Articles - Ocean Navigator

Sail Training in the Gulf of Maine

The schooner Harvey Gamage under sail. Admiral Robin Graf, left, oversees knot-tying practice on the first day of the voyage. Cadets man the jibs during a practice tack. Nothing, not even heavy weather, preempts a birthday cake at the appropriate time. With the foresail already reefed, the Cadets wait for the predicted wind. The training sail took the cadets out into the Atlantic, then back to the Isles of Shoals. Previous Next The sails themselves tell the story: A double-reefed main and single-reefed foresail announce that the ship expects wind, lots of it. The 131-foot schooner Harvey Gamage, operated by…

Balancing and Busses

Dave and Sherry McCampbell aboard their St. Francis 44 Mark II cat Soggy Paws in the Solomon Islands. Prismatic cell compression box. McCampbell’s gear for testing the new batteries. Fotek solid state relay. Voltage Curve Battery 1-5w/ 35A Load Previous Next Editor’s note: Below is Part 2 of an article providing information on choosing and installing a LiFePO4 lithium battery system aboard a cruising sailboat. Part 1 appeared in our 2021 Ocean Voyager annual issue on page 8. Recently we removed 390 pounds of GEL lead acid batteries from our catamaran and replaced them with 100 pounds of lithium (LiFePO4)…

Battery changes?

A boatowner discusses electrical storage products with a battery dealer. Twenty years ago my husband and I were inside a Florida Sam’s Club buying deep-cycle lead acid batteries for our Peterson 44. That same year the Maxi-cat Playstation set a transatlantic speed record with a lithium battery on board. It started a trend in boating. In the years since then, how have lithium batteries done in the boating marketplace? At the 2021 US Sailboat Show in Annapolis I asked vendors whether they sold more lithium than lead acid batteries. Custom Marine Products’ Tom Trimmer said at the last pre-pandemic boat…

Weather models and GRIB files

BY PETER ISLER Weather models and their digitized end product, the GRIB file, are key facets of weather forecasting. An understanding of these elements will help any voyaging sailor to better decipher the weather. When I was in college, I was primarily a dinghy sailor and was just getting started in offshore navigation and race tactics. I knew how to read a weather map and listen to the marine forecast on the VHF radio, but beyond that I just took what Mother Nature gave me. In college, I majored in meteorology since it was the closest subject I could find…

The 222 Cruise

BY DAVID BERSON At first glance there is nothing that newsworthy about three old friends going cruising from Bermuda via the Azores to England; that is unless you consider that these three friends were each 74 years old. In 1981, when they made the cruise, age 60 was considered “elderly.” The British press referred to the cruise as the “222”— a reference to the combined ages of the sailors. All three of these septuagenarians were special in another way; they were all highly decorated Royal Navy veterans. Each had earned the Distinguished Service Cross for their gallantry and bravery during…

Seamanship and Navigation Newsletter, January 2022

Smart techniques for shorthand sailing By Will Sofrin Shorthanded sailing means thinking ahead. When you’re the only one available for sailhandling, for example, you need to be ready for the next task or maneuver. I’ve had just about everything go wrong over the years, and I’ve been able to work my way through several bad situations. I’ve dismasted in the middle of the ocean, sailed through Force-12 conditions, and have had to rescue a man overboard. I first learned the need to think ahead when I was 23 years old and spent the winter working as a mate on a…