A 70-year-old widow has crossed the equator on day 208 in the final leg of
her solo nonstop unassisted circumnavigation.
Jeanne Socrates crossed the line on May 17, 2013 (day 208) at 1453 GMT (2:53 AM local time) on her way north having spent over three months in the southern ocean passing south of Cape Horn on January 7th and rounding the SE Cape of Tasmania on April 7th.
Structural reviews of AC72 boats and wings, a 10-knot lower wind limit (23 knots maximum) and enhanced sailor safety equipment are among the 37 recommendations issued Wednesday to increase safety during the Summer of Racing at the 2013 America’s Cup.
Many of the recommendations are intended to increase the personal safety of the sailors and they include buoyancy aids, body armor, crew locator devices, hands-free breathing apparatus and high visibility helmets. Other recommendations are specific to the AC72 yachts, additional support equipment and race management. Continue reading
Better Winches – Better Sailing. In sailing you earn trust through experience and performance. For the past 45 years, Andersen has built a reputation of trust by creating reliable winches with distinctive, highly polished stainless steel drums. Remarkably lightweight, Andersen’s unique Vertical Power Rib© drum provides superior grip while reducing vertical friction to minimize wear and overrides. If you want better sailing, choose the best winches.
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And with the deals we have listed you can save big on your summer vacation!
It’s just warming up in Europe and LateSail Charter Vacations is your Mediterranean charter expert offering expert and unbiased advice. We work with all the top charter fleets and guarantee to find you the best possible price in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Spain, France and more! We currently have thousands offers listed and of discounts up to 50%. Call on our firsthand experience of sailing these magical waters to plan the perfect trip.
A few years ago while leading a flotilla of six boats in the Caribbean one of our passage days between islands ended up being a long beat to windward. My plan for the day was to leave early in the morning to make it well before sunset. That is, if we all sailed well upwind.
The skippers on the other boats were average cruisers with a good amount of experience and crews who had novice through advanced sailing skills. Once we got out and headed to our destination, all five other boats started footing off onto a close reach. In just a few miles I ended up well in front and to weather of the fleet. The problem: every single boat needed to trim their sails better if they expected to make it in a reasonable amount of time. So, I hailed everyone on the VHF and gave them these three tips. Continue reading
Anchoring is a peaceful alternative to harbor hopping. With the right equipment and proper technique, you can relax and enjoy the beauty of natural surroundings. Most anchor designs will work when properly deployed. It must be of adequate size and have several feet of heavy chain and sufficient nylon line attached. If using all chain, you will need a mechanical or electric windlass (or strong, willing crew) to raise it. Mark the rope at intervals of 20 to 25 feet and attach a floating marker….read more here.
Subscribe to the Quantum cruising blog or email list to receive regular cruising tips from Quantum’s cruising guru, Captain Jack Klang (pictured).
Like her larger sisters in the M-class line of luxury daysailers and coastal cruisers, the Morris 29 combines lovely classic hull lines with a modern keel and spade rudder to give her owners a special boat that will turn heads both by the way she looks and the way she sails.
Designed by Sparkman & Stephens, the M29 is primarily a daysailer that can be handled easily by one person. The main and jib are self-tending. In fact, Morris has eliminated winches from the cockpit altogether. Control lines and sheets are run through blocks and tackles below decks, then through line stoppers, which leaves the decks uncluttered and sail trim as easy as possible.
Continue reading
As recreational boaters gear up for a summer of fun on coastal waters and the Great
Lakes, NOAA is testing MyNOAACharts, a new mobile application that allows users to download NOAA nautical charts and editions of the U.S. Coast Pilot. The app is only designed for Android tablets for the testing period that started on May 20.
MyNOAACharts, which can be used on land and on the water, has GPS built-in capabilities that allow users to find their positions on a NOAA nautical chart. They can zoom in to any specific location with a touch of the finger, or zoom out for the big picture to plan their day of sailing. Continue reading
Calling all sailing industry professionals…
The International Sailing Summit is set to take place from August 18-20, 2013, at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Registration is now available here.
Registration rates are $395 for individuals and $375 per person when the same company registers more than one participant. Summit registration includes a day and a half of educational seminars, a networking luncheon and breaks, an opening reception on August 18, and a dinner on August 19. Continue reading
PlanetSolar, the huge alien-looking vessel powered completely by solar power, reached St. Martin and beat its own speed record for a solar-powered trans-Atlantic crossing. It has to be said that, because there aren’t any other vessels remotely resembling PlanetSolar, the record was a closed-shop affair. Still, it was good to know that they are four days more skillful, technologically superior – or lucky – since the last time they crossed the Atlantic.
After leaving Las Palmas, Spain on April 25 at 11:00 pm local time, the largest solar boat in the world reached Marigot, St. Martin, French West Indies on May 18, at 6:32 am local time, 22 days later. A new feat for the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar who broke her own world record speed for a solar-powered transatlantic crossing, set in 26 days during her trip around the world. Continue reading
The Summer Sailstice online store is now open with 2013 t-shirts, hats and burgees.
We’ve been fortunate to find designers each year who come up with a terrific new design set up and ready to celebrate Summer Sailstice. Sailstice Sponsor North Sails created the 2013 burgee in ‘French Blue’ which will look smart flying over any Sailstice celebration anywhere. Continue reading
Crab cakes are always a favorite of sailors, but how about shrimp cakes?
Crispy Shrimp Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish Continue reading
In navigating and piloting, what is the “Rule of Thirds” used for?
Send your answer to cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com. A winner, who will receive a Blue Water Sailing hat, will be selected at random from the correct answers.
Thanks to last week’s Mindbender winner, Byron Denny, for his answer to “On a NOAA chart, what does the abbreviation “Co” stand for?”: Coral.
This is what cruising kids do with a little free time in the BVI! Thanks to Carol Connor for this great shot.
Do you have cool shots from your cruising adventures? Send them to me at cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com.
Just Sail It
We gingerly motored out of the marina in Friday Harbor, set the main and shut down the engine just a few boat lengths from the entrance. That was the most the engine moved us forward for the next 75 or so miles. 13 hours later, Jill sailed us into the marina in Seattle and I dropped the main and worked the dock lines as we glided to a stop in our slip.
The issue was, half of our folding prop had fallen off a few days prior and I wanted to haul the boat in Seattle to put the new one on. Sailing was our only option and with a favorable forecast, it wasn’t a bad one. I figured that if we sailed fast enough to hit all the currents at the right time it wouldn’t be a problem. And it wasn’t. We sailed fast averaging 5.5 knots and the trip turned out to be a great time, with beautiful conditions. I guess, sometimes engines are just overrated.
Enjoy this week’s edition.
Watchstanders from the 1st Coast Guard District command center in Boston were
notified at approximately 5:20 p.m. Sunday of a distress call from a Canadian-registered 406 MHz emergency position indicating radio beacon registered to the Romarin II. The Coast Guard verified the registration with the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and contacted the vessel’s owner.
The Romarin II had been chartered and was enroute to Quebec, Canada from the Caribbean when it became demasted and disabled. Continue reading
Whatever happened to the pink boat that was suppose to sail around the world…
Last summer’s inaugural Seattle Pink Boat Regatta, held on Shilshole Bay, drew around 50 boats and raised $36,000 for breast cancer research.
At the heart of the effort was a man named Thomas Watson, who planned to sail solo and non-stop around the world in his distinctive pink sailboat with the goal of raising $1 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Watson formed a nonprofit organization, The Pink Boat, and helped organize three Pink Boat regattas, two in San Francisco in and one in Seattle last September. Continue reading
In light of last Thursday’s events on San Francisco bay, we at BWS would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Andrew “Bart” Simpson.
Organizers of the America’s Cup said emphatically that the race will go on as
scheduled but have appointed a committee to review last week’s deadly accident in San Francisco Bay that took the life of Olympic medalist Andrew “Bart” Simpson.
“The America’s Cup remains on track and racing will take place this summer,” said Tom Ehman, vice commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which is an America’s Cup trustee. Continue reading
Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie “Captain Philips” about the pirate take over of the Maersk Alabama and the hostage situation involving it’s captain, Richard Philips. It looks pretty intriguing to us…
