The crossing to Cuba from Key West was rough (13- to 15-foot seas and 30- to 40-knot westerly winds). But the 88-foot, steel-hulled schooner Ocean Star motorsailed at 1,500 rpms under the storm trysail and fore staysail, easily handling the gale conditions, although many of the crew were seasick. Within 24 hours of departing Key West we were approaching Cuba's 12-mile limit. I contacted Marina Hemingway on channel 16 only to be informed that the marina had closed due to the dangerous conditions in the marina's entrance channel, which I remembered from a visit two years before as a dubious,…

To the editorCongratulations on publishing your recent Power Voyaging section, and especially Earl Hinz's piece on preventing power voyagers from rolling ("Roll stabilization," Issue No. 93, Nov./Dec. 1998). Unfortunately, the author perpetuates some misconceptions about paravane-type stabilizers introduced by the Beebe/Leishman book Voyaging under Power. First, as any commercial salmon troller can tell you, "stabies" ("flopper-stopper" isn't used by commercial fishermen) are not hard to deploy and retrieve. I used them on three boats, up to 40 feet, and could singlehand them, either stopped or slowly underway. Some fishermen operate these devices on boats larger than 50 feet alone. If…

There was a small error in a recent nav problem ("Biplane sextant sights," Issue No. 62). On his 1931 flight, Chichester actually took his departure from a harbor in the north of New Zealand, not from Auckland as shown. Chichester accomplished this remarkable feat of navigation by precalculating his observed altitude (ho) and setting his sextant to those readings for set times. By steering a course that would carry him west of Norfolk Island, he was able to turn right 90° when his LOP became his course line. Interestingly, investigators trying to solve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart have found…

As a racing sailor, the recent article on how voyaging sailors should climb a mast ("Climbing the mast," July/August 2000, Issue No. 107) grabbed my attention, and I thought readers might like to hear how racers handled this task. Racers discarded bosun's chairs long ago. I have been using a mountain-climbing harness for 30 years. The recent article does not mention the most important features of a climbing harness as contrasted with a bosun's chair. First, with a climbing harness, you can actually climb the mast, with the halyard(s) being merely an assist. The point is that, with a climbing…

Your recent article on malaria ("Malaria prevention," Issue No. 90) has a few errors and omissions that this retired preventive medicine type noted. First, permethrin is more toxic than DEET, not less. It is actually an insecticide (of the pyrethroid class), not just a repellent, with some uses for killing lice. Uncle Sam's Army says never put it on the skin, just on the outer clothing. It does have the advantage that it is still effective after several washings. Also, way back when, we named WR-142,490 "mefloquine," with a terminal "e." On a more serious note, if you are going…