Featured Blog Posts (255)

How many times have you been so mad at someone that you swore you would never sail with them again? If you've sailed with half as many people as I have then you know what I am talking about. Although there is one man who I believe I will never sail with again. Sorry folks but his idea dwelled on the disgusting side. Other than that there are probably a handful who I would prefer not to sail with and certainly do not encourage our sailing together.

Then, there are those select…

Ever wonder why we do what we do?? Boating that is, for me it the "rush" every time I can get the rail in the water on a broad reach..or trimming the sails to get that last half knot going to windward. And there are the times when things happen that you have no control over at all, like "lighting strikes". A couple of weeks ago, not sure when, lighting hit something near the harbor, and we all walked around saying "sure glad that didn't hit me", well wouldn't you know many of us were…

Does anybody know that dangers the oil in the Gulf of Mexico presents to sailing?

1. Will it damage my hull, or paint?

2. Will it clog my engine cooling water intake?

3. Will it burn out my AC?

4. what is the best defense? Should I take the boat out of the water for the rest of the year? Or maybe take it up a river and moor it in the river?

What says you?

DJ

You probably have all heard the time analogy that goes something like this: when counting down to the start of an olympic race, five seconds can seem like an eternity; when you are 5 years old your birthday takes a lifetime to arrive. When you are in your sixties, holidays come around quickly. Similarly, I have learned eight weeks of vacation goes a whole lot faster than eight weeks at the office. Not that I am complaining rather I am just feeling like my summer at home is whizzing by. No…

Is the iPad the future of marine electronics? Well, now I'm convinced it is.

When I heard that the folks at Outback Marine Australia had come up with a way to transform Apple's iPad into an integral helm panel instrument I realized that we're only a couple of steps away from turning it into the actual…

Ahoy there mateys,

Just did some research on AIS. Like learning to sail, AIS has a language of its own. There is static and dynamic transmission. Does that mean fuzzy sounding versus a really terrific communication?

How about Furuno and Raymarine? Is Furuno related to King Furuk? Recently one was criticized for calling an autopilot an autopilot and not a Raymarine. Does that mean AIS will steer me away from danger?

Ay, here's a clarity. Digital…

Can you believe my blog has been silent for two months? Where has the time gone? I know my job consumes 8 - 10 hours a day and I have sailed every Saturday and Sunday except one, but golly, gee whil a kers, the days are flying by.

To catch up we have a monohull practice scheduled for this Thursday night. Safey will be reviewed with a man overboard drill the priority. Without a chase boat, however, we will just use a throwable cushion or boat fender. Someone else suggested we…

Since joining Seaknots I've found that the one thing soon to be cruisers need to do is downsize....a lot. There is something cleansing when one purges stuff. I've found this to be true with each move I make. Downsizing from a 6000 sq. ft. house to an eight room to a 4 room. But as a former antique dealer I like nice things and it's not always easy to get rid of stuff, nor do I really want to. Then there's clothes, books and shoes...the list goes on. There currently is a trend started I think…