Home Page Hero - Ocean Navigator

02 Apr

Cruising sabbatical becomes a new lifestyle

Bill MorrisBluewater Gear, Home Page Hero, Ocean Voyager, Offshore Sailing

Corinne Gau-Tchekov and Michel Gau voyage aboard their Alliage 49 aluminum monohull, Ganesh. They left France in 2011 after Michel’s retirement and have been sailing around the world on a six-month-at-sea/six-month-on-land rhythm, leaving Ganesh in various boatyards along the way. Having crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, then cruised for six years in Southeast Asia, they are currently in Malaysia, almost ready to cross the Indian Ocean. Corinne and Michel have been married for 37 years, and they started sailing in 1987, just after the birth of their first daughter, Marina. In 1990, they took a sabbatical year on their…

20 Mar

A family braves the elements together

Bill MorrisHome Page Hero, Ocean Voyager, Offshore Sailing, Voyaging Skills

Jon and Megan Schwartz, along with their sons, Ronan, 16, and Daxton, 14, have been cruising full time aboard their Boreal 47, Zephyros, an aluminum expedition monohull, since 2017. Since picking up the boat at the factory in northern France, they have sailed 40,000 NM together. Driven by a desire to explore the world and experience its disappearing wilds, they have often pursued places less traveled. They started in northern France, the UK, Atlantic Spain and Portugal before heading into the Mediterranean for a season. The Paxtons then crossed the Atlantic Ocean from late 2018 to early 2019. They were…

23 Jan

Ken McKinley to lead half-day weather seminar

Tim QueeneyHome Page Hero, Weather

ON contributing editor Ken McKinley, who not only writes about weather topics for Ocean Navigator, but is a professional weather router who owns Locus Weather service in Camden, Maine, will co-present a marine weather seminar on March 17 at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. The seminar is part of the Northeast Ocean Race Symposium, sponsored by the Marion Bermuda, Marblehead-Halifax and Bermuda 1-2 Races. This promises to be valuable session for ocean voyagers, who will get a solid grounding in weather at sea from McKinley, and fellow presenters Frank Bohlen and Joe Sienkiewicz. Essentials of Marine Weather, Ocean Currents and Sea…

13 Jan

A deep dive into boat electrical systems with Nigel Calder

Tim QueeneyBoat & Gear News, Home Page Hero

Ocean Navigator is co-sponsoring a new electrical systems seminar series from boat systems expert, Nigel Calder. The seminars will be in Portland, Maine. More info below. 2024 Seminar Dates: April 17th & 18th October 29th & 30th Portland, ME For Registration, CLICK HERE or go to oceanplanetenergy.com/seminars Electrical systems are the leading cause of problems on boats that have more than a rudimentary electrical system.Most of these problems are preventable; they arise from a failure to abide by core design and installation principles. To take a deep dive into both design and installation issues, OceanPlanet Energy (OPE), in collaboration with…

09 Jan

Out of Sight

Jesse OsbornHome Page Hero, Ocean Voyaging, Offshore Sailing, Seamanship & Navigation

My young sons and I were about to sail my 50-foot yawl, Empiricus, from Ketchikan to Seward, Alaska. Moving back to my hometown of Seward from my current home in the southeast part of the state with my boat would mean crossing the Gulf of Alaska. “It’s just wind and waves out there, boys,” I assured my sons: Isaac, 10 and Steven, six. “We just have to keep the ocean out of the boat and stay onboard. We’ll be fine.” READ FULL ARTICLE >>

23 Dec

Away Garcia Exploration 45

Ocean NavigatorBoat Focus, Home Page Hero

Many voyagers are sure that if they’re going to take on the Northwest Passage through Arctic Canada, they want to own a steel or aluminum boat. The malleable nature of metal, bending not shattering on impact, makes these materials appealing (see our article on steel boats in this issue). An aluminum hull was important for voyager and author Jimmy Cornell, for example, who helped design the aluminum-hulled Garcia Exploration 45 for his 2015 NW Passage voyage. READ MORE >>

08 Dec

Orca Do’s and Don’ts

Tim QueeneyHome Page Hero, Ocean Voyaging

With all the reports of Orcas attacking boats in the vicinity of Gibraltar and the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, former sailor Runi Alves put together an orca information web site, with maps of where attacks have happened, press accounts and a member's messageboard for exchanging info. The site also has an orca "Do's and Don'ts" page. A best practices list based on previous orca attacks on boats. If you're headed or the Strait of Gibraltar or the Atlantic Iberian coast, might be a good idea to review the list. In a related orca note, sailor Florian Rutsch has been reported…

09 Nov

Win an Icom handheld!

Ocean NavigatorHome Page Hero, Ocean Voyaging

With high quality phone cameras in every pocket and on every boat, there’s no excuse for not taking some great photos. The ON Photo Contest will be awarding a handheld radio (provided by Icom) to each of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, and will announce the winners in the Jan/Feb ’24 issue. 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! The Icom M94D DSC VHF has built-in GPS and AIS. …

28 Oct

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

Ocean NavigatorHome Page Hero, Industry & Company News

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, (cheekily shortened to FLIBS), is going on now through Sunday Oct. 29. It's a big show, with seven FLIBS sites around the city. Bahia Mar Yachting Center (801 Seabreeze Blvd. Ft Lauderdale 33316) Las Olas Marina (240 E. Las Olas Circle Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316) Hall of Fame Marina (435 Seabreeze Blvd, Ft. Lauderdale 33316) SuperYacht Village at Pier 66 South (2150 SE 17th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316) Pier 66 Marina (2301 SE 17th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316) Broward County Convention Center (1950 Eisenhower Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316) 17th Street Yacht…

16 Sep

New trophy named for first (real) circumnavigator

Tim QueeneyHome Page Hero, Ocean Voyaging

The question of who was the first to sail around the world is usually answered: Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese captain and navigator who led a Spanish fleet west from Spain in 1519. The rub here, of course, is that while the Spanish effort Magellan commanded did complete the first circumnavigation of the earth, Magellan himself was not there for the awards ceremony. He was killed in the Philippines by local warriors led by Chief Lapulapu in the Battle of Mactan. It was the Spanish captain Juan Sebastian Elcano who completed the first circumnavigation in September 1522 after taking command of…