January 27, 2016

Cool Stuff for a Cool Season

OK — I just dated myself with that title, but "cool" is the only appropriate word, in my opinion, for this potpourri of charting goodness.
 
Dock-to-dock Autorouting
You've no doubt read about the wonders of Google's self-driving cars that will take you from point A to point B safely while you do important things like drinking coffee and using Snapchat. I hope boating never gets to that point, but Navionics has taken a step in that direction with a new component in Navionics+, an optional pay-to-subscribe feature available in their free Boating app, or included with their paid Boating app. Check it out here. It is available for iPhone and iPad at this time.

We all have used chartplotters that let us create straight-line routes between various selected waypoints, but what if your trip is down the Hudson River or the Intracoastal Waterway? Plotting a course mark-to-mark would be totally impractical in many areas due to the tight curvature of the waterway, the lack of navigation aids within sight of one another and the need to travel in non-straight lines. Dock-to-dock Autorouting to the rescue!

This app feature does just what it says — it plots a course for you, based on navigation aids and chart information, down a narrow twisting channel. Having traveled the Intracoastal Waterway more than 25 times, I can appreciate the need for this. I picture myself rising early to catch the sun in a desolate stretch of the Carolina or Georgia waterway, where the channel resembles a series of wriggling snakes. Yes, there are lots of markers to watch for, and you should be using your Mark 1 Eyeballs too, but it would be really cool on that chilly morning to have my day pre-plotted for me.

There are many places in such a snake den where intersecting channels or waterways can take you from instant calm to panicked confusion, often followed by your keel making the determination that your morning coffee-starved brain made the wrong snap decision. Having a plotted route would avoid all that fun of rowing out an anchor to kedge your boat back into deep water.

Not only that, but this app feature also provides you with fuel consumption, distance and ETA estimates, hazard warnings and points of interest. Needless to say, Navionics provides the obvious disclaimer that "a route automatically calculated by Autorouting does not replace safe navigation practices and should never be your only reference." In other words, boating with your mind in gear is still the safe way to get from point A to B, especially when the straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.

Cuba, here we come!
Now that sailing to Cuba seems to be possible for many North Americans, everyone is looking for charts and guides — and NV Charts has delivered. They've recently released four charting regions covering the north coast of Cuba, and they have matching chart apps. If you purchase the paper chartbooks, you can also download digital charts that work with a free charting program for OSX and Windows, and you will receive a free charting app for use on iOS and Android. Learn more here.

I like this approach of encouraging cruisers to have paper and digital products; it means you are not entirely dependent on the flow of electrons in a marine environment. At the same time, how cool is it to have your big chartbook safely below on the chart table, while your hand-held phone or tablet provides the cockpit view you need? Or vice versa, depending on your boat.

NV Charts utilize both government hydrographic information and the company's own surveys conducted in small boats. They utilize symbols and colors somewhat different than those used by U.S. government charting agencies, but I have found them to generally be clear and easy to read. As always, boaters must use caution and those Mark 1 Eyeballs when navigating in less-traveled waters, particularly coral areas.

Office of Coast Survey Chart Catalog
OK, how cool can a chart catalog be? Pretty cool if you are the Coast Survey folks that bring us NOAA paper and electronic charts. Check out their online catalog hereto see what I mean. Choose a tab to see outlines of paper or electronic charts available and, using Google maps, you can zoom right in smoothly and quickly to the area you are interested in and you can highlight chart areas to get more information.

The view includes quick links to navigational products covering the selected area, and lists other charts in the vicinity. This is a fantastic planning tool, and it also helps to give you a big picture of the area.

This article was first published online by Ocean Navigator. Check them out for more cool stuff!

Hurricane Chartwork

During and before hurricane season you will read and hear lots of information on what to do when a storm approaches, and how to escape and remain safe. However, the most important thing is to pay attention, so that whatever happens you have days of warning. With a longer warning period you might very well be able to move your boat to a more sheltered harbor, or possibly even far enough from the storm to avoid the worst of it.

The primary early warning tool is the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) website (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/). Keep the site bookmarked on your cellphone, your home computer or wherever you'll be able to check it every day. The NHC is previewing a new website (http://www.nhcpara.noaa.gov/) with responsive design that will work better on phones and tablets.

The NHC provides a downloadable and printable PDF Atlantic Basin Hurricane Tracking Chart that I find very handy. The paper chartlet is gridded so it is easy to plot latitude/longitude coordinates. I print out several blank ones and keep them on board so that I can plot out the course of a storm and have a ready reference to its progress, without having to fire up a computer or a phone.

I have found that cellphones and the Internet are generally reliable and faster to get back up and running during a hurricane event. In many areas trees quickly take down power lines, along with phone service and cable TV, but cell towers have backup power and by the nature of the system there is a lot of redundancy. Even if you lose a signal from one tower, you may be able to move around a bit and pick up another tower.

In recent years the NHC has become less useful to mariners when a hurricane makes a close approach. Critical information on storm location, progress, potential tracks, etc., is replaced by endless repetitions of warnings to "complete preparations" and "seek shelter." Strangely, this is when local television weather becomes a mariner's best friend. Local weather announcers are struggling to fill endless airtime so they microreport every detail and nuance of the approaching storm just about when the NHC becomes useless. Unfortunately, you do have to be patient during the inevitable reports from reporters trying to stand in the wind and rain to show everyone how terrible the weather is.

I'm not a fan of TV on board a boat, but if you have one, use it! As an alternative, I have found many stations offer a live stream on the Internet, or it makes a good excuse to hang out in the marina lounge or a local bar! Unfortunately, in most places broadcast radio is much less useful — it is hard to find a station broadcasting detailed, accurate weather.

When prepping for a storm your chartplotter, paper charts and cruising guides become critical. If I don't have paper charts of the area, I print out a very detailed chart of my surroundings and I keep it in a plastic zipper bag. You never know when the electronics or your power supply will fail, and things are likely to get very wet — even down below!

Many boaters have their main plotter at the steering station, which is not where you want to be located during a hurricane or a close approach. Make sure you have some sort of plotting device that can be used down below. As a storm's track relative to your location becomes defined, there is often time to readjust lines, move anchors to better locations or even move the boat a short distance to get better shelter. A chartplotter down below will tell you if there is enough water to get in behind that protective point, or whether you are now going to be downwind of that large marina with boats and docks breaking loose!

Assuming you've got your boat well secured and in good shelter, often the biggest problem is debris or other boats floating down on you. I spent a good portion of Hurricane Bob lying on the bow of my boat fending off floating junk including an upside-down ATV, a large old Christmas tree and numerous 100-pound propane tanks. Often the biggest danger is other boats breaking loose and taking you with them, so use those charts to not only determine what will be immediately upwind of you but what might be floating down the river, bay or harbor from an unseen marina around the bend or an abandoned wharf falling apart.

Needless to say, with that early warning you have had (you've been monitoring the NHC, right!?), you've explored the territory around your boat in the dinghy and have plotted out all possible hazards. I have a portable depth sounder that I use in the dinghy to give me an accurate idea of depths and hazards all around the boat for some distance — in case I drag, or in case I have to move the boat deliberately for some reason. In Maine I once found that the mooring the harbormaster had put me on allowed my boat to swing over a large boulder that would have been very close to my keel depth at an extreme low tide. I moved. Take those depth readings and write them down on that big-scale, small area paper chart you have printed out. This chart can be useful later if you find your boat has dragged into a shoaler area.

Think ahead, use your charts to plot out every detail of your sheltered spot, and be prepared with backups for the backups when everything is soaked and broken! Stay safe this hurricane season.

This article was first published online by Ocean Navigator. Check them out for other great content!

July 13, 2015

Paper and Plastic

I frequently see long and acrid online forum argument threads about the superiority of digital charting vs. paper charts. However, like with most things there is no single correct answer for every situation. Can you be all-digital and be safe? Yes! Can you go all-paper and be safe? Yes!
 
But why do you have to go all one way or the other? Just like sailboats equipped with powerful diesel engines, most of us choose to have both. There is nothing finer than a long sail when the wind is right, the sails are trimmed and the boat is gliding silently across the bay. But when it comes time to work my way in or out of a fuel dock or a marina, I prefer to do it under power. Could I instead sail up to the dock? Sure, in an emergency — but why does it have to be one or the other?

I feel the same way about nautical charting. I like to have the chartplotter running when offshore, silently keeping a continuous note of our position, speed, progress and relation to hazards. But at the same time, I like to have a folded paper chart nearby showing me the big picture at a glance so I can think more broadly about the route, where we are headed, possibly how to deal with an upcoming wind shift, etc.

Scale matters
This one small example indicates one of the major downfalls of most digital charting systems: Due to the available screen size, you can either look at a small area in good detail or a large area with insufficient detail. You simply need more real estate than most chartplotters provide in order to get the big picture with decent detail. Are bigger screens and monitors available? Yes, they are, but I have yet to see a pleasure boat equipped with one 3-by-4 feet, which is near the size of a typical chart.

There is nothing quite like spreading out the big paper chart to plan your offshore route to Bermuda and beyond. Without scrolling or zooming you can see everything from the East Coast out to the islands, including the route of the Gulf Stream, which is critical to your planning. I keep some older charts around the house so I can draw up planned passages or even just summer cruises. A little bit of planning can make a cruise so much more enjoyable.

On the other hand, using digital charts on my home PC is a fantastic asset for making those same plans. I can look up any harbor I want to in the USA for free using NOAA's online chart viewer , or I can use one of several charting programs that can utilize the free chart downloads from NOAA (http://www.charts.noaa.gov/). OpenCPN is one of the free navigation programs, and there are versions for most operating systems (http://opencpn.org/ocpn/).

I find the PC charting program invaluable for picking out waypoints, which I like to do prior to being underway, and together with my big paper chart they make for a great planning tool.

Get the big picture of a small harbor
Another area where I like to have a paper chart handy is when approaching a tricky harbor. Yes, the chartplotter can be great in providing detailed views of every place you might visit, but again that view will be centered around where your boat is located. While winding your way up a narrow channel with side channel offshoots, rocks to dodge and possibly funky buoyage, it is great to once again be able to hold a paper chart that provides a bigger picture of everything coming up. Not only can you see the red nun coming up, but you can spot that water tower shown on the chart that creates a perfect range for homing in on the town wharf hidden behind all the boats.

The same applies in the Intracoastal Waterway. Use the digital charting to keep track of where you are and use the paper charts or a chartbook to plan ahead for the next anchorage or fuel stop. It is far easier to flip back and forth through a paper chartbook than it is to scroll up and down the electronic screen.

The more tools the better
When I am repairing something on board it often saves time and money in the long run to go out and purchase the right tool for the job. The same applies with paper charts and digital charts. Have both available and use the best tool for the job at hand.

This article was originally published by Ocean Navigator. Check them out for lots more great stuff like this!

May 6, 2015

Getting Attached: Choosing Your Anchor

Have you ever found the perfect waterfront boaters’ bar? I’m still searching, but I know what it looks and smells like. It’s right on the waterfront — you can dinghy right up to it, hop ashore and stumble back to the dink at the end of the evening. The clincher: when you’re in the mood for mischief, you can bring up a story about your favorite anchor and before you know it there will be a near riot!

Strong men and women have fled from many a boating forum in tears after near-death experiences in anchor threads. Why is this? Like one’s religion, or lack thereof, it is part nurture, part experimentation, part preaching, part experience and part blind faith. Most boaters move back and forth through these stages in their voyaging careers, but many settle in one category or another and will defend their positions vehemently, just like their religions.

Where do you fall on the spectrum? The “nurture” folks are the ones who learned to use anchor X and will never even look at another. They probably have their favorite anchor tattooed on their biceps. The experimenters are the ones who are never quite sure they’ve found their true love. The preachers are the ones who have experimented and now KNOW IT ALL! The experienced ones are likely to carry an array of steel and aluminum that makes their decks look like the beaches of Normandy covered with tank traps. The blind-faithers often have a single enormous anchor perched on the bow shackled to oversized chain and backed up with a windlass that could lift the entire boat.

I fall into the “experimenter” class. I like to try different anchors to see what they offer, but I can never get to the point where I have blind faith in one or another. 

Needless to say, we experimenters believe we have the true wisdom. We believe there is no single best anchor. There are anchors that are great all-around, but there are also anchors that are better in specific situations. Most recent anchor developments have tried to combine the best characteristics of older anchor types, while eliminating weaknesses in order to create anchors that will hold better in most situations. What does that mean?

Hooking-burying anchors
There were two broad categories of anchors identified by Earl Hinz in his classic work: The Complete Book of Anchoring and Mooring: hooking anchors and burying anchors. Hooking anchors were ones like the traditional fisherman anchor that had two sharpish points that could penetrate through hard sand, wedge within a rocky bottom or slice down through thick weeds to the bottom. Burying anchors, like the Danforth pattern or the original CQR hinged plow anchor, were designed for mud or sand bottoms where the anchor could dive down deep until it was often completely beneath the surface.

The hookers rely on snagging something immovable to provide holding power, while the burying anchors try to dive deeper and deeper until they are held in place by the mass of the bottom substrate. Both concepts are valuable in anchoring. I recall trying to retrieve two Fortress anchors from the bottom after Hurricane Bob. As measured by the thick, caked mud on the chain, both anchors had been buried more than six feet into the bottom and took many hours to retrieve. On the other hand, anchoring along the Caribbean coast of Mexico is often more like fishing — you try to snag some tiny protuberance or indentation on the bottom with the sharpest anchor you’ve got. The bottom was often impenetrable sand that had the holding power of an airport runway.

The so-called “new-generation” anchors that are justifiably popular have combined these two basic characteristics to gain the advantages of each. Many new-gen anchors have broad, scoop-shaped holding surfaces to provide tremendous holding power when deeply buried, but the scoop tapers to a very hard and sharp point that provides that initial penetration into the bottom to start the process, and can also grapple for purchase on bottoms that are impenetrable.

You’ll also see hoops on many newer anchors. The hoops are designed to rotate the anchor when it hits a hardish bottom in order to get that sharp point to penetrate and start the entry point into the bottom for the rest of the anchor to follow. Other anchor designs achieve this effect with weight distribution and anchor shape. The hoops do work at their assigned task and can provide a great grip when manhandling the anchor around on deck. However, a hoop is not a magic elixir providing special powers; the holding power of the anchor is provided by other components.

Traditional burying anchors
You will hear many disparaging comments about older anchors in our favorite waterfront bar but keep in mind that, despite what you hear, people like Eric Hiscock and Hal Roth managed to blunder around the world several times relying mostly on what I call the Big Two of anchors: the genuine CQR hinged plow-type anchor, and the genuine Danforth anchor. I know from personal experience with both that, when properly used, they will bury deep into mud bottoms and provide exceptional holding power. My boats have ridden out several hurricanes riding on a combination of Danforth-type anchors and CQRs.

I prefer to use the term “CQR” rather than “plow anchor” because the genuine CQR was the originator of the type. There are many hinged plow knock-offs, but many are poorly constructed, have the wrong dimensions or otherwise don’t work as well as the originals.

Some voyagers malign this great design because in certain bottoms it is hard to get the anchor to penetrate properly, and then it never develops full holding power. However, like all anchor types, some techniques can be used to get the most from the design. For example, it is often best to let the anchor settle for a prolonged period before backing down hard, particularly if the bottom is either very soft or very hard. This lets the anchor slowly penetrate softer bottoms in order to reach better holding material, and/or it lets the point of the anchor gradually work its way into the substrate.

A later development of the plow type was the Delta design, utilizing a fixed (no hinge) and much thinner shank, and a much broader fluke area. The shank has a lot of arch in order to flip the anchor upright on the bottom to encourage the sharper point to start digging in. You’ll notice that many newer designs have copied this arched shank. An advantage of this anchor pattern is its much lower cost, compared to the genuine CQR, so you will see a lot of these and their knock-offs coming as standard equipment on all sizes of yachts, often in sparkling stainless steel. By all accounts, the Delta type is an improvement over the original CQR in all aspects except for brute strength — and apparently the design is easy to copy, as many seem happy with variations on the theme created by numerous companies. For example, Australian company Anchor Right makes the SARCA Excel that looks similar and has garnered some good press.

Danforth anchors were famously used to help pull landing craft off the beaches in WWII, and they inspired the modern Fortress aluminum anchor design. Both types still provide the highest numbers in terms of holding power per pound of weight when well buried. The original Danforth is one of the most scientifically designed and tested anchors of all time. Anchor aficionados should locate and purchase old copies of Danforth documentation and brochures, like “Anchors and Anchoring.” These publications are full of interesting and useful testing and anchor-use information. As is often the case, beware of cheap imitations that manage to both corrupt many aspects of the design and use lousy materials. I have owned some crummy versions that were nearly useless in all but the lightest breezes.

The Bruce anchor became the hot topic in many a waterfront bar in the ’70s. The company originally produced (and still does) enormous anchors used to anchor offshore oil rigs, so it seemed to make sense that the thing could secure puny pleasure boats. The Bruce was strong, had decent fluke area and tended to be forgiving in use, according to its proponents. However, even its strongest supporters said that one had to go up a size or two to get sufficient holding power, and world voyagers sometimes carried anchors twice the normal size. Apparently there is some scale effect with Bruce anchors that requires a fair bit of weight before you gain all the advantages. 

The genuine original Bruce is no longer made, but there are many knock-offs available, often called “claw” anchors. Watch out for some of these — I have seen several bent and broken claw-type anchors. Some are made of cast steel and tend to shatter when strained. The main advantage of this design seems to be easy setting, reliable holding in moderate winds and has an ability to hook into rocky and weedy bottoms.

Fortress aluminum anchors represent further development of the tried-and-true Danforth anchor pattern. The Fortress improves on the original design by providing sharper blades (watch your shins when carrying one of these!) that provide that hooking and slicing action, which is frequently needed to initiate the critical burying stage. That’s the new-generation advantage I mentioned above: burying plus hooking to get the best of both worlds.

The Fortress design is unique in that it includes the ability to switch between a standard fluke angle of 32 degrees for use in clay, mud or sand, and a 45-degree angle for use in very soft mud. Recent rigorous tests in Chesapeake Bay proved the advantages of the steeper angle in soft bottoms (see “A True Number Two Anchor,” issue #223). In terms of maximum holding power in a straight-line pull in mud or sand (the majority of anchoring situations) the Fortress design is always near or at the top of the heap due to its large fluke area and precision angles.

Here’s the scoop
When you hear the term “new-generation anchor,” someone is probably referring to one of many designs that incorporate several principles: a very sharp point; a broad, scoop-shaped fluke area roughly in the shape of a backwards plow; a thinnish shank, and no pivoting or hinged parts. Many add a big hoop on the back (Rocna, Manson Supreme, Mantus, etc.) that is designed to roll the anchor into the digging position when it lands on the bottom, while others utilize the very arched shank and extreme toe weight along with a sharp point to start the penetrating action (the Spade, West Marine Scoop, Ultra Anchor, Manson Boss, Rocna Vulcan, etc.). The Ultra has a sort of mini roll bar, called a non-foul chain bar, which I suspect aids in rolling the anchor upright and also provides a handle when you are struggling to move the anchor off or onto the roller.

Most report great results with these newer anchors, and they do seem to be easier to use. The sharp points, roll bars, weight distribution and shank designs promote the anchors rolling upright and penetrating the bottom quickly, and then the large scoops provide plenty of holding power. I’ve used a Mantus anchor and it has all of these characteristics, plus an additional unique one: It can be dismantled. That sounds trivial, but in practice it means that a spare anchor, or possibly an enormous storm anchor, can be disassembled and stored down below. It also makes shipping and mounting on the boat easier as the parts are lighter to carry.

Some have reported that the scoop-shaped anchors tend to clog up with balls of thick weed or mud at times, and I have observed this when anchored in places like Cuttyhunk Pond. The scoops can bring up a lot of mud and grass. Others wonder if the thick roll bars limit anchor penetration in certain bottoms. That may be the case, though if these anchors are buried as far as the roll bar, you will already have tremendous holding power. The scoop types tend to have much more surface area than older anchors and buried surface area is what provides ultimate holding power. One possible challenge with roll bars is that they won’t work with some bow roller arrangements.

Odd man out
We experimenters are always interested in trying something new, and anchor inventors don’t disappoint. There are many specialized designs that don’t fit neatly into a particular category. The Super SARCA from Australia is a sort-of plow, yet not a scoop, but with a much shallower blade angle, a big roll bar on the back, a thin shank and all sorts of nifty special features. Rocna, one of the early and popular roll-bar anchors, is now joined by the Vulcan, which appears to be a further development of the spade-type anchor. The main impetus seems to be a search for an anchor without the hoop on the back. The Hans Stealth anchor has a unique double-sided design so it can’t fall on the bottom “upside down,” and its shape is reminiscent of a stealth fighter-bomber. The Super Max anchor seems to have one of the largest scoops around, which would indicate good holding in deep mud. It also features an adjustable shank for different conditions. The Knox anchor is another scoop with a hoop with a difference anchor. The designer has done a lot of interesting anchor testing and his website is worth a read.

And then there are the real traditionalists who want an anchor that looks like an anchor. The three-piece Luke Storm Anchor has the traditional Herreshoff fisherman anchor shape that makes for a great tattoo, and it can be dismantled for storage. Its hooking action can be excellent in rocks and thick weed.

Choices, choices
With all of these different anchors on the market, how does one decide what is best? The first place to start is to see what might fit on your bow roller. Many boats can’t accommodate a hoop design, for example, as it blocks the full retrieval of the anchor. In general, I would recommend looking at the new generation anchors as your first choice for your main hook. The best features of the past have been combined with some great new ideas to provide anchors that are easier to use, can provide greater holding power, and tend to be forgiving. However, if your budget is tight and you’ve inherited an arsenal of CQRs, Danforths and Bruces, they can take you around the world just like they have for many voyagers before you. 
 
Most cruisers have a main bow anchor they use 90 percent of the time by itself. Therefore it must be a type that can deal with dramatic wind shifts without dislodging. Most of the mainstream new generation anchors fit this bill well. However, it is also important to have some secondary anchors for various purposes. For example, when aground you’ll need an anchor that you can take out in the dinghy, which then will provide enormous holding power as you winch the boat off. A Fortress or Danforth anchor is ideal for that purpose and can make a good second anchor when utilizing a two-anchor set. It is also important to have a backup anchor in case you lose the main one, and to use as needed when caught in the ultimate storm. Some like to carry a huge storm anchor dismantled down below.

Anchor size
In most cases, the old rule of thumb still holds true when choosing the main anchor size for a cruising boat. Go for one pound of weight per foot of overall boat length, and then choose the next size up. For example, I choose 45-pound anchors for my 38-foot motorsailor. The manufacturers all publish detailed selection charts, but you will find that most end up providing advice very close to this simple rule for world cruisers. You’ll also notice that most published voyaging accounts dispense similar advice. I would be very wary of any anchor company that provided recommendations at odds with this rule. Aluminum anchors are obviously the exception since, once buried, they provide greater holding power than their weight would indicate. However, sheer weight does matter when penetrating thick weed or dense clay or mud, so for two anchors of similar size and shape the heavier one will usually provide better service. That doesn’t mean that aluminum doesn’t have its place, but some feel it is not ideal for the main anchor.

How about stainless steel? It looks good, mud slides off it easier and it makes your wallet lighter. Otherwise there is probably no advantage, and some stainless anchors are significantly weaker structurally than their galvanized steel mates. Anchors like the Ultra are designed from the get-go to be made in stainless and should have plenty of strength.

Some of us need to anchor in places with rocky bottoms, thick kelp or chunks of old coral. Near Tulum in Mexico, I had to anchor where the bottom was so hard nothing could penetrate, and we relied on hooking action and sheer weight to hold us off the beach. A big fisherman anchor like the Luke would have been great to have in that situation. I know some people carry large grappling hooks for places in the Pacific Northwest where you row it ashore and then wrap your anchor line around some trees while another anchor holds you off the rocks. I have anchored in tight spots in the Bahamas where I walked the anchor over a sandbar in order to place it precisely to keep my boat in a narrow strip of deep water.

The bottom line is to choose one or more that are well tested and well built. Stick to a name brand to avoid poor design and construction. Just because an anchor looks like the one on your neighbor’s world-voyager doesn’t mean it will perform the same. And, as always, it is not what you got, but how you use it.

March 21, 2015

Anti-anchoring Bill is Anti-safety

Once again Florida boaters and cruisers from all over are fighting an ill-conceived anti-anchoring bill (SB 1548) that purports to be about “safety,” but in reality would limit the number of safe harbors to a handful in much of the state. The main thrust of the bill prohibits overnight anchoring within 200 feet of most developed parts of Florida. As has been discussed here and in many places online (see the Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net), this measure would essentially outlaw all overnight anchoring in many popular places such as Manatee Pocket, anywhere in Ft. Lauderdale, most of Miami, Marathon, and most of North Lake Worth.

All of these locations, and many more, are where cruisers routinely anchor safely while waiting for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas, or just to ride out a stretch of bad weather. I have done so in all of these places. During the peak winter season it is highly likely that there would be no marina berths available in these same locations, mooring fields would be full, and there would be no alternative but to keep moving night and day despite the weather. Even with the current availability of anchorages it is very difficult to find a marina berth or a mooring in high season.

Sure, there are safety exceptions in the proposed law, for “mechanical breakdown or when imminent or existing extreme weather conditions impose an unreasonable risk of harm.” Who is to judge whether or not the weather is “extreme,” and whether or not it poses an “unreasonable risk of harm?” Am I supposed to move on in a gale because it isn’t “extreme?”

Even in good weather what would an ordinary cruiser do? It is impractical and dangerous to run the ICW 24/7, and sometimes even if the weather isn’t “extreme” it is very difficult and uncomfortable to proceed outside down the coast while fighting the Gulf Stream. In short, this bill makes safe and comfortable cruising all but impossible in south Florida, and makes it very difficult in the entire state.

Cruising boaters are above all else safety conscious. We spend thousands of dollars on safety equipment far in excess of any Coast Guard or other regulations. We do so to protect our lives and property, often valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At the same time, we enjoy visiting new places where we can anchor safely, go ashore, enjoy restaurants and shopping, re-provision our vessels, and purchase marine equipment. On various trips to Florida I have spent many thousands of dollars specifically on safety equipment: liferafts, epirbs, radios, safety harnesses, anchoring gear, satellite phones, etc. etc. Most cruisers will not go where they would be forced to operate their boats in an unsafe manner, which is what this law would do.

To anyone who has cruised Florida it is obvious that this bill would “impose an unreasonable risk of harm” to boaters on a regular basis. This is more than an anti-anchoring bill–it is anti-safety and anti-boating.

This guest editorial was first published on the Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net.

A True Number Two Anchor

Want to start an instant argument in a waterfront bar? Just bring up anchors and anchoring and you’ll regret changing the topic from politics. Nothing brings out more heated opinions than the best choice of anchor and how to use it. And don’t try changing the subject by asking how to rig a second anchor, or you might be thrown out of that bar by the bouncer.

Being a safe distance from that bar and that cruising crowd at the moment, I get to now write a few carefully chosen words on the subject of how to choose, rig, and use that second anchor.

1 + 1 does not equal 2 
First, the Number 2 anchor isn’t a Number 1. You can still find many books that tout the idea of rigging your cruising boat with dual bow rollers on which you stow a secondary anchor right next to the primary. You’ll also see a lot of these dueling primaries out on the water. The idea with this arrangement is that in case you start to drag, you’ve got a second anchor ready to go in an instant — just as big and strong as the primary — or, if expecting a big storm, you can set that second anchor in a V off the bow, as extra insurance.

There are a few things wrong with this idea. First, your primary anchor should be a big, heavy one that can handle almost anything, up to and including full gales or worse at anchor. It will usually be backed up with a lot of heavy chain that is cranked in with a large windlass. That can be a lot of weight up on the bow. Take a typical 45-pound anchor, with 200 feet of 5/16-inch chain (at least 200 pounds), maybe another 100-200 feet of nylon on the end of that, a windlass, assorted anchor rollers, cleats, shackles and whatnot, and there will very likely be over 300 pounds right out on the nose of your boat.  

A lot of people believe that a secondary anchor needs to be as big and strong as the primary with plenty of chain, so then double the weight (almost) and don’t be surprised if you feel like a submarine in an old WWII movie — “Dive, dive, dive!” — the next time you find yourself in a big head sea offshore, or running off down some big waves. I have never been in a gale offshore where I wished I had more weight in the anchor locker.

Alright, you think your boat can handle the weight, and you need that anchor there for “safety.” Yes, there are scenarios where anchor No. 1 is dragging, and dropping a second No. 1 anchor quickly can be a good idea, but it is often a mistake to drop the same or a similar type of anchor and expect much better results. What happens then if that second anchor and chain doesn’t hold? Can you lead the second primary anchor’s chain cleanly to the windlass? How do you crank them both in while motoring up into a gale? Do you have two people to work that mess up on the pitching foredeck? This exercise will of course be garnished with an icy rain pouring down the back of your neck in pitch-blackness at 0200.

In my experience, if No. 1 is dragging, you are very likely going to have to move anyway to get your boat back into a safe position. I have already chosen my No. 1 so that it won’t drag, so if it is moving then something is wrong — the anchor is fouled, the bottom is unusually weedy or hard, or possibly it wasn’t set well to begin with. Now if you drop that second primary anchor and chain, it might stop your boat, but you will be well downwind and your second anchor possibly will be in the same poor holding conditions.

Where 2 > 1 
This is where my preferred No. 2 anchor setup comes in. I want an anchor that is not rigged in such a way that it has to live on a bow roller right next to the main anchor. In addition to the weight issue, bows are narrow. Putting two anchors side by side means the anchors can only be so wide. Modern, so-called “new generation” anchors are very wide with hoops and big scoop-shaped flukes. Stowing two of those things next to each other is a puzzle that doesn’t need to be solved. 

Limiting your swinging room can be done using two anchors.
My preferred secondary anchor is one with lots of holding, yet is light in weight and backed up by mostly nylon line so I can stow it all in a sail bag for easy movement anywhere on the boat or into the dinghy. Yes, sometimes the anchor needs to back up the dragging No. 1, but instead of dropping the anchor where the boat has dragged to, I take it out well to windward in the dinghy and at a V to the angle of the other anchor. Because the nylon is in a bag, I can dump the whole lot in the dink and run it out in an instant at high speed instead of waiting while the boat slowly drags backwards far enough to give me adequate scope for holding, but not so far that I’m aground.

If a blow is expected, I will have everything ready to go, possibly on the side deck up forward so I can just bring the dinghy alongside and put the anchor and line in, or have someone pay out the line from the foredeck. The line can be lead easily to the windlass or even back to the cockpit winches, which are more powerful than any windlass. I once dragged a 22,000-pound wooden double-ender through the mud, well heeled over, using the three-speed self-tailing cockpit winch. Plus, cockpit winches can handle lines from strange angles that would be hopeless with a bow-mounted windlass dealing with chain. A few snatch blocks can often solve almost any strange rope anchor lead problems. When it is time to bring in your two anchors, it is much easier to handle one on line and one on chain than it is to struggle with two on chain at the same time.

Complete with 200 feet of 5/8-inch nylon and about six to eight feet of chain in a sail bag, I can easily carry my secondary anchor and the entire rode around the boat to where I can best use it.

A second anchor on nylon rode lead to the bow is easier to handle than two primaries on chain.
Aluminum Fortress FX-23 anchors, for example, are light enough that I have swum them out using flippers, a mask and snorkel many times while in warmer waters. It may sound like a stunt, but when in very clear water in places like the Bahamas or the San Blas Islands off Panama, swimming the anchor out can be an ideal way to place it in just the right spot, particularly when the holding ground is iffy or there is coral around you want to avoid. With heavier anchors like the FX-37, you can float them using a boat fender, though I wouldn’t recommend it with anything larger.

Options, options 
Getting your second anchor out of its rut on a bow roller provides you with many other options. For example, when anchored in very shallow water, I sometimes drop the anchor off the stern of the boat and then lead the line back to the bow, creating an instant Bahamian moor. With the anchors in opposite directions, your swinging circle is greatly reduced, which is an advantage in a crowded harbor or when you have to avoid obstacles. There were places in the San Blas Islands where very tight anchoring areas were surrounded by coral. If you dropped your main hook in the middle there was insufficient room to put out adequate scope or you would have your rudder on the rocks. A typical anchoring technique would be to drop the bow anchor closer to the reef, then to take the secondary anchor out in the dinghy to the other side of the clear area. Both anchor rodes would lead to the bow and you would adjust your position so the boat was in between the hazards even if the wind switched 180 degrees.

In other places I have occasionally taken the Fortress out into the shallows and set the anchor by hand (and foot). This was necessitated by lack of swinging room to windward of the main anchor. I’ve also used this technique to make sure the Fortress was perfectly dug in when expecting a big blow, and occasionally to be able to set it on a very long rode well away from other boat traffic.

The tangled web we weave
The big objection I always get when making this argument is that “the anchors will tangle.” Yes, if you leave the boat for days or weeks on two anchors it is possible to have the anchor rodes wind up into a difficult mess. However, putting the rode in a sailbag means that periodically I can simply pass the bag full of line around the main anchor chain and untwist the two — typically once or twice a day, and you’re done. I find this a small price to pay for the flexibility of having the second anchor rode in a bag, ready to move where and when I need it. The bottom line for me is that in the worst-case scenario, I would prefer a couple of tangled anchor rodes to a boat on the rocks.  

A heavy primary like this can be used with a lighter secondary.
Another option I have occasionally used is creating a temporary mooring by lashing the two anchor rodes together. This can work if you are expecting a major wind shift or two with very strong winds, which would make it difficult to re-adjust everything during the storm. Take multiple wraps around the two rodes, leading from the bow, and then let out enough extra scope so the joint is below the waterline. That will help keep the two rodes away from catching on your keel or the rudder when the wind switches around. A third anchor can be added to the mix, creating a star pattern that is far more capable than most permanent moorings. I have used this technique to anchor in hurricanes, tropical storms and when leaving a boat at anchor for long periods.

Greater than the sum of the parts
Using an optimized primary anchor system with an optimized secondary anchor system provides more anchoring options and greater security than the typical dueling primaries seen on the bows of many boats. You’ll be carrying a lot less weight way out on the bow, and you gain the ability to quickly launch the anchor via dinghy, which is often the best way to get an anchor in the precise position where you need it, instead of the position your boat has dragged to. I haven’t even mentioned the ability to use the second anchor to pull your boat out backwards when you go aground, which I have done more times than I care to remember. As always, choosing the right tool for the job means a better result.

Anchor Test in the Chesapeake

In August 2014, Fortress Anchors conducted scientific anchor testing in the Chesapeake, utilizing the 81-foot research vessel Rachel Carson owned by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Testing was observed by Chuck Hawley, the former Vice President of Product Testing at West Marine, and Robert Taylor, a U.S. Navy anchor design and soil mechanics expert for over 45 years, consulted on the project. The bottom condition was soft mud, which is common in the Chesapeake Bay.

I have long argued that a lot of anchor testing is done in unusual bottom conditions that create odd results, whereas mud is the predominant bottom found in most harbors all around the world. Yes, there are extremely rocky bottoms in Chile, and some people never anchor outside of the sandy Bahamas or the coral-strewn waters of the South Pacific, but still the majority of harbors found up and down the coasts of North America and Europe are mud, which goes for most of the rest of the world, too.

Test results here.

November 22, 2014

Florida Anchoring Survey Explores Restrictions

Having cruised Florida waters off and on for almost 30 years I have seen many anchoring restrictions come and go. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is once again on a crusade to come up with some sort of new restrictions, due to the prodding of influential people behind the scenes.  

Sadly, these laws are being pushed by a few well-connected land and business owners who want to chase away anchored boaters, whether legitimate or not. Virtually every problem cited in the survey is adequately covered by existing laws and regulations already on the books. There is very little, if any, documented evidence of widespread problems of the sort listed in the survey. Where is the evidence that anchored boats are causing signficant damage to waterfront property or docks? Where is the evidence that boaters are routinely blocking access to marinas and other waterfront facilities? Where is the evidence that if these things occur law enforcement does not have the tools to deal with them? The answer is there is none, other than hearsay testimony from anonymous sources.


And, all of these isolated issues are covered by existing laws. It is not a lack of laws that is the problem, but lack of commonsense enforcement when needed.


Take the anti-anchoring survey!


Edit:
The proposed regulations have all sorts of problems with them. Here’s one. The 150-foot setback rule presumes that your entire swinging circle lies 150 feet away from docks or marine infrastructure. That means you could be anchored almost 300 feet from shore to windward of you and still be in violation of the law, because if the wind switched to come from the other direction your stern could swing within 150 feet of shore, no matter how unlikely that wind shift is. But, what if I then dropped a second anchor to avoid swinging anywhere near shore? I bet it would hold up in a maritime court, but try explaining that to a local police patrol boat. And, how would they determine this measurement of your swinging circle? Another option in the above scenario would simply be to pull in a few feet of scope making me 152 feet from the object. That would technically be not a violation. The 150-foot rule sounds good to landlubbers, but in practice it would be a nightmare. 

August 18, 2014

Florida Anchoring Wars Resume

Once again there is a big push in Florida to restrict the anchoring rights of boaters. The latest trial balloon contains the ominous suggestion to outlaw anchoring within 300 feet of waterfront property, which would essentially prevent anchoring along much of the Intracoastal Waterway. You can read more about that crazy idea here and here.

The excuse that this is only to prevent derelict vessels from clogging the waterways is being floated as usual, and as usual it is just a smokescreen. The real reasons these silly laws keep coming back to haunt us are many, but they mostly begin with a few influential and wealthy property owners and business owners complaining. The average Florida citizen doesn't live on the water and believes it is for the public to share, as is written into the Florida Constitution.

Unfortunately, there are some who believe they should be able to control the public water within their view, even though they don't own it. There are also some communities that thought forcing boaters to pay for moorings would be a money maker, though most have been sadly mistaken. The mooring business is not lucrative, particularly when it is run by a municipal government with high overheads in staffing, benefits, and bureaucracy. It is a little known fact that the Marathon mooring field is only kept going by infusions of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding from other sources. And, that is one of the largest, best run, and most popular fields in Florida. The city has tried to force more boaters onto moorings by charging just as much to dinghy ashore as to rent a mooring. I wonder how many people, like myself, who prefer to anchor now simply go elsewhere?

Other communities are finding that running a mooring field isn't the easy cash cow they envisioned. A boat broke loose from a mooring in St. Augustine recently, and it appears it was due to a failure of some mooring component. This type of problem will grow as mooring gear ages and more boats stress the gear during bad weather.

To compound this problem of failing moorings, cities in Florida require boat owners to sign documents that absolve the city of all liability. You might want to ask your insurance company what they think of you signing such an agreement, while at the same time putting your boat on a mooring you can't inspect. You will have no way of knowing what shape it is in, unlike your own anchor gear that gets inspected every time you haul anchor.

Anchoring has been and always will be an essential part of boating, and for many of us it is a skill and pleasure that makes boating special. Frankly, one of the main things I like to do on a boat is go some place and anchor. What's next? Are they going to outlaw sailing?

February 24, 2014

See All is Lost


Finally I had a chance to see All is Lost, and I highly recommend it to any sailor. Usually sailing scenes in movies are brief interludes between other action, and often the scene is so faked it is a jarring reminder the filmmakers know nothing about sailing.

This film is different. Yes, there are many technical mistakes and unrealistic moments, but this is one of the few films I have seen that captures the feeling and mood of being offshore while dealing with difficult situations. I applaud Hollywood for taking a chance on making a film that stars one actor, and has very little dialog, no sex, and not a single gun fight!

The premise of the movie and the opening scene is one of the best parts. Spoiler alert--if you haven't seen the movie, stop reading! It all begins with Redford waking up in the V-berth after the boat has come to a grinding halt. Water sluices over the cabin soul as he rushes on deck to see the corner of a floating container piercing the side of the hull. Eventually, in a clever bit of seamanship, Redford ties a small parachute sea anchor to the container, which then pulls the container away from his boat. He starts sailing away, but then thinks better of it, tacks, and sails right back onto the container so he can retrieve his sea anchor.

That scene had me hooked right there--somebody obviously knew something about offshore sailing! A miracle. OK, there were things to quibble about. Most of us wouldn't be sleeping in the V-berth offshore, I would have been out of the hatch like a shot compared to Redford, and I think my first instinct would have been to sheet in the sails hard to heel the boat away from the container and maybe sail her off and then be on the starboard tack to keep the hole above water. Minor stuff, but still I bet every sailor that sees the movie will have their own thoughts throughout about what would have been the best thing to do.

In fact, that's one of the best parts of the movie. It really gets you thinking about how to prepare for, and then overcome the types of emergencies Redford encounters. He and the movie do a good job on some things and a bad job depicting some others. Fixing the hole in the hull with West System epoxy and fiberglass = good. Trying to wash out electronics with freshwater and then dry them = good. Struggling forward in the middle of a blow to rig a storm jib and falling overboard = bad. Getting rolled over and over in what looks like a summer thundersquall = bad. The various nonsense that leads up to the boat sinking, which apparently has little to do with the damage from the container = bad.

But, again the movie makers manage to capture interesting little vignettes of what it is like offshore that make this more than an action flick. A sudden rain squall has Redford climbing out on deck in order to rinse some of the salt off his skin. The sequence of dragging the liferaft on deck, salvaging what he can from the sinking sailboat, then casting himself adrift as his boat dives under the surface is all very well done. The passing of brilliantly lit ships in the night so close they look enormous was just as I remember it. The difficulty of being seen by a huge ship, even as they pass so close is accurate. The feeling of peering and straining to see a vague shape on the horizon is brilliant. Also, once in the raft, the various techniques used and equipment he does and doesn't have is all quite realistic.

The ending is harder for me. Frankly, it is unclear exactly what is happening. Is he saved at the last moment in a miraculous way that is too Hollywood to believe, or are we seeing the last flickerings of his thoughts as he drowns? I'm curious as to how the script describes the scene and if Redford has weighed in on what is happening. Can't wait to find out.

December 12, 2013

You Still Have to Respect Mother Nature


http://www.morganscloud.com/2013/12/05/salty-dawg-rallywhat-the-hell/#comments

I just read a great blog post by John Harries at his Attainable Adventure Cruising website (one of the best, and a must read), and it succinctly sums up my exact feelings about the dangers of relying totally on modern weather forecasting and weather routers. In addition, John clearly sets out the dangers of participating in offshore cruising rallies that have in recent years lead some sailors into situations they weren't prepared for.

My one caveat on what he wrote, and I believe he would agree with, is that in the end it is the individual skipper's judgment that must determine when or if a vessel heads offshore, regardless of any professional weather routing assistance or information received. In addition, despite the pressure of a rally environment, in the end it is the individual sailor's responsibility to assess the weather, the boat's and crew's capabilities, and the schedule.

The bottom line is that the weather is still unpredictable, boats and people have their limits as to what they are prepared for and what they can endure, and what circumstances we end up in are the responsibility of the skipper and crew. It has always been thus, since before recorded history, and it will always be so.

And, here's an interesting follow-up by Ken McKinley, a professional weather router.

October 21, 2013

Claiborne Young Wins Skipper Bob Award

NOTE: Sadly, Claiborne Young passed on to a better cruising ground in June of 2014. He will be missed as a friend, a mentor, a colleague, and someone who made boating better for many thousands of people.

This article also appears on Claiborne Young's website. Check it out for the latest information on the ICW.

Claiborne Young first met the late Bob Reib,who most of us knew as Skipper Bob, at one of the first Trawler Fest events held on Solomon's Island, Maryland back in the '90s. Claiborne drove up there from North Carolina expecting to see 40 or 50 participants, but instead found himself speaking to a ballroom packed with more than 300 devoted cruisers. After his talk, Claiborne joined a roundtable discussion with other notable and knowledgeable cruising gurus, including Skipper Bob, the author of a series of guidebooks to America's inland waterways.

Now, some speculate there must be fierce competition between Waterway writers, but in reality most of us get along just great, and we often recommend each other's books and other products--after a customer has purchased ours! Claiborne told me that he and Bob got to share a booth at the fest, and it worked out great for both of them. Bob would sell one of his own books, and then when the customer wanted even greater detail on a particular area, he would recommend Claiborne's guides, conveniently being sold right next to each other. Needless to say, there was some friendly back and forth between those two sharing a booth. It's a wonder the customers could get a word in edgewise!

The reason they got along is that both shared what Claiborne describes as "a passion for getting accurate, on-site verified information for cruisers." They both believed in creating a quality product, based on professional research, on-location surveys, and careful writing and editing. And, these high-quality guides would sell well because they truly helped the recreational boating community.

The Skipper Bob Award is given annually to "ordinary people who make extraordinary efforts to assist the recreational boating community and who give selflessly of themselves for the good of others." Anyone who has used one of Claiborne's books in the past, or who now logs on to The SaltySoutheast Cruisers' Net, with its motto of "Cruisers Helping Cruisers," knows why Claiborne received this award. The amount of information available, all for free to anyone, is incredible: marina details, up-to-date charts, the latest shoaling information, bridge schedules, fuel prices (updated every week), and now detailed and recent soundings from the Argus system. Much of this information was simply unavailable at any price just a few years ago, and now it is available to all in order to make your Waterway journey safer, more enjoyable, and less expensive.

Most of you are not aware of the work that goes on behind the scenes in order to provide all of this accurate and up-to-date information. I, myself, have been involved in helping Claiborne to vet tips and new warnings provided by cruisers, and before any of this appears on the website every effort is made to research, confirm, and then properly describe the situation. The community often provides the lead, but then Claiborne applies the professional writer's touch to verify, clarify, and present it in a easy-to-understand format.



As many of you know, Claiborne's "first-rate, first-mate," Karen Ann, recently departed this world, and we must acknowledge her part in helping to create this amazing cruising resource. She not only helped create the Cruiser's Net, but she also made Claiborne promise to carry on with it, so we will all continue to benefit from her inspiration. Unfortunately, we must take the bad with the good, and my waistline will continue to expand as Claiborne updates his restaurant recommendations! But, hopefully I'll burn off a few of those calories pulling up the hook while exploring the new, secret anchorages he directs me to. I can't think of a more deserving winner of the 2013 Skipper Bob Award.

September 22, 2013

Some Thoughts on Mobile Phones for Cruising

Most cruisers have one or more mobile phones onboard. They are very useful tools for everything from checking your email, to getting the weather forecast, to staying in touch with loved ones. But, you probably already know that. Here are a few things you should consider before setting sail with your current phone.

The first and most important point is coverage. By all means take a look at the coverage maps supplied by the phone companies, but the bottom line at this writing is that there are really only two choices within the United States: AT&T or Verizon. Other services, like Sprint and T-Mobile, may be fine in your home area or if you travel along major highways, but once you start to cruise further afield you will find that only Verizon and AT&T offer the type of coverage you need. Even with one of these carriers, I suspect you will still encounter some dead spots if you are traveling south down the coast to Florida.

This doesn't mean you have to have a long-term contract with AT&T or Verizon. I personally have been using various MVNOs operating on the AT&T network for many years, and I have found coverage excellent from the Florida Keys to coastal Maine. MVNOs use the same towers, the same frequencies, and generally the same signal that you would get if you were a contract customer with AT&T or Verizon, but until very recently you were not able to utilize the latest and speediest LTE data services. Within the past week or so that changed with MVNOs Net10 and Straight Talk (both run by America Movil) beginning to provide access to LTE data for appropriately equipped phones. The speed gains reported by users have been dramatic.

Keep in mind that while cruising coastal waters far from major population centers you might very well be out of LTE range, or even 3G data range. Don't count on getting the same data speeds, or even any data. In other words, it is not a wise idea to run programs or apps that require a constant data connection, even if you can afford to pay for it. Most charting programs, for example, allow you to download and store charts on your phone or other device, rather than accessing charts directly from the Internet.

If you are already under contract with AT&T or Verizon it might be time to start thinking about the most economical way to end the arrangement, especially if you are planning on leaving the United States. It wouldn't make any sense to keep paying hundreds of dollars a month for phones and service you can't use. In some cases, particularly if you have GSM phones that utilize SIM cards, you might be able to purchase a local SIM card and phone service when in another country. However, my own two cents is that it is usually cheap and easy to purchase a local phone and service anyplace you are staying long enough to need a phone. I personally don't like to carry around flashy and expensive phones or anything else when in many places, but a simple and tiny flip phone or candy bar phone can slip right into your pocket and won't make you cry if it is lost, stolen, or broken.

I'll have more thoughts on mobile phones for cruising later, but for more up-to-date information on mobile phones and carriers check out Howard Forums and prepaidphonenews.

August 12, 2013

Lightning Can Ruin Your Day

Though hurricanes and tropical storms rarely threaten the tropical Caribbean south of 10 degrees latitude, you do get a "rainy season" there. It is aptly named. While anchored near Linton, Panama, we experienced a deluge that lasted over 24 hours. I'm talking the kind of rain that overwhelms the deck scuppers, meaning inches of water on deck, fills the dinghy every hour or so, and is often accompanied by a tremendous lightning show--if you could only enjoy it! With bolts of lightning pounding down all around, your mind wanders to that little, tiny lightning brush you installed at the top of the mast, or the grounding cable you think might be too small. It is too small!

When some of these bolts hit nearby you hear sizzles and pops like somebody is grilling steaks, only you might be too near the grill. I've experienced some near misses that lit up the turned-off electronics, but with no apparent damage. The thunderous crash was nearly instantaneous--in fact, it seemed to come almost before the flash. From a little more distance you sometimes see what I call "lightning columns." These are huge bolts that go straight down into the sea from the clouds--none of that sissy jagged stuff. The surface of the sea seems to be vaporized where these columns hit. Frankly, I don't think a boat located there would have much of a chance no matter what fru-fru lightning protection equipment you've installed.

Seeing this stuff down in the southwest Caribbean, and talking to numerous boats that were hit and damaged despite having protection, makes me a fatalist when it comes to lightning. It is a matter of luck, and maybe some unknown factors, whether or not you get hit. The best preparation is to put a handheld VHF radio and a handheld GPS unit inside a metal pot inside the oven, and hope this Faraday Cage approach protects them. It might, but I hope to never find out.

Otherwise, I follow my usual keep-it-simple and redundant approach. If you normally use electronic charts and plotters, have paper back ups. Set up your boat so that you can operate it without any electronics or electrical systems. Most of us will still need to rely on an electric starter to get the engine going, but that is something that can be repaired or replaced almost anywhere in the world. In the meantime, we can still sail to where we need to go. That is the mindset I have when in lightning country--make sure you don't rely on something that can be taken out in a big flash and bang.

June 3, 2013

It's Back! Hurricane Prep

Hurricane season, that is. Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, with the most active time usually in August and September. Though, with global warming we are seeing all sorts of unusual weather patterns and events, so it is worthwhile to stay aware throughout the season, and even beyond.

I do a couple of things at this time of year. First, bookmark the National Hurricane Center's home page, and put it on your web browser's bookmark bar where you can quickly get to it. Second, I double check my insurance policy--seriously, make sure you are paid up and you've updated any information with your insurance company: change of address, new equipment onboard, change of marina, change of operators, etc. After you need to make a claim is not the time to notify your insurance  company of some change that may have altered your coverage.

Other great sources of tropical weather information abound on the Internet. One of my favorite's is Dr. Jeff Master's WunderBlog. Be sure to read the comments from weather nuts too. The blog is one of the best sources of detailed predictions/guesses on what might happen a few days down the road. Fun stuff to read, but I find the Hurricane Center's predictions remain the best.

Another fun site to check out when we do get a storm is the National Data Buoy Center, where you can  click on your favorite buoy or light tower to get up-to-the-minute on-site wind readings and often wave heights. I have Buzzard's Bay Tower bookmarked for fast access, and I also check out Borden Light, which is closer to where I keep my boat.

And, finally, it's not too early to begin preparing for the possible arrival of a hurricane. Keep your eyes out for sales on new dock and anchor lines. That spare hurricane anchor found in a yard sale now will be a bargain if you need it in August! Maybe figure out how you are going to rig extra-heavy mooring painters or dock lines, and don't forget to arrange for heavy chafing gear to protect those lines. I like to store and keep all this stuff organized and handy so that I'm not having to rush out to stores to find things at the last minute, which might be too late.

May 13, 2013

Think Safe

UPDATE: The U.S. Coast Guard just released a report that the boating fatality rate was down almost 13% in 2012 compared to 2011. Seven out of ten people who drowned were on boats less than 21 feet long, and in 17% of the boating deaths alcohol was listed as an important factor.
 
A lot of words have been written about boating safety, and a lot of safety equipment is marketed and purchased. But, the most important piece of safety equipment is free. It is located between your ears.

Safety begins first thing in the morning when you hopefully wake up well rested and thinking clearly. Sounds simple, but how many times have you forced yourself to get up early, skipping breakfast and that eye-opening cup of coffee, in order to catch the tide or make a lot of miles? Sure, we all do that, but when you are rushing things go wrong. You can't find your boat shoes, so you put on a pair of flip-flops and slip on the deck, turning an ankle. Or, you pull away from the dock in a rush and leave a line trailing over the side that eventually gets wound up in your prop. You head out of the harbor without checking the weather forecast, and you miss the threat of thunderstorms. You get the idea--being in a rush and not following your normal routines are the enemies of safety.

Probably the single most important thing you can do each and every time you go out is to check the weather report and plan your trip around it. My routine involves always checking the marine weather on the VHF radio prior to firing up the engine, and checking it multiple times throughout the day--weather can change quickly. I keep a small notepad and pen or pencil next to the radio so I can note down important things in the forecast.

Simple, inexpensive things like that notepad and pen can be important safety equipment too. I use it to note down the times when I pass buoys or important turning points, just in case the GPS goes out. I use it to record Coast Guard warnings, or to note a latitude/longitude position if I hear a MayDay call. One really important piece of equipment to keep near the helm is a water bottle--stay hydrated properly and that piece of equipment between your ears works better.

It goes without saying that alcohol is the enemy of proper functioning of that safety gear between your ears. On my boats there is no alcohol consumption allowed while underway, or during a lunchtime stop. We enjoy our evening cocktails only after safely in harbor with the anchor down or tied up to the dock, but even then it is important to imbibe in moderation--you never know when you will need your wits about you during an after-dark anchor drill when a thunderstorm rolls through. The tricky part is controlling any guests you have onboard, particularly ones who may not be used to boats and being around the water. I will never forget the grim news one morning that a body had been found floating in a marina near where I keep my boat. It was someone I knew vaguely. Apparently he got up in the middle of the night after a lot of partying and just fell overboard, and nobody noticed him missing until the next morning.

The point being that your mindset is the most important safety tool you can bring onboard. Don't assume that you and your crew are safe because you have purchased all the latest safety gear. I was reminded of this when my son was about five years old. We were on a wharf getting ready to board our dinghy to return to the boat. I was putting my son's lifejacket on him when somehow he wriggled free, popped out of the lifejacket and flipped over the side of the wharf into the harbor. Needless to say, there was a moment of panic as I dropped my camera and other gear and jumped over the side after him. But, my son had already had swimming lessons and was used to being in the water. By the time I hit the surface he had already grabbed ahold of a dinghy and was pulling himself out of the water. Lesson of the story--put your lifejackets on before you need them, and that means before you head out onto the docks. Second lesson of the story--our mindset had always been that we wanted our children to be "waterproofed" before we went boating, so we had spent a lot of time teaching them in the water to minimize dependence on safety equipment that might or might not be there when needed.

So, yes, get the best safety gear and use it, but it won't do you any good if you don't turn on the gear between your ears.

May 2, 2013

Free Charts!


One of the odd things about the digital information age is that some things have gotten much more expensive while others have become free. Both things have happened to nautical charts. A single printed, paper version of an official NOAA nautical chart of Mount Hope Bay, 13226, now costs $27. Those of us of a certain age can remember when they were less than $2 each. However, today's charts are more up to date than in the past because they are Print-on-Demand (POD) and include all Notices to Mariners up to the date of printing. Every nautical chart can be ordered here, in your choice of water-resistant paper, or printed on fully waterproof synthetic material for $37.

Maybe I'm an old fart, but I still like to have copies of these big, beautiful paper charts onboard, especially for areas that I frequent, like Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River. I like to be able to make notes on the charts using an ordinary pen, and I can fold one up to provide much greater detail over a larger area, and in much greater resolution than you see on any electronic chart plotting device. Even if you love your chart plotter, it is nice to have an instant back up for when the electronics fail.

For those that are anxiously reading this to see where they can get the "free" charts, you only need to go direct to NOAA. Their online website lets you download every chart for free in either raster (RNC) or vector (ENC) formats. RNC electronic charts look just like paper charts, while ENC charts use a different graphic interface that allows you to turn off and on different layers to customize what you are seeing on your screen. To use either type of electronic chart you need a computer and a charting program. I really like the free OpenCPN charting and GPS navigation program. To use all of its functions you need to purchase a small GPS receiver that plugs into your computer like this one you can get for less than $35 on Amazon.com.

In case you're wondering, I found that it takes about three hours to download every available free chart from NOAA, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. If you already have a computer, this set up provides almost cost-free charting and GPS navigation that is far superior to even the highest-end systems available just a few years ago. Frankly, I find the OpenCPN software to be much better than many other expensive and more complicated programs.

If you don't want to go through all that fuss, or you just want to look at charts at home, NOAA even has a free online chart viewing website. I love going to the online chart viewer when thinking about a new cruising area, or just to view a chart to help me decide if I want to purchase a printed copy.