offshore sailing - Ocean Navigator

01 Sep

Crossing the Doldrums

Ocean NavigatorOcean Voyaging, WeatherAscension Island, Barbados, Galapagos, GRIB files, Hawaii, ITCZ, Marquesas, ocean sailing, offshore sailing, The Doldrums, trade winds, Tuamotus

For centuries sailors dreaded the aptly named Doldrums. This band of windless, hot, and humid weather near the equator could stall sailing ships for weeks, driving the crew to distraction with the monotony and sometimes even leading to the onset of scurvy as fresh supplies ran out. While sailors today needn’t fear scurvy, most of us still dislike this part of the ocean. Most voyagers try to minimize time spent in the Doldrums. This strategy starts with obtaining accurate weather forecasts, whether over single-sideband radio or satellite phone connection. Even in the last 15 years that I’ve been voyaging, the…

23 Aug

Ocean NavigatorHome Page Hero, Transpac Raceoffshore racing, offshore sailing, Transpac 2021

Posted August 21, 2021 Ocean Navigator Subscription August 20, 2021 - Honolulu, Hawaii - After careful review of the materials submitted to support his application, a review panel from the Transpacific Yacht Club have determined that Jesse Osborn wins the Mark S. Rudiger Celestial Navigation Trophy for the recently completed 2021 Transpac. Osborn was navigator aboard Justin Waite's Stevens 47 Mikmaks. The trophy is awarded to the navigator who submits celestial navigation worksheets or evidence of traditional navigation to the finish inspectors immediately after finishing, and whose work is selected as the "best" by an impartial panel of judges. First awarded in 2011, the trophy itself is an antique brass 1905 T. Hemsley…

16 Jul

Ocean NavigatorHome Page Hero, Transpac Race2021 Transpac sponsors, Ocean Navigator sponsor, ocean racing, offshore sailing, Transpac 2021, Transpac Race, Transpacific Yacht Club

This July is the 51st running of the Transpac Race, the signature west coast offshore race, 2,225 miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu. And for this running of the race, Ocean Navigator is an official race sponsor. The seamanship, navigation, route planning and watchstanding efforts exhibited by the race crews are the same skills that voyaging sailors undertake every day in their passages. This makes ON’s sponsorship of the Transpac an excellent match. The race, run every two years, began in 1906 and was hosted by the Los Angeles Yacht Club. The current host of the race is the Transpacific…

03 May

Ocean NavigatorOcean Voyaging, Offshore SailingMyron Spaulding, ocean voyaging, offshore sailing, Samuel Kerr Robinson

Our boat Havaiki was a 35-ton steel ketch. She was 48 feet on deck and 59 feet overall with the bowsprit and a six-foot draft. The boat was designed by Myron Spaulding of Sausalito, a well-known and respected yacht designer, and was built by Samuel Kerr Robinson of Sebastopol, Calif. Robinson was originally from Scotland and owned a body/fender shop in the San Francisco Bay area. He wanted a boat with a shallow keel and masts on tabernacles so they could be lowered and the boat could get under bridges. He had originally planned to navigate the channels in Europe…

02 Jan

Notable New Titles — Plunge

Tim QueeneyGood Reads, Ocean Navigatormemoir, ocean voyaging, offshore sailing

Former liveaboard voyager and self-professed “citizen of the world,” Liesbet Collaert’s memoir Plunge is, like many other voyagers’ memoirs, an account of passages made, life aboard, dealing with gear failure, experiencing tropical beauty and a freedom tempered only by wind and weather. Yet, it would be unfair to only place the book in the category of sailing memoir. Plunge is also an affecting account of Collaert’s emotional life, her evolving relationship with her voyaging husband, Mark, and the losses and trade-offs that everyone, no matter afloat or ashore, must navigate. The memoir is bracingly honest about Collaert’s marriage and the…