Cruising Advice

Anchor gear, anchor, chain and winch

Anchor gear needs to keep you in the chosen position whatever nature throws at you. A dragging anchor puts boat and crew in immediate danger. The whole caboodle, often called ground tackle, consists of an anchor winch, a sufficient length of chain and an anchor. Continue reading Anchor gear, anchor, chain and winch

Sails, engine and fuel tanks

Sails are the main drivers and should be of good quality and shape to last the planned trip. Polyester is by far the most commonly used woven sailcloth under the trade name Dacron . This material provides value for money and if sourced from a reputable manufacturer lasts long. Not every Dacron cloth is the same so tell the sail maker about your cruising plans when ordering a new set of sails. To improve the lifespan of the sails put some effort in UV protection when at anchor by always putting up the sail cover on the mainsail and have a UV protection covering the leech of the headsail(s). The latest development is a painted on protection which comes with a warranty. Continue reading Sails, engine and fuel tanks

Safety, Protection and Accessibility

Safety starts with a sound and watertight hull. Through hull fittings of good quality and easily accessible, a good functioning stern gland for the prop shaft is most important. All through hull fittings should have a wooden plug attached just in case a hose tears off or even the valve itself gets smashed. On a regular basis the yacht will come out of the water for cleaning and anti-fouling. This is the time to inspect the fittings and grease the valves to make sure they are moveable. Continue reading Safety, Protection and Accessibility

Rigs and rigging

Most yachts have just one mast even the larger ones, a few are schooner, ketch or yawl rigged. A divided sail area is more easily handled by a small crew but less efficient than a single area. A yawl or ketch may have an advantage sailing on a reach but not upwind or downwind. Also the cruising clutter such as solar panels, wind generator, or dinghy over aft deck and a wind vane at the stern does not take friendly to a sail aft. Continue reading Rigs and rigging

Hull types and materials

The majority of yachts are mono-hulled but a noticeable enthusiastic minority of cruisers favour their multi-hulled yachts. The mono hull enthusiasts claim ultimate stability and recovery capability in case of a knock down or even a roll. The multi-hull sailors, in particular the catamaran sailors, enjoy their stable platform often claiming that glasses of wine stay on the table under all conditions but ultimate stability is only achieved upside down which of course only happens in extremis in races. Access to shallow places is a definite plus point. Continue reading Hull types and materials

Introduction

Having been on the steep learning curve of 20 years of single handed Transatlantic racing and cruising and 16 years of double handed Atlantic and Pacific ocean cruising I hope to give practical advice and discuss some essential requirements to make cruising life for the novice cruiser a success and the best experience of a lifetime.

No glorified descriptions of wonderful remote and secluded anchorages watching the sunset with a gin and tonic in hand from the aft deck or a palm fronted beach. Of course that happens and is more likely the result of good planning and thorough preparation which I think is essential to make cruising life a happy life.

In the first 9 chapters I will discuss the basics regarding the tools of our trade.

The ideal Yacht and her Equipment

Is there such a thing as the ideal cruising boat? Judging at the variety of yachts on display at anchorages and marinas around the world the answer is NO.
One notices many different hull types, materials, shapes, and rigs. Cruisers preferences, technical development, fashion and racing rules play a role.

The coming months, issued in weekly episodes, I will discuss in general the following items:

Later, more detailed discussions are planned on these topics:

Get new chapters by e-mail

Join 5 other subscribers.

the last tale

36:37:41S
174:47:29E

We thought we had an interesting trip this year seeing as we are the only boat to have sailed to a destination not shown on Google earth, and as you can see looking looking at our track on google earth, we sailed there round the world in two and a half days!

On the other hand our good friend Dawn and her partner Paul, circumnavigated the North Island this summer with Dawn’s cat Tommy, and 2 gold fish as crew.

Cats and ships go hand in hand, and there is even a statue of the most famous ship’s cat Trim who sailed around Australia with Matthew Flinders in 1848 but circumnavigating gold fish????? What?

Fish are undemanding ……

When Dawn told us what she was doing this season our worries were entirely for the fish – How could she sail down the west coast, a notoriously rough place without the fish being either sea sick or thrown out of their tank? There were quite a lot of jokes about fish fingers and bait then we suggested that Tommy might like an early fish shaped christmas present. Dawn was quite shocked at the very idea and she assured me they were very precious and to keep them safe she puts them in a bucket in the shower when they are on passage.

The main problem is of course stopping Tommy from fishing…….

Tommy spends a lot of time wondering ………

If only he can get his paws on them

Butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth.

And finally we have just seen motoring out for a sail a splendid yacht named MasterPlan – towing his dinghy named Plan B

that’s a true story!

The last Post

36:49:15S
175:10:96E

Duet is at anchor below us as we sit eating supper with Tom and Ginny
in their lovely home that overlooks Arran Bay. Stuart and Susie
Carnegie were there too. This was our last port of call at the end of
a very successful summer’s cruise. We have sailed a total of 3258
nautical miles in three months. This has been the best New Zealand
summer for a long time. Of course all the farmers are complaining
loudly but the holiday makers have never had it so good! So we are now
back to the marina and will spend the next two weeks cleaning and
packing up our beautiful Duet before returning home at the end of
March.

On passage again

39:22:67S

177:44:23E

We are on passage at the moment passing
Portland Island which has an uncanny resemblance to Portland Bill in the English
Channel and the seas are just as steep and nasty. No race to contend with but
shallows and shoals make for an unpleasantly rough seas. It’s difficult
pouring a cup of tea – We have a strong ESE wind and are sailing at
8.5 knots.We loved Napier and thanks to Chris, a good friend who took us around,
we saw a lot of the very dry farmland, tasted some delicious wines in the famous
Hawke’s Bay vineyards and ate some delicious food as well. Next stop will be the
Mercury Islands on Sunday where we will have a few days break before heading
back to Gulf Harbour.

Napier

39:29:021S
176:53:516E

Napier looks like a bit like Nice or Monaco with it’s Neapolitan painted buildings and palm tree lined streets or perhaps they look like Napier? The city was flattened in the 20’s by a huge earthquake and rebuilt in Art Deco style’s finished during the early 1930’s. There are plenty of interesting shops to browse around and an extremely well stocked New Zealand wine centre that specialises in the wine from this region,Hawkes Bay. Last night we spent alongside the harbour wall with the trawlers, noisy and dirty. Tonight we are moored outside the Napier yacht club; a far better alternative!

It took us two days to sail back from the Chatham islands, one day sailing and the rest under engine as the wind was light and from astern. Did anyone notice that the Chatham Islands are not on Google Earth?

New Zealand wine centre. Note the art deco lights

The Cathederal

Villas overlooking the Bay

typical buildings

The cinema

The main street