Ocean Navigator - Ocean Navigator

01 Jan

SAR vessel to drop from airplanes

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Image Credit: International Submarine Eingieering Ltd. The Canadian Department of National Defence, in coopera-tion with the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, has developed a portable, remote vessel that can be dropped from the cargo bay of a CC-130. SARPAL, an acronym for Search and Rescue Portable Air Launchable, is a rigid-inflatable hull, a modified Zodiac Hurricane. The vessel's diesel engine can be remotely guided to people in the water using a combination of GPS and real-time video, both color and infrared who then assume control. An interior camera provides rescue officials a chance to monitor the condition of survivors.…

01 Jan

French Polynesian search and rescue

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From Ocean Navigator #85 November/December 1997 When sailing in U.S. waters, mariners know that the search and rescue (SAR) authority to call is the U.S. Coast Guard. However, what if you are in the foreign waters of French Polynesia? Who do you call? Well, I recently spent some time asking that question in Papeete, and here are the answers. First, there is no direct equivalent of the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard functions are divided among the Gendarmerie Maritime, the French navy, the High Commissioner's office, the Police Aerienne et des Frontieres, Radio Mahina, and to a lesser extent…

01 Jan

Owner comments on trimaran abandonment

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I read the recent account of the shipwreck of the trimaran Triad and the rescue of its crew with great interest, as I happen to be the owner and master of the vessel ("Chartroom chatter," Issue No. 77). While the account is most entertaining and fairly factual, I'd like to correct a few inaccuracies about the disaster in order that others may learn from my experience. A rotating wing mast must be stepped above deck level, not several inches below it, as stated in the story. This type of rig is not inherently unstable in a seaway. The failure occurred…

01 Jan

Weather for hire

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From Ocean Navigator #99 July/August 1999 One solution to the problem of dealing with weather when voyaging is to contract with a professional weather-routing service. Depending on the type of information package you purchase, you can get simple or detailed weather recommendations to help you decipher weather on your trip. A warm eddy north of the Gulf Stream. This type of imagery is easily available on the Web, but do you know how to interpret it? Image Credit: Courtesy NOAA A variety of companies provide this service. Picking the best one will, to some extent, be a matter of…

01 Jan

Quotes from the Volvo boats — week of Feb. 4

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Boat crews email updates to the Volvo Ocean Race coordinators in Southampton, England, on their experiences at the beginning of Leg Four across the Southern Ocean. Original grammar, spelling and syntax is preserved and unedited. o Sometimes we sail with a shy kite [spinnaker] at 140 twa [true wind angle] then we have the 2 foot deep, ice jacuzzi. When we go with the blast reacher at 110 twa we have the five degree [temperature] fire hose. Take your pick. In all cases everyone rides on the stack behind the helmsman to keep the bow up [out of the water].…

01 Jan

Speaking of Balloons…

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SPEAKING OF BALLOONS, Coast Guard officials seem to be sending up trial balloons on the prospect of terminating the U.S. loran system, even though loran is meant to continue on air until 2015, providing an overlap with GPS coverage. "Our program office is having a lot of trouble justifying loran C and Omega in light of GPS," said a Coast Guard speaker at the radionavigation users conference in Washington last November. "As stewards of the loran and Omega systems, we are scrutinizing the needs and requirements for both of these systems in light of the availability and acceptance of GPS,"…

01 Jan

Sailors body found

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File Does Not Exist A passing boat found the remains of Newport sailor Jamie Boeckel on June 10, 2002, just off Port Jefferson, N.Y., in Long Island Sound. He was found just one week after a memorial service was held for him at the Sayville Yacht Club on the south shore of Long Island. Boeckel was on the foredeck of Bob Towse's Blue Yankee, racing in the Block Island Race, when the yacht's carbon-fiber spinnaker pole broke. He was thrown overboard near Fairfield, Conn., and presumed dead. Although Blue Yankee retired from the competition, the race committee agreed that the…

01 Jan

Freeing up a flooded and corroded diesel

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The eight-horsepower diesel engine in Pelorus, my 20-year-old Paceship 26 sailboat, has been a reliable, valued asset over the 10 years I've owned it. Previously, my boats had outboards, which I hated, and I had resolved that my next boat would have standing headroom and a diesel. During the summer I change the lube oil every 35 to 50 hours according to the engine hours gauge, replace the fuel filters at 10 hours, then 30 to 60 hours, depending on the vacuum gauge, which I also installed. Each winter, like most boaters, I winterize the engine by running fresh water…

01 Jan

Made Fresh

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From Ocean Navigator #127 January/February 2003 In only the last 10 years, the watermaker-equipped small voyaging vessel has become virtually commonplace. Beyond the obvious - a nearly limitless supply of fresh water - the reasons for using a watermaker are manifold. Depending on where you sail, you may find yourself paying upwards of 25 cents a gallon for potable (sometimes advertised as such but in fact not) water. With populations in less developed areas increasing and many regions facing droughts, this is likely to become more common rather than less. The voyaging sailboat of days gone by: with plastic jugs…

01 Jan

Lost to starboard

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by Eric B. Forsyth The popular conception of sea conditions between the north American coast and Bermuda probably corresponds to the well-known painting by Winslow Homer depicting a bedraggled sailor lying on his dismasted boat, surrounded by steep seas and snapping sharks. I have crossed the region many times on a sailboat, and although the trip is usually serene, on about 20% of my passages I have encountered very severe weather. The granddaddy of all squalls, however, occurred on a passage from St. Georges, Bermuda to Newport, R.I., in August 1988 when my cutter-rigged sloop Fiona was dismasted. Fiona is…