Newsletter - Ocean Navigator

20 Aug

Pre-voyage inspection of windvane self-steering

While many of the latest generation of ocean cruisers enjoy the ease that comes with an electronic autopilot, many die-hard sailors still depend on a windvane self-steering system, which requires zero electrical power to steer their sailing vessels through all kinds of weather. If your vessel has a windvane system on its stern and you are planning an ocean crossing, following a few pre-voyage steps will help ensure dependable, accurate steering performancethroughout your next voyage. The obvious first step in regular maintenance of the self-steerer is inspecting the entire unit, looking especially for loose nuts and bolts and signs of…

08 Aug

Weather data for a safe passage

Bill MorrisNewsletter, Weather

While we are underway offshore, wondering what the clouds above have in store for us, it is comforting to know there are electronic resources available to help us make crucial decisions regarding changes in weather. NOAA National Weather Service forecasts are available online at https://www.weather.gov/marine/, so as long as we have Internet availability aboard, we have access to weather data, allowing us to plan our ocean crossings according to conditions most likely to be encountered along our route. Daily NOAA weather charts cover the central Pacific, eastern Pacific, Atlantic, Alaska Sea and Great Lakes regions. These charts offer details on…

23 Jul

Breaking in a New Mainsail

Bill MorrisNewsletter, Seamanship & Navigation Newsletter

A circumnavigation and dozens of coastal cruises gradually turned the new, 8-ounce Dacron polyster mainsail I purchased back in 2000 into a flimsy, dirty, patched, salt-encrusted quilt, finally forcing me to order a new mainsail from Rolly Tasker a few months ago. My 1966 Cal 30 sloop Saltaire would normally carry a 6-ounce mainsail for coastal sailing, but an offshore environment of strong winds, salt spray and long hours of exposure to the sun required a tough beast, strong and durable enough to sustain many more years of abuse. Using the old, 8-ounce cruising mainsail as a starting point, I…

09 Jul

Marine Stereo Systems

Bill MorrisMarine Electronics, Marine Electronics Newsletter, Newsletter

Cruising on our vessels along the coast or on the high seas is exciting, but sometimes we require a bit of entertainment to fill the hours between conversations with crew and other fellow cruisers in VHF and HF radio conversations. A remote-controlled stereo system with wireless speakers is an easy, affordable way to bring some extra cheer aboard while we count the nautical miles left to our next anchorage. Before you shop for a stereo system, keep in mind some stereos include speakers while others do not. If you already have dependable, waterproof speakers mounted out on deck, then all…

23 Apr

Have sewing machine, go sailing

Robert MacFarlaneNewsletter, Voyaging Tips

The tools The sewing machine onboard Beetle is a Sailrite LSZ1, essentially a walking-foot upholstery machine with straight and zig-zag (but not Federal 308, four-point stitch), which handles threads from Tex 30 to 135 for repairs in everything from spinnakers to the mainsail. Fortunately, I have not had to make many sail repairs underway, the exceptions being a damaged light-air staysail and the No. 2 genoa. However, the machine does get used at anchor for building and repairing all sorts of fabric components for the boat: noseeum screens on hatches and companionway, winch covers, mainsail covers, deck awnings, handheld VHF…

22 Apr

Handheld VHF for the Life Raft

Bill MorrisMarine Electronics, Newsletter, Voyaging Tips Newsletter

Probably the worst fear you can face as an offshore sailor is losing your vessel at sea. And while we definitely want to make sure we have a vessel-mounted and personal EPIRB ready to send out a distress signal immediately, we also need some means of communicating with rescue operations should this unthinkable horror ever come to pass. Packing a survival VHF radio in your ditch bag is the best guarantee you will have voice communication with nearby ships. However, the ideal choice for this radio should include the ability to summon help beyond the typical eight-mile range of a…

09 Apr

Hurricanes – Looking back and looking ahead

Ken McKinleyNewsletter, Weather

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently announced the entrants to the “Hall of Fame” for the 2023 season. It’s not really called the Hall of Fame, but rather it is the WMO Hurricane Committee deciding which names will be retired from the previous season and not used again moving forward. The retirements of names occurs when a system is unusually impactful. Typically this means that the system was quite strong, and that it also impacted a large population. Occasionally, though, a system’s name can be retired even if it was not an unusually strong system, but its impacts were still…

26 Mar

Sailing from Panama to San Diego

Bill MorrisNewsletter, Seamanship & Navigation

Most Pacific sailors and published cruising guides will tell you there are two ways back to Southern California from Panama: a motor bash 3,400 miles along the coast of Central America and then up along Baja, or out to Hawaii, over the Pacific High to San Francisco, and then down the coast, rounding Point Conception (a.k.a. Little Cape Horn). But there is a third way back: a sail from Panama to California via Clipperton Island with very little motoring. Jimmy Cornell’s directions in World Cruising Routes take you directly from Panama out beyond Clipperton Island, and then north until arriving…

09 Feb

Using satellite images

Ocean NavigatorNewsletter, Weather

Satellite imagery provides a great deal of information on past, present, and future weather. Each cloud swirl, streak, and puff can be associated with a particular weather system or phenomenon. And when images are viewed by a trained voyager with a good understanding of weather dynamics, routing and course decisions can be made with confidence. The most important weather element that satellite imagery provides to the voyager is cloud data. Analysis of cloud altitude, shape, and movement goes a long way toward painting what the associated air mass is doing. Clouds are categorized by both their height and shape, with…

12 Jan

Marine Electronics, December 2022

Bill MorrisMarine Electronics, Newsletter

With all the advertising and dockside chatter surrounding satellite cell phones and the cost of monthly plans, it is comforting to know there are still active marine SSB nets for cruisers all around the globe. As a matter of fact, SSB transceivers, along with ham radios, are still the norm among offshore cruisers. However, because we offshore sailing folk do not (but should) comprise the huge customer base it takes to shape economies of scale, we are relegated to limited sources for some of our specialized electronics, particularly single-sideband AM radios. Which explains why three manufacturers — ICOM, Furuno and…