Uncategorized - Ocean Navigator

02 Jan

It’s not easy being green

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

How can it be that something you love to do makes you sick? The ocean is a fickle host, at times benevolent and mild, then obstreperous and cruel — often within moments of each other. One minute you’re in the galley, chewing the fat with the cook and then in a flash you’re bent over the taffrail feeding the fish — wishing you were dead. During a race up the coast of Florida last year on a J-29, the boat owner was a seat-of-the pants type of “purist” sailor and didn’t carry charts. It was a robust day and we…

14 Dec

Dockmate Remote Control System Now Offers Full Integration with the Most Popular Engine Controls

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Dockmate®, manufacturer of advanced wireless remote controls for yachts, announced today that it has developed an interface that allows complete compatibility with a wide variety of digital (CANbus) and analog engine and thruster controls. Additionally, they have custom-made splitter cables for easy connection to existing controls with plug-and-play simplicity. All boats with electronic engine controls can be equipped with the Dockmate system, regardless of the length or type of boat. Easy-to-install and compatible with most engine and thruster systems, remote control systems let owners and crew operate engines, bow and stern thrusters, anchor winches and horns…

11 Dec

Celestial navigation series, part 15

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Editor’s note: In this installment of our celestial navigation series, we take a look at the arcane but still intriguing subject of lunar distance sights for finding time and longitude. In this series, we’ve started from the most basic concepts and worked our way through every type of sight in celestial navigation: sun sights, star sights, planet sights, moon sights, latitude from noon, latitude from Polaris, multiple body sights and a day at sea for the celestial navigator. If you’ve followed the installments in this series, you are well set up to navigate with celestial navigation. The only thing left…

02 Nov

Very Helpful Feature – VHF radio

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

With all of the savvy technology that exists on boats today, it is easy to overlook that the most reliable communication tool on your vessel is your VHF radio. VHF stands for Very High Frequency (not the title, very helpful feature). Marine VHF radios have been around for decades — Wikipedia reports twelve coastal stations in New England around 1920. They are simple and designed for easy operation. There aren’t many other 100-year-old technologies still as important. The original magic that allows us to talk between boats miles apart using the airwaves — not connected by wires or cables —…

02 Nov

During a pandemic, flexibility is key

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

The wheelhouse was scattered with guidebooks extolling the virtues and sites to behold in and around the Baltic — fjords in Sweden and Norway, Danish in Denmark, history-laden Poland, and enough lager to sink a barge in Germany. The chartplotters are littered with waypoints and anchorages promising long, lazy days soaking in the vistas of the Swedish archipelago. Yet days from departure, the course line from Portugal was 090° — rather than 350°. Another casualty of the COVID-19 debacle, our summer plans were completely upended, and a new plan emerged. V1 is the speed at which a pilot must make…

02 Nov

Into the Denmark Strait

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

A bristlingly cold gale whipped across the silvery North Atlantic and up the narrow fjord. The wind rattled against Aurora, a 60-foot bright red sailing yacht, as it chugged slowly out of the Ísafjörður harbor. Aurora was scheduled to be my home for the next three weeks on a passage from Iceland to Greenland. When we arrived in Greenland, we planned to spend two and a half weeks of exploratory skiing along Greenland’s remote west coast. It would be an expedition with some of my best friends and ski partners. The ship bobbed and rolled comfortably over the first swell…

02 Nov

Upgrading batteries

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

For a very long time, high-capacity battery technology remained pretty simple. Wet cell lead-acid batteries were pretty much the only choice boaters had. Over the last 10 to 15 years, battery technology has advanced and more choices of battery design and type have developed. All batteries age, and at some point it becomes time to replace them. This is the time many consider upgrading to one of the newer types of batteries. This may seem a simple task at first, but there is more to consider when changing or upgrading batteries than just the batteries themselves. Batteries are part of…

02 Nov

Tuna 101: A Primer for Voyaging Sailors

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

I grew up spending my summers fishing the waters of Lake Huron. When my family and I moved onto Sargo, our 46-foot Garcia Passoa, I had plenty of enthusiasm for fishing, but close to no actual saltwater fishing skills. Over the past 12 months, I have taken every opportunity to talk to (interrogate) experienced saltwater fishermen. I’ve also learned from many mistakes. As we have caught more fish, my enthusiasm for fishing has gradually spread to the entire Sargo crew. Aboard a cruising sailboat, catching and landing fish takes a full team effort. On our recent passage from the U.S.…

25 Aug

The rebuilding of Golden Rule, the first protest boat

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

It’s a misty day in the photo and the sand is brownish gray, setting off the white paint of the derelict hull as if the boat were lit by a ray of sunshine. She had sunk after being battered by a storm while tied to pilings nearby. No name shows on her transom and her wooden sides are stove in, her insides a mess. Two days later, the boat was hauled out by Leroy Zerlang of Zerlang & Zerlang Marine Services on Humboldt Bay in Northern California. Zerlang specializes in resurrecting wooden boats — and a shipwright said she could…

03 Aug

And the Winner is….

Ocean NavigatorUncategorized

Despite all the uncertainties faced this year, Summer Sailstice 2020 was a success, and that is in large part due to our amazing community. Year after year we organize this event to grow and promote sailing world-wide. We loved seeing all of the creative ways you celebrated sailing on this year's Sailstice despite a global pandemic changing the way each and every sailor sailed. Thank you for showing us your love of sailing in some incredible ways. We wish everyone could be a winner, but since that is not possible, we have made some tough decisions and are pleased to…