Chatter - Ocean Navigator

Ocean Navigator photo contest

With high quality phone cameras in every pocket, there’s no excuse for not taking some great photos. Send us one of your best pics from your voyages. Every issue we’ll publish the best ones, both in the magazine and on the ON website. Send your photo (high res and one entry only please) and a brief description to tim@maritimepublishing.com. To be considered for the photo contest your email must have the subject line “ON photo contest.” Get clicking!

Voyagers effort to aid Vanuatu

A group of voyagers organized by liveaboard Luc Callebaut — who, along with his wife Jackie was interviewed in ON’s 2022 Ocean Voyager annual issue — is pitching in to assist the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu after it recently suffered two tropical cyclones — Cyclone Judy and Cyclone Kevin — and also a magnitude 6.5 and a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. The assistance effort is being aided by such groups as the Seven Seas Cruising Association; the Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey 500; Byond Disaster Relief NZ; Bay of Islands Marina, Port Opua, New Zealand; and Noonsite.com. Callebaut wrote:…

Citizen science for voyagers

Cruising sailors leaving home often want to be useful in places they visit along the way. This can take the form of applying skills from their lives on land, like teaching or carpentry, or distributing supplies to distant places. But another way to contribute to the greater good is through citizen science. Citizen science happens when the public voluntarily helps conduct scientific research. Citizen scientists may collect data, analyze results, and even design experiments but the specific problem and the tools to address it are set up by professional scientists. Employing volunteers can broaden the geographic reach of a research…

Transpac Race gearing up

More than 60 boats have been entered in the 2023 Transpac race from Cabrillo Beach, Cali. to Honolulu (Ocean Navigator is a Transpac Race co-sponsor). The pace quickens now for the competitors and the race committee as the first start on June 27 approaches. Before the start there will be a skipper’s meeting and an aloha send-off party on June 24 on board the former US Navy battleship USS Iowa, which is docked in Los Angeles as a museum ship. There will be three starts: Tuesday, July 27 for 17 boats (some boats slated for this start are provisional as…

Golden Globe front runner loses self-steering

At 1815 UTC on January 27, 2022 Golden Globe racer Simon Curwen alerted the race committee that he’d broken his Hydrovane self-steering gear. He had been in first place 1,200 miles northwest of Cape Horn, had just weathered a deep depression with 40-knot winds and 20-foot seas and had started sailing comfortably again when Clara, his Biscay 36, surged off a post-storm wave and sheered a shaft between wind vane and steering unit. The Hydrovane website shows this part is not included in the recommended offshore spare parts kit and, to save weight, Curwen did not carry an extra. Southern…

Sails for shipping

It took less than a century for steam-powered ships to replace sailing ships for cargo carrying. For a brief time the great clippers were fitted with engines but ultimately they couldn’t compete and disappeared by the end of the 19th century. At least in the Western world, trade has been carried on through engine-powered vessels ever since. Now with concerns over climate change the carbon footprint of fossil fuels is coming under fire in shipping as it is in all sectors of transportation where engines are used. The International Maritime Organization’s updated mandatory carbon-reduction measures call for cutting the carbon…

NYC back from the brink

Most yacht clubs have plenty of members ready to share the tasks of club administration. What about a small club in a remote place? What happens when a tiny club doesn’t have the membership to continue? That was the situation facing the tiny Niue Yacht Club (somewhat ironically referred to by the initials of one of the largest cities in the world) on the South Pacific island of Niue, a 100-square mile coral outpost sited 326 nautical miles northeast of Tonga and 1,295 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand. Luckily for voyagers who visit NYC’s mooring field and simple clubhouse,…

The Golden Globe Race loses a boat

Fifty-four years after Robin Knox-Johnston won the first round-the-world solo sailing race, organizers are again in the midst of a Golden Globe Race. And now one boat in the race has been lost in spectacular fashion. All vessels must be production boats between 32 and 36 feet with an underbody like Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili, which was based on a full-keel Colin Archer design with keel-hung rudder. GGR skippers can only use the kinds of navigation equipment available on Suhaili, including sextants and trailing logs for speed. On September 4th, 2022, 16 boats crossed the starting line at les Sables d’Olonne. By…

CUBAR 2022

The 2022 Cruise Underway to Baja Rally (CUBAR) wrapped up on November 13th, with 25 motor yachts completing the 950-mile journey from San Diego to La Paz. CUBAR is organized by San Diego Yacht Club and runs every other year. The all-volunteer CUBAR committee helps participants with customs and immigration for Mexico, provides a courtesy vessel safety inspection, safety and cruising seminars, and coordinates lots of social activities along the way. The 2022 CUBAR kicked off with a send-off party on Oct 28th, with a departure for Ensenada on October 30th. After completing customs and immigration at Hotel Coral Marina,…

Florida deals with derelict boats

If you’ve ever sailed or driven through the Sunshine State you know that we have a lot of boats here. At last count there are over one million registered recreational vessels throughout the state, which makes Florida the nation’s number one home of pleasure craft. But not all of them are floating. Along with the surfeit of boats and marinas the state also has had a long-standing problem with derelict and “at risk” vessels: those that are abandoned, sunk or in danger of sinking — not to be confused with liveaboard and transient boats that may be anchored nearby. In…