Articles - Ocean Navigator

Starlink Changes the Satcom Equation

The race among satellite internet providers to enable fast, effective communications for ocean voyagers while underway or at anchor is heating up with worldwide coverage, faster download speeds and competitive prices. No longer are cruisers forced to depend on marine single side band, ham radio or the unassuming yet still necessary marine VHF radio to make contact with the world beyond their decks. A whole new generation of handheld satellite telephones and deck-mounted satellite antennas have opened up world communication for yacht owners who have the need and the funds to install these amenities aboard their vessels. Until recently, the…

Email at Sea

So, you’re all set to go cruising — you got your offshore cruising boat, you got the safety gear. You got the life raft. You got the crew. You got all the provisions. You’re all set to hit the high seas. Except you haven’t quite figured out how you’re going to get weather and stay in touch with important people. Your cell phone will work for the first 25 miles offshore. You can get weather from the VHF radio – that’s good for about 50 miles offshore. Then what? Two ways to connect In the 21st century, there are still…

TRANSPAC 2023 – NEW RACERS GET READY

Ocean Navigator is once again a co-sponsor of the Transpac race to Hawaii. In July 2023, a large fleet will depart California in a series of staggered starts by class (62 boats have been entered in the race at press time). Of those boats, some will be skippered by first time Transpac sailors. We asked questions of three new participants in the race about how they are going about their preparation for their passage to Hawaii. Michael Marion will sail his Dufour 525 Insoumise (which translates from French as “unconquered”) with a crew of eight. Marion lives in Scottsdale, Ariz.,…

Nav problem – March/April 2023 Answer

Answer: A. LAN is 16:36:40 GMT. B. Ho 26° 59.9’. C. Latitude N 39° 46’.

The Great Ocean Race of 1866

he origins of transoceanic yacht racing trace back to a cold October night in 1866 at the Union Club in New York City. On that night, Pierre Lorillard, George Osgood, and James Gordon Bennett — scions of different fortunes, Lorillard of tobacco, Osgood of finance, and Bennett of the New York Herald — were drinking and bragging about their respective schooner-rigged yachts. They had all raced against each other, short distances locally, and as the evening wore on they decided they should test the mettle of their ships by racing from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to The Needles at the…

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…

US Sailing Report on Newport Bermuda fatality

On June 19, 2022, Colin Golder, owner and skipper of the Centurion 42 Morgan of Marietta, drowned while participating in the Newport to Bermuda race. Death in high-profile sailing events provides an opportunity for the sport to reassess itself and the race hosts asked US Sailing to review the incident and make recommendations aimed at enhancing the safety of offshore racing. In October 2022, the US Sailing panel released its report. The panel started with outlining the facts of the Golder’s death. At the start on June 17 winds were 15 to 20 knots predicted to increase to 20 to…

Celestial navigation simplified?

There have been many attempts over the decades to simplify celestial navigation. Now a new celestial nav simplification effort is about to launch called StarPoint. Still in the Kickstarter stage, StarPoint makes use of a small fixed optical device based on the Bris sextant originally developed by Swedish sailor Sven Yrvind. The StarPoint offering is more than merely a reselling of the Bris device, however. It’s a complete package that developer Brian Villmoare, assisted by fellow developer James Weisheit, has crafted to make celestial nav more accessible. Using the StarPoint system, users can get a lat/long fix with two sights…