Ocean Navigator - Ocean Navigator

05 Apr

Cool your alternator

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Heat is the greatest enemy of all things electrical, and your alternator is no exception. Alternators come equipped with cooling fans, either internal or external, but with a tightly enclosed engine compartment, high ambient temperature means an even hotter alternator. One way to keep your alternator cool is to build a simple fiberglass shroud that, when fed by a fan and ducting, will supply cool air to the alternator. The classic equation of heat transfer: Q=UAdT simply indicates that the amount of heat transferred per unit area increases directly with the difference in temperature. Cooler air from outside of the…

05 Apr

Plastic vs. powder coated head

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

To the editor: A couple of comments about the recent piece by Peter Stoops on recoating a head (Powder coating tames the head, Issue #191). It is nice to know more about powder coating, a process I have been curious about, and I can think of many applications, but I would wish to challenge its use on a head for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would suggest that on his vessel, he make an executive decision to have every male, no matter how unmanly they may feel, sit down for all deliveries. Splatter is real even if aim…

04 Apr

Halifax Nova Scotia high frequency weather and fax broadcast cease

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Canadian Forces MetOc (Meteorology and Oceanography) Halifax ceased high frequency weather and fax broadcasts on Sept. 2, 2010. According to Senior Staff Officer Lt. Darryl Williams, “Canadian naval vessels are no longer using it because they receive weather information by other means. There are no plans to re-instate the HF weather and fax broadcast unless required for urgent military operational needs. The Canadian Coast Guard publication Radio Aids to Marine Navigation has been updated to reflect the status of the Canadian Forces Fleet Weather Broadcast.” Ocean Voyager’s 2011 Ocean Almanac reported this station as being active which we regret was…

04 Apr

A salute to the fallen crew of Quest

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

My hands clenched the steering wheel as the radio announcer’s voice broke news of the execution of Scott and Jean Adam, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay on Feb. 22 by Somali pirates about 100 miles south of the Yemeni coast. The U.S. Navy had descended on the scene, trying to prevent Quest from approaching the Somali coast, where assistance would have been all but impossible. A scuffle, an act of desperation by the pirates, or maybe a last-ditch effort by the crew to repel the attackers, we will never know for sure. A group of high school sophomores, eager to…

01 Jan

Searching for Slocum's clock

Ocean NavigatorShort Tacks

To the editor: “At Yarmouth, too, I got my famous tin clock, the only timepiece I carried on the whole voyage. The price of it was a dollar and a half, but on account of the face being smashed the merchant let me have it for a dollar,” so says Joshua Slocum in Sailing Alone Around the World. Slocum’s well-known volume whimsically chronicles his three-year voyage, the first solo circumnavigation, between 1895 and 1899. He met famous people and fought off cannibals. He weathered storms, sickness, calms and hallucinations. But of all the interesting and telling parts of his fascinating…

01 Jan

First powerboat race 'round the world

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

The first-ever round-the-world powerboat race will begin from Charleston, S.C., in January 2001 in a fleet of vessels that at first glance appear more like lake cruisers than extreme powerboats. The 20-foot aluminum vessels, designed by Dave Jackman, are self-righting, and they will be operated by a two-person crew on a voyage that is expected to last 10 months. The vessels' 20-hp engines can make turns for a top speed of six knots (six knots!) and will likely be built by the Arkansas-based SeaArk, a manufacturer of commercial aluminum vessels. Contact Magellan Challenge race organizer Jim Betts in Point Pleasant…

01 Jan

Barking dog' navigation aids pilot

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

As we all know, a good navigator should never fail to take advantage of any cue that aids him in piloting his vessel through hazardous coastal waters, particularly when the weather is thick. Nova Scotian Jock Fleming was one who readily subscribed to this theory. One morning in 1864, as the American Civil War was beginning to wind down, the citizens of Halifax awoke to the news that a Confederate sea-raider, the C.S.S. Tallahassee, John T. Wood commanding, had entered port for repairs. Although Halifax was officially a neutral port, Royal Navy personnel there made little effort to hide their…

01 Jan

Classic schooner's sad end in a Spanish river

Ocean NavigatorShort Tacks

Running the boat aground in the river was, in fact, only the last in a long series of misfortunes. Indeed, since I had signed on as crew four months earlier in Key West, it seemed we had lurched blindly from crisis to crisis. For though there was no denying Constellation was a beautiful boat, there was also no denying that she was an old one as well. A friend had warned me about this prior to our departure. andquot;A wooden boat,andquot; he said, andquot;especially an old one, is nothing but a collection of leaks loosely organized as a hull.andquot; But…

01 Jan

This week's quotes from Volvo Race crew

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

Grant Dalton, Amer Sports One: "Brother, is it wet. It would be impossible for the boat to be any wetter. We bail it (literally) every two hours maximum and the water just pours over the deck. This is not your average heavy spray, more walls of white water, which eventually penetrate through everything, and through all of this the boat continues to thunder along, now under small spinnaker in a confused sea." Arve Roaas, djuice: "Several boats reported icebergs yesterday, and as we spotted one, we realized our radar was not working, which is bad news for night sailing in…

01 Jan

Thanks to you. we've turned 100

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing

By this stage you're probably sick of hearing about the arrival of the new millennium, the Y2K bug, and the raging debate about whether the 1,000-year cusp date is Dec. 31, 1999, or Dec. 31, 2000 (technically, the second date is correct, but we recognize most people will jump at any pretense for a partysee below for our excuse). So let's change the focus by a factor of 10. Forget about things millennialwe're going to bring back the human scale and talk about things centennial. For most people, 100 is a number they can come to grips with. For example,…