Articles - Ocean Navigator

Building chemistry

The increased use of lithium-ion chemistry batteries on land has had a parallel trend in the marine world. Lithium-ion batteries, which were considered highly exotic five years ago, are becoming ever more commonplace on voyaging boats. What are the reasons for this trend and how widespread is it? The longtime king of marine batteries, of course, is the lead acid cell. Using a liquid electrolyte and lead plates, each of which is a matrix generally filled with soft lead, the wet cell marine battery ruled supreme for its stability and its storage capacity. Different types of wet cell units were…

Ernest K. Gann and Albatros

Of all the working pilot schooners built for service in the North Sea, perhaps the most famous is Albatros (the Dutch spelling has only one s). The American writer and aviator Ernest K. Gann bought Albatros in 1952. Built in Amsterdam in 1920 of riveted steel, the 117-foot LOA Albatros worked as a pilot schooner in the North Sea. Albatros was bought by the German government in 1937 and used by the Nazis during WWII as a U-boat relay station. After the war, Royal Rotterdam Lloyd, a Dutch shipping line, bought Albatros for a cadet training ship for future officers…

Self-steering issues in the Golden Globe Race

Golden Globe Race winner, see “Kirsten Neuschafer wins the Golden Globe” in the Short Tacks section of this issue. Solo sailboat racing and mass-produced self-steering systems rose together in the 1960s. These so-called windvanes made such races possible. For retro events like the Golden Globe Race, in which racers sail similar yachts and equipment to what was available to Sir Robin Knox Johnston, the winner of the first race in 1969, they are required gear. But problems have plagued these systems from the start, and are still doing so. Self-steering failures in both the 2018 and 2022-23 Golden Globe Race…

A schoonerman passes

Eben Whitcomb, Jr., the moving force behind the building, maintenance and operation of the schooner Harvey Gamage from 1973 to 1994, died on May 13 at the age of 98. He and Shirley, his bride of 64 years, were living in an assisted living facility in Connecticut. Eben Whitcomb Jr. was born in 1925 into an old Maine family and was raised in Washington DC. Eben Jr. attended Yale taking a degree in engineering and upon graduation served in the Navy for three years. After his discharge he went to work at Brown Company a large paper company in Maine.…

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!

Notable New Titles

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann Doubleday; $20.98 What is it about these terrible tales of suffering and privation that makes them so fascinating even 280 years after the fact? I’ll tell you: it’s the repeated mistakes made by military planners and leaders who rely on hope as a strategy; that despite knowledge gained from previous failures, somehow this one will be successful (e.g. press gangs are never a good way to obtain crew). It is a tale of extremes and contradictions: one of Britain’s greatest naval victories and failures occurred on the same…

Liveaboard invents safer propane switch

A galley stove is standard equipment on a voyaging boat. The heating fuel for this stove is often propane, which is easy to handle and to use. For all its benefits, however, propane does have one property that makes it a potential fire or explosion danger: It is heavier than air, and gas from a leak will sink to the lowest point and accumulate. Any type of spark can set it off. It’s important to have a properly designed and maintained system that complies with ABYC standards to avert any problems. Tim Litvin, a sailor and inventor in San Diego,…

Retracing Cook’s path across the Pacific

That if you had a life-long urge to explore the Pacific Ocean, following in the footsteps of a favorite explorer like Captain James Cook? Power voyager Peter Niederreiter has just such an inclination and he and wife Melitta recently voyaged from Mexico to the Marquesas aboard their Nordhavn 52, Fortuna Star. Let’s follow along on the first leg of their Pacific journey. Peter had a career as an eye surgeon but always traveled the world, often accompanied by Melitta. They were so committed to travel that they both obtained pilot licenses and flew all over Europe. They were determined to…

Kirsten Neuschafer wins the Golden Globe

On the evening of April 27, Kirsten Neuschafer crossed the finish line at Sables-d’Olonne to win the 2022-23 Golden Globe Race. Of 16 sailors who began the round-the-world singlehanded race, only three were still in the running for the prize: Kirsten, Michael Guggenberger who was still well back in the Atlantic, and Abhilash Tomy, who finished a day and a half after Kirsten, a remarkable almost-photo finish after more than 235 days at sea. It’s been a busy year for circumnavigating races, beginning with the Ocean Race which, having dropped “Volvo” from its title, started off in January. Its seven…

Boat inspections for Transpac Race

For any offshore voyage, making sure you have a seaworthy vessel and a safe crew before departure is paramount. The Transpac Race to Hawaii, a 2,225-mile ocean passage, is no different. The Transpac race committee takes this need for seaworthiness and safety seriously with a rigorous protocol to ensure boats and crews are ready. The race has a full complement of 21 inspectors on the west coast, from San Diego in the south to Seattle in the north, that conduct inspections to ensure that competing boats are in compliance with US Sailing’s Safety Equipment Requirements (SER) for ocean races. Though…