Articles - Ocean Navigator

Starr

Not many power voyaging vessels put 100,000 sea miles under their keels — a figure that includes multiple Pacific crossings. For the Northern Marine 75 Starr, owned by Don and Sharry Stabbert, that kind of mileage has become routine as the Stabberts have voyaged to more than 18 countries around the world. Starr was designed by Steve Seaton and built in Anacortes Washington in 1997. The 100-ton power voyager is currently homeported in Hawaii and Seattle. The Stabberts have owned a variety of boats, from a 17-foot Thistle sailing dinghy to a Cal 40 sailboat to 47-foot Bill Garden-designed trawler. Based in…

AC raw water failure avoidance

Most marine air-conditioning units rely on seawater for their operation. The pumps and plumbing associated with these systems can pose a significant flooding threat, one that is exacerbated by the sheer volume of hose that is required to plumb the average cruising vessel’s condensers. For these and other reasons detailed below, HVAC raw water systems benefit from close scrutiny. Air-conditioning 101 Air conditioning systems aboard most boats rely on raw or seawater to cool down pressurized, hot refrigerant after it leaves the system’s compressor. Via a heat exchanger or condenser, the seawater absorbs heat from the refrigerant, heat that has…

Changing conditions in Chesapeake schooner race

by Rob Laymon Strong winds and cold rain, the sailor’s delight. Four days of it came from a nor’easter spawned by Hurricane Ian, jumbling the plans for the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, held October 6 through 8. This annual event attracts schooners of all sizes to race in four classes between Annapolis and Norfolk. I sailed aboard Prom Queen, a 50-foot Campanella owned by Roger Worthington, an intermittent participant and a past winner of the race. In this year’s race, the schooner Virginia, the current record holder, had made it as far as Smith Point before turning back to…

Battling the Bay of Biscay late in the season

There are many horror stories of yachtsmen running into trouble in the Bay of Biscay. If you want to do a good crossing heading south or are coming north particularly during the latter part of the year, there are some things about the bay you need to know. There are many fine pilot books available nowadays about these passages south. They don’t much talk about it during the colder months, however. But Ocean Passages for the World, particularly the second blue-paged part written by professional sea captains from the days of sail, still has, in my opinion, some of the…

Voyage planning 101

One of the lessons a new pilot learns is to never let the airplane take you somewhere your mind hasn’t gone before. New pilots often spend more time on the flight planning than they do actually flying. I would have no sooner flown without a solid flight plan, including weather along my route as well as at any place I may stop, than I would have set out on a cross-country drive without gas. Which is to say, the planning was as important as the execution. I’m not sure if our early training in planning led us to living on…

First Delivery

A captain recounts his first paid passage in the dead of the Alaskan winter The engine quit, in the worst of all places at the worst of all times. I experienced that moment a long time ago, but I have thought of it often. It was 2009 and I had just quit my job in law enforcement and was set on becoming a professional sailor. Working part time as a boat broker opened the initial doors to boat delivery contracts. These entry-level opportunities were somewhere between leftover and rotten fruit, and this particular peach of an opportunity was a 30-foot…

Cold Boxes and Compressors

Refrigeration trends for voyagers Whenever cruising boaters gather marine refrigeration is always a hot topic. Back in the day it was a lot more controversial due to the prevalence of competing system philosophies, but what was once the new kid on the block now dominates. And the winners, by a long shot, are the many different 12-volt powered systems, either in self-contained refrigerators that are semi-permanently installed or as the cooling equipment for a custom built-in fridge. In the past you used to see a lot of rugged, long-distance cruising boats with refrigeration compressors powered by belts from the main engine, or…

Practical Cool

Marine refrigeration design, maintenance and repair Over the past 25 years, first with a CSY 44 monohull and now a St. Francis 44 catamaran, I have spent countless hours and way too much money messing with my refrigeration systems. Early on, I needed professional help before attempting modifications, maintenance or repairs. Now, after all this time at it (for me, learning these things takes time) I am a bit smarter and can do most of the work myself. Below find some of what I have learned along the way about refrigeration equipment design, maintenance and repair. Since big refrigeration systems…

A Tale of Two Rallies

A Look at Autumn U.S. to the Caribbean Sailing Rallies Thinking of taking your boat south to the West Indies for a winter of sailing among the tropical islands of the West Indies? Each fall, hundreds do. Some go on their own schedule, but the majority, hundreds of boats, join a rally. There are two, the North American Rally to the Caribbean (NARC) and the Salty Dawg Rally, that depart the U.S. East Coast in late October or early November, for the 1,500-mile offshore voyage to the Eastern Caribbean. This past fall, those two rallies experienced different conditions, and therein…

Nav problem – January/February 2023 Answer

Answer: The fix is at: S 45° 23’ by W 49° 10’.