Table of contents for November/December 2020 in PassageMaker

NAME John J. Olson AGE 34 or 35 (counting Covid year?) HOME PORT Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Coal Harbour, Canada CURRENT BOAT 1987 GB32 Dream Time YEARS OWNED 1 Carrying on the bloodline of a treasure-hunting ship captain, John J. Olson continues the family cruising tradition aboard his 1987 Grand Banks 32 Dream Time in the Pacific Northwest. BEGINNINGS I’ve been boating since I was in diapers. My family made a berth for me above the anchor chain cupboard in their sailboat. When we docked, they would jump off first and let me solo the wheel. The marina guests staring from their cockpits would howl! My grandpa built a boat in his backyard when I was a toddler. He let me climb the ladder and play around on the bridge. I…

Bottom Kisser is not a good name for a boat. I know this because, three years removed from law school, while single and weary of apartment life, I needed a residence. I didn’t have the resources to acquire one on land, so I thought I’d purchase a trawler and live aboard. I closed in July 1998 on a 30-foot 1981 Clipper Marine trawler (obviously not the boat pictured above). It had a nice berth forward, a head, a hanging locker, a spacious (relatively speaking) salon, and a flybridge with an upper helm station. A 120-hp diesel engine provided a cruising speed of 7 knots, though the 1960s-era depthsounder was not user-friendly. Until I bought the boat, my first 27 summers had been spent at an expanded family beach cabin on…

The centuries-old dispute over which is more preferable—one or two hulls—boils down to several factors, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. While the final verdict is usually founded on personal preference and intended use of the vessel, that didn’t stop these two experts on the subject from stepping into the ring for some friendly sparring on the matter. THE EXPERTS PRO-MONOHULL: DAVID PARKINSON Parkinson grew up racing sailing dinghies in England at a very young age and, as soon as he was able, started racing offshore, eventually completing two Fastnet races, a Sydney Hobart race, and a Transatlantic race. His passion for sailing led to four Atlantic crossings and a circumnavigation. After a brief legal career in London, he sailed to the United States, where he started a yacht delivery…

The full moon broke free of the clouds and lit up a winter wonderland off the ship’s bow. In every direction stretched a delicate layer of new sea ice, some sections glowing white and others imperceptibly dark against pools of inky water. There were cracks and ridges, streaks and smudges. A gentle swell from the nearby open water morphed the icescape minute by minute. We had been motoring north from Nome, Alaska, for four days. This was our first sighting of ice, and it was more spectacular than I had imagined. Standing on the bridge, blanketed by a hushed awe, my blurry understanding of what we were able to do that November eased into focus. The ice had been a hypothetical concept until then, a distant material that, according to…

Pooches of Passagemaker As if we needed any more proof that dogs love boats, flip through an adorable photo gallery of our readers’ favorite furry first mates. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to get a dog of your own. passagemaker.com/ruff-life The Charter Guide Need a vacation? If you’re among the “charter curious,” take a stroll through our comprehensive guide to charter, featuring advice from the experts, popular destinations, trip-planning intel and more. passagemaker.com/charter-guide Top Cats Powercats continue to gain traction in the cruising-boat market, offering owners more space, greater privacy and better fuel efficiency and seakeeping ability than monohulls of similar length. Check out the top new catamaran models on the market today. passagemaker.com/top-cats SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AT PASSAGEMAKER.COM…

If you search online for WD-40 uses, you will come across a bewildering array of ideas, including untangling jewelry, removing crayon marks, and chasing away spiders. Somehow, what I plan to use it for is never on those lists. Fluids in cans fill an important role in a boat owner’s toolkit, and the variety of choices can be confusing. Gathering information for this article, I asked several of our boatyard techs for their preferences. I ran into a variety of opinions. (Shocking, right?) Nonetheless, their choices coalesced around a few products that everyone should have aboard. Here’s a look at the top options. MOISTURE REMOVAL WD-40 has been around since the 1950s, when it was created for corrosion prevention in the aerospace industry. The WD stands for water displacement, and…

Everyone has a detail he checks when looking at a new boat. Those who stand more than 6 feet consider headroom. Those who live aboard want lots of stowage. Techies scope out the engine room. Me? I check the berths first. I spend a lot of time in my berth, even on a charter (when I’m not sucking a beach pub dry). So, I was delighted when I saw the berths on the Leopard 53 Powercat. For once, I didn’t need the moves of an Olympic gymnast just to get into the berth. On the Leopard 53 Powercat, I could actually walk partway alongside each berth, pull back the covers, and climb in without losing every shred of dignity. No more climbing over the pillow to use the loo in…

NEW BOATS CIRCA MARINE 24M EXPEDITION MOTOR YACHT New Zealand aluminum boatbuilder Circa Marine has begun construction of its second 24m Expedition Motor Yacht, a 78-footer sold to a European client with long-range family cruising in mind. Hull No. 2 will essentially mirror Hull No. 1, but with a different accommodations layout and tweaks to the flybridge. Powered by twin 250-hp Scania diesels, the boat’s reported top speed is 13 knots. At 9 knots, the boat is capable of 5,000 nautical miles, according to the builder. It will accommodate six guests and two crew members in four staterooms. Delivery is expected in late 2021. A smaller 20m model (65 feet) is also in the works. circamarine.co.nz ENDEAVORS HIGHFIELD BOATS GOES LAND CRUISING Aluminum RIB and tender manufacturer Highfield Boats is…

We boaters tend toward a fondness for our marine wildlife friends, including the flying types. The kingfisher, heron, crane and other winged creatures are entertaining, but we often end up in combat with the ubiquitous seagull. The scavenger of the sea, and sometimes a scavenger on land, the seagull takes up temporary residency on our boats and, well, leaves his mark. Cleaning up is neither lovely nor pleasant. I have yet to make a cruising plan that incorporates seagull cleanup before the cocktail hour or after my morning coffee and bagel with cream cheese. And yet, the circle of combat continues. Seagulls will look for food anyplace they can find it (imagine a teenager at Costco during the free sample hours). These birds have figured out that a vantage point…

For many in the passagemaking community, catamarans are somewhat of an anathema. Yet, a growing number of cruisers are opting for the space, comfort, efficiency and seakeeping ability that a multihull platform can provide. Before you rule out the concept completely, you might want to take a closer look at the next several pages. In the latest installment of our annual catamaran special, two experts debate the age-old question of which is more preferable, one hull or two; bareboat charter veteran Chris Caswell examines the subtleties of handling a powercat versus a monohull; and we take two newly launched models out for a spin and tell you what we liked and what we might improve. Let the multihull mania begin.…

Our sailboat Bumfuzzle circumnavigated the globe 17 years ago, culminating what was an unlikely chapter in my life. My wife and I grew up as landlocked Midwesterners without a single boater or traveler in either family. How had we gotten here? We were living in Chicago, where I worked for myself as a pit trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. I stood shoulder to shoulder with a couple hundred other traders in colorful jackets, and we yelled from 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. each day. Mine was considered a high-stress job, but I didn’t feel any of that. I was a twentysomething with no kids and no debt. Sure, I could lose everything I owned on any given day, but when you don’t really own anything, that’s not such…

If you’ve never cooked fish in a parchment pack (or en papillote, as the French say), you have to try it. Cooking doesn’t get much easier, and this meal is healthy and tasty with easy prep and cleanup. The method also turns out perfectly cooked fish every single time. I especially love that you can easily assemble this dish ahead of time, and then pop the packets into the oven whenever you are ready. Plus, with the dish’s fancy French name, I always feel extra special when I serve it to guests and cut open the parchment pack right at the table. The steam rises dramatically out of the pack, revealing a delicious meal right in front of them. Everyone gets his or her own little parchment present, and no…