206) 284-9110, (800) 468-9110, FAX:
(206) 283-7613. www.boatleather.com,
[email protected]
Marine
Refrigeration
Follow Me TV®
A 10-10-90 system. 10 minutes rail
mount or elsewhere. Get satellite
dish/receiver $20 on Internet. Enjoy
digital TV at 10% of the price—90%
of the utility. Understand approaching adverse weather. Save slip fees—
anchor out. Enjoy digital—favorite
shows, music and movies—stay in
touch swinging 720°. Unconditional
guarantee, $896.90 includes powerful
“Find” feature, s&h $35. Thousands
proven since 1996, in Bahamas and
Cuba. Call Ray, Dave or Paul, (877)
365-5696. Is a 10-90 trade-off right
for you? Follow Me Company, PO
Box 101, Royal Oak, MD 216620101, (843) 681-6274. E-MAIL: fol
[email protected] WEB SITE:
www.followmetv.com
Stainless Steel
Extensive line of marine hardware,
rigging & fittings at reasonable prices.
Featuring Suncor stainless. Catalog
call: 1-888-433-3484. Order online:
BosunSupplies.com
The FOLDAWAY Stainless Steel
Folding Boarding Ladder
The one you can always depend on!
Over 300 pound capacity. Standard
ladder 15” wide with extended length
of 70”. For boats of average freeboard,
provides two steps underwater.
Mounts to almost any rail or track.
MYSTIC STAINLESS AND ALUMINUM LLC, (860) 536-2236, Fax:
860-536-2326 foldaway@mysticstain
less. com www.mysticstainless.com
• Increased capacity
• No fans or pumps
• Heat transferred directly
to surrounding water
instead of circulated as
hot air inside the boat
• No extra holes drilled in hull
& no protruding componets
• Replaces existing galley
drain skin fitting
We have a complete range of marine
refrigeration units and refrigerators air
or water cooled.
Winter Storage Covers
Color coded aluminum frames, canvas covers, all inclusive. TOP SHOP,
INC, (800) 268-4186, Check website
for available patterns www.top
shop.on.ca
CRUISING WORLD
MAY 2006
3400 Gateway Drive, Unit #107
Pompano Beach, FL 33069
Phone 1-800-422-9711
Fax (954) 979-2533
E-mail: [email protected]
www.indelmarineusa.com
161
MARKETPLACE
LED Cabin And Running Lights
www.bebi-electronics.com
High quality. High output. Low Cost.
SoPac Cruiser Proven.
Valence Marine
Go To
www.ValenceMarine.com
for the best marine electronics at
super discount pricing.
Wells Arch Davit
www.wellsmarine.com
A place for all your stuff and a davit
strong enough for your RIB & outboard. (954) 975-8288.
ThermalDynamicsSales.com
A Marine refrigeration company offering the finest in refrigeration at
unbeatable prices since 1990. FREE
standard shipping on most items.
Call us today (203) 710-9741.
Sunbrella / Marine Fabrics
Supplies for canvas work & boat interiors. Free catalog. BEACON FABRIC & NOTIONS, www.beaconfab
ric.com (800) 713-8157.
Welcome Aboard Catalog
Featuring a wide variety of unique
and exclusive boating items. Make
any size bed quick and easy with our
All Season Sleep System & Storage
Pillow. Available in V-berth, King,
Queen & Single in 9 colors with up
to 300 thread count 100% cotton
sheets. Custom boat mats & cockpit
kits with sunbrella trim. Custom imprinted cups and napkins and much
more! Free Catalog, 1-800-295-2469
or www.Welcome-Aboard.com
FridgeFreeze
Portable 12/24 & 110-Volt
Refrigerator/Freezer
Super-low amp draw. Will freeze or
refrigerate in over 110 degree heat.
(619) 220-6003. www.fridgefreeze.com
martekdavits.com
Three Davit Models, Platform
Mounts. Engine Hoist, Accessories. Visa/MC/Amex (727)
686-5020
Boat Curtains/Shades
See our website: www.shipshades.com
or call (800) 866-1948.
SELF-STEERING GEAR
Aries Vane Gear
Parts & Replacement Kits
Helen Franklin, 48 Saint Thomas St,
Penryn, Cornwall, UK TR10 8JW.
Tel: +44 1326 377467. Fax: +44 1326
378117.
TO ORDER YOUR
Fenderstep™
Visit us online at www.neatboat.com
or call (603) 232-6897.
HydroBubble OUTPERFORMS
Any Other Anchor
We GUARANTEE it! Satisfaction or
your Money Back! HUGE CLEARANCE on all SeaLock stainless & galvanized CQR & Bruce-type anchors!
www.HydroBubble.com 888-282-2535.
All Hand Etched With Your
Favorite Boat And Name
Perfect nautical gifts! YAHOO! “Top
Service!”
1273 Scott St., San Diego 92106
619-226-2622
www.watermakerstore.com
All New Sailomat 700
State-of-the-art design. Superior performance. Website brochure. Factory-direct. Worldwide delivery. Email:
[email protected]
New Or Old Refrigeration Boxes
Or To Cool The Boat’s Interior
Use Heat Shield radiant space technology. www.heatshieldmarine.com.
(941) 639-5279 phone/Fax Email:
[email protected]
ANCHOR SAFELY
Anchoring Sail works like a wind
vane to reduce swinging. You’ll sleep
more soundly. www.BannerBayMa
rine.com (201) 452-2834
FROLI Sleep Systems
Sleep Just Got Better......
Highly flexible, low-profile, adjustable
springs install under the existing cushion and provide excellent comfort,
point-by-point support and moisture
mitigation. www.NickleAtlantic.com
Toll Free: (888) 463-7654.
want results from your
advertising dollars?
cruisingworld.com
162
[email protected]
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
NEW UPDATED WEBSITE
www.selfsteer.com
Click on
“Boats and Photos”
2400 different
boats and more
than 4000 photos
Punta
Gorda,
Florida
NAUTICAL GOLD CREATIONS
F I N E
J E W E L E R S
S I N C E
1 9 7 8
H a n d w o v e n Tu r k ' s H e a d R i n g s
“Our classic handwoven turk's head rings are
designed for comfort, durability and style.”
Lifetime repair guarantee. Your complete satisfaction,
or money back within 30 days. Call 800 368 5595 for
color catalogue. www.NauticalGoldCreations.com
CHECK IT OUT!
Nautical Gold Creations
52 South West Albany Avenue
Stuart, FL. 34994-2099
INSTRUCTION/
SAILING SCHOOLS
WE SPECIALIZE IN SELF-STEERING
FACTORY DIRECT - WORLDWIDE - SINCE 1977
Yacht Charters & Sales
Sailing School
800.447.0080 [email protected]
www.yachtingvacations.com
Women Under Sail
Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced.
Sail instructions for women. 3-day live
aboard courses-coastal Maine. (207)
865-6399. Email: [email protected],
www.womenundersail.com
Offshore Swan Program
Instructional Course
June 23rd Bermuda to New York on a
Swan only $1000, July -Sail NY to
Canada and back (7 or 14 days), October - NARC Rally. www.sailopo.com,
1-800-4-PASSAGe, (631) 423-4988.
Scanmar International
432 S. 1st. Street, Point Richmond,
CA 94804. Toll Free: 888-WINDVANE (946-3826), Tel: (510) 215 2010, Fax: (510) 215 - 5005, Email:
[email protected]
Chesapeake Bay
Awarded “School of the Year” by the
American Sailing Assn. Full range of
certified courses on beautiful new
and recent model sailboats. Visit our
website! BAYSAIL SCHOOL &
YACHT CHARTERS, www.bay
sail.net (410) 939-2869.
Gold And Platinum Bands
Color brochure www.davidvirtue.com
(800) 735-2058.
Chesapeake Bay & BVI
ASA Certified classes on Beneteau
sailboats. Beginner to Advanced. Offshore passages & charter opportunities. (888) 302-7245 or UpperBay
Sailing.com
DVDS / CDS / VIDEOS
Sailors’ Guide To The
Erie Canal or Rideau Canal
Award winning programs. For details
go to: www.modernmediaee.com
Learn To Sail
Ft. Lauderdale to the Keys or Bahamas. Novice to Advanced. 1-888352-1697. www.SailMasters.net
MARINE ART / MUSIC
CAPE HORN
INTEGRATED SELF-STEERING
Above all others in elegance, performance, strength, below most in cost.
Special models for boats with scoop
stern. CAPE HORN MARINE
PRODUCTS. 1-800-CAP HORN
(227-4676), tel +1 (450) 479-6314;
(fax 1895). [email protected];
www.capehorn.com
SAN DIEGO SAILING SCHOOL
All ASA certifications. 50 boats, 3 locations. Live aboard classes, 3-5-7
day. (888) 834-BOAT. seaforthboa
trental.com
Learn To Sail
Monterey Bay
All levels ASA School & Charters.
PACIFIC YACHTING, Santa Cruz,
Calif. www.pacificsail.com 1-800374-2626, (831) 423-SAIL.
www.flemingselfsteer.com
NEW. 4th generation servo.
“Equipe“ range, 20’-45’. From $1900.
Sea freight free.
E-MAIL YOUR
CLASSIFIED AD
401-845-5180
BOAT LETTERING &
GRAPHICS
Vinyl Boat Letters
Design & Order On-line
www.boatletter.com
Premium letters - Low Prices. NEXT
DAY SHIPPING !!
SECURITY
Marine Intrusion Alarm
www.wasaga.com/tantyme
Slip, anchor, storage. 12VDC, very
low standby. Unique features. Easy
installation. TANTYME ENGINEERING. PH/FAX (705) 429-8481.
cruisingworld.com
CRUISING WORLD
MAY 2006
Barb Janisch’s Sloop Off Saba
Janisch Studio announces Limited Edition canvas giclee prints of Sloop Off Saba. Signed & numbered, unframed prints
measure 15” x 20” at $245 and 20” x
26” at $425 including shipping. Send
check or money order to Janisch Studio, PO Box 910153, San Diego, CA
92191 or call (858) 922-7866. Credit
cards welcome. www.barbjanisch.com
NAUTICAL GIFTS &
HOUSEWARES
Sailing Trophies
www.sailingtrophies.com
Designers of exceptional sailing
awards, acrylic sailboats, and executive gifts. (877) 393-2443.
163
MARKETPLACE
JEWELRY
MARKETPLACE
BVI - Caribbean - Bahamas Florida - Croatia - Pacific
Northwest
Monohulls/Catamarans.
Private/Group. ASA. Chef available.
Families welcome! OFFSHORE passages, 1-3 weeks: Mexico - California
- Hawaii - Canada. www.OrcaSail
ing.com/Learn, (800) 664-6049.
Start Your Own Sailing Business
Let WindPath Sailing show you
how! Low up front investment, turn
key sailing operation in your local
waters. Visit the website, then click
the “Start your own sailing
business” link on the lower
right WWW.WINDPATH.COM [email protected]
Camp Sea Gull
Sail On Program
Come live aboard a 70’ gaff-rigged
schooner for an exciting 12-day leadership program. Rising 9th through
12th grade young men can enjoy
high adventure while exploring the
NC Outer Banks! Call (252) 2491111 or visit www.seagull-seafar
er.org for details.
Fractional Ownership
Charter Business
Beautiful 90’ staysail schooner. Solid
vessel, excellent business plan, profitable opportunity. World wide owner’s weeks, luxury charters, adventure cruises, humanitarian missions.
(203) 246-1369
Tracey School
ASA sailing instruction for Catamarans (Maine Cat 41) and Keelboats.
Located 35 min. from Manhattan.
www.traceyschool.com (732) 7396765.
MARINE BOOKS
The Island Packet Newsletter!!
If you enjoy Cruising World you’ll
love this 44 page “magazine” too.
It’s the best-kept secret in the biz!!
Quarterly subscription - $12.00.
Please call Karsten at
INSURANCE
Yacht Insurance
& Bluewater Specialist
MORGAN WELLS of Jack Martin
& Associates, Independent Agent and
consultant, will quote with “A” rated
USA companies or Lloyds of London. (800) 421-8818, (410) 626-1000
x 5723. [email protected]
MedExPlan
International Medical Insurance
For Cruisers
Direct Billing Clincs in 50 Countries.
info@ / www.medexplan.com 1-800507-0545.
888-724-5479
SAILS
Stuart * Florida * Ft. Lauderdale
(772) 283-2306 (800) 428-1384
Fax: (772) 283-2433, Website:
www.macksails.com
Atlantic Sail Traders
Buy * Sell * Trade
New * Used * Sails
Serving Sailors Worldwide Since
1985* We are a Full Service Loft*
Huge Inventory of Used Sails* Top
Quality Custom Made New Sails*
Satisfaction Guaranteed* Cash for
your Surplus Sails* Canvas, Repairs*
Roller Furling Systems, Line* VIEW
OUR ONLINE INVENTORY AT
atlanticsailtraders.com 1-800-WIND800, (941) 351-6023, Fax (941) 9571391. 1818 Mango Avenue, Sarasota,
FL 34234.
New & Used Sails
Buy-Sell-Consign
Large Inventory. (800) 783-6953,
(727) 327-5361. www.mastheadsail
inggear.com
Sabre Sails
Sails designed for YOUR BOAT &
BUDGET. www.sabresails.com (850)
244-0001.
BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES
Well-Established, Profitable
Caribbean yacht charter company
for sale. Substantial assets. Freehold
marina purchase or an attractive
long-term lease are part of the package. Owners wish to retire. For further info, email: barebum@carib
surf.com or fax: (784) 456-9238.
Sailing Resort For Sale
Florida Keys business, well established, on small island. Three cottages, three boats, three docks, haul
out facility, and all inventory. Gross
$100K + annually. Asking $1.7
million. Call Tom (305) 743-8454
Profitable Caribbean
Yacht Charter Business
Live, sail and work aboard this luxury 50’ catamaran. Business nets
$200,000/yr. Perfect for couple that
loves to entertain. $495,000 includes
yacht, new $20,000 tender, all water
toys, website, training. Tons of extras.
(284) 499-1121.
164
Over 1,000 Sails In Stock!!
Catalina, MacGregor, Venture, Cal,
Santana, O’Day, Pearson, Islander,
Hunter & more. Fully guaranteed.
FREE CATALOG! THE SAIL
WAREHOUSE, Phone (831) 6465346. Complete new and used sail
inventory online at www.thesail
warehouse.com
www.leesails.com
Save money on finest custom made sails of first-class
cloth, handcrafted workmanship, computer-assisted design and 59 years experience. Thousands of satisfied
customers. Fully guaranteed. For quotes please contact
your nearest LEE SAILS distributors.
US EASTERN REGIONS:
www.LeeSailsNE.com
[email protected] Toll Free: 1-877-665-7245
HAWAII:
320 Ilimalia Loop, Kailua, HI 96734
(808) 254-6501 ask for Paul, Fax: (808) 262-2690
NORTH CALIFORNIA:
1327Webster St.,UnitB-307,Alameda, CA 94501
(510) 523-3337 Ask for Peter
OREGON STATE:
10997 NW Supreme Ct., Portland, OR 97229
Phone (503) 641-7170
CANADA EASTERN REGIONS:
4966 Brown Rd., R.R.#1, Ridgeway, ON I0S 1N0
(905) 894-8243 (Phone and Fax)
OTHER US/CANADIAN REGIONS:
P.O. Box 19567, Vancouver, B.C., V5T 4E7
1-800-533-9567 Fax: (604) 685-1234
[email protected]
SAILMATES
Sailboat Wanted
With Captain who is in his 60’s,
SWM, N/S, with a good sense of humor. This SWF in her 60’s, blond,
blue eyes, 128#s, very energetic, enjoys people, loves to sail and bareboat
in the BVI’s. I’m on the West Coast
of Florida and Ohio. starcatch
[email protected]
Sailboat Charter Company In
Key West
For Sale
[email protected]
Dreaming Of Turning Your
Passion Into Money &
doing so while living in paradise?
Step into a successful private sailing
charter business today and start living your dream. www.morn
ingstararuba.com 297-736-5620
Somerset Sails
New & Used Sails. Roller-Furler and
Sail Packages! Sail Repairs. Low
Prices. (800) 323-WING(9464)
www.somersetsails.com
CREW WANTED
SERVICES
St. Brendan’s Isle, Inc
Mail Service & More
No Annual Fees - Serving cruisers
worldwide since 1988. Income Tax
Free Florida. 411 Walnut Street,
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043-3443.
(800) 544-2132. www.boatmail.net
Email: [email protected]
Voyagers Mail
Forwarding Service
Serving Cruising Yachtsmen since
1994. Sign up online at vmfs.com
and save $20 or call 1-800-860-9256.
want results from your
advertising dollars?
[email protected]
- New and used in stock - Custom built to order - Furling packages -
Crew Wanted
South Pacific
Outer island expedition. July - October.
Shared costs. Novice sailors welcome.
Website: www26.brinkster.com/moet
Email: [email protected]
Sailing doesn’t have to
be expensive
CREW AVAILABLE
Phone 1-800-611-3823
Chef, For Private Yacht/Home
9 years experience, merchant marine, chief cook, triple security clearance, [email protected]
Fax (239) 693-5504
Email- [email protected]
www.nationalsail.com
BuyQuality Sails
Direct at 25-40%
Savings! CD
CRUISING DIRECT
SAILS
www.cruisingdirect.com
Call 1-888-424-7328 for free catalog
Fax toll free: 1-888-237-2457
Produced and Serviced by North Sails
OFFSHORE PASSAGE
OPPORTUNITIES
Offshore Passagemaking
Ft. Lauderdale - Bermuda
Advanced Instruction - ASA Certifications. Celestial Navigation & Offshore Passagemaking. BLUE WATER SAILING SCHOOL. (800) 2551840. www.bwss.com
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
LINEKIN BAY SAILING RESORT
Large fleet of sailboats, instruction
for novices. Heated saltwater pool,
tennis, canoeing, fishing, seafood &
lobster. Boothbay Harbor, ME
04538. 1-866-847-2103. www.linek
inbayresort.com
Offshore Passagemaking
Instruction
Expeditions crossing the Atlantic, Europe, and Scandinavia aboard a Hallberg-Rassy 46. www.mahina.com
(360) 378-6131.
Key Largo
Tropical Private Cottage
With 22’ Sailboat
Kayaks, paddle boats, fishing/snorkel
gear. Tiki Bar-B-Q, spectacular sunsets! $150-$250/night. KEYLIME
SAILINGCLUB.COM (305) 4513438, Brochure.
Offshore Passage
Opportunities
Need Crew? Want to Crew? Call 1800-4-PASSAGe (1-800-472-7724)
Free Newsletter & Membership Application. Mixture of free & shared expense opportunities. www.sailopo.com.
Since 1993.
Florida’s Beautiful
Charlotte Harbor On Gulf
1998 MacGregor 26X Sailboat
Completely furnished waterfront
home. 3 bedrooms, solar heated
screened pool, all the amenities.
Brochure. (941) 624-0153.
BluewaterMiles.com
Northeast to Bermuda and Virgins—
Expert US Sailing Instruction including Celestial—Hylas and Baltic
Yachts—Unforgettable Adventure.
(646) 509-0616.
WATERFRONT
REAL ESTATE
Offshore Passage Instruction
St. Thomas - Bermuda Chesapeake
ASA School. Instruction in navigation and ocean passage. FAIR WIND
SAILING. (866) 380-SAIL, www.fair
windsailing.com
Just Do It!
Call Us About The
Neuse River & The ICW
Waterfront homes, lots & acreage.
Interior lots with boat slips. Free information package. VILLAGE REALTY, PO 829, Oriental, NC 28571.
(800) 326-3317. www.pamliconc.com/village.htm email villagere
[email protected]
Experienced Sailors
One sailor or a couple to join owner/skipper and wife, cruising quality
80 foot sailboat from Costa Rica July 2006, to Gibraltar June 2007, via
Tierra del Fuego. All or segments.
Cost sharing basis. Respond email
[email protected] or phone
(212) 632-1308.
Professional, Expert
Passagemaking Instruction
Experience during Atlantic/Caribbean
voyages, Ocean Voyaging Seminars. “Adventures in Learning.” www.off
shorevoyager.com (877) 36-OCEAN.
YACHT DELIVERIES
Teal Yacht Services
Coastal/worldwide. We do it right
at reasonable rates. 668 Main, Bay
Head, NJ 08742. (732) 295-8225.
Powerboat & Sailboat
www.globaldeliveryservice.com
Non-smoking, college-degreed captains. Located near major boating
centers. (832) 541-7569, gds@mari
nanet.net
Bluewater Yacht Delivery
Professional 30 year Master 190,000
miles. Norm Connell, (410) 5861076, (240) 274-4654, connell
[email protected]
RESORTS/RENTALS
Florida Keys
Tropical Bayfront Hideaways
Non-smoking units only, complete
with 22’ sailboats and spectacular
sunsets. (305) 743-8454. www.flsail
ing.homestead.com
CRUISING WORLD
MAY 2006
Punta Gorda Isles, Florida
We’ve been called by Money magazine, one of the “Best Places to Live”.
Our information package will show
you why. Miles of residential canals
with access to unsurpassed sailing,
powerboating and fishing on beautiful Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf.
Area DVD available on request.
COLDWELL BANKER MORRIS
REALTY, INC., (800) 634-8512.
www.cbMorrisRealty.com
Boating Capital
Of North Carolina
Quaint village on the ICW & Pamlico Sound. Protected anchorages, waterfront homes, lots, villas, acreage &
boat slips w/deep water. Free maps &
info package. MARINER REALTY,
P.O. Box 750, Oriental, NC 2857l.
www.orientalncwaterfront.com (800)
347-8246.
SW-Florida, Charlotte Harbor
Boaters paradise! For listings of
Homes, Condo’s or Vac. Land, contact CHRISTA MURCH, Realtor,
Century 21 Aztec, Free: (877) 3830324, (941) 235-5609, cm@sun
line.net , www.sunnylandhomes.com
Punta Gorda
#1 place to live in Florida. Sail the
Gulf or explore Charlotte Harbor
from your own dock. CONTACT
the Andreae Group, experienced
boaters and #1 Realtors for waterfront properties. (866) 761-8138.
RE/MAX
Harbor
Realty.
www.liveonthewater.com
or
[email protected]
cruisingworld.com
Punta Gorda Isles, FL
Money Magazine
“Best Small Place to Live”
Boaters’ paradise - Direct gulf access
from your dock at affordable prices.
Land - Resale homes - New construction - or Condos. Call TOLL
FREE for information packet. FIVE
STAR REALTY, 1203 W. Marion Avenue, Punta Gorda, Florida 33950.
(800) 788-1203 or visit our website:
www.fivestarrealty.com
MARKETPLACE
Adventure Sail in Square Rig!
Join our trainee crew, Nova Scotia to
the Great Lakes, June-Sept 2006. Short
sections available. Barque PICTON
CASTLE, (902) 634-9984. Info@pic
ton-castle.com Web: www.pictoncastle.com
SOFTWARE/
HARDWARE
Dawson Creek,
North Carolina
New, exclusive gated waterfront
community on pristine Dawson
Creek. Private community center
with marinas. Homesites starting at
$44,900. Financing available. Coastal
Marketing, New Bern, NC. 1-800566-5263. www.boatingproperty.com
St. Petersburg
www.SetSailForHome.com
Best values on FLORIDA GULF
COAST. Spectacular Sailing, Anchorages, Lifestyle, Homes, condos with deep, protected water.
Fellow cruiser, Buyers agent Penny
Flaherty, Future Home Realty, 800668-2127 # 1217
Sunny Southern California
Sail Year Round
Waterfront, beachfront, and homes
with boat slips. Marina Del Rey to
San Diego. Close to Catalina and offshore islands. Call Jim Douglas, Broker, (866) 504-6278 or jim@OC
CoastalHomes.com
SAFETY
Florida Pre-Construction
Opportunities
Waterfront condos w/docks & marina.
Tampa Bay area. $250’s - $2 million.
EXIT Extreme Realty, (813) 679-5106,
[email protected]
www.flwatercondos.com
Need A Home For
You And Your Boat?
In Southbay Yacht and Racquet
Club, both homes for you and your
boat are abundant. The centerpiece
of this quiet community in Sarasota county, FL is a 172 slip, private marina for Southbay residents
only. Slips can accommodate boats
up to 55’ for only $30-$100 per
month. Potable water is provided
free and electricity is billed at cost.
Interested? Contact Susan Morin
or Gene Tnay with ReMax Properties. (941) 954-5454.
MISCELLANEOUS
Hondas From $500!
Buy Police Impounds! For listings
call (800) 749-8104 x N233.
Free USVI
Vacation Info
www.virgin-islands-hotels.com
MARKETPLACE
RATES
Regular Classifed Ad
$4.30/word
15 word minimum
$230/photo
Classified Display Ad
$275/column inch
4-Color Advertising is
now available
Please call
Michelle Roche
call: 401-845-5140
fax: 401-845-5180
email: classifieds@cruis
ingworld.com
Deadline:
Mar. 5th for May issue
United States Virgin Islands Tourism Association
165
MARKETPLACE
Advertiser
Index
PG #
SAILBOATS
Bavaria Yachts USA
410-990-0007
www.bavariayachts.com
Beneteau
Great Circle Marketing
843-629-5300
www.beneteau.com
Broadblue USA
877-695-0358
www.broadblueusa.com
42
C2,1
26
Bruckmann Yachts
905-855-1117
www.bruckmannyachts.com
27
Catalina Yachts
818-884-7700
www.catalinayachts.com
85
www.delphiayachts.com
28,29
860-399-9500
www.elan-marine.com
Delphia Yachts
Elan Marine
49
Hanse Yachts
410-626-1493
www.hanseyachts.com
23
Hunter Marine
800-771-5556
www.huntermarine.com
19
Hylas Yachts
800-875-5114
www.hylasyachtsusa.com
52,53
Jeanneau America Inc.
410-757-7765
www.JenneauAmerica.com
The Moorings
888-703-3176
www.moorings.com
97
4
The Moorings/Yacht Ownership 888-703-3176
www.moorings.com
95
Outbound Yachts
949-275-2665
www.outboundyachts.com
13
Oyster Marine
011 441 473 688 888 www.oystermarine.com
35
Performance Cruising
410-626-2720
www.PerformanceCruising.com
93
Portsmouth Marine
401-682-1712
www.portsmouthmarine.com
36
Sunsail
800-797-5307
www.sunsail.com
Tartan Yachts
440-357-7777
www.tartanyachts.com
41
Tayana Yachts
410-263-7499
www.tayanayachts.com.tw
25
Wauquiez
001 33 320031461
www.wauquiez.com
C3
31,108
SAILS, SPARS, RIGGING
Bainbridge International
781-821-2600
www.sailcloth.com
104
Doyle Sails
781-639-1490
www.doylesails.com
99
Forespar
949-885-8820
www.forespar.com
76
North Sails
800SAIL-123
www.northsails.com
Selden Mast Inc.
843-760-6278
www.seldenmast.com
12,94
Yale Cordage
207-282-3396
www.yalecordage.com
39
www.yachtpaint.com
81
7
PAINTS/COATINGS
Interlux
909-964-2353
ELECTRONICS
ACR Electronics
954-981-3333
www.acrelectronics.com
51
B&G
425-778-8821
www.BandG.com
86
Garmin
913-397-8200
www.garmin.com
33
Navman
866-628-6261
www.navmanusa.com
Raymarine
603-881-5200
www.raymarine.com
75
17,89
Ritchie Navigation
718-826-5131
www.ritchienavigation.com
45
Tacktick/Ocean Equipment
949-588-1470
www.oceanequipment.com
48
HARDWARE / ACCESSORIES
166
Edson
508-995-9711
www.edsonintl.com
47
HRO
800-366-4476
www.hrosystems.com
77
CRUISING WORLD MAY 2006
May 2006
For instant info, go to www.cruisingworld.com and click on “Buyers Zone.”
PG #
Harken Inc.
262-691-3320
www.harken.com
Kato Marine
410-269-1218
www.katomarine.com
Lifeline Inc.
800-527-3224
www.lifelinebatteries.com
PG #
8
Offshore Sailing School
800-221-4326
www.offshore-sailing.com
109
Olympic Yacht Charters
877-2GREECE
www.olympicyachtcharters.com
130
132
96
Southwest Florida Yachts Inc.
800-262-7939
www.swfyachts.com
133
127
PYI
800-523-7558
www.pyiinc.com
96
Star Clippers
305-442-0550
www.starclippers.com
Sailrite
260-693-2242
www.sailrite.com
110
Sunsail Sailing School
888-350-3572
www.sunsail.com
127
Select Plastics
203-866-3767
www.selectplastics.com
103
Sunsail Yacht Charters
800-797-5307
www.sunsail.com
123,128
Scandvik
800-535-6009
www.scandvik.com
Schaefer Marine
508-995-9511
www.schaefermarine.com
43
103
PERSONAL SAILING GEAR
Gill North America Ltd.
800 822 6504
www.gillna.com
87
Tortola Marine Management LTD 800-633-0155
www.sailtmm.com
122
Trimarine
284-494-2490
www.cuanlaw.com
105
VIP Yacht Charters
866-847-9224
www.vipyachts.com
131
BROKERAGE COMPANIES
MISCELLANEOUS
Annapolis Yacht Sales
410-267-8181
www.annapolisyachtsales.com/cw/
Annapolis Sailing School
The Catamaran Company
954-727-0016
www.catamarans.com
800-638-9192
BVI Tourism Board
www.annapolissailing.com
134
www.bvitouristboard.com
11
Eastern Yacht, LLC
561-844-1100
www.yachtworld.com/easternyachts 145
21
Eastern Yacht Sales Inc.
781-749-8600
www.easternyacht.com
151
Essex Credit
866-377-3948
www.essexcredit.com
152
92
Florida Yacht Charters & Sales 800-537-0050
www.floridayacht.com
149
83
Horizon Yacht Charters Ltd.
877-494-8787
www.horizonyachtcharters.com
92
Hunter
800-771-5556
www.huntermarine.com
Interyacht Inc
410-280-6100
www.interyacht.com
Joel F. Potter, CYS
954-462-5869
Baja California Sur Tourism Board 1-877-MYBAJASUR www.mybajasur.com
Blue Water Sailing School
954-763-8464
www.bwss.com
Defender Industries
800-628-8225
www.defender.com
Harmony Township
800-540-2144
133
www.harmonytownship.com
Int’l Marine Insurance Services 410-827-3757
www.IMIScorp.net
J World Sailing School
401-849-5492
www.jworldschool.com
126
Kanter Yachts
519-633-1058
www.kanteryachts.com
38
Kuffel, Collimore & Company
Landfall Navigation
630-221-6000
800-941-2219
Mount Gay Rum
146
138,139
www.lifeboatmedical.com
108
147
136,137
144
140,141
Jordan Yacht & Ship Company 954-522-8650
www.jordanyachtandship.com
148
www.larsenmarine.com
155
www.landfallnavigation.com
37
Larsen Marine
866-370-7272
www.mountgay.com
C4
Massey Yacht Sales
800-375-0130
www.masseyyacht.com
153
800-850-4081
www.mooringsbrokerage.com
143
Safety at Sea
401-683-0800
www.ussailing.org/safety/seminars/ 103
The Moorings
Sailtime
512-314-5600
www.sailtime.com
46
Morris Yachts
207-244-5509
www.morrisyachts.com
142
US Sailing Keelboat Program
401-683-0800
www.ussailing.org
124,125
Prestige Yacht Sales
203-353-3070
www.prestigeyachtsales.net
155
2,3
RCR Yachts Inc.
716-745-3862
www.rcryachts.com
109
Southern Trades
284-494-8003
Tartan C&C of Annapolis
410-263-6111
www.tartanccannapolis.com
154
Tartan Yachts
440-354-3111
www.tartanyachts.com
150
Voyage Yachts
410-956-1880
www.voyageyachts.com
155
West Marine
Westlawn Institute
800-BOATING
203-359-0500
www.westmarine.com
www.westlawn.org
CHARTER COMPANIES
Adventure Charter
800-521-7552
Antilles Sail.com
+590-690-57-06-24 www.antilles-sail.com
133
BareCat Charters
800-296-5287
www.barecat.com
134
Barefoot Yacht Charters
784-456-9526
www.barefootyachts.com
128
Bay Breeze Yacht Sales
877-941-0535
www.bbyc.com
132
CYOA Charters
800-944-CYOA
www.cyoacharters.com
The Catamaran Company
800-262-0308
www.catamarans.com
Conch Charters Ltd.
800-521-8939
www.conchcharters.com
132
Ed Hamilton Inc.
800-621-7855
www.ed-hamilton.com
134
Footloose / The Moorings
888-852-4666
www.footloosecharters.com
132
Horizon Yachts Charters Ltd.
877-494-8787
www.horizoyachtcharters.com
131
Island Yachts
340-775-6666
www.iyc.vi
134
King Yacht Charters
800-521-7552
www.sailingcharters.com
134
Kiriacoulis Mediterranean
800-714-3411
www.kiriacoulis.com
129
The Moorings
888-703-3176
www.moorings.com
119
CRUISING WORLD APRIL 2006
www.sailingcharters.com 91,101,108,125
129
120,121,133
155
152
BOAT SALES
NewBoats.com
113
UsedBoats.com
156
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167
LOG OF
ITHAKA
Cade’s Hardware Hike
One man’s tour of Cartagena’s industrial artisans and suppliers isn’t for the weak of
will: You can look, but you cannot buy BY DOUGLAS BERNON
168
C RU I S I N G WO R L D
M AY 2 0 0 6
DOUG LAS B E R NON
I
’ VE ENDURED ARCHITECTURAL TOURS , MUSEUM WALKS , minutes while the cashier finds correct change and inscribes a
urban ghost slogs, snipe hunts, treks in the Himalayas, receipt; ’n’ then he’s luggin’ it along, slowin’ everybody down.
and forced marches through women’s shoe stores with We just can’t have that.”
my wife leading the parade, but it wasn’t until we got to
Over the past two summers The Hike has become a don’tCartagena, Colombia, and I joined Cade Johnson on miss event for every sensible cruiser in Cartagena. At the bar at
one of his hardware hikes that I grasped that all I’d done Club Náutico, just posting a flyer announcing “Hardware Hike”
before was weak tea for sissies.
and the date and time is enough to draw a crowd.
“Gentlemen, wear good shoes ’n’ carry some drinkin’ water,”
Recently, Cade invited one of Cartagena’s professional tour
he warned his followers in a warm Georgia accent. “Take notes guides to accompany him on his last official hike, hoping the felso you kin refind the places you
low might pick up the event as way
like, ’cause there won’t be any
to earn a bit of extra cash and help
buyin’ stuff t’day—I don’t care how
cruisers at the same time. That day,
much you need it. Are we agreed?”
20 sweaty guys followed the Pied
We all nodded. “All right, gentlePiper, huffing, taking notes, and
man, fuera la día—the day is passlooking forward to the Narcobollo
ing. Let’s move out.”
restaurant and the pork-and-beer
All the years I’ve known him,
lunch that commemorates the offiCade’s been painting his own courcial end of every hike.
tesy flags on aluminum. (“They
Before Sand Dollar left Cartagena,
never shred in the wind, they’re
though, Cade and I both needed a
cheaper, plus you got somethin’
few odds and ends, so the two of us
artistic to do when you’re not
hit the streets together. It became
spearfishin’.”) He’s built Sand Dolclear that I had a ringside seat for a
lar’s hard dodger and bimini. He’s
combination Farewell Tour and Vicrewired most of his boat with LEDs.
tory Lap. Men from the various
He recently rebuilt his transmission
hardware stores came out to greet
at anchor. And this year, his crownhim on the street with a wave and
ing glory was the design and installasome chit-chat. As we stopped in the
tion of a stainless-steel rum tank
La Casa de Tornillos (“House of
with sight glass and deck fill. (“It
Screws”) and Multi-Caucho
holds three cases. I got tar’d a car(“Everything Rubber”), he explained
ryin’ all those bottles.”)
in his Georgia-accented Spanish that
Sand Dollar has spent two interthis was his last visit and he’d come
vals in Cartagena, and for wide-eyed With his screw-shaped tour sign, Cade Johnson
to bid farewell. Many Cartageneros
new arrivals with plenty of technical guides 20 sweaty gringos through Cartagena’s
had seen his traveling circus for the
problems to solve, Cade’s hardware industrial zone, that part of town “where most
past two years, and they emerged
hikes are compulsory events. You people just never give ’emselves time to enjoy it.”
from backrooms to shake hands, say
need a new exhaust elbow made? A
thanks, and wish him Godspeed.
good welder? Stainless-steel springs or a reliable two-part glue for
“You know, Doug,” he said, as we sat at Narcobollo later that
rubber? Ask The Man. He’s been wandering the industrial and morning, “today I’m sayin’ good-bye to a great time of my life.
supply neighborhoods, working on boat projects, happily re- I’m thinkin’ back to some of the guys in my class at Georgia
searching, and sharing the wealth. “That’s a part of town where Tech. Some of them made a load of dough in high-tech and
most people just never give ’emselves time to enjoy it.”
Internet stuff. But I wonder how many of them’d ever make
Two years ago, what started as buddies tagging along has the time to lead a hardware tour like this? Man, this cruisin’
evolved into an organized, four-hour tour that identifies where stuff is real engineerin’. I thought I was retired, but I’m not reyou can find just about any part, machine shop, or raw material ally. This is the highlight of my career!”
you’d ever need on a cruising boat.“If yer’ gonna fix something,”
Cade said, “first ya gotta find the parts. The big danger on this Douglas and Bernadette chronicle their cruising experiences in
hike is that partway through, some cruiser suddenly finds the twice-monthly logs on the B oatU.S. website (www.B oatU S.
50-pound anvil he’s been lustin’ for, feels he’s gotta have it this com/cruising/Ithaka), where you can find the archives of all their
minute, and breaks the No-Buy Rule. Now, we all gotta wait 20 cruising stories and photos.