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Sale! The Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship is on sale!

Monday, June 21st, 2010

The Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship

This month you can buy The Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship and save:

NB: Prices in Australian Dollars Was Now
Only
The Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship
$195
$135
Boat Handling 1 and 2
$45
$30
Navigation and Passage Planning
$45
$30
Safety and Emergencies
$45
$30
Skipper and Crew, Knots and The Language of the Sea
$45
$30
Weathercraft
$45
$30

Remember, this special offer expires on 30 June 2010.

Don’t miss this great opportunity. Use the ‘Share This’ button to tell your friends.
Click to get yours now – The Boating Bible Manual of Seamanship.

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Earth Hour 2010

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Next Saturday 27 March is Earth Hour. This event, which began in Australia in 2007, is now supported worldwide. It’s an opportunity for all of us to take action for the good of our environment and a timely reminder to make sure we turn off any appliances that are often left on stand-by, as well as unnecessary lighting, to reduce our carbon footprint.

Annie and I have observed this event each year since its inception in 2007. You, too can join us this year by signing up, below.

We’re planning to spend the evening in candlelight. We envy those of you who will be out on a yacht.

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So-called sailboats

Monday, February 15th, 2010

It wasn’t hard to choose my subject in response to Tillerman’s current group writing project, “Worst Sailing Invention Ever”.

Motor boats, and, get me right, by this I don’t mean vessels that use motors as their only method of propulsion, but so-called sailboats that have to run their motors 24/7 to support an ever-increasing range of equipment – canting keels, water ballast, button-controlled winches, etc.

Now, if people want to take these motor boats cruising, then that’s ok by me, or they can race each other. But if they want to race them against my friends and me who are sailing on traditional yachts I don’t want anything to do with them. I want to be in a race where competitors rely on the manual exertion of their crews.

It’s not that I’m against engines: I am for them when they are used as auxiliaries. Engines are great for maintaining battery power for navigation lights, communications, navstation equipment and house power.

And I’m not against having a well-chilled beer at the end of a race.

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Charles Darwin’s Birthday

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Today is the 201st anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, ‘Father of Evolution’. His voyage on HMS Beagle from 1831-1836 is being retraced by Randstad Clipper Stad Amsterdam, with his great-great-granddaughter Sarah Darwin and a group of scientists and researchers aboard. This beautiful clipper arrives in Sydney tomorrow for a four day stay.

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Sailing highlights for 2009

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The other day I wrote about the overall winner of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, Two True. It was also one of the sailing highpoints published in last week’s newsletter.

The other highlights for me were:

Three round-the-world yacht races:

  • Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09
  • Vendee Globe 2008-09
  • Clipper Round the World 09-10

Two short-handed/solo ocean voyages:

  • Berrimilla’s return to Sydney from Falmouth, UK
  • Jessica Watson’s solo, unassisted circumnavigation attempt on Ella’s Pink Lady

And, finally, the launch of our new product, Nautical Knowledge.

Visit our Newsletter Archive to read more about these highlights and, while you’re there, sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your email inbox each week.

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Beneteau 40 wins the Sydney-Hobart yacht race

Monday, January 11th, 2010

I was pleased that the overall handicap winner of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, Two True, is not one of the motor boat brigade. In fact, she’s a brand new Farr-designed Beneteau 40, that doesn’t have a canting keel, water ballast or button-controlled winches. In other words, the crew have to use their muscle power to work the boat. The engine is only used to replenish the batteries and keep the navigation and other lighting powered up and the refrigeration down.

It’s probably just as well that conditions did not deteriorate to match those in the 1993 or 1998 race. The Beneteau I sailed on in 1993, also designed by Bruce Farr, took such a pounding that all the furniture in the forward cabin came free. Luckily, no one wanted to sleep there, forward of the mast, as the boat’s motion was far too uncomfortable but we did have to tie the fittings down so that no further damage occurred.

As the picture shows, we slept on the floor and, just for the records, we made it to Hobart.

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Sailing superstitions

Friday, November 13th, 2009

As it’s Friday the thirteenth today, it seemed a good time to talk about some of the many nautical superstitions that have been handed down to us.

Firstly, sailors believed it was bad luck to start a voyage on a Friday, supposedly because that was the day of Christ’s crucifixion. To avoid it, they would move the vessel to a temporary mooring the day before, thus starting their voyage on a Thursday. This has never bothered me, nor have I found anyone withdrawing from, say, the Sydney-Hobart because Boxing Day fell on a Friday.

The colour green is often frowned on by sailors. My experience of sailing on Mercedes IV, when painted British racing green, was of a sound and seaworthy craft. She’s a beautiful wooden boat designed by Ted Kaufman and built by Cec Quilkey for the 1975 Admiral’s Cup.

While I am not a believer in any of the superstitions, I am in many ways a traditionalist. When we had to re-step the mast on our Thunderbird some years ago, we did make sure a silver coin was placed at its base.

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Offshore wind farms – another sailing hazard?

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

If, like me, you’ve sailed through areas where oil rigs are located, you will know that they are easy to see, both during the day and at night. In fact, overnight they are lit up like well-decorated Christmas trees. Navigating to avoid them is, therefore, not difficult except perhaps when there’s fog.

But, after reading about a new wind farm development, I’ve been wondering what it would be like sailing through or near one, if that’s permitted.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm will be built in the UK off the Kent and Essex coasts. Located 12 miles offshore, it will be out of sight of land.

There will be 341 wind turbines generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity – enough to power all 750,000 homes in Kent and East Sussex and save 1.9million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum.

Read the full article on this wind farm.

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