PassageMakerの April 2018 の目次

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. For consideration, email: editor@passagemaker.com On Instagram: #viewfinder…

No one knows the importance of grippy decks better than a performance sailor. Dan Kaseler is a watersports enthusiast with an extensive product development resume in the windsurfing and kiteboarding industry. After slipping one too many times in the wet cockpit of his own Melges 24, Kaseler developed a foam-based, stick-on nonskid material inspired by the traction and comfort characteristics found on surfboard stomp pads. Fellow Melges racers took notice and Kaseler started piling up orders from all over the world. Raptor Deck was born. Six years later, the company has expanded to develop products for the wide-ranging marine market, cutting waterproof decking for anything from tenders to cruiser refits and racing yachts. Once a template of the deck is complete, Kaseler’s team converts the pattern into Rhino (CAD drawings)…

This cutaway section of a cabin top reveals a critically important detail, executed skillfully. All modern deck and cabin structures utilize cored construction. The vertical black line (red arrow) reveals a gap in the foam sections. Foam cores in most boats have hundreds of these gaps, or kerfs, as we call them. If water can get into the core these kerfs provide a path for moisture to migrate throughout the structure. In this example, hardware has been installed and the installer carefully removed the foam around the fastener holes and filled them with thickened epoxy (green arrow). If (when) the hardware starts to leak, water will be contained by epoxy that protects the core from moisture penetration. This simple procedure probably added an extra hour or two to the installation…

This was the scene in 2009: My colleagues and I were standing at the Miami Boat Show three hours after the show had opened at Sea Isle Marina. Peering down the docks, the only people milling about were the embroidered polo–wearing factory employees and the sales agents who represented them. Customers were few and far between. The ones who did show up were kicking tires; the ones who didn’t were at home watching the accumulating snowball that was the global financial market. Times were bleak, and they would get a whole lot bleaker. Nine years later, much has changed. The Miami Yacht Show (held on Collins Avenue this year, but likely to return to Sea Isle next year) and the Miami International Boat Show at Virginia Key both feel vibrant…

You’re one week into a threeweek cruise. You find a nice anchorage for the afternoon and set the hook. Without the breeze you generated underway, the summer heat sets in and it’s time for air conditioning. You press the start switch and the genset cranks but won’t start. Midsummer night’s dream just turned into a nightmare. While generators make life aboard more comfortable and flexible, they are not without their problems and can be cruise assassins. Your generator can be described as two unrelated piecs of machinery bound together for a common purpose. One component is a diesel engine. Instead of driving a transmission, this engine drives an armature, a heavy set of windings and magnets. The rotation of this assembly creates a flow of electricity. In most other respects,…

Over the course of the past year or so we have seen a large number of well-documented collisions between vessels, ranging from kayaks to tankers to warships. The common thread between each of these seems to be a simple lack of a vigilant and competent lookout, on at least one—and usually all—of the vessels involved. So let’s see what our actual requirements are for keeping a lookout and what is considered generally prudent seamanship. In this case, the Rules of the Road are simple and explicit—and the international and inland rules are identical. Rule 4, in this context, simply tells us that everything in Rule 5 applies at all times—day or night, fog or sunshine, no exceptions. And Rule 5 itself begins with the clarification, “Every vessel shall, at all…

Learning to boat, for me, was a rite of passage just like learning to ride a bike. My parents are boaters, and many friends are, too. When you live in a place like Nova Scotia, a Canadian province that is almost completely surrounded by the ocean, you are never far from the water’s edge. My brother and I grew up in, on, and around the ocean; the salt water never fully rinsed off before we were in it again. My first boat was a wooden rowboat named Bull Frog. A Zodiac with a 9.9 horsepower motor quickly followed, and eventually I was teaching myself how to sail on a Laser, driving it up the beach on downwind runs until I learned how to tack. My teen years were spent bombing…

Puffins. Lobstering. Obscure border disputes. If you’re interested in any of these, you’re likely to have heard of Machias Seal Island, the downright miniature island in the middle of the “gray zone” (or “grey zone”—the spelling of this word is one of the other things on which the United States and Canada are unable to agree). But in the off chance that you’re not tuned into the worlds of rare birds, fishery management, or international relations, here’s the scoop: Machias Seal Island (along with the even more miniature island, North Rock) is the only landmass in the disputed waters between the U.S. and Canada. There are other current maritime disputes between the two countries. Foreign Policy notes a list (sourced from Wikipedia) that includes disputed waters in the Strait of…

More Caribbean Comeback Stories need telling I am greatly disappointed by the subject issue [“Caribbean Comeback,” March 2018]. Great for the BVI, its bars and charter boaters, but [to ignore] the damages done by Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico is appalling. Their recovery has been poorly supported by our government and many others, and finding out what is really happening is difficult. Their recovery and that of all the affected islands is much more than the bars, The Moorings, and MarineMax. How are the citizens doing? How has the infrastructure recovered? How is Barbuda doing? This is much bigger than your article, and you (and the other magazines) could perform a real service (while satisfying your sponsors) by discussing the entire situation in the Caribbean.…

In some form or another, a marine transceiver is a must-have item for any vessel, no matter where your cruising plans take you. Like many of ICOM’s previous firstto- market products (waterproof handhelds, anyone?), the fixed-mount M605 is a trendsetter. Need proof? Well, it just racked up an award at NMEA’s 2017 convention, winning “Best VHF Radio Product.” What separates the M605 from others in its category is that the transceiver is more than a simple radio; it’s a fully customizable device that provides users with a bevy of setup and integration options. With a full-color 4.3” TFT LCD display that includes a night mode (easy to see yet not too distracting), optional AIS integration, IPX8 waterproof rating, noise canceling, and NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 connectivity, the M605 lacks…

The wind had been building all morning. What had started as a gentle 10-knot breeze at sunrise was now a sustained 30 knots. Despite its deep gunwales, our little 15-foot aluminum dinghy is not the most comfortable place to be on the open ocean in high winds and a six-foot swell. Yet, after a run in to Queen Charlotte City for perishables, that was exactly where we found ourselves. We were exiting Skidegate Narrows at its western end and expected that another 30 minutes would put us back aboard Explorer, our 60-foot wooden trawler (cover model for the April 2002 issue of PassageMaker). The windwhipped spray collecting on my glasses added to the visibility challenges, but I began to make out a boat circling about a half mile offshore. It…

The Great Lakes offer some of the most beautiful cruising anywhere. With the combination of world-class cities and small villages, you could spend a lifetime exploring these irresistible ports of call. (Or find one you love and never leave!) LAKE SUPERIOR Duluth, Minnesota Called “the San Francisco of the Midwest,” Duluth blends urban cultural activities with easy access to outdoor activities. (Outside Magazine named it one if its “Best Towns Ever” in 2014.) Stay at Park Point, the longest freshwater sandbar in the world, or right downtown at Pier B, the new resort and restaurant with available slips. Along the downtown waterfront, you’ll find festivals and concerts at Bayfront Park and unique dining, shopping, and galleries in Canal Park. In this outdoor mecca, the paved Lakewalk extends for miles along…

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban bears witness to all sorts of sales pitches on his show, “Shark Tank.” One of the worst pitches ever might have been the one given by Stephan Aarstol, who choked during his presentation and went silent for over a minute. But Aarstol recovered, and by the end, Cuban was persuaded. Cuban agreed to fork over $150,000 to acquire 30% of Aarstol’s company, Tower Paddle Boards. And Cuban has gotten quite the return on his 2011 investment. By mid-2016 the company was on course to net $10 million in profit. It was curious, then, to see the company launch a Kickstarter campaign in mid-January. It was even stranger to see the campaign’s modest goal set at $30,000. This new product, a floating dock/swimstep, was inspired by the…