You get to this level of competence through experience and by a commitment to the Three Ps. Here they are:

Planning: In order to learn the skills you need and to equip your boat and crew with the knowledge and equipment they need to remain safe at sea, you should first and foremost anticipate what could go wrong. The range of safety related events that you should consider runs from a minor stubbed toe that might get infected to a broken stay to a ripped sail to a person-overboard to a compromised hull. “What could go wrong?” is the question you have to apply to every aspect of your boat, its equipment and to its sailing regimen. In each case, a plan needs to be developed to deal with the anticipated problem.

Preparation: From the plans you draw up to deal with emergencies and safety related events at sea flows the lists of preparations that need to be made. You need to think about three levels of preparation: yourself, your crew and the boat and its gear. The first two involve knowledge, skills and procedures. The third involves having the right gear aboard to fix the problems that arise. It is during the preparations phase of getting a boat ready for seafaring that you evolve into a self-reliant sailor as you and your crew acquire the knowledge and skills you need to develop the procedures you will use to solve problems and meet emergencies successfully.

Preparing the boat with the right gear takes all of your planning and distills it into two lists, the gear you need and the gear you want. If budget is an issue, and when isn’t it?, then acquire the need-to-have gear first and then start chipping away at the want-to-have list.

Practice: As you go through the planning and preparation phases of getting ready to go to sea, you will have gone through just about every aspect of your boat and your sailing life. But having thought things through in depth and then bought and installed the gear that you need does not make you competent and self-reliant. You only get to competency through trial, error and experience. That means you have to practice the procedures you have put in place to deal with safety issues and emergencies—everything from man-overboard to a galley fire to a failed steering system.

Practice, practice, practice. You may not get to Carnegie Hall, but you will become a better, safer and more competent sailor and skipper. And that will make you a pleasure to sail with anywhere, anytime.

Our boat is on the hard in a nearby boatyard and iglooed in a white plastic dome of shrink wrap so we can work aboard in relative protection from the elements. Cruising boats always look like beached whales when out of the water, awkward, unnatural and strangely still.

Even though the boatyard is as quiet as a graveyard in winter, there is a well beaten track to our boat. After taking her south to the Bahamas last winter and sailing her some 8,000 miles since we bought her a couple of years ago, this winter was her time for a complete going over and refit. She is 14 years old and her systems need care.

So, we took her apart from the masthead to the bottom of the bilge. Literally, every piece of furniture, every sail, every length of standing and running rigging, every electrical or plumbing connection has been unscrewed, unbolted, unfolded and unlinked so we could check and repair whatever was not quite right. I have to admit that our boat partner Tony Knowles, who is a highly respected marine surveyor, was the impetus for most of this disassembly and refit. He knows what can go wrong and wants us all to be on the right side of that.

We have seen and cleaned corners of the bilge that sunlight has not reached since the boat was first launched. We have checked and tested all of the standing rigging’s end fittings and turnbuckles. We have put the meter onto the electrical circuits and checked and cleaned connections throughout the boat.

Plus, as we have taken everything apart we have been able to revarnish the floorboards, and pieces of furniture that were showing signs of age and wear. The old girl will be like new when we launch her in the spring.

The refit accomplishes a number of things. First of all, it puts to right any pieces of the whole boat that needed repair and upgrading. That just makes her more seaworthy and reliable. Second, it allows us to take a full inventory of how everything aboard works and where all the pieces fit together and what spare parts we need to carry with us.

Lastly, and most importantly, taking the boat apart and putting her back together again has added greatly to our knowledge of how the boat works and how each system works on its own and in harmony with the other systems aboard. Modern cruising boats are full of complex gear and equipment. If you don’t know how they work, you can never be self reliant enough to solve problems and make repairs when they are needed.

So, topping up our knowledge and expertise are the real refits that we are going through this winter as we pore through the manuals, run diagnostics and get our hands dirty. The boat will be launched in top working order and we, as her skippers and chief maintenance officers, will have a deeper and more thorough knowledge of all of the systems that make her tick. And that just makes us better and safer sailors.

That’s a good thing since her next voyage will take her offshore in the fall for a winter in the Caribbean. Looking out the window at the snow today, that cruise can’t come soon enough.

I had been editorial director of Cruising World magazine for most of the decade before we took off sailing and had always thought there was a niche in the sailing market for a publication that opened the doors to extended sailing and cruising in a straight forward, informative and modern way. So, we took the leap. In 1996, we launched BWS as a 16-page, two-color newsletter with three holes down the side so you could keep them in a binder.

The response to our first direct mail efforts was surprisingly positive and the circulation grew rapidly. We knew we had found a large and avid group of passionate sailors who wanted and needed honest information about boats, gear and the seamanship skills you really need to make your cruising dreams come true. Our goal was, and still is, to be the real deal for offshore sailors—not just about sipping rum drinks with parasols and talking like a pirate.

We’ve stuck to that mission. Along the way, the circulation grew until our friends in the sailing marketplace approached us to advertise. They wanted, rightly, to talk to you, the people with the passion and commitment to cruise offshore quality boats with offshore quality gear. So, we took the leap, converted BWS into a glossy magazine and started taking ads. We certainly heard about it from our loyal readers, which is why we do our best everyday to walk the tightrope between your interests and those of our advertisers.

Now, all these years later as we bring you our 200th edition of Blue Water Sailing, we are still publishing a magazine that combines the dream of living the cruising life with the practical, useful and proven ways to make that dream a reality. We are still Rosie and George—with our indispensible art director Sandy Parks, our amazing sales team Tom and Catherine Casey and Scott Akerman and able new editor Andrew Cross—and we’re still the passionate sailors and cruisers we’ve always been. We are also the proud co-owners of a modern 45-foot sloop in which we have sailed some 8,000 miles in the last two years.

We also have an extraordinary reservoir of experience that informs every article and issue of the magazine. Our long time contributors and seminar experts John and Amanda Neal have sailed nearly 600,000 miles offshore; regular columnist Bill Biewenga stopped counting his offshore miles at 400,000; columnist David Burch has over 70,000 blue water miles; our own Scott Akerman has 100,000 miles under his keel; and, our new associate editor Andrew Cross, who lives aboard his boat in Seattle, has more than 15,000 miles in his wake.

With every issue of BWS, our combined experience leads the way and gives the magazine its authority and long-term value for you. We share your passion. We speak your language and we enjoy sharing what we have learned along the way. But, BWS is your magazine too, and we encourage you to share your yarns, experiences and expertise so we can publish them for the cruising community.

Like any voyage, getting to the 200th issue of BWS has seen every type of weather. We have sailed through it all and are looking forward to another 200 issues ahead. I hope you will continue to sail with us.

This was never more evident than at the start of this year’s Salty Dawg Rally, which sails from Hampton, VA to the Bitter End Yacht Club in the BVI—a distance of some 1,300 blue water miles. A total of 59 boats showed up for the early November start of this free, all-volunteer event. More than 250 sailors attended the send-off party, and many thousands more have been following the fleet via email and satellite tracking. As a lead sponsor of the event, BWS is happy to say that our readers are out there doing it.

This year, BWS supplied the fleet with goody bags, lined up the services of Chris Parker, who delivers excellent weather and routing to the fleet, and offered each Salty Dawg a free one-year digital subscription to BWS through Zinio. If you haven’t yet seen our digital version, check it out at www.zinio.com/bluewatersailing.

For us, being involved with the Salty Dawgs is simply good fun and good citizenship. The sailors who take part are the kind of people who write for us and give the magazine the authority you expect on a wide range of topics—from seamanship and sailing skills to provisioning, electronics and more. Experience does matter.

That’s why we bring you the most experienced lineup of editors and writers with offshore experience in the sailing world. On staff, we have people who have sailed more than a quarter million offshore miles. And our stable of regular contributors is unmatched. Longtime columnist Bill Biewenga told us when asked that he had stopped counting at 400,000 offshore miles. Regular contributors John Neal and Amanda Swan Neal, whose seminars BWS has sponsored for the last decade, have cumulatively sailed 583,000 miles across the blue water. And columnist David Burch has logged more than 70,000 miles at sea.

So when you pick up your copy of BWS at the newsstand or retrieve it from the mailbox, you know that the articles, how-to pieces and reviews that lie between its covers are guided by voices of experience that you can trust. Whether you are sailing along the coasts or voyaging across oceans, you need information that will keep you safe, techniques to build your skills and real stories to inspire you to do more. And that’s exactly what we bring you every month.

We are happy to have you sailing with us. Look for our collector’s edition 200th issue in March!

A lot of the shopping at the shows involved new items that will make cruising safer, simpler and more fun. At BWS, we have our own favorite new products and are happy to bring you our annual Holiday Gift Guide on page 40. The following are some of the items that really caught my eye at the shows. All of them should nicely help you advance your sailing game.

First are sails. Almost all of the major sailmakers have developed new lines of advanced, laminated sails that are perfect for cruisers. Even the new Dacron sails are better than ever. Well-built sails that hold their shapes will make a huge difference in your boat’s performance. And the trend toward smaller headsails with the addition of roller furling downwind sails means sailing can be more efficient, faster and more fun.

If you want to sail well and fast, you need to reduce your boat’s drag. The easiest way to do so is to retrofit a folding or feathering propeller. A fixed prop will steal up to a knot of boat speed. There are several varieties on the market and all of them offer unique properties to suit your budget and needs.

Winches are your power aids when handling sheets, halyards and lines, so why not make the most of them? Adding an electric winch to handle halyards and many line control operations really eases the load on the crew. Self-tailing, electric or hydraulic sheet winches take you to the next level of sail trim. And the new reversing electrical winches are bringing reel-winch, maxi yacht technology to the rest of us. I like the callous on my thumb from button pushing—you’ll like yours, too.

We all anchor a lot when we are cruising and there is a certain amount of anxiety as we wonder how well we are hooked to the bottom. The new generation of smart anchors that set quickly, hook well, roll over and reset easily have changed that. For peace of mind, add a new advanced anchor to your boat—it will change your cruising life.

Ships are my worst nightmare at sea, so I have to put AIS at the top of my safety and electronics list. I suggest a commercial grade transceiver system that both receives and broadcasts so you know who is around you and they know you are there. AIS saves lives and makes night passages much safer.

Finally, personal locator beacons have advanced a lot in the last few years. Now, you—alone in the water, separated from the mothership—can send a signal that will be heard around the world via satellite and on every boat around you that has an AIS system. If you want to give a gift this holiday system that can make a huge difference to the sailors in your life, a PLB should be on your short list.

Happy sailing and happy holidays. Great Gifts for Cruisers

Today’s well-equipped cruising boat is something of a model for how civilization will be powered in the years ahead. We start with carbon, which is still the baseline source of energy ashore and afloat. Cruisers can’t afford to waste diesel, so we have employed advanced batteries and charging systems run by our motors that optimize the electrical energy created by burning diesel. With high output alternators and smart regulators in place, it is possible to run the entire boat’s electrical system for less than $5 a day in fuel.
But we don’t stop there. On the supply side, we have adopted innovative alternative energy sources that relieve the burden on the engine, reduce our carbon footprints, and save us money and trips to the fuel dock. A small array of solar panels will add a real boost to your battery bank every day. A large array in a sunny climate will run the whole boat and almost eliminate your carbon footprint altogether. Add a wind generator and even a water-driven generator for use while underway and you can maintain a large battery bank that is servicing a complex and energy-hungry home afloat complete with refrigeration, TV, microwave oven and computers. With all of the above energy generating systems in place, we are truly energy independent.

Still, there are more ways to improve our drive for independence by working at the demand side of the equation. Simply turning off unused lights (like shutting off a running water tap) is a habit every cruising boat should have. But we have also adopted new technology much faster than many people onshore. We have long used florescent bulbs to save energy and now we are rapidly installing LED bulbs wherever we can, from tri-color lights at the masthead to little lights in the engine room. The energy saved by doing away with incandescent bulbs is impressive.

The funny thing about highly motivated cruisers developing modern and innovative ways to be energy independent is that it did not necessarily occur because we were trying to save the planet. Rather, we were making capital investments in technology to live in a way that gives us the maximum independence to go where we like when we like without being tied to the fuel dock. In the context of the cruising life, reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible while making use of the energy that lies all around us is what sets us free. That this energy independence also helps reduce carbon emissions is an excellent net result. Hmmm…I wonder if there is a lesson in there somewhere?

On a passage from Nassau in the Bahamas to Newport, RI last spring, we tried out the latest version of WeatherNet from OCENS, which runs on a laptop and gets weather data in digestible packets via an Iridium sat phone. There is so much weather information available through the OCENS portal that you have to be careful not to overdo it since you pay for each download.

We like the seven-day surface wind forecasts and we needed an up-to-date Gulf Stream map, so we downloaded these before we left Nassau. The wind maps were very accurate as were the Gulf Stream charts, although we did find several local anomalies south of Cape Hatteras. Unfortunately, we had an operator error with the sat phone that shut down the data feed and left us approaching the North Carolina coast with only a fuzzy, four-day-old forecast.

On to plan B. BWS is a sponsor of the new Salty Dawg Rally (see the update on page 26), and our contribution is to subsidize daily weather and routing for rally sailors provided by Chris Parker (www.caribwx.com). We were able to reach Chris by sat phone (voice was still working) and he very ably supplied us with forecasts for the rest of the trip home. Rounding Hatteras was the tricky part since a low was brewing just to the east of the famous cape. NOAA was predicting 25-knot easterlies, but Chris saw the low inching away and predicted calms for our rounding. He was right.

Both Chris and NOAA agreed that the low would generate strong northeasterlies when we got to the Delaware. Time for plan C. We tacked our way across the bay’s mouth in 30-knot headwinds and then beat a retreat into Cape May, NJ, where we hunkered down for 24 hours.

The next morning, NOAA was calling for the wind to abate within 24 hours. But we could see the barometer rising and Chris’s morning weather broadcast on SSB 4045 forecast the wind off New York to veer to the south that afternoon. That was our ride home. We set off from Cape May and were home in 36 hours.

NOAA does a great job and we are pleased that their forecasts always err on the side of caution. By using your own tools like Passageweather, PredictWind or the comprehensive, professional tools available through OCENS WeatherNet, you can increase your chances of sailing in favorable weather.

Working with a professional like Chris Parker or the gurus at Commanders’ Weather will take you to the next level and can really help you find those weather windows that make all the difference when blue water sailing. We count ourselves lucky to have access to so much quality weather information.

But boat ownership can be both time consuming and expensive. These days, most of us have busy lives with many facets that require both time and money. And, given the recession, most of us are being extra careful with our cash. The decision to buy a new or brokerage boat on our own may be a tough one to justify.

But that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to being boatless. That’s a terrible fate. Boats give us time on the water with our family and friends. They should be considered mental health clinics and therefore be tax deductible as a medical expense. But alas, they are not. Thankfully, there are ways to own boats that can reduce both the time and cash you have to dedicate to them.

Partnership is one of those words that always stirs a groan, but these days we are seeing more and more sailors, including Rosie and me, decide that owning a boat with friends makes sense. Partnerships can be tricky, so you need to have all ideas, issues and aspirations on the table at the outset. A partnership should be fun, but it also has to be businesslike and should probably involve a legal arrangement such as an LLC.

If you are happy to not have the use of your boat all the time, then buying a boat and placing it into a charter fleet provides you with lots of opportunities to go sailing, as well as some cash flow from the charter company—along with regular maintenance. If you partner with one of the big firms, such as The Moorings, Sunsail, Horizon, Kiriacoulis, Dream Yacht Charters and others, you will be able to use boats similar to yours all over the world. Not a bad option at all.

A similar idea is to buy a boat and put it into a SailTime or Pinnacle fractional sailing fleet, where you will have a chance to use the boat regularly, but will have all expenses taken care of and will earn some cash in the process. SailTime has 50 locations around North America and the Caribbean, and Pinnacle has eight, with three near Chicago. And, like the big charter companies, fractional sailing members can use boats at other locations.

Owning a boat is an important part of living the sailing life, and no one should give up on the dream—even if they can’t justify owning one all on their own. The really important part of owning a boat is using it and enjoying all the benefits that sailing, cruising and goofing off on the water bring. After all, it is your mental health at stake.

The trip north was really two passages—the fast Gulf Stream run from the Florida Straits to Cape Hatteras and the slower final leg northward to Newport. The first half was hot with regular squalls and a fine following breeze. Hatteras, that famous graveyard, was a millpond. The run northward presented our first headwinds and the option to spend a night in Cape May, NJ to let a cold front blow through. Then we had a quick run homeward with the wind behind us.

Along the way we saw every type of spring weather, from tropical squalls to mid-Atlantic thunder boomers to crisp northerlies, with mostly fair breezes in between. We saw whales, dolphin and a few seabirds and caught a delicious Spanish mackerel. It took us seven sailing days to get home. Thanks, Lime’n, for such a fine passage.

We carried a SPOT tracking device with us that allowed friends, family and our wives, who couldn’t make the trip (they had to stay home to work, of course) to follow our progress. And we carried a SatPhone (rented from OCENS) so we could call in now and then and also speak to our weather guru Chris Parker about routing. We didn’t think too much about the SPOT. We just left it in the cockpit, where it updated our position to the SPOT website every few minutes.

So we were in for a bit of a surprise when we called home from Cape May only to be greeted with the joking question from Rosie, “What have you boys been up to? The SPOT had you wandering all over Cape May!” Apparently, Tony had it in his pocket on our trek to West Marine.

And then the night before we got to Newport, Tony’s cell phone suddenly rang…not something that happens often at sea. It was his son Jeff calling from San Francisco, asking us why we just jibed. Tony replied, “To sail around a squall, of course.” They had their eyes on us the whole way, and when we got home the friends and family who followed us reported that they enjoyed their vicarious voyage north and were never seasick once.

Which I appreciated all the more the following week when our two sons Si and Tim set off to race aboard the Class 40 Toothface in the classic Newport-Bermuda Race. I had the race tracker open in a box on my laptop’s screen for the three days it took them to complete the race so I could follow their every jibe and tack. The race was a fast, wet and exhausting sprint. The boys arrived safely, and I haven’t enjoyed a race so much in years—dry and warm in my own home all the way.

As Jack Aubrey would say, “Fascinating modern world we live in.”

As we publish our annual feature on small cruisers, weekenders and daysailers, it is good to remember that there have been many notable voyages made by intrepid sailors in boats even smaller that Matt’s Vega.

In the 50s, twenty-something John Guzzwell built a lovely 20-foot sloop and then sailed little Trekka around the world on a very safe and seamanlike voyage. His book, Trekka Around the World, is a classic that illustrates just how inexpensively and simply you can cruise.

In the 60s (and for the next 30 years), Tim and Pauline Carr roamed the world aboard their 1905-built, 28-foot gaff-headed cutter Curlew. Their adventures often took them to the high latitudes, including Antarctica, the Falklands and the South Georgia Islands. Their book Antarctic Oasis tells of their adventures in the Great Southern Oceans.

In the 70s and 80s, Lin and Larry Pardey made a leisurely and very solid eastabout circumnavigation aboard their 24-foot Lyle Hess cutter Seraffyn. Their famous phrase “Go Small, Go Now” is the best advice ever given to cruisers on a budget. They now cruise aboard their 29-foot cutter Taleisin. They have written many books, including Cruising in Seraffyn, which has sold more than 50,000 copies.

In the 70s, regular BWS contributor Patrick Childress sailed his Catalina 27 around the world, much to everyone’s surprise and delight. It was a classic westward voyage and was completed without incident. Patrick and his wife Rebecca are out cruising again, this time aboard their vintage Valiant 40 Brickhouse—a veritable ship compared to the 27-footer.

In the 80s, 18-year-old Tania Aebi spent two years sailing around the world aboard her Contessa 26 Varuna and returned to New York City an inspiration to many young sailors, particularly young women. Her book Maiden Voyage is a great story filled with the adventure and romance of a young woman’s sail around the world.

So, it has been done and can be done. In this issue, we highlight 77 small cruisers, weekenders and daysailers, several of which would make fine boats for extended cruising. It’s not the size of the boat that matters most, but the size of the dream in the skipper’s heart.

That said, we were equally amazed at the proliferation of mega motor yachts in the shallow waters of the Exumas, where the depth is rarely more than 20 feet on the banks and anchorages often have fewer than eight feet of water at low tide. The mega yachts come with a stable of smaller play boats, so we were harassed regularly by high speed jet skis and 40 knot inflatables. Oh well. Natural selection tends to take care of the worst offenders.

These behemoths tend to congregate near communities that have phone and email service that is spotty at best. There are Batelco towers here and there, but the signal range for these is line-of-sight—if you can’t see the tower, you can’t make a call. And Internet service is even sketchier. There are a few fee-based hot spots, but you need a Wi-Fi booster antenna to get service.

Due to the press of mega yachts near communications facilities, we spent our time exploring the remoter regions of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, which meant we were without phone or Internet service for most of two weeks. This should not have been a problem since we are old enough to have lived most of our lives without cell phones and the Internet, and we have also lived aboard for years at a time with no communication beyond SSB radio.

But it was. For me. Not for Rosa. I had no idea how addicted I had become to the Internet and smartphone service. Without a connection, I started suffering from IT DTs. No wonder the mega yachts were so festooned with huge satellite communications domes and anchored near the phone towers! I get it. Being unplugged hurts.

I knew it was wrong to be so bummed out about being disconnected in one of the world’s finest cruising grounds, far from the madding “cloud.” Rosie kept urging me to relax. Trouble is, having moved so many regular life functions onto the web and being accustomed to staying in touch with friends, family, the BWS staff and vendors on a regular basis whether in the office or away, I was definitely cut off. I started to feel the effect of going Cold iTurkey.

After 10 days, we found our way to the north anchorage at Warderick Wells, where the park offers Wi-Fi for $10 per day (if you can receive it). With some anticipation, we fired up the laptop and logged in. What a disappointment. There were no urgent messages, no calls to action, no bleats for help from the office—not even messages from the kids. But there were 778 new emails in my inbox, 700 of which were the standard flurry of press releases, vendor newsletters, bank statements, travel advisories and the like. Plus consumer spam from around the planet. This is what I had been missing?

After half an hour, I shut down the laptop and put it away. As usual, Rosie was right. And it was a whole lot easier going Cold iTurkey the second week—life without the Internet is indeed very relaxing.

This happened to Rosie and me in a big way when we first set off, years ago, with our two sons to sail our 43-foot ketch Clover to New Zealand from our home in Newport, RI. The plan that fall was to leave Newport in October, sail to Bermuda with my brother Steve and good buddy Herb as crew, then head to the BVI for Thanksgiving. From there we would cruise south through the Eastern Caribbean with the expectation of having Christmas in Grenada before heading for Panama and the Pacific Ocean.

On the basis of this plan, we encouraged our parents and siblings to join us in Grenada for the holidays. It all sounded sensible, but wasn’t—in no small part because we were cruising with two small children and had vowed to avoid storms at sea if at all possible.

On our first day out on the passage to Bermuda, we decided to turn back for Newport when we got the forecast “storm warnings” in the Gulf Stream. No fun, we thought. So we slunk back into Newport under cover of darkness. With days to wait, we lost our crew. No crew, no passage to Bermuda. After some deliberation we went to Plan B, which was to cruise south to the Chesapeake and then head straight to the BVI from Norfolk. Since our family had all bought plane tickets to Grenada, we really wanted to be there, too. It was our idea, after all.

But the fall weather didn’t cooperate. We waited in Norfolk for a weather window to open so we could get across the Gulf Stream in less than gale conditions, but we were stymied and decided to move on to Plan C: Cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway to Beaufort, NC, then head off to the islands. Once again, events intervened. A week of boat work and another week of horrendous weather kept us in Beaufort and saw the last flickers of Plan C fade into the night.

Next, we decided to head south on the ICW to Charleston, and from there try to catch a northwest clearing breeze to ride eastward offshore so we could make the islands without an upwind slog. But by the time we got to Charleston, Thanksgiving had come and gone, we were enjoying the ICW, and we knew we needed to stop somewhere for a week or two to prep the boat for the Pacific. On to Plan D, which was a hard decision because it X-ed out the Eastern Caribbean and Christmas in Grenada, and led us instead to the Bahamas, Windward Passage and a straight shot south to Panama.

And that’s how it played out. We had Christmas in St. Simons Island, GA, not in Grenada where our family was lounging in the sun; celebrated New Year’s in St. Augustine, FL; and spent January and February cruising south through the Bahamas and Caribbean to Panama. Plan D. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”

But that’s the cruising life. And cruising schedules are made to be broken and broken again until you get there…or somewhere else.

The fact of the matter is that the new boat market has been suffering during the recession, while the discounted used boat market has been doing okay and the aftermarket for gear and equipment has been doing fine. Most of us are still in the game; we’re just trying to save money where we can and we’re back to getting our hands dirty in the process. Not a bad thing, since cruising and voyaging demand that we be as self-sufficient as possible.

If you are not naturally handy, don’t be deterred from tackling upgrades and renovations on your boat. Seek advice and assistance from your handier buddies, but don’t be afraid to get out the hole saw to add a seacock or the Sawzall to cut through a bulkhead so you can run new wiring or plumbing. Be cautious and prudent, but don’t be afraid. Boats are meant to be upgraded.

Every skipper will have his or her own priorities for upgrades, but here are a few that stand the test of time:

Navigation. An integrated electronics package that includes GPS, sailing instruments, chartplotter, radar and an autopilot will make navigation easier and your time on the water safer. Add AIS if you can.

Anchoring. A robust windlass with two primary anchors and a spare third anchor will allow you to anchor out in a wide range of weather conditions over a variety of sea bottoms.

Safety. EPIRBs and PLBs save lives when properly registered and used in emergencies. Add a liferaft with all the flares and signaling devices recommended by the ISAF for Category 1 sailing if possible (www.ussailing.com).

Energy. With computers, smartphones and other modern electronics on board, you need to generate a lot of juice to keep the batteries topped up. Increase your battery bank to 400 amp hours or more. Add a high-output alternator; install a solar panel and wind generator; then, add a good high output inverter.

Comfort. Simple upgrades to your living space make a huge difference. Upgrade the fridge with new insulation and a modern compressor. Add fitted sheets to all bunks and pillows, blankets and covers to suit your climate. Install reading lights and upgrade to LED bulbs to save energy. Install hatch screens to keep the bugs out and Hella fans to keep air moving through the cabins. If you sail in temperate waters, add a diesel heater to keep the cabins warm and dry. And don’t forget a good blender for mixing sundowners.

You can do a lot of these upgrades yourself with a little encouragement, patience and a positive attitude. Tackled in a methodical way, the expenses can be spread out and you can still have time for a lot of sailing. Plus, with each upgrade you become evermore the master of your own vessel. For more on DYI projects, see this month’s special section on page 46.

Vero is one of those special cruising harbors where boats from all over the world gather. Some of the folks come for the winter since the town moorings are secure and fairly inexpensive. But most of us are passing through and choose Vero because it is convenient and filled with other cruisers.

Ashore, the town provides clean washroom and laundry facilities, a meeting room and a free trolley that swoops through the marina regularly so folks can get around town. The atmosphere is relaxed and the people friendly and informal. The cruising community is just that way. Everyone is out to enjoy themselves and we all look after each other as best we can. Potluck is the operative dining term and most of us never learn the last names of the friends we make.

But there is no launch service in Vero, so you need your dinghy to get to and from your boat. For us, this presented a small problem—we wanted to leave our dinghy and outboard secured aboard our boat while we were away, and we had to depart for the airport at 6am. Hmmm.

We were in the dock office running this problem by the fellow on duty when a couple wandered in to retrieve their mail. They heard us describing our dilemma, and without so much as a moment’s hesitation walked over and introduced themselves.

“Hi, we’re Karin and Jim on Kokomo, and we’d be glad to take you ashore in the morning.”

Um, yes, thank you.

We were expecting a cold front to come through during the night with frigid temperatures and a big northerly wind. It didn’t come and didn’t come, and then, just as we were stirring before dawn, the rigging began to sing and Lime’n started dancing on her mooring.

Soon after, Jim arrived in his dinghy with the little outboard putt-putting nicely. He was in full foulies and sea boots. My two crew-mates and I managed to close up the boat, lock the hatches and climb into the soft bottom inflatable. We barely fit.

By now, the wind had really picked up and a chop was building in the harbor. Jim piloted us through the moored boats, across an open stretch of water and toward the protected dinghy landing. The overloaded dinghy labored in the chop, and more than once I thought we were going to take water over the bow. We didn’t.

Jim let us off and with a wave headed back to the warmth of his bunk aboard Kokomo. Will we catch up with Kokomo in the Bahamas? Perhaps. Will we see Karin and Jim again? Possibly. But we know we will see their like-minded peers everywhere we cruise, and one day we will volunteer to get up before dawn to ferry three strangers ashore from their boat. Because that’s just what we do in the cruising community.

But then something happened. The news of this non-rally cruise in company spread among the cruising community and one after another, couples and crews signed on to join the crowd. Bill and Linda Knowles aboard the Jeanneau 54 Sapphire became the de facto point people and made a few phone calls to see if marinas in Hampton, Virginia and Tortola, BVI wanted to get involved. The marina owners thought it was a splendid idea and signed on.

Jean Conover on Growltiger, moored in Hampton, is the Seven Seas Cruising Association Cruising Host Coordinator (www.ssca.org). She volunteered to assist and enlisted her buddies in the SSCA to help out where they could. Bill Giddings on St. Jude runs the DooDah HF radio net (www.bigdumboat.com/doodah) and voluntarily logs float plans for boats that are making offshore passages. When he heard about the new cruise in company, he volunteered to run a daily radio schedule for the fleet. To our knowledge, this is the first time an offshore fleet has had a dedicated shore-based radio controller.

One day last summer, when I was having a sandwich with Bill Knowles and his Jack Russell Brie, the idea of BWS sponsoring the non-rally was born. So, through BWS and Cruising Compass, we got the word out and the numbers started to grow until at least 34 boats had joined up. This free non-rally event needed a name and became the Salty Dog Rally.

BWS’s contribution to the event was to hire weather guru and offshore router Chris Parker (www.caribwx.com) to handle the forecasting and routing duties. Chris has an HF shore station and was keen to help out. As it turned out, his advice was timely, accurate and extremely useful.

Set to leave the Chesapeake on November 1st, the fleet was delayed by weather. Skippers used their best judgment and left when they thought the time was right, with the majority waiting a week for a window. The passage south was mostly fine, with a few bumpy patches along the way. Some boats diverted to Bermuda for fuel and repairs, but in the end, the gang all rendezvoused at Soper’s Hole to celebrate the safe passage south.

The Salty Dogs plan to have a return rally in May and will run the southbound Salty Dog Rally again next November 1st. Look for the new website at www.saltydogrally.org. Yes, .org. In the spirit of cruising, the gang is forming a non-profit and would be happy to discuss how you can get involved as a volunteer, a sponsor or a participant in the non-rally rallies. You can email me (george@bwsailing.com) or Bill and Linda (svsapphire@aol.com). See you on the docks!

THE THREE P’s •

The NARC Rally left with a small weather window and the hope that the fleet could make it from Newport, RI to Bermuda before the weather deteriorated. They didn’t. Sadly, one sailor—Jan Anderson—lost her life. See our report on page 13.

The new Salty Dog Rally that was scheduled to sail from Hampton, VA to the British Virgins on November 1 employed a weather router—Chris Parker—who saw the storm developing and held the fleet in port for a week before he gave the skippers the go-ahead. Still, the weather out in the Atlantic was boisterous and several boats ended up diverting to Bermuda for repairs.

And, the Caribbean 1500 was scheduled to get away on November 4, but they too were advised by the rally’s weather router to lay low until November 11. The fleet is out there as we go to print and reports have been of a mixed bag of wind.

The North Atlantic in November is no place to trifle with. The threat of tropical storms is less than earlier in the fall. But fast moving cold fronts, extra-tropical lows, and full-on North Atlantic lows are all beasts that you want to avoid. Whether you enter a rally or sail on your own, the assistance of a weather router can make all the difference.

A fall offshore passage in the North Atlantic should not be your first offshore passage or a shakedown cruise for your boat. There are three essential steps leading up to safe and seamanlike passages across oceans. First comes planning. At least six months before taking your boat offshore, lay out a plan that includes the skills everyone needs to master, a list of equipment that has to be acquired and installed, a boat maintenance and upgrade list, and a timeline along which you can realistically chart your progress.

Next comes preparation. Evaluate where you will be sailing, what the weather can bring, what the sea will dish up, and what might go wrong with the crew, the sails, the electronics, the rig and sails, and the boat itself. When you are offshore, you must be entirely self-reliant. Safety and seamanship are built on a reasonable plan and thorough, well executed preparation.

Finally, there’s practice. Only a fool would make his first overnight sail aboard his boat an ocean passage in the North Atlantic in November. Practice with your crew well before sailing offshore by making several overnight trips. You need to see how it all works and learn not to panic at 0200 on an inky black night, which is the hour gremlins schedule close ship encounters, gear breakages and sail tears. Practice makes all the difference to the safety of your boat and your crew.

THE GIFT OF SAILING •

The whole gift swapping tradition is great, but this is also the season when we have a chance to make a gift to those who need our help in one way or another. And since we are sailors, giving the gift of sailing to people who might otherwise find it difficult or impossible to get out on the water for financial or physical reasons is a wonderful idea.

Almost every city near a body of water has a community sailing center, if not two or three. Some are not-for-profit and some are open membership clubs, which are often break-even enterprises at best. Community sailing centers are the places where kids who might never get a chance to go sailing otherwise can learn the ropes and discover how to manage a small sailboat. It can be a life changing experience. So why not make a donation to your local community sailing center? Even a small amount can make a real difference.

For some, physical disabilities stand in the way of getting out on the water. The original sailing organization dedicated to serving disabled sailors was called Shake-a-Leg. Founded in 1982 in Newport, RI, Shake-a-Leg has helped more than 10,000 sailors with disabilities go sailing and racing. The organization runs regattas and has been involved with a wide range of corporations and sponsors. Rebranded as Sail to Prevail in 2010, the organization continues to lead the way in providing access to sailing and was instrumental in getting the Paralympics to accept sailing as a recognized sport. To make a donation, visit www sailtoprevail.org.

An offshoot of Shake-a-Leg Newport is Shake-a-Leg Miami, which operates year-round and has earned a reputation for excellent on-the-water sail training as well as a broad base of fitness and wellness education programs. As a vacation destination or for Miami residents, Shake-a-Leg Miami offers participants an innovative package. To make a donation, go to www.shakealegmiami.org.

A new organization that offers water-based activities for returning U.S. veterans, particularly those with injuries and other disabilities, has sprung up in South Florida. Veterans Ocean Adventures has joined forces with Shake-a-Leg Miami for the sailing portion of their activities, which are usually sunset cruises, couples cruises and other low-impact, fun experiences for vets who want to get into sailing. If you want to say thanks to the men and women who serve you, make a donation at www.vetssailing.org.

So, this year, as well as filling up the family stockings with shackles, sea boots and handheld GPS devices, why not think outside the stocking and give the gift of sailing to those who will really appreciate it?

GO GREEN, GO SAILING

Wind generators are the real workhorses of onboard energy generation. The modern units are fairly compact, and much quieter and more efficient than earlier models. The ability to generate up to 400 or 500 watts in 12 or more knots of breeze all day and night can make you completely self-sufficient and able to live without running the diesel engine or genset to top up the battery bank. 

There are further steps you can take to reduce your onboard energy needs. LED lights are now available in colors that truly give the warmth and appeal of incandescent bulbs. Running lights, cockpit lights and even flashlights can be had with LED bulbs. Although LEDs seem expensive, the initial cost is quickly amortized as you save on energy and extend bulb life.

Air conditioning has become popular on cruising boats, but running AC units requires a lot of power, so you either have to be plugged into shore outlets or run a generator. A greener solution is to use awnings to create shade, wind scoops to direct breeze below decks and low-energy fans to cool your bunks.

You can reduce your carbon footprint afloat significantly if you opt to sail instead of motor to your next destination. Using good light wind sails such as a spinnaker, MPS, reacher or code zero will give you horsepower to maintain good headway even in light airs. Swapping out your fixed blade prop for a folding one will add up to a knot of speed under sail. You may discover that you prefer sailing to motoring anyway.

Reducing the consumption of fossil fuels will help decrease your carbon footprint. But we also want to work toward using products aboard that do not emit toxins into the environment. Copper-based antifouling paint is the main toxin sailors put into the water. But you can go green. ePaint, for example, produces a non-polluting antifouling coating that uses UV technology to defeat slime and barnacles.

There is much we can do to reduce the carbon and other toxins we put into the environment while cruising. For more on hybrid electric power conversion, check out Pip Wick’s article “Power Play” on page 44. And for a look at non-polluting composting toilets for boats, read Pete Dubler’s “No Jokers on This Boat” on page 48.

Most sailors are born nature lovers, so it is no big thing for us to think about going green when we think about going sailing. We just have to do it.

ROLLER FURLING REVOLUTION

Ted Hood, the sailmaker, yacht designer and equipment inventor, came up with one of the first roller furling headsail systems that really worked because it had swivels at the head and tack that effectively flattened the reefed sail. And singledhanded round-the-world race winner Philippe Jeantot won the first BOC Challenge with a Profurl roller furling headsail system, proving that the gear was truly blue water capable. The revolution had begun.

In-mast roller furling evolved from systems mounted on the aft side of the mainmast. The in-mast systems made handling the mainsail a snap and soon found their way onto boats in charter fleets, where thousands of sailors discovered just how convenient the systems are. But the drawback to in-mast furling is the poor sail shape; the sails have to be cut very flat so they will roll smoothly around the mandrel inside the mast. Without much draft and no roach—no horizontal battens to support it—the sails are not very efficient and really lack horsepower. Vertical battens allow the sailmakers to add about 15 percent more sail, which helps a bit.

In-boom roller furling, which was also pioneered by Hood, eliminates this problem. You can build the best looking, most efficient mainsail with a good draft and plenty of roach and full battens and it will still roll right into the boom. Forespar Leisure Furl, Schaefer and others have developed systems that work. But in-boom furling can be tricky since the angle of the boom to the mast (89.5 degrees) is critical to get an even roll around the mandrel. Experienced sailors have little problem with the systems, but novices have to develop the required skills.

It is amazing how roller furling systems have changed sailing. No more cold, wet nights on the foredeck changing sails, no more struggling with mainsail reefing lines at the mast, no more folding and bagging genoas or furling and lashing a stiff mainsail. Sailing is much easier now, so we all should be sailing more. That’s a revolution I can fight for.

LIFE WITHOUT GPS

As it happened, I had just gotten back from a week of cruising around the islands of southern New England aboard our 45-foot sloop without the aid of GPS or chartplotter—the first time we’d cruised coastally without these digital aids in many years. We had a few days of hazy weather, but thankfully no dense fog.
Still, navigating even these familiar waters without the tools we were used to was a different experience that required more planning, vigilance and time at the chart table. Out came the paper charts, the parallel rules, the dividers and the hand bearing compass…all tools we always carry but never use.

Frankly, even though we have sailed one-and-a-half times around the world, we were a little rusty when it came to dead reckoning and old school navigation. Did we have to add variation to the true course or subtract it? It took a moment to remember that “east is least and west is best.”

One blustery afternoon, we were running downwind in a smoky sou’wester against a strong ebbing tide and towing the dinghy when we determined it would be prudent to seek shelter in a deep cove ahead. Visions of a flipped dinghy danced in our heads. But where was the cove in all that dense haze?

We closed on the coast and took a couple of bearings on known headlands, then fixed a pencil position on the chart. Okay. Now we figured that we had 2 knots of current pushing us sideways while we were making a bit of leeway in the other direction as we reached across the breeze. Umm. With the parallel rules, we shaped a straight course, then did a little time-on-distance math, came up with a rough vector to steer and plotted that course on the chart. By the way, this was a virgin chart unmarked by pencils or even human hands.

We steered the calculated course, and in roughly the time predicted, the headland we were looking for emerged from the haze. We found the little white lighthouse slightly hidden behind it and sailed into the lovely calm water in the protected cove where we dropped the hook. And then we let out a sigh of relief. We hadn’t done that in a while.

The good news is that we remember how to navigate the old fashioned way. The bad news is that we can’t wait until the GPS gets back from the shop! And, yes, we have voiced our concern to the FCC about GPS’s future through the Save Our GPS website. I hope you will, too.