Nav Problem
It’s a famous marine survival story. How a courageous band of brothers survived the loss of their ship thousands of miles from all help. How Sir Ernest Shackleton and his [...]
Offshore Sailing
An autopilot failure forces an offshore crew to improvise We had just entered the Gulf Stream heading north from Palm Beach with some 1,100 nautical miles to Martha’s Vineyard when [...]
How atmospheric oscillations can affect tropical storm formation The 2022 Hurricane Season approaches. It’s known that the La Nina atmospheric effect usually correlates with active Atlantic hurricane seasons [...]
Weather
How good are long-range forecasts?
Examining a recent Atlantic storm offers some insight Ocean-going mariners have many sources for weather forecast information these days, and thanks to the internet and satellite communication technologies, these resources are readily [...]
Weather
One of the most powerful tools meteorologists use in their work is the computer model of the atmosphere. These models use mathematical representations of the existing physics of the atmosphere, [...]
Ocean Voyaging
Lesson 1. Spend the time backing up to the cloud all digital information of value. (Or whichever safe location one chooses.) Especially passwords. In a foreign country with limited internet [...]
Short Tacks
Eight license renewals later, still proud
Inspired by the COVID 19 lockdown, I began cleaning house in a major way. That meant going into drawers and cabinets seeking out items that I no longer needed. Inevitably [...]
Short Tacks
My wife Anne and I were aboard our 26-foot sloop Starlight of Mersea, sailing fast through the Caribbean night, reaching along parallel to the waves with the self-steering wind vane [...]
Marine Technology
When considering gear for a voyaging boat, you likely think of a diesel engine or a multifunction display or a bank of batteries. But there’s another type of equipment that [...]
Boat Focus
A power voyaging boat with impressive passage-making “legs,” the Nordhavn 68, Daybreak, launched in 2021 and owned by Karen and Jerome Fisher, can easily voyage to far destinations. Daybreak is the [...]
Good Reads
Taken by the Wind Memoir of a Sailor’s Voyage in a Bygone Era
This memoir of an ocean sailing adventure by three young Americans in the 1970s, is not a swashbuckling yarn of lusty youth turned loose on the world. Mike Jacker was [...]
Good Reads
Ocean Navigator contributor Nat Warren-White’s account of his circumnavigation aboard his Montevideo 43, Bahati, is elevated by association with Joshua Slocum’s historic work of adventure literature. Despite the huge differences, [...]
Chatter
Impressive fleet set for Newport Bermuda Race
When the Newport-Bermuda Race starts on June 17 (photo above shows 2018 start), it will have the second largest fleet of competitors in its history. More than 214 boats have [...]
Chatter
World’s biggest sail flies off St. Barth
North Sails is calling it the world’s largest sail. It’s a 28,029-square-foot (2,604-square-meter) A2 spinnaker built by North for the 192-foot (58.6-meter) superyacht Perseus^3. Building the sail was a major [...]
Canada goes digital (and free)
If you’re planning a cruise to Canada this summer, be aware that Canadian Hydrographic Service is offering all its products in digital form and for free, a fact that I [...]
Chatter
Puerto Vallarta Race 2022 recap
The 36th running of the Puerto Vallarta Race finished in March with 29 boats crossing the finish line out of fleet of 30, with one boat retiring. Ocean Navigator was [...]