As we all know, a good navigator should never fail to take advantage of any cue that aids him in piloting his vessel through hazardous coastal waters, particularly when the weather is thick. Nova Scotian Jock Fleming was one who readily subscribed to this theory. One morning in 1864, as the American Civil War was beginning to wind down, the citizens of Halifax awoke to the news that a Confederate sea-raider, the C.S.S. Tallahassee, John T. Wood commanding, had entered port for repairs. Although Halifax was officially a neutral port, Royal Navy personnel there made little effort to hide their…

A passion for recycling and a love of steel has prompted a Maine sailor to combine his interests by building, in his back yard, a 113-foot schooner entirely of recycled and scrap material. Harold Arndt has worked in the industrial waste and surplus industry for many years and has seen a lot of material go into the scrap pile that could be perfectly useful somewhere else. As a result, Arndt likes to say that the word "waste" is a misnomer. "Waste is a resource in the wrong place at the wrong time," Arndt said, while pointing to the many piles…

Grant Dalton, Amer Sports One: "Brother, is it wet. It would be impossible for the boat to be any wetter. We bail it (literally) every two hours maximum and the water just pours over the deck. This is not your average heavy spray, more walls of white water, which eventually penetrate through everything, and through all of this the boat continues to thunder along, now under small spinnaker in a confused sea." Arve Roaas, djuice: "Several boats reported icebergs yesterday, and as we spotted one, we realized our radar was not working, which is bad news for night sailing in…

Now you'll know when to throttle back your Atomic Four to avoid a ticket. Whistler Corporation, based in Chelmsford, Mass., has just announced the release of its 1490 Marine Radar and Laser Detector. The new product offers 360° of detection of all radar and laser guns. To simplify detector use, it is equipped with visibility displays which provide text messages when signals are detected. Karen McVeigh, Whistler marketing manager, commented on the product: "With the expanding use of radar guns by water authorities, we've received an increasing amount of requests from powerboat owners to create a product specifically geared to…