14 Apr
Ocean NavigatorNavigation, Offshore Sailing
There was a time not too long ago when I was a head magician of the local branch of the cult of celestial navigation; a cult that experienced its last hurrah through the early 1990s, before going underground with the emergence of GPS. During a relatively short period of time, there were various branches throughout the country, all practicing the art. My particular cabal was located in the northeastern U.S. I was pledged into this group, serving my apprenticeship with Eben Whitcomb, master of the schooner Harvey Gamage and celestial navigation wizard nonpareil. Along with others, I was wizard-in-training for…
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30 Mar
Capt. Wayne CanningNewsletter, Ocean Voyaging, Offshore Sailing, Seamanship & Navigation
After a second reef is tied in to a yacht's mainsail, the next step in sail reduction is a storm trysail. Many offshore sailors feel that a triple-reefed main is not effective, inducing too much distortion and stress to the sail and not providing sufficient support to the boom. While not all modern yachts carry a storm trysail, those undertaking ocean passages should have one in their inventory. In truly heavy weather conditions, a storm trysail not only offers an opportunity to fly a still smaller sail but it also will help reduce unnecessary wear and tear on the vessel's mainsail which has already been buffeted and battered enough withstanding the wind and stresses of…
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Sloop
02 Sep

Sloop

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Offshore Sailing, Racing News
What Daniel Robb’s new book Sloop is not is a guide to rebuilding his family’s 1939 Herreshoff 12 ½, Daphie. Yes, there are hints on moving an old boat, building a steam box to bend frames, constructing a temporary building shed that’s capable of withstanding a New England winter, chalking, talk of rivets and much more. The book’s real subject is an elegantly written meditation on the process. More than fastening plank to frame, it explores the deeper meaning he finds in restoring the old boat. Robb reflects on Thoreau, whose spirit seems to silently guide Daphie’s restoration. As he…
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01 Jan

Vikings' succeed in epic crossing

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing
The crew of modern-day Vikings who were attempting to recreate Leif Ericson's historic expedition from Greenland to mainland Canada this past summer successfully crossed the Davis and Hudson straits, effectively proving that the trip could have been accomplished in such a boat. Before the first big crossing, the crew of the open 54-foot wooden knarr Snorri had been holed up in a fjord, awaiting fine weather, before a weather-routing specialist spotted a break. "The weather windows are pretty darn short in this area of the world, so when I saw this scenario coming up I said, go, go, go!" explained…
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01 Jan

Fare increase for Panama Canal

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Offshore Sailing
The Panama Canal will no longer be an inexpensive way totransport a yacht between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans if an expected increase in the toll takes effect this spring. Instead of the relatively cheap $650 transit fee ($250 plus a $400 "measurement fee") required until now, the new fee will be $1,500 after May 1, according to officials with the Panama Canal Commission. The fare increase, which has outraged the world yachting community since it was first announced in January, is being described as necessary by the Commission to balance rising maintenance and operation costs. Panama is set to…
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01 Jan

Fiddler’s green

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Offshore Sailing
EMIL "BUS" MOSBACHER, JR. America's Cup Skipper and OpSail Chairman Two-time America's Cup winner Emil "Bus" Mosbacher, Jr., died August 13, 1997, at the age of 75. Raised on Long Island Sound, where he was an eight-time International One Design champion in the 1950s, Mosbacher skippered the 12-meter Weatherly to victory over Australia's first Cup challenger, Gretel, in 1962. Two challenges and five years later, Mosbacher was at the helm of the Intrepid when she swept Australia's Dame Pattie in four races. The opposing helmsman in both series was Jock Sturrock, who also died this year. (In 1970 the same…
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01 Jan

Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing
Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare4,162 miles across the Pacific in a rowing boatby John TooheyThe fastidious cartographer and right-hand man of Capt. James Cook fell in reputation from one of the highest positions in the Royal Navy to one of infamy. A slight by a sycophantic crewmember, in a posthumously published account of the voyage of Resolution, kept Bligh from the fame and wealth accorded many of those who had also sailed with Cook in lesser positions. He then went on to lose command of Bounty and spend many months adrift in an open boat before fetching Tahiti. John Toohey's gripping…
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01 Jan

Swedish inventor going 'round again

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing
Sven Yrvind, the Swedish sailor and inventor formerly known as Sven Lundin, is hard at work building another of his funky sailboats this time for an ambitious east-about solo circumnavigation that includes Tristan de Cunha Island, Tasmania, and Cape Horn. His latest vessel, Bris Orädd, a 22-footer with a thick foam core and polyester fiber skin, incorporates the inventor's passionate belief in utilizing the latest technology in unconventional ways. Yrvind has made numerous high-seas voyages aboard his various little craft, including a transatlantic with his artist wife Olga in a 15-footer; to Tristan de Cunha in a 20-footer; and around…
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01 Jan

Brad Van Liews Record Run

Ocean NavigatorOffshore Sailing
Around Alone sailor Brad Van Liew set a new World Sailing Speed record this weekend when he ran 345.03 miles from 0300 GMT on Saturday to 0300 GMT Sunday. On this final stretch of his run to Capetown and the finish of Leg 2, Van Liew clocked an average of 14.37 knots, the longest distance sailed by a 50-foot monohull sailboat for a 24-hour period. If verified by the World Sailing Speed Council, Van Liew will have broken J.P. Mouligne's 1998-'99 Around Alone record aboard Cray Valley. On Monday morning, Dec. 25, Van Liew was approximately 480 miles from Capetown…
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