Voyage planning and prepping starts with choosing your schedule based on weather, desired route, and many other considerations that require both online and offline information resources. In addition, a critical planning component is deciding what spare parts and supplies you will need, based on your boat’s characteristics, the length of your voyage, and its destinations. Obviously, the first consideration that will determine all else is where you want to go. For most of us that is the easy part of the process. We have been dreaming about the big trip for years and imagining what it will be like. But…
Steel ships are the backbone of world trade, and navies around the world maintain their allegiance to the metal. Like-minded builders of smaller commercial fishing boats, tugs and barges also favor the iron/carbon amalgam. So why do we see so few recreational power and sailing vessels being built from what’s arguably the strongest and one of the least expensive boatbuilding materials? Before attempting to answer, it makes sense to take a close look at what steel has to offer. Riveted iron was the first step in a ship building renaissance, a trend that gave white oak and spruce trees a…
In the past two issues we’ve been following the adventures of Ernest K. Gann and his brigantine Albatros. Let’s pick up the story after Gann sold the ship. Following a three-year Pacific cruise and playing a role in the film Twilight for the Gods, Albatros was sold in 1959. The buyer was Christopher B. Sheldon who with his wife, Dr. Alice Sheldon, created and ran Ocean Academy of Connecticut, a prep school for college-bound kids that combined sail training with academics. In the spring of 1961, four instructors, a cook, and 13 students were on a voyage to the Galapagos…