Basic Safety Requirements are concerned with the build of the boat. There are some wonderful boats, lightly built, that should probably stick to coastal cruising. Areas of concern include the hull strength of the boat, deck construction and deck-hull joint, strength of keel attachment, amount of ballast that ensures righting moment when capsized, condition and strength of rig […]
Choosing a Boat: Human Comfort
Human comfort factors may be less important than Basic Performance comfort factors, but it can make the difference for many of us in the ability to continue cruising or to give it up. Perhaps it is not unfair to say that youth and passion can reduce the need for this category of amenities. This category […]
No Internet? Use a Radio! Email Access via HF Radio
Before I got involved in a cruising boat I thought of radio being a voice transmission device. You know, you talk on it, you hear other people talk on it. When pressed I had to admit, yes, I know that they used Morse Code on the radio, too. I mean I’ve seen war movies from […]
Getting Weather Reports Offshore; GRIB files and faxes
There’s a newer article on this subject, see Weather Faxes… Offshore We’re all familiar with listening to spoken weather forecasts on the VHF radio. But VHF has a line-of-sight reception and even an antenna on top of your mast can’t pick up a station more than 10 or 20 miles away. So what do you […]
GPS for your Laptop
Our wired GPS units are “older” to be kind. They came with the boat and work fine, but I don’t have data cables even if such exist. So I chose to interface my laptop to a “GPS mouse” rather than one of the onboard GPS devices. (It’s called a mouse because it looks like one) […]
AIS Receiver: a Must Have for Peace of Mind
Although AIS transmitters are great if you can afford them, an AIS receiver is worth its weight in gold – or at least the $200 which seems to be about the minimum for a new model. The ships appear as triangular objects on your navigation software, pointed in direction of travel, with the ship’s name […]
