Sommaire pour March 2018 de PassageMaker

Met this handsome example of our national bird on our way back from St. Augustine’s switching on of the “Night of Lights” in November. He was sitting on an ICW green marker just north of the Turner Butler Bridge (route 202 bridge) in Jacksonville Beach. Paul Lawrance Grand Alaskan 53, Sonas (Irish, meaning “happiness”) Jacksonville, Florida Follow our adventures: www.atanchor.com Love to shoot pictures? Want to share your adventures? Send us your favorite high-resolution photos with a short description, and we’ll showcase our favorites in Viewfinder.…

Lowrance FishHunter 3D I couldn’t see them, but I was pretty sure the barracuda were still swimming under the dock. Earlier, they’d shimmered as they darted around in the blue glow of the underwater lights. But the lights had been switched off and I couldn’t figure out how to turn them back on. The lack of light, however, provided the perfect time to test the new FishHunter gizmo that I’d brought for the trip to the British Virgin Islands. Last fall, Lowrance released this new concept; a castable, Wi-Fi-enabled fish finder that pairs to your smartphone. The FishHunter 3D looks like a softball-size bobber. It sports five transducers, trifrequency, a 70-degree cone, and the ability to cast it as far as 160 feet. It even allows for towing behind a…

If you cruise on a powerboat, you pay attention to fuel consumption. Despite the importance of this topic, confusion and false assumptions abound. Many assume that an engine of moderate power runs more economically than a high-output version, but is that always true? Should you prefer a single-engine trawler over a twin-screw, semi-displacement boat because of fuel economy? If you have a twin-engine boat, can you run on one engine to reduce fuel burn? Let’s begin by agreeing on the standard. While many boaters focus solely on gallons per hour (GPH), this is a meaningless number on its own. For example, here’s a question: Which is more efficient, Boat A burning 11 GPH or Boat B burning 22 GPH? Without calculating miles per gallon (MPG) it is impossible to say.…

ARRIVAL The aftermath of the 2017 hurricane season starts to come into focus out the window of the Boeing 737 as we descend toward Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico. I think I’m seeing the roofs of the buildings below but all of a sudden I realize that all those blue roofs aren’t roofs at all. They’re blue tarps providing minimal protection to homes and buildings damaged by the recent trifecta of hurricanes: Irma, Jose, and Maria. As we pass through the San Juan airport the “everything’s fine” polish of the gates for arrivals and mainland departures gives way to the broken, moldy, non–air conditioned concourse of the inner Caribbean carriers. I’m not even to the British Virgin Islands yet and the destruction that still remains from storms…

Because of its location, the Dry Tortugas quickly became a major shipping channel in the 1800s, connecting the Atlantic Ocean waters with the Gulf of Mexico. This allowed Spanish explorers and merchants to travel along the Gulf Coast of Florida. With its shallow waters, combined with increasing traffic, strong currents, and numerous hurricanes, this shipping channel unfortunately became known as a “ship trap.” More than 250 documented shipwrecks litter the Dry Tortugas with their precious cargo. The salvage operation industry, known as wrecking, quickly grew and became the main industry that contributed to the building of Key West. Lighthouses were eventually built to warn mariners off the reef. The lighthouse on Garden Key was constructed first but was eventually determined to be ineffective. Soon after, a new lighthouse was built…

A more secure harbor than any in Florida, which suffered 2,000 sunk and broken boats during Hurricane Irma. Better, too, than anywhere in the battered Virgin Islands. Better than anywhere in the Caribbean north of Trinidad. Heck, historical storm data shows this place is safer from hurricanes than Rhode Island The place of praise is a harbor on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. Luperon is the down-island hurricane hole of hurricane holes. Off and on, I spent a couple years there at anchor, some while working on tourist catamarans at nearby resorts. People need to be careful when they talk about hurricane holes because somebody who doesn’t know any better just might believe them. I took issue recently with a fellow who insisted Great Harbour in the Bahamas…

TROUBLESHOOTER QUESTIONS: I have been a subscriber to PassageMaker for many years and go through the magazine pretty thoroughly. In my latest issue, January/ February 2018, I have found what appears to me to be a confusing description concerning the proper attachments of cable clamps for the steering system in the Troubleshooter article. On page 20 the caption for the photograph states that the U bolt lands on the dead end of the cable while on page 23 the text states that the saddle must rest against the dead end of the wire. To me, the picture caption is correct and the text description is incorrect. Is this the case? —Doug Morse Good catch, Doug. I looked at my file of the photo and caption and it is correct. You…

Every year the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) holds a conference where manufacturers, dealers, distributors, installers, and the media get together to see what is new. In addition to the displays there are seminars for installers and demonstration boats from major manufacturers like Garmin, FURUNO, Raymarine/FLIR, and Navico (Simrad and Lowrance). Because of the importance of electronics to cruisers we reviewed some interesting new products. While the latest fishfinder might not seem a top priority on a cruising boat, advances in sonar technology have given these units capabilities that are important for passagemaking. Forward and side scanning features and graphic 3D imagery that paint detailed pictures of bottom topography are now offered by all the leading manufacturers. Multibeam transducers show amazing detail, allowing identification of submerged objects and showing bottom…

SEA GLASS: “Physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water.” It was not the best day for a boat test—frequent squalls blowing in from the Atlantic, a high-seas warning offshore, skies spitting rain from billowing clouds, the landscape shades of gray. Not the vision of Ft. Lauderdale promoted by the Tourist Council. But inside the brilliant surrounds of the Okean 50’s main saloon, even this view was spectacular. I felt as if I were standing outside in the rain, but dry. With 360 degrees of crystal clear tempered glass surrounding the high-tech helm and saloon, nature became part of the interior even with all the saloon openings closed. Transparency was not the feature of the boat that I came to write about, but it perhaps…

SCROOSE ABOUT TOWN The Scrooser Electric Scooter is made in Germany, has a bizarre name (which makes for an even more bizarre verb), costs a king’s ransom, and honestly isn’t all that fast or powerful. So why am I writing about it? Because, simply put, it is breathtaking. Modern art at its finest, the steel-frame scooter is the very definition of simplicity, from its sweeping tubular frame that looks like it was sculpted into form by minimalist artist, Josef Albers, then painted and wheeled by a nameless robot at Tesla. The Scrooser is form and function in one bright and shiny and beautiful package. As for its specs—minimalist ones at that—the standard scooter can hit flat-ground speeds up to 12.5 mph; for an additional 3 mph, secure the “supercharged” version.…

When the Marine Group editorial team from Active Interest Media headed down to the British Virgin Islands this past December a unique partnership developed. Both Marine Max and The Moorings helped us secure charter boats for touring the British Virgin Islands. Hurricanes Irma, Jose, and Maria had big impacts on both The Moorings and Marine Max. We asked Josie Tucci of The Moorings and Raul Bermudez of Marine Max Vacations for their impressions of the impact that this past hurricane season had on their businesses. What impact did the 2017 Hurricane Season have on your company and your charter operations? It was heartbreaking for us all to see the devastation in the days after Irma, and then Maria passed through. For the first time in our company’s 50-year history, we…

Navionics, the leader in content and location-based services for the recreational boating market, is partnering with fellow industry leaders and the South Florida boating community to remap marine and inland waterways affected by Hurricane Irma. When the hurricane passed through the area on September 10, 2017, hundreds of boats were sunk, docks wrecked, and shorelines and bottom contours changed. By working together, the remapping initiative will improve boater safety in these areas. The month-long event is set to kick off January 19, 2018. Individuals wishing to participate are invited to record their sonar logs and upload data to Navionics, as well as to add marine debris locations throughout South Florida. Recording and uploading sonar logs to Navionics can be easily done from any boat, because Navionics accepts sonar data from…

Up until now in this column we have only considered the potential loss of GPS satellites during a voyage. However, our GPS satellites are in no way uniquely vulnerable, nor are we uniquely dependent on them for navigation. We also use satellites for communications and weather prediction; hence, we need to be self-sufficient and able to carry on without these capabilties as well. So far we have discussed the large-scale loss of satellites in fairly abstract terms, but for this article we are going to create a very specific hypothetical scenario. PRELUDE The following scenario is based as closely as possible on the 1859 Carrington Event, a powerful solar storm. We will focus only on the immediate effects such an event would have on a small cruising boat at sea,…

In a Key West marina aboard Blue Turtle, our 40-foot DeFever Passagemaker, thoughts race through my mind while lying in bed. Do we have enough water on board? Did we provision enough extra food and supplies in case of bad weather? Did we really fix our generator? Have I downloaded all the recipes I’ll need for the trip? Did I turn on my email autoresponder? In just a few hours we will be cut off from the rest of the world, and that feeling is exhilarating. And a little scary. Saying that the Dry Tortugas is off the beaten path is an understatement. There are no cell towers, Wi-Fi, or cable TV, fuel, restaurants, shops, or lodging (other than a primitive campground). As the name suggests, there is also no…

Tag Out If you’ve ever left the seacock closed after changing an impeller, you know how frustrating it can be to toast that brand-new impeller by running it dry when you start the engine. A simple tag hung over the key switch will prevent such a recurrence. You might also find it useful when changing the oil or replacing a belt. Life’s interruptions have a way of distracting us from remembering the task at hand. The right stuff doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.…