Newsletter - Ocean Navigator

21 Jan

Hands-On Training

Eric ColbyNavigation, Newsletter, Ocean Voyaging, Offshore Safety, Offshore Sailing, Seamanship & Navigation, Voyaging Skills, Voyaging Skills, Voyaging Tips

Most teachers or people in a training/instructing position will tell you that one of the best ways to learn something is by doing it. But even instructors start somewhere. Marc Hughston founded Santana Sailing in 2003 in Long Beach, Calif., but he took his first sailing lesson at the age of 14 and has been on the water for most of his life. He is a U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Master and an American National Standards Instructor/Assessor as well as a Mediterranean Sailing License and Credentials Instructor/Assessor. In 2007, he was working as an instructor and had a crew…

15 Jan

Keep up with Expiration Dates

Eric ColbyNewsletter, Offshore Safety

Many pieces of boating safety equipment have expiration dates for good reason. For some it’s a matter of ingredients for handling an emergency remaining effective. For others, it might be based on battery life. Let’s look at some products with expiration dates and why you need to keep up with them. Ask any captain and he/she will tell you that fire is one of the biggest threats to any vessel. The first line of defense in quickly quelling flames is a fire extinguisher or automatic fire-suppression system. Most canisters have an expiration dates stamped on the bottom or side. The…

03 Dec

Caribbean Dreaming

Eric ColbyNewsletter, Voyaging Tips, Voyaging Tips Newsletter

Sitting in my home in Maine watching the snow fall in early December made it easy to understand why many sailors pack up and head south to the Caribbean during the winter. There’s an idyllic element to the notion of fleeing the cold on your own boat and lazily cruising in the crystal-clear waters as the mellow breezes guide you and your crew from island to island. “If you want to sail to the Caribbean, you’re going to need a year to prepare,” said David Lyman, a contributor to Ocean Navigator, has logged more than 60-000 deep-water miles at sea.…

14 Nov

Tips for Snowbirds Heading South

Eric ColbyNewsletter, Seamanship & Navigation

With the 2024 hurricane season in our wake, many sailors and trawler owners from the Northeast are either en route or preparing to head south for the winter. Whether you’re a veteran or newcomer to navigating the eastern seaboard of the United States, it never hurts to brush up on the basics. We talked to veteran Ocean Navigator contributor Ann Hoffner from her home in Sorrento, Maine, and to John Hines, an instructor at the Offshore Sailing School, for some tips on making sure the trip is a successful one. You would think that prepping your boat and gear for…

13 Nov

Squall Forecasts

David BurchNewsletter, Weather

It is likely known that we can get GRIB formatted wind and pressure forecasts from numerical weather models such as GFS. But it is probably less known that we can get usable squall forecasts as well. We get this from the output parameter composite reflectivity (REFC), often called “simulated weather radar,” which is effectively what it is. Once we are in an area of squalls, we can watch them and maneuver around or with them using our marine radar, but it is often valuable to know when they are likely, how severe they might be, and how they will move.…

23 Oct

Preparing for Cold Weather Sailing

Eric ColbyNewsletter, Voyaging Skills, Voyaging Tips, Voyaging Tips Newsletter

As the temperatures drop, fair-weather boaters break out the shrinkwrap and put their vessels to sleep for the winter. The heartier among us know that there’s still some great sailing and boating to do, provided one prepares for the elements. Late October and early November are prime times for checking out the leaves on the Atlantic coasts of the U.S. and Canada and on the Great Lakes. The waters are also much less crowded than during a busy summer season. We checked in with Capt. Dasiel Molina of the South Portland Sailing Center in Maine and he gave us guidelines…

21 Sep

Close Quarters Maneuvering

Eric ColbyNewsletter, Seamanship & Navigation

When veteran cruiser and sailing instructor Andy Cross is approaching a dock, he already has a plan on how to complete the landing smoothly. “Many times, people who are on the dock want to help and I’ll say, ‘No thank you, we’re good.’” Even for experienced cruisers and sailors, entering a marina or dockage for the first time presents challenges. Any serious athlete talks about making sure he or she has a good foundation and that starts with having the basics covered. Golfers practice before they play a round. Professional baseball players still hit off a tee. Basketball players hoist…

20 Aug

Pre-voyage inspection of windvane self-steering

Bill MorrisNewsletter, Voyaging Tips, Voyaging Tips Newsletter

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…