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Rod
Campbell-Ross
Sail Ready!
ISBN 0-9757928-0-6
Title: Sail Ready: What I Wish I Had Known Before I Went Sailing
Edition:
Author/Contributor: Campbell-Ross, Rod; Campbell-Ross, Sue (ed);
de Pauuw, Wendy (ill)
30 June 2005
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole
or in part, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission of Rod or Sue Campbell-Ross.
1
Foreword
A boat is, in my view, possibly the best platform for travelling. You are free to go to
travel wherever you want to (lots of places) and yet your home is always nearby. You
can get away from the madding crowd or you can join it. You will meet many people, a
few of who will become lifelong friends. (Most will be great friends while you are
cruising, and that is OK too). You will be a part of the yachtie community which will
support you, entertain you, teach you, guide you, advise you and be one of the greatest
gifts of the sailing life!
It is wonderful to enter a new bay and see many boats that you know and may not have
seen for a while, sharing a cold beer, discussing the last few thousand miles. These
relationships are extremely important; the yachtie community's success is built on
shared experience and mutual help and support.
In this world where the state has assumed the role of "nanny" it is refreshing to do as
one pleases (more or less) and to be responsible for your self. I suppose that one day
governments are going to decide that letting citizens sail off on their own into the sunset
is just too dangerous; and stop it.
This book attempts to provide answers to some of the questions you are likely to have if
you are thinking about going cruising. It is the book containing information that I wish I
had known before I started. It also contains the distilled information from many of the
wonderful friends we sailed with who kindly responded when I told them about this book
and asked them "What do know now that you wish you had known when it all started?".
The book is written to be used as a broad introduction to those thinking of going cruising
and is set up in an A-Z format for reference during the preparation phase before actually
setting off. Each subject is of necessity brief, an overview. Some subjects require a
complete book in their own right. It is also assumed that the reader is already a sailor,
can navigate and understands the sea. Therefore there are many references to other
books throughout this book and readers can choose whether they wish to know more
about a subject or not.
2
Contents
Life Raft 69
Lightning 70
Abandon Ship 5
Anchoring 6 Man Over Board 71
Autopilots 14 Medical 73
Batteries 17 Navigation 75
Becalmed 20
Boat (Choice of) 21 Outboard Engines 77
Diesel 40 Safety 87
Dinghies 41 Sails 90
Scuba 92
El Nino 43 Seasickness 93
Electricity (Mains) 46 Simplicity 94
Electrolysis 47 Smart Chargers 96
EPIRB 48 Solar Panels 97
Experience 49 Spares 98
Squalls 100
Fatigue 50 SSB Radio (HF Radio) 101
Finances 51 Storms 102
First Aid 52 Strobes 103
Fishing 53 Sun (Avoidance) 104
3
Abandon Ship!
Be ready to abandon ship in 30 seconds. Yachts can 30 seconds
go down that fast. Have a list of what to do and what
to get. Post a copy of the list near the chart table and
memorise it. Make sure all the crew memorise it well.
1. EPIRB
2. Hand held VHF
3. Grab Bag (see “grab bag’)
4. Passports and ships papers
5. Water
6. Sheath Knife off deck
7. Torch
8. Rescue Line and Quoit
9. Liferaft
10. Fishing gear
11. Children in life jackets
12. Flares
13. Emergency food
14. Dinghy (time permitting)
15. Outboard and petrol (time permitting)
16. Anything else time permitting (food, medicines,
kitchen implements, tools clothes)
In the liferaft:
1. Bailer
2. Leakstoppers
3. Repair kit
4. Survival and immediate action cards
4
Anchoring
Anchors
Good ground tackle is essential for a good nights’ Get good ground tackle
sleep When at anchor. Not only is it important to
having a good nights rest, but it is a vital piece of
safety equipment that may save you and your boat if
you find yourself in difficulty. You anchor could be
your last resort when on a lee shore or within a reef
and your engine dies on you. It should always be in
good working order.
You should have at least one spare bow anchor and a Spare bow anchor
separate stern anchor (kedge). If you are going to
cruise higher latitudes you may want more than this.
In addition you should also carry a dinghy anchor.
5
These are not hard and fast. Experienced yachties will
tell you that laying heavy chain on the bottom is as
important as the weight and type of anchor. The
anchor should weigh at least the same in pounds as
the boats length in feet. But it can be bigger, up to 1.5 Anchor size (weight) = at
- 2 times that figure. Why not get a really big anchor? least the boats length in
Getting one that that is double the minimum, say the feet in pounds
same as the boats length in feet in kilograms will only
add 20-30 kilo’s, which is nothing when you are sailing
10-20 tons of boat. Note that the anchor and rode
together are a system and that they work together.
They are equal partners in helping ensure that you are
able to sleep peacefully. Do not save money here.
Invest in the right equipment, whatever the cost. One
final point: double tie the “bitter end” of your anchor
chain to the hull with two separate pieces of Nylon line Secure the bitter end well –
rated stronger than the chain itself. Tie the second off many a chain has
on a different link in the chain. You may need a disappeared over a bow
shackle to do this. If you need to you can easily cut roller
the line.
Mark your chain so that you know how much has been
let out. If you use paint use a bright colour such as
yellow. It will wear off very quickly anyway, but the
brighter the colour the longer you will be able to see
what is left. Cable ties are another method. Use a
system that is easy to interpret. You will be surprised
how difficult it is to see in the dark!
Entering an anchorage
When anchoring, remember that LIFO is the golden
rule of anchor etiquette: Last In First Out. If your boat LIFO
causes problems for other boats at anchor; and you
came in after them, you should leave or otherwise
ensure that your boat causes no further problems.
6
Scope: the amount of chain or rode between the Scope=rode
anchor and the boat, divided by the maximum depth of Depth
the water, taking the tide (and height of the bow roller
above the water) into account.
Finding a good spot to anchor is a skill, acquired with Find a good spot
experience. When anchoring in a crowded bay or
anchorage, look for a suitable "hole", a roundish gap
between the other boats. Manoeuvre your boat so that
it approaches the hole from downwind and stop more
or less on the stern of the boat at the extreme Windward edge of gap
windward side of the hole, or better, between two
boats on the windward side.
Knowing the depth, drop the anchor with sufficient Drop Anchor and fall back
chain for the anchor merely to hit the sea floor. At this smoothly
point it is important not to drop chain on top of the
anchor. If you do this, all you will achieve is a fouled
anchor that will not set. Reversing the boat slowly, pay
out the chain until you have a scope of 2. As the boat Set a scope of at least 3,
moves astern allow the anchor to "bite" momentarily, but work on swinging on a
and then continue to pay out chain until you have let scope of 5 in most
out sufficient chain to swing on your desired scope (at anchorages
least 3). My own minimum scope is 5 or at least 20m
(if anchored in less than 3m of water). After letting the
boat rest for a moment, reverse the boat slowly and
test how well your anchor is holding. Do this slowly
and smoothly otherwise any jerk may pull the anchor
right out of the bottom. In the tropics the water is often
clear and you can see the anchor on the bottom. If
you can’t see the anchor from the boat you can
reassure yourself by diving on the anchor to check it
and the lie of the land generally under your boat. After
a while this becomes second nature.
Let the boat settle and swing and ensure that you Let the boat settle and
have sufficient room to swing without alarming or check what is happening
touching other boats. Then set your anchor snub (See
“Anchor Snub”).
7
Fortunately in the Pacific anchorages are rarely
crowded.
Anchor Snub
Setting an anchor snub is good practice. It makes your Set an anchor snub
boat quieter on anchor and if done well makes your
anchor more secure.
In any event, it is essential to take the load off your Take the load off your
windlass. Your windlass is designed to lift the anchor windlass
and to let it out, not to act as a cleat.
The main culprit, both for noise and for dragging is Snatching is noisy and can
snatching, especially in anchorages such is many in cause dragging
the Canary Islands that have vicious gusts of wind
known as wind acceleration. An all chain anchor
should have a good catenary effect* but adding one or
two rubber "snubbers" to give the snub extra elasticity
works extremely well.
8
The boat, swinging around, even quite violently, will
sometimes stretch the snub to the full extent possible.
Without the elastic snub the anchor may have been
pulled out of its holding and dragged.
Secondary anchors
It may be necessary because of the weather, the
holding, or for some other reason to set more than
one anchor, or to tie yourself off to a tree or rock or
something on the shore in addition to, or instead of
using your main anchor.
2 anchors?
In a particularly tight anchorage, you might find a
small space that allows you no scope. The "Admiralty
Method" of laying two anchors may allow you to swing
on a scope of little more than the depth of water.
9
set 2 anchors from the bow. The 2 main ways of doing
this are either to set another anchor at approximately
30º-45º from the first, or to set 2 in tandem. Both
methods involve significant extra work and the
secondary anchor is more difficult to retrieve,
especially in a hurry. You may have to buoy the
secondary anchor off with a fender and drop it,
retrieving it later if you do have to leave in a hurry. The
golden rule remains: make sure your primary ground
tackle is good enough to rely on 99% of the time.
Stern anchors
The other essential anchor is your stern anchor. In a
blow you will want to secure the boat with all the
anchors you have. The stern anchor will hold the boat Set an anchor astern if you
steady, perhaps to the seas rather than letting her want to face the seas and
swing about, but you may need to loosen the rode if not the wind
the wind direction changes so that you can present
your boats bows to the direction of the wind. If you are
lying in a bay such as Taiohai Bay in Nuku Hiva in the
10
Marquesas or Friendship Bay in Bequia the waves
may be entering the bay at a different angle to the
wind. Work out where to drop the stern anchor,
allowing a scope of at least 7 if it is on a chain and
rode combination. Taking as much spare warp and
rode as possible pick a spot that will be up wind and
astern of the boat and drop the anchor. Using one of
the primary winches winch the rode in until your boat
is lying how you wish her to. You may have to take up
or let some of your bow anchor chain out.
Anchoring in Coral
Chains and anchors make a mess of the sea floor. Anchor carefully in coral, it
Coral is threatened all around the world by many is endangered and easily
factors. Try and minimise your impact on coral. Also, damaged
when anchoring in coral remember that coral is lethal
to hulls and anchor rodes: keep both well away. A
chain rode will not chafe and break, but it will scrape
all its galvanizing off and then rust.
Anchor watch
When you are in a poor anchorage you may need to Anchor watch
set an anchor watch. Not much fun, but you probably
will not sleep much anyway. Better to be up and alert
than wrecked. Note that the problem may not be
yours, at least initially. The boat upwind of you may
drag on to you, so watch boats upwind carefully! In a
really wild blow you may want to assist the anchor by
using the engine. This is not as easy as you might
11
think, your boat may be sailing about on her anchor
and you may be adding strain rather than alleviating it.
If you do try this try and work with the motion of the
boat. Another good reason for using your engine is
that if a boat upwind of you starts to drag you may be
able to move clear of it as it drifts by.
Navigation in coral can be stressful. Unless you have When moving in coral try
an intimate knowledge of the area you are in, try and and do so between 10am
do it between 10am and 3pm when the sun is high. and 3pm with the sun
Pick your time to move so that the sun is behind you behind you
and post a lookout on your bow or better still sitting on
the spreaders.
12
Autopilots
This discussion is about electronically governed
mechanical autopilots, not windvanes.
13
However, in these conditions this will be a secondary
consideration.
This picture clearly shows the S shaped wake from a badly setup
autopilot. The windvane was not being used.
14
pilot. If your boat has a wind vane (see "Wind Vane),
take the vane off and replace it with the tiller pilot so
that the tiller pilot is tipping the steering pendulum
instead of the vane. The tiller pilot will work much less
hard than working the tiller of a small boat and will use
much less power than your "main" autopilot.
15
Batteries
There are many different types of battery. They fall Install as much battery
into a number of broad categories: capacity as you can!
1. Wet cell
2. Gel
3. Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM)
4. Other
16
failed. Check the voltage of the battery separately
from the others in the bank. If the voltage is down, the
cell and the battery have failed and the whole battery
should be discarded. If the whole bank is ageing, you
might have to discard them all because the new
battery will only last as long as the remaining batteries
in the bank.
Capacity
How much battery capacity do you need? As much as Work out what your power
possible is my answer. The available literature on the requirements are and then
subject advises one to work out a theoretical double it. Even that will not
maximum daily usage and double it in order to be enough.
determine the size of the battery bank needed. Many
people find this is not enough and have to charge their
batteries every day for far longer. Every yachtie out
there wishes he could find space to double his battery
capacity.
Usage
So how do you work out your usage? Do this Calculate usage
assuming you are on passage, unless of course you
think you consume more at anchor, in which case do it
for that! Using a spreadsheet (or pencil and paper)
write down every piece of electrical kit you have on
board. Find out what its rated power consumption is.
Some items may have 2 ratings. A good example is
your autopilot. It will use more when it is actually
moving your boats rudder than at other times. In the
next column write down how long you think it will be
on per day in hours. Multiply the consumption by the
number of hours for the worst case and put the results
into the last column. Add them all up and you will now
have a total. Multiply this total by 1.2 to allow for errors
and inefficiencies. This figure is your average daily
electricity consumption measured in amp hours at 12
or 24 volts.
12v or 24v
Note that the measurement "Amps" is a measure of 12v or 24v
electrical current. For these purposes the number has
a direct inverse relationship with Volts. Volts times
Amps equal Watts, a measurement of energy. A 24v
boat draws half the Amps of a 12v boat. The main
advantage with 24v is that wires carrying the electricity
are more efficient at higher voltages because
electrical cabling has resistance. The higher the amps,
the higher the resistance, and therefore you will suffer
17
more energy loss in the form of heat in your boats
circuits at the lower voltage.
Sizing
Assuming you want to run your generator/engine for
no more than 2 hours per day you will need to size
your system as follows: Your generating capacity (that
is the maximum amps you can deliver to the batteries
from your alternator or genset) should approximate
your daily usage in amp hours (ie, if you are using
200AH, you will need a 200amp alternator) and the
usable portion of your batteries should be double that Sizing your system
amount. The usable portion of your batteries is 50% of
their rated amp hours if they are mixed use batteries Alternator in amps = daily
and 70% if they are deep cycle (traction) batteries. usage in AH
Thus you will need a rated capacity 4 times usage
with mixed use batteries and 3 times usage with deep
cycle batteries. Using this formula should allow you
room for errors and increased usage. Note also that Mixed use battery capacity =
most batteries can only accept a charging current of 4x daily usage
15-20% of the rated capacity. Thus a 400 AH bank of
batteries can only accept 60-80 amps, whereas an Deep cycle battery capacity
800AH bank will accept 120-160 amps, nearly the = 3x daily usage
rated capacity of the alternator. There are new
batteries that can accept very high charge rates for
most of the charging cycle called AGM or Absorbed
Glass Matt batteries. These are more expensive, but
worth it if they reduce your engine or genset hours
significantly.
18
LED's (Light Emitting Diodes)
This is a new technology using substantially less
power than standard incandescent or fluorescent
lights. Nav lights, the anchor light and cabin lights are
all available in LED now. A single unit is available as LED’s use much less power
an anchor light combining a small solar panel, Ni-Cad
batteries and LED's. Check that it can be remotely
switched off as it will not be wanted on passage!
19
Becalmed
Is being becalmed worse than being in a gale? Tricky Becalmed!
question, you could be fighting for your life in a gale,
but there is no doubt that being becalmed can be
frustrating.
How far is it to your next port? Work out how much Don't burn all your diesel
diesel you need to maintain your electrical
requirements, plus a little bit to get you into harbour
and then you will know how much motoring you can
do. If in the middle of one of the major oceans with
1500 miles to go, it is unlikely you will have sufficient
diesel to motor all the way.
Do not leave your sails up unfilled. They will flog Drop your sails, don't leave
themselves to death. It is far more damaging than them up to flog
keeping them filled in a decent breeze.
Watch your supplies of fuel, water and food. Watch your provisions,
especially water
Maintain watches. Just because you are going
nowhere does not mean that shipping has also Maintain watches
stopped! You might have to start your engine and
drive out of the way.
20
Boat (choice of)
There are thousands of different permutations of Which boat?
cruising boat and the choices are endless: Monohull
or catamaran? Sloop, cutter, schooner, ketch or yawl?
Wood, steel, GRP, ferro-cement or aluminium? Hull
shape, in particular depth of forefoot, beam,
overhangs, keel type and rudder configuration. Do you
want 12v or 24v? Engine power? Fuel and water
capacities? Colour? The list is endless.
You no doubt will have your own list, start with a few
simple statements that will dramatically narrow the
field.
21
Fewer of the boats “out there” are made by the
volume manufacturers, whose design criteria are
driven by volume considerations: most sailors are
weekend sailors, lots of sailors go chartering. The
volume suppliers do their job very well. That is not to
say that the volume suppliers products are not “out
there” at all, they are.
So, what are the issues? Cats are faster, are more
comfortable at anchor and they have a lot more room.
They draw less and they can be beached. But their
motion can be more uncomfortable under way, they
are not as sea kindly and they cost twice as much to
berth in a dock. Contrary to what you might expect
they are generally no faster on passage than a decent
monohull. Interestingly, we met a number of people
who were on their second circumnavigation, the first
being completed in a monohull. They were all in cats
on the second time round.
Think very carefully about choosing a boat under 50 Can you stow the dinghy on
foot with a cutter rig. The inner forestay means you deck?
may not be able to stow a dinghy on the foredeck.
This in turn means that you cannot have a RIB, so you
are forever assembling and disassembling a soft
bottom collapsible dinghy. Hard work! It also means
punctures and cuts in coral areas are a worry. Stowing
a dinghy on davits is not the answer for yachts on long
passages. If you are caught in a storm you may lose it
and it can be dangerous.
22
You will choose your own boat based on your own Criteria to choose:
criteria. Some important criteria I suggest are:
23
forward may save you and your boat if you hit a
container. What if your your rudder is damaged so
badly either by grounding or by striking something
heavy that the boat is holed? A watertight
bulkhead aft will also save the boat.
• Strength: has the boat got reinforced scantlings Strength
(the rounded bilge areas amidships likely to take a
pounding) if the boat does go aground?
• Seaworthiness. Spend some time on this topic Seaworthiness
before choosing your boat, but these are some of
the fundamentals:
o Stability Curve. Offshore boats should be up
above the 120 -130's. Another stability measure
is the CCA Capsize Screening Formula (beam Stability
v displacement), look for values under 2. Note
these two measures are not mutually exclusive,
look at both.
o Displacement to hull length ratio. A lighter boat
needs a lighter rig and vice versa. Handling is
also substantially different. In addition to the Displacement ratio
safety and seaworthiness considerations a light
boat is not as durable and may not take kindly
to days of upwind pounding. Look for values
above 260, but less than 330. This holds true
unless you buy a boat built to similar design
criteria with Steve Dashew's Deerfoot or
Sundeer boats. Check out www.setsail.com for
a completely different approach to yacht
design.
o LOA to beam ratio determines how fine a hull
is. Finer boats have an easier motion; where as
newer boats favour wider hulls. They sail flatter LOA to Beam
and are faster on a reach and running. Look for
minimum values of 3-4. Steve Dashews boats
are around 4-6.
o Comfort Factor (Ted Brewer) should be 30-40.
Racers may be less than 20, where as a full Comfort factor
keel Colin archer design could be 60.
o Watertight bulkheads, especially forward.
Imagine it is pitch dark and you are sailing at 10 Watertight bulkheads
knots in a decent breeze in an area where you
know there are whales (e.g. Tonga in August).
Of course there maybe a container lurking
within those same waters in addition to the
whales. Suddenly a watertight bulkhead makes
allot of sense!
o Sail area to displacement ratio determines
power. Look for a value around 16. Sail Area to Displacement
o Hull speed is a function of LWL. The longer the Ratio
boat on the waterline the faster she will be.
Note that engine size is almost irrelevant to top Speed and LWL
speed above hull speed unless you have
24
sufficient to make the boat plane.
o Large windows are nice, but how much
strength has been compromised?
Make sure that you understand and trust the Understand as much as
engineering underlying the hull generally, but possible about the
especially the rudder, keel, mast and rigging. engineering underlying the
design of your boat.
25
Buy your boat at the most basic level possible and Buy the most basic boat and
then fit it out yourself with bigger and/or better sails, spec it up yourself.
winches, engine, anchors, gensets, water maker,
autopilot etc.
26
Check Lists
Checklists are an important safety tool. Prepare a
number of check lists. Treat these in this book neither
as exhaustive or cast in stone.
1. Standing Rigging
2. Deck Equipment
3. Running Rigging and Sails
4. Safety Equipment
5. Abandon Ship
6. Mayday
7. Pre-passage check
8. Electrical Circuits, Lights and Batteries
9. Engine, gearbox and transmission
10. Underwater
11. Provisions
12. Water maker, plumbing and pumps
Prepare your lists and adjust them if need be. Print off
a few copies and physically tick each item off as it is
checked. Your pre-passage checklist should include
all your periodic checks, such as doing a standing
rigging check, making sure your boat is in tip top
condition before you go.
27
Children
If you have children on board you will be known as a Kid Boat?
"kid boat". You will seek out other kid boats and they
will seek you out. Adults decide to go cruising, some
with kids, most without. Kids just go along for the ride,
mostly having a good time.
Education is a big enough subject for a book in its own Education: when they rejoin
right. Your objective should be to have them settle into school they should not be
school within their own age group with ease when behind
they return to land based school. This means different
things depending on how old the kids are, but
generally does not mean pushing them.
28
books, sports and snorkelling equipment and games.
29
Ciguatera Poisoning
Ciguatera is a toxin endemic within tropical reef areas,
particularly in areas that have been damaged by
storms, volcanic activity and construction.
Avoid tropical fish caught anywhere within any reefs, Avoid reef fish in the tropics
especially those reefs that have been damaged by
storms, construction or French nuclear testing. Red Avoid predator fish near
Snapper are allegedly the worst culprits. Avoid ALL tropical reefs
reef fish and all predator fish such Tuna, Wahoo and
especially Barracuda caught in the vicinity of reefs.
Avoid Barracuda, especially big (i.e. old) ones even if
they have been caught in deep water, far from land.
If you are worried about Ciguatera at a dinner do not If you are worried do not eat
eat it. Eat the chicken! the fish!
If at any time you think you may have Ciguatera Seek medical help
poisoning seek medical help as fast as possible.
Mannitol treatment is recommended at the rate of 1gm
per kg of body weight. This can take up to 4 hours to
administer; and must be done under medical
supervision.
30
Computers
Most cruising books and advice will tell you that you Most boats have at least one
should never rely on a computer on your boat. That is computer
a point of view and every body is entitled to a point of
view. It is nice/useful to have one on board and many
cruisers think that they are essential. There are now
probably few cruising boats that do not have at least
one computer on board. As almost everybody has
one, they must therefore be an imperative and I doubt
that you would consider going to sea without one.
PC's are now widely used for communication (email),
navigation, planning, administration and
entertainment.
Backup
The only area where non-computer backup is Backup is essential on land,
essential is with navigation. Carry paper charts for and vital in a boat
each passage and know how to use them, at least
with "traditional" navigation techniques and practices If you are relying on
for coastal navigation and with a GPS for ocean electronic navigation have a
passages. To avoid buying paper charts, take a printer paper backup
and print paper charts from your electronic charts
covering every conceivable navigation requirement of
each passage, long and short, before leaving. Discard
these self printed charts after the passage or when
they are no longer needed. All one needs to cross the
Atlantic is a detailed chart of your departure point, an
A4 chart for the middle 3,000 miles and a detailed
chart of your possible arrival points. It is possible to
survive without email, planning, administration and
entertainment! Email is a backup emergency service
because data transmits better than voice. You may be
able to bang off an email with your longitude and
latitude before you abandon ship.
31
available where you are is Spanish, but at least you
can get it and it will work! Use desk top PC's on board.
If you must take a laptop, make sure that you keep it
in a secure, dry environment.
Fitting
Fit your desktop computer somewhere dry, but close
to where you are going to want to use it. As one of the
places is normally the chart table area this may not be Fit your desktop computer
as dry as you would ideally want, so try and place it in somewhere dry
a locker or behind a bulkhead. Fix it so that it cannot
move, but make it easily accessible for repair! Disable
the soft on/off function (the button on the front of the
case - see your motherboard instructions) and fit a
switch/circuit breaker for the PC on your main switch
panel. You will also need to set your operating system
power options so that it does not turn the computer off
when logging off.
Case
Aluminium and plastic cases are available. Check the
fixings used by the manufacturer, change to
aluminium or stainless steel where ever possible.
There are lots of different case types and shapes.
Rack mounted PC's are available and may also work.
The ultimate may be to build a "pc locker" into which
all the various bits are fitted. You may be able to
install the guts of a computer (i.e. without the case)
into the area behind your instruments. If so make sure
it is dry and well ventilated.
Corrosion
Corrosion occurs in conditions where damp salt laden Stop corrosion by fitting a
air is prevalent. Salty water condenses on to PC small lamp inside that is on
components causing rapid corrosion and shorting. when the computer is off
Prevent corrosion by keeping the PC warmer than
ambient temperatures, even when it is switched off.
One way of doing this is to fit a relay to the PC's
power input circuit that switches on a small lamp (2½
watts) fitted inside the PC. The relay turns the lamp on
when the PC is switched off. Fit the lamp inside the
case of the PC near the bottom. This will keep the PC
and all its components slightly warmer than its
surroundings helping prevent condensation landing on
the inside components of the PC. Of course the lamp
should be capable of being switched off separately as
well.
32
computer shops have never heard of DC power
supplies, but they are available, for both 12v and 24v
boats. Look on the web. At the time of writing
www.powerstream.com was advertising DC power
supplies. It is even possible to find PC's designed for
police and emergency services vehicles running on
DC, but they are expensive and their components are
not as readily interchangeable. An interesting
development is that in-car PC’s are now becoming
available that are used for in car entertainment and
electronic street maps.
Power
Look at the power consumption of the CPU. Intels are
quite power hungry. Eden make a chip that uses less
power, but check out component power consumption
at the time you buy the PC.
Carry a lot of spares
Spares
Carry spares of everything! Have two identical PC's
that have different primary uses, e.g. navigation at the
chart table and DVD movies in the saloon, but make
sure that you can do everything on both PC's. Fit two
hard disks to every PC on board. Fit the second so
that it is separately bootable in a different partition.
Maintain an up to date copy of everything on the
second drive. Even then carry every component of the
PC as a spare. This includes a screen, keyboard,
mouse, hard disk drive, DVD drive, motherboard,
memory and CPU. Usually these parts are delivered
vacuum packed in plastic. Do not open them before
you leave. Keep spares in a sealable plastic tub with
suitable drying agents in the tub.
USB
USB
USB ports are great! These days, you can plug almost
anything into them. Mount a separate (USB) DVD
drive on your chart table panel in addition to the one in
the case. Mount a USB hub on the panel. Make sure
all the USB stuff you buy is on the USB 2.0 standard.
Then you can easily plug most peripherals in directly.
As with everything else, take a spare hub.
33
choosing a mouse get one of the newer optical types.
They do not have a moving ball mechanism and so
are less prone to failure.
Get an external Hard Disk
Backup Hard Disk Drive
Buy a hard disk enclosure that runs off USB and use it
for back up. Get a USB memory stick; they are
available in various sizes that should easily cope with
your requirements. These are great for going to the
internet café, but beware, many internet cafés in
remoter corners of the world are still running Win 98
and these memory sticks only work with XP. You may
need to make a floppy to take to the internet café, so it
would be a good idea to have a USB driven floppy
drive as well.
Screen
Find a 12v LCD screen. It can run directly from your
boats DC supply and does not need AC. They are flat
and can be screwed onto any flat surface. You can
even buy a switch that will let you choose between 2
different screens, one for the chart table and one for
the saloon area to watch movies.
Be a techie!
Be a techie!
Before you leave you should strip down and
reassemble a desk top PC at least once, if necessary
under supervision. You should also know how to
reload Windows (or Linux) and all of your software
and data. Like every thing else on your boat, it is your
responsibility and you are going to have to do it
anyway.
34
Containers
Containers lost off ships are horrible. Most sink If you hit a container at
quickly, but some, full of cargoes that are buoyant do speed you could sink in 30
not sink, but remain awash invisible both to the eye seconds
and to radar. It is rumoured that an average of 1000 a
year fall off ships all around the world. We never saw
any and we certainly never hit any. Neither do most
people and you would be very unlucky to hit one.
35
Cookers
Cookers are available that run on gas, diesel,
kerosene and electricity. Electrical cookers are more
likely to be restricted to cruise ships and super-yachts.
Most yachts have hydrocarbon fuelled cookers.
Having gas on board means complying with all the
safety requirements of gas and is yet another fuel type
to find and store. Gas cookers are cheap and
efficient, whereas the diesel and kerosene variants
are more expensive, less efficient and smelly, but you
do not need gas.
If you buy a gas cooker, get one that works equally Propane vs. Butane
well with propane or butane. Many places supply one
or the other, not both. On a catamaran the cooker
does not need to be gimballed. An ordinary domestic
cooker is usually better and many times cheaper than
marine cookers.
Always carry a backup cooker that uses a different Have a backup computer
fuel source. Most cruisers carry petrol for their dinghy that uses a different fuel
outboard engines. Small petrol cookers are available source
from a company called Coleman. They can be found
in camping shops. They are really just cooking rings,
not a spare stove
If you do have a gas cooker you should be aware that Treat gas with the utmost
butane and propane gas are heavier than air and sink. care
If there is a leak, the gas will sink into the bottom of
your bilge and an explosive mixture can form very
quickly. The RNLI (lifeboat service) in the UK report
that their most common call out concerns fire. If you
do suffer a gas explosion on board, the result is likely Gas is heavier than air; it
to be catastrophic. If there are people on the boat at will sink into your bilge and
the time of the explosion it can be fatal. If you have a then has the potential to
bilge blower, make sure that it is rated spark free. blow your boat up.
Bellows type bilge pumps made by Henderson,
Plastimo and others, pump air and gas, as well as
liquid. If you spill gas, or you think that you may have
spilled or leaked some gas pump it out BEFORE If you spill some gas do not
throwing any switches, either on or off. When using a throw any switches - on or
manual bilge pump consider that the pump chamber off
may have a capacity of one litre. Work out how many
litres of air/gas there is in the bilge. You need to pump
for quite a long time! Also open hatches and vents and
try and get air flowing through your boat as well.
36
Coral
Coral is delicate and in many parts of the world Coral is threatened and
threatened ecologically. It is threatened by dying, treat it with respect
temperature change, chemicals, dirt and pollution,
anchors and chains, diving and other water sports. It
is the habitat for millions of fish and other animals who
rely on it for safety, shelter from predators and food.
Treat it with respect and enjoy its beauty.
37
Crew
Many boats want crew, especially for longer passages
and watch keeping. There are lots of people wanting a Do you need crew?
taste of the cruising life, but who do not yet have the
means to afford it in their own boat. They can be
found in ports such as Las Palmas and Balboa,
Panama trying to catch boats bound for distant
shores. There are also web sites and agencies where
crew, whether paid, unpaid or paying can be found.
The choice between paid, unpaid or paying crew will Paid, unpaid or paying?
depend on the relative positions of the owners and
prospective crew. Generally, crew with good
experience and the certificates and references to back
them up will find well paid professional opportunities.
They will work very hard.
Some tips:
Any boats, even quite large boats, are very small
places. The same physical dimensions will seem even Be very careful
smaller if people on board cannot stand each other.
The rank atmosphere will pervade every corner of the
vessel ruining what otherwise should be a pleasant
voyage for all on board. If a major fall out occurs 400
miles downwind of the Galapagos you can either beat
back to drop the crew off or sail on for the remaining
2500 miles to the Marquises. Neither choice is good.
Choose your crew very carefully on criteria that you
are happy with. Do not leave it until the last minute.
Try and establish a working relationship a good few
days before you leave and require the new recruit to Establish a working
help you ready the boat for the passage. That way you relationship before you
will get to know them, understand their work ethic and leave
become aware of irritating personal habits that might
come to light. It would be far better to tell the recruit
"Sorry, but I do not think this is going to work out"
before you leave. Of course the new recruit might say
it to you! Even so, it is still better not to have the
recruit on board.
Make sure that the new recruit's passports, visas and Check passports, visas and
documentation are in order before you leave. Skippers documentation very
normally hold all passports on board and you can carefully
38
perform this check without embarrassment.
Try and satisfy your self about drugs and terrorism. Drugs!
Skippers are responsible for all crew on board and if
you take on an ocean going bum carrying drugs, you Terrorism!
will pay the price first, the crew second. Some
skippers even perform searches, though this a
personal choice and is likely to be extremely difficult.
Skippers are not normally skilled at searching for
drugs and weapons and the resulting embarrassment
may well be pointless. Nevertheless the risk remains.
Some countries require that all inbound tourists have Departure deposit - get it
either a valid outbound air ticket, or that they pay a before you leave
deposit. Know the rules for the countries you intend to
visit and request that the new recruit gives you the
deposit for safekeeping along with his/her passport
when they board the boat. Tell them the rules for the
refund of these deposits, some countries pay them
back only after you have left, so they will need a bank
account unless you are willing to handle the
processing yourself.
39
Diesel
Diesel comes in varying qualities "out there". Get a Always use a Baja Filter
Baja filter; they have traps for solids and water.
Always add a biocide on every fill up, but beware, too
much biocide can form a sticky deposit that can cause
the very problems it is designed to stop.
Fit 2 separate fuel feeds from the same tank or fit a 2 feeds to the engine
gravity fed day tank. Ideally the feeds should be
capable of switching automatically. When the engine
dies, it dies suddenly with almost no warning and
when it does so because of fuel starvation, you will
have to bleed the fuel system. Needless to say, this is
going to happen somewhere embarrassing where you
will not have 10 minutes to unclog the filters and bleed
the fuel system. Each feed should have at least one 2 Racors
Racor filter in line before it reaches the engine. Some
boats fit 2 Racors in line, the first with a 10 micron
filter, the second with a finer filter.
Boat tanks get dirty over time. If you get diesel bug*, Diesel Bug - Oh Dear!
your tanks will get very dirty, very quickly. Hope that
the diesel bug only clogs your lines and filters before it
gets to the engine. If it does get there you may need
the injectors and pumps changed and/or serviced on Biocide
top of all the other trouble. Repeating: Always add a
biocide on every fill up. If you get diesel bug and then
add a biocide afterwards in the hope that it will fix
everything you kill the diesel bug, but its remains stay
in the tank and continue to clog your lines and filters.
It is possible to clean a tank without dismantling the If your tank has been
boat. There is a service available in many places that infected have it cleaned
puts 3 pipes into your filler. One pipe is a compressed even if you have killed the
air pipe that jerks about inside the tank stirring it up. bug with the biocide.
The other two pipes, hopefully at diametrically
opposite ends of the tank then pump the diesel around
and around through a large filter. Over a period of a
few hours all the debris in your tank is removed.
40
Dinghies
Dinghies come in all shapes and sizes, though it is fair The RIB is without doubt the
to say that the most common is now the RIB (Rigid most popular choice afloat
Inflatable Boat). The next most common is the today
collapsible or roll up dinghy, chosen by those whose
boats cannot stow a dinghy on deck or because the
owners prefer clean decks while under way.
The great advantage of the inflatable dinghy is its RIB's and inflatables are
stability, safety and versatility. There are various stable, safe and versatile
brands available, with price corresponding fairly
closely to quality, however they fall into 2 categories:
those made with Hyperlon and those made with PVC.
A great fitting for a dinghy is wheels fixed to the Fit wheels on the transom,
transom for hauling it up a beach. These need to fold they make hauling the
so that they can remain out of the water until you dinghy up the beach easy
approach the beach when the dinghy should be
slowed and the wheels lowered for driving onto the
beach. You have a choice: bigger wheels that are
lower than the propeller allowing you to drive right up
onto the beach which is great for heavy surf; or as
minimum one or two small wheels, perhaps
permanently set like in a suitcase, on the keel or just
below the transom. Either way it makes hauling your
dinghy up the beach easy.
41
Your dinghy is your connection to the shore when at
anchor. Even in port you might have occasion to use it
if the port is large or spread about such as Las
Palmas and Papeete. Look after it, many a dinghy has Look after your dinghy:
been stolen or simply just blown away after being - Double tie it on
carelessly tied on to a boat or not secured on a beach. - Set its anchor on the
Fastidious types double tie the dinghy to the boat and beach
always tie it on to something or set its anchor if hauled - Lift the dinghy at night
up on the beach. In certain parts of the world you
should lift it at night. Set up a bridle that you can easily
attach to a halyard and lift the dinghy to rail height.
That way it is much more difficult to steal.
42
El Nino
The Coconut Milk run is the name giving to cruising in
the tropics, so called because one generally sails
westward about the globe, staying on the winter side
of the equator within the tropics. That’s where all the
coconut trees are. In some years the Pacific is Unpredictable weather
affected by El Nino. This can lead to unpredictable
weather disturbances along the South Pacific Hurricanes in July? In Bora
Convergence Zone (SPCZ). A few years ago Bora?
hurricanes were reported in Bora Bora in July. The
Coconut Milk Run was renamed the Coconut Milk
Shake that year.
Sustained negative values of the SOI often indicate El Watch for sustained
Niño episodes. These negative values are usually negative values
accompanied by sustained warming of the central and
eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, a decrease in the
strength of the Pacific Trade Winds, and a reduction in
rainfall over eastern and northern Australia. The most
recent strong El Niño was in 1997/98.
Check out
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/glossary/soi.shtml for
more information on this subject.
43
Electricity (mains 110v/220v)
Mains electricity is very useful on a boat and can be
supplied from one of three sources:
Shore Power
An AC genset
Inverter
Mains electricity, even if supplied from your genset or AC is dangerous, even more
inverter is still mains electricity and is dangerous. so on a boat because there
Treat it with the same respect you would on land. is no earth
Because you are in a marine environment you have
salty water in close proximity. Salty water is highly
conductive (much more so than fresh water), so one
should be doubly careful.
44
Electrolysis (galvanic corrosion)
This subject is a “black art” and there are widely A black art
divergent opinions. The US Navy for instance
constructs its ships with a floating negative (more
below) in all its on-board electrical circuits. The US
Coast Guard bonds negative to the hull at a single
point. Who is right?
When two dissimilar metals are connected and placed Dissimilar metals in sea
together in an electrolyte (e.g. sea water) an electrical water
current will pass between them based on the
difference in their “potential” voltages. This current is
lethal to certain metals.
From here the discussion separates into two issues Two issues:
that need to be thought about and planned for 1. no stray current and
separately: Electrolysis with stray electrical current 2. stray current induced
and electrolysis without stray electrical current.
There are two ways to deal with this problem: Separate dissimilar metals
separate the metals if at all possible (above the
waterline) and fit anodes below the waterline (and in
any keel sump).
Your mast and boom (and other areas of the boat) are
likely to be aluminium with many stainless steel
fittings. Where care is not taken to separate the
metals the aluminium alloy in the spar corrodes
leaving a larger hole than originally drilled for the
fixing. Ultimately the fixing will work loose and fail.
Separate fittings on spars with plastic and/or silicon.
Use fixings that are the same as one of the metals
and try and separate the fixing from the other metal.
Again, the use of plastic and silicon is very helpful.
Some fixings can be supplied with plastic lugs or
sleeves. Use the same principle where all other
dissimilar metal components connect and join.
45
Underwater you should place a number of zinc Anodes (zincs)
anodes around the hull, on the keel and rudder.
Additionally, one should be placed inside any bilge
sumps. Place an anode on your prop shaft and if
possible on the propeller itself, normally this is done
on the hub.
With shore power you have the problem that the shore
based power station has earthed the neutral side of Is you boat a super-anode?
their network. The live side of the circuit is looking for
a way to ground anyway it can. If it comes onto your
boat through that innocuous box on the pontoon your
boat could become an instant super-anode. The
problem is made several times worse by other Isolating transformer
dissimilar metals nearby: other boats, the pontoons,
piles, debris on the bottom etc.
The second source of stray onboard power is the Stray DC is more insidious,
boats own systems and this is usually a DC problem, it will probably go on for
although as I stated above this section also applies to longer and you may not
the boats on board AC Mains circuit. detect it
46
The first item to consider is bonding. Are you with the
US Navy or with the US Coast Guard? If these two
highly professional organisations cannot agree what
chance do you have? On a metal boat a floating
negative is maintained throughout the boat, the hull is
NEVER used as a common earth such as on a car. The hull cannot be a
The bonding question on a metal boat is this: do you common earth
connect the boats negative circuit to the hull or not?
It’s up to you and your electrician.
Typically problems arise when a fault occurs in an Items in the bilge are prime
item in the bilge such as a bilge pump. Power then candidates
drains via that item into the water in the bilge
completing the circuit causing very rapid galvanic
corrosion in your hull.
Make sure that all your items that could have any
contact with the hull are serviced regularly. Compile a
list of every item that could possibly be affected and
check them regularly. The list will be quite long. See
check lists.
The last item in the list of defences against electrolysis Stray current meter
is a stray current meter. Have it properly installed and
know how to use it.
47
EPIRB
The EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio An EPIRB is vital
Beacon) operating on 406 MHz is a vital piece of
safety kit. It works by sending a signal containing your
information to a number of satellites. The system
triangulates your exact position and then relays both
that information and your EPIRB details to a control
centre from where the alert is relayed to the nearest
sea rescue authorities. Some 406 EPIRBS include a
121.5 homing signal as well.
There are also personal EPIRBS on the market. The Personal EPIRB
boat will need a homing receiver, however these are
an excellent idea for MOB recovery. See “MOB”.
When you buy a boat that already “owns” an EPIRB, Be sure to register your
or when you buy an EPIRB it is VERY IMPORTANT EPIRB
that you register it with the authorities in the country in
which the boat is registered. The boat and owner must
be identified in the national EPIRB records in order to
co-ordinate the best response to any emergency.
48
Experience
How much experience have you had? How much do
you know? Do not be put off if you have not done
much sailing, although it does help. Do a few courses,
sail as much as you can and when you do actually set You will learn more in your
off, do it in easy stages. You will learn far more in your first 3 months of cruising
first three months cruising than you did in all your than you would in a whole
previous sailing experience, even if you sailed life of club sailing
regularly. You will also do stuff that you hardly ever do
in club sailing, like regular passages at night and lots
of anchoring in different conditions.
I did quite allot of sailing when I was much younger Take it in easy stages when
growing up in Cape Town. I owned a Hobie Cat and I you start: Build your
sailed and raced as foredeck crew on a 32 foot sloop. confidence
Then I stopped sailing for 15 years. When we decided
to do our voyage to Australia I wanted to update my
knowledge. I started with a day skipper course and
did several specific courses on subjects such as VHF,
first aid and radar use. The last course and test was
for my coastal skipper certificate. Armed with all this
new found knowledge I set off for Australia. My
overall aim at the beginning was to keep my family
confident. We hired a professional skipper to take us
across the English Channel. We then entered the
French canals where we got used to handling the boat
in very easy circumstances. When we arrived in the
Med we started with easy day sails. We slowly built
our confidence so that by the time we set off to cover
the 600 nautical miles from Gibraltar to Lanzerote we
did so confidently. By the time we set off from the
Galapagos on the 3000 mile crossing to the
Marquesas, we did so as if it we were just setting off
for a jolly, little day sail. It seemed so matter of fact, so
ordinary.
49
Fatigue
Fatigue is something that must be actively managed. Manage fatigue
Seasickness can induce deep fatigue that is difficult to
lift oneself from. As skipper the best remedy for
seasickness is to have the crew lie down and close
their eyes. Sleep helps defeat fatigue and if you need
the crew you will have them back more quickly by
sending them to their bunk.
Another form of fatigue is when short handed and you Maintain a workable watch
are struggling to maintain an adequate watch. roster
Maintain a workable roster and stick to it. Being kind is
not helpful. Allowing your partner to be kind is
shirking!
The last relevant form of fatigue is that when you are In bad weather actively
caught in a storm and you have to fight to keep the manage fatigue: rest when
boat and her crew safe. Getting cold and tired, fatigue possible and eat well.
can be deadly if you need all your wits about you as
you hand steer through a gale. Take shorter watches,
eat or drink warm food. Try and put on dry clothes. Try
and get a nap. Heave to for a rest. Set a sea anchor
and get some sleep.
50
Finances
Cruising and yachts cost money. Lots of it. There is no
getting around that fact. There are 6 basic costs
involved:
1. Purchase of yacht
2. Fit out for cruising
3. Maintenance
4. Regular expenses such as insurance, fuelling,
communications costs, port fees etc
5. You will have regular expenses back on land
such as life insurance, storage and property
costs
6. Your living costs
51
First Aid
First Aid a specialised topic deserving not only a book Do a First Aid course, also
or two in its own right, but as much training as you can learn how to do intravenous
get. Even if its not yacht related, such as an ordinary injections, sutures and
St Johns Ambulance First Aid course, it is an essential setting fractures
thing to do. Obtain very detailed diagnosis literature
on certain common illnesses such as appendicitis.
52
Fishing
Fishing is a personal topic and rods and reels are
expensive. What is your objective? Game Fishing? On
a sail boat? Or is it meat collection?
On the coconut milk run your main catch will include Catch fish, on a long
Tuna of various species, Dorado (also know as Mahi passage it could be your
Mahi and Dolphinfish) and Wahoo. You may get a few only fresh food
others such as Jack, Snapper, Barracuda, and Shark
and if you are really lucky you might catch one of the
bill fish (Marlin etc). While we used a rod and light line
we lost a lot of tackle and a lot of fish.
Our final set up consisted of a plastic hand line reel, Hand line reel, heavy line
70m of 200kg line and 3m of 10mm shock cord. The and shock cord
lure was a plastic squid on a 1 metre steel trace (125
kg) attached to the line on a heavy duty swivel. We
never lost tackle once this fishing rig was
commissioned and we lost very few fish.
53
Gas
Gas, for the purpose of this discussion means Gas explosions kill
propane or butane. These gases are heavier than air
so any leakage inside the boat will sink into the bilge.
In the bilge the gas can rapidly achieve explosive They also will destroy your
proportions and all that is needed for a catastrophe is boat in less than 1 second
a tiny spark. Gas explosions on boats are horrible,
possibly resulting in death and/or destruction of your
boat. The RNLI in the UK report that the second most
common call out after false alarms is fire, some of it
gas related.
Gas detection devices are prone to sea water Do NOT trust a gas detector
damage, and as they live in the bilge they are
exposed to sea water periodically. There is a body of
opinion that believes they can actually contribute to
the danger because they encourage a false sense of
security. It is far better to set your boat up to minimise
the danger and to adopt a "safe practice" routine.
54
Gas (continued)
Manual Bilge pumps also pump gases. Manually
pump or blow your bilges every day, even dry, to
remove any spilt gas. If you spill gas (when your
cooker does not light first time, for example)
immediately manually pump or blow your bilge as well.
In this situation when you know there is gas in the
bilge do not throw any switches, especially for
equipment in the bilge.
55
Generators
Generators come in many guises. The most common Small petrol gensets are
is the AC "genset" generating upwards of 2 kvA (2 very cheap
kilowatts). Many of the smaller and cheaper ones are
petrol powered, while the marine ones tend to be Diesel gensets are more
diesel powered and water cooled. expensive
There are also DC gensets, some that are Combo water maker/genset
combination water makers and gensets and some that
use different technologies such as the Wispergen that Whispergen
uses a sterling motor. Fuel Cells are being talked
about at the time of writing, but it will be some time
before they are competitive, both as regards their
initial price and their fuel consumption. In addition to Battery management
the genset you will require a sophisticated battery
management system
56
GMDSS
GMDSS has been obligatory from 1 February 2005 for
recreational craft and it is used mainly in developed
nations and this means it is certainly operating in
European and US waters. No watch is now being
maintained on VHF 16 or on 2182 (HF) or on any of
the other MF/HF frequencies. The problem is that
GMDSS is effectively not used across most of the
Pacific or most other non first world seas.
57
GPS failure
In the event of GPS failure, either of your own unit or The GPS CAN fail
the system as a whole, you may need to navigate by
using traditional means.
Dead reckoning
Always keep a record of your voyage as it progresses. Always dead reckon
Dead reckoning is good practice in any event. If in the
ocean, at least once a day (preferably more) record
your position, course and speed. If you are close to
the coast keep the record much more often, perhaps
every hour, or more. That way you can use dead
reckoning to help corroborate any position you
calculate using any other means.
Celestial Navigation
Celestial navigation is a skill that can be learned in a You can do celestial
few days. It is a good idea to do it. Carry a sextant, navigation: heres how...
sight reduction tables and an almanac, just in case
you need to. Of course, you might just find it
interesting to put your skills to the test on passage.
58
By way of example if your GPS fails on 21 April you
could work out where the sun is. The solstices are on
21 June and 21 Dec and the equinox is on 20 March
and 23 September. So, for 21 April first work out how
many days since the equinox (31) This is 20+11
adding up to 8º+11/20x7º or 11º 51' north.
59
To calculate your latitude a diagram may help. It need Draw a digaram
not be accurate, but must be sufficiently approximate
to help you visualise accurately all the angles.
Hopefully you will already know your rough latitude.
Draw the earth and your piece of cardboard in about
the right place remembering that because you lined
the cardboard up with the horizon that the bottom
edge is in fact a tangent and is at a right angle to a
line drawn from the centre of your earth to the edge of
the cardboard . Now draw in the theoretical position of
the sun from the centre of your earth (11º51' north in Work out your latitude
our example). This is called the suns declination.
Draw a parallel line to that of your sun that intersects
the corner of your cardboard. Pencil in the angle of
your shadow. You may have to add or subtract the
suns declination, but it will now be apparent what your
laititude is and it should correspond with your known
approximate latitude.
To determine your longitude you now need to work on Work out your longitude
the time you recorded when the sun was highest. That
is your local midday. Work out the difference from
UTC (GMT) in minutes. Your longitude in degrees is
the time difference in minutes divided by 4. (12 hours
x 60 mins per hour divided by 180º). Again this
should correspond with your known approximate
longitude.
Again I remind you. This is not accurate, it should only This is NOT accurate, you
be used as a last resort. An error of 1º equates to 60 could easily be out by less
miles. When you calculate that you are near land or than 2 degrees: that's 100
navigational hazards such as shipping lanes, rocks miles!
and reefs etc you should become much more alert.
Stand off if you have to. Heave to* over night as they
used to in the good old days if unsure. Use your depth
sounder to try and find a contour. Try and find
landmarks or buoys that you can identify on your
chart. Call other ships on your VHF. Use all available
information.
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Grab Bag
This is the bag you grab on your way out of the boat
as you abandon ship. Its contents need careful
thought. Consider for the type of cruising that you are
doing how long you might need its contents:- in the
Mediterranean it is arguable that you might
conceivably have to last a week. If you are crossing a
major ocean you may need to survive considerably
longer. Make sure it is waterproof and that it floats.
Putting a lanyard on it and tying it to the life raft will
help prevent its loss.
Food
Clothing
Water in containers strapped to the lifelines
Medication
Fishing tackle
Multi-tool
Spare GPS (one pre-loaded with basic charts)
Relevant charts folded and stored in a waterproof zip-
lock bag
Handheld VHF that runs on batteries
Batteries
Torch (waterproof)
Books
Pencil & paper
First aid book
Knife
Glucose tablets
Sunglasses
Hats
Sunblock
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Hatches (broken)
Carry plywood boards for every size of hatch and Strong boards may save
window on board. Hatches break and boats have your boat
been lost as a result.
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Health
Cruising is healthy, there is lots of physical activity, Guard your health
little stress and a great lifestyle. Two things: When far
from western style supermarkets pay attention to
getting a balanced diet. $1 for 1 apple might slow
down the fruit intake. It may stop altogether because
there is none. When you suspect that this is true take
a good multivitamin with high RDA's (Recommended
Daily Allowance) of all the essential vitamins.
Colds and flu are rare in the tropics, but sores, Take special care of cuts
particularly sea related sores can take a long time to and grazes
heal. Carry the appropriate anti-biotic, 1000mg
Vitamin C tabs and treat all cuts carefully. Wash them
thoroughly in an antiseptic wash and then treat them
with Bactroban. Hydrogen Peroxide is an antiseptic
and it fizzes satisfactorily on cuts and scrapes.
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Heave To
Heaving to is one of the great sailing tactics that is
being forgotten. To heave to, simply put the boat
through a tack, but leave the headsail backed. Leave
the helm lashed to windward and adjust the mainsheet
until she is comfortable. The boat should be making a
little leeway and perhaps a little way forward. Every
boat is different and will behave differently in different
conditions.
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Holed!
Carry a spare electric bilge pump and several float Maintain your bilge pumps
switches. Test regularly. Carry service kits, especially
for your manual bilge pumps. Consider carrying a
spare manual "roving' bilge pump mounted to a board
and fitted with sufficient hose to drain over board, say
out of a hatch and over the side. When you really
need to pump you can never have too much capacity!
Other emergency measures include taking the engine
cooling raw water hose off the seacock (after closing
the seacock!) and pumping from the bilge, using the
water maker pump (fit suitable diversion valves and
hoses before you next go out), using the lavatory
pump and in dire emergency pumping your fresh
water out, the tanks make good buoyancy. Remember
the hoary old adage: "The best bilge pump in an
emergency is a frightened man and a bucket".
If possible, try and get something on the outside of the Try and cover the hole from
hull, it is more effective than anything you try and stuff the outside.
into the hole from the inside. Carry some suitable
material that is reasonably stiff, but also that is quite
pliable that you can place on the outside of the hull
(you will need to go overboard). There are adhesives
that work under water. People have saved boats by
tying a sail around the hull.
If you are building a new boat from scratch, or if you Water tight compartments?
can do it, a longer term precaution may be to try and
set up one or more watertight compartments on your
boat. Amel’s come pre-designed with watertight areas.
The most common area for collision damage is
forward in the bow area. At the stern a common cause
of sinking is holing when the rudder is damaged or Even if a watertight
failure of the prop shaft seal. Check the design of your compartment does not save
boat. If it has bulkheads in approximately the right the boat, it might save you
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places consider how you could make a watertight
compartment. The bulkhead will need to be sealed
very effectively, including all service ducts and the
bilge. The design of any door into the compartment
will need special attention.
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Instruments
A number of manufacturers make good, reliable There are lots of
instruments. This section is not intended to instruments available
recommend one, rather it is intended to provide you
with some issues you need to think about.
The really key instrument is depth. If all you buy is the Depth is key
depth sounder you will have realized 80% of the value
with the purchase of your instruments. Your GPS
provides you with speed over the ground (not boat
speed or speed through the water). In addition an Boat speed is seldom
impeller driven boat speed instrument is not very accurate
accurate. Its performance is greatly impacted by any
weed that has grown on the impeller and hull, its
position on the hull and its calibration. It does have
limited use when sailing in a current. The windex on A windex is generally better
the top of the mast and a quick glance at the sea will than the wind instrument
provide better wind information than a wind
instrument. Many manufacturers sell a combo boat
speed and depth pack.
What are you trying to achieve? Think about what Depth, a GPS repeater and
information you actually need on the helm. Eyeball your autopilot controls are
mk1 is the best instrument that you have, after that needed on the helm.
depth, heading and speed are useful. Your autopilot
controls must be at the helm in order to be able to
instantly disengage it when required. The rest is
probably superfluous. Radar information is useful, but Autopilot controls must be
very seldom required at the helm in the tropics. at the helm
A combo repeater in your cabin is very useful. At
anchor or underway when not on watch you can Combo repeater in your
quickly check (some) things without getting up. cabin
A good alternative to the instrument manufacturers
plotter is a PC and PC based charts. See the sections
on “Navigation” and “Computers”.
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Jacklines
Jacklines are lines that run up and down the boat Webbing jacklines
allowing crew to clip on and yet to move the length of
the boat without unclipping. The best jacklines are
webbing because webbing is flat and strong. I have
seen ordinary stainless steel cable used, but it can roll
underfoot and be dangerous.
Webbing jacklines should be regularly checked and Check webbing jacklines for
renewed if necessary because of the UV damage they UV damage
constantly suffer weakens them.
It is far better to lay your jacklines as far inboard as Shorten your harness
possible so that if you fall you hang near the top of the
life lines. That way, even if you are injured you should
somehow be able to get back on board and call for
help more easily. Shorten or double up the harness to
shorten its length as well.
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Life Raft
Purpose made, self inflating, life rafts with enough Make sure it is in date
capacity/places for everybody on board should be on
board. Life rafts must be securely stowed on or below
decks but must be capable of being deployed in half a
minute or less. All life rafts should have a survey
certificate signed by an authorised servicing agent
valid at least for the period of the intended voyage.
Life rafts come in various grades (prices) according to There is very little included
quality, brand and equipment on board. You cannot inside - prepare your grab
supplement the on-board equipment, but the bag
manufacturer should have supplied you with a list.
The on-board equipment list is normally very limited.
Do not be tempted into thinking that you can rely on
this, even for a short period of time.
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Lightning
Lightning can ruin your day! Quite apart from the fact Lightning can destroy all
that it probably will occur in an "attention getting" your boats electronics and
storm, the likelihood is that it will destroy all your electrics
electronic and electrical equipment. A direct hit is not
necessary to destroy everything as an
electromagnetic pulse from a strike close by may be
sufficient.
The best advice is to try and avoid it. Steer away from
electrical storms, even by 180º. If you are caught in
lightning there are a few tips that might help:
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Man Over Board
Yachtsman's nightmare. If you go over and you have Do not fall overboard!
not been seen your chances of surviving are very slim.
In some conditions even if you are seen you could still
die. The rule is not to go overboard!
How to prepare: Practice your man overboard drill at Practice MOB recovery in a
least once a month. The standard bucket and fender variety of conditions
drill is best. Tie them together and throw it overboard.
Then shout "MAN OVERBOARD".
Let the boat drift down to the MOB and ask the MOB Remember hydrostatic
to set the strops, one around his body, under the arms pressure
and the other under his knees.
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manoeuvre in the boat you are sailing in.
72
Medical
The bottom line is this: if you are not a doctor, or at Practice and learn before
least a nurse, there will be times when you feel very you go
alone. Practice and learn as much as you can before
you go. Definitely do a first aid course. Extend the
course with some practical learning and/or experience
doing some basic procedures such as:
Setting a splint
Intravenous injections
Sutures
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What drugs and medical supplies?
74
Navigation
A PC and GPS together provide an excellent means Electronic navigation?
of navigation. They're usually completely accurate,
that is they are accurate 99.99% of the time. There
are some occasions when they are not 100%
accurate. For instance, in Tonga, some charts were
“wrong” by 600 meters. Remain alert for any Be sceptical and alert
discrepancy and maintain a healthy attitude of
sceptical curiosity on your position at all times. When
you are sailing near the coast you should always
confirm your position with at least one other piece of Electronic charts make
information: depth, bearing on a known landmark, navigation much easier
proximity of a navigational aid or a radar bearing for
instance. BUT
You will find that the ease of using electronic charts Complex chain of equipment
and the ease of drilling down to more detail (that you
probably do not have on paper) makes the use of
electronic charts very compelling. You are relying on a
complex chain of equipment to carry on working
(power, PC, software, GPS, all linkages) so you must
have an adequate backup if it all stops working.
Another issue is that electronics are being used as a Do not rely on electronic
substitute for navigation skills. This is not a good idea charts instead of navigation
at all. Do some manual navigation using tides, paper skills
charts and a plotter every now and then just to keep
your hand in.
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Backup
The only area where non-computer backup is
essential is with navigation. Carry paper charts or
chartlets for each passage and know how to use
them, at least with "traditional" navigation techniques
and practices for coastal navigation and with a GPS
for ocean passages. To avoid buying paper charts,
take a printer and print paper chartlets from your
electronic charts covering every conceivable
navigation requirement of each passage before
leaving. Discard these chartlets after the passage or
when they are no longer needed. All one needs to
cross the Atlantic is a detailed chartlet of your
departure point, an A4 chart for the middle 3,000 miles
and detailed chartlets of your possible arrival points. If
headed to the West Indies from the Canaries you will
want detailed chartlets of your intended destination
plus the Cape Verdes (for emergencies), Barbados
and other possible arrival points in the West Indies.
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Outboard Engines
There is a trade off between power and weight. The Get two! 3HP & 15HP
ideal solution is probably 2 outboards: a 3HP for small
anchorages and a bigger engine (8-25HP) for large
anchorages. The key issue with the choice of bigger
engine is the ability to plane with all your regular crew
onboard. Being able to plane will keep you drier. Yamaha is the most
common in remote areas
The big brands all make excellent quality products.
Yamaha is by far the most common in remote areas
and is the natural choice in the third world where the
Yamaha "Enduro" brand is ubiquitous. Anecdotes
abound as to why the Enduro is not sold in some first
world economies. I have heard it said that local
dealers have asked Yamaha not to sell it, because
they need virtually no maintenance and very little
replacement.
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Parachute Sea Anchor
The Australasians argue that a parachute sea anchor What are you going do as
is an essential survival item. With the Southern Ocean your last resort?
as their back yard, they may have a point! Not only will
they hold the boats bow to weather, but it is claimed
that they disturb the internal geometry of waves
leaving a "slick" of relatively calm water to lie in.
Rode
You will also need 100+ metres of nylon rode. This
rode should have built in elasticity of 40% or so.
Bridle
It is recommended to set up a non-chafe bridle at the
start of the passage so that the sea anchor can be
easily deployed from the safety of the cockpit. Bring
the bridle back to the cockpit securing it with cable ties
along the toe rail. Chafe is a big problem in these
conditions. Ensure all connections are either metal to
metal, or line to line. Where line does join metal it
should do so in a thimble.
Setting
It must be set to windward. If you try and set it to Always set a sea anchor to
leeward you will quickly find yourself in allot of trouble windward
with a tangled parachute and several lines fouling your
keel, rudder and prop in terrible conditions. Pay it out,
snubbing it occasionally to help it set. Let out all the
rode so that it sets in the in the wave behind the one
immediately in front of the boat. It is said that a Sea
Anchor mitigates much of the power in a wave by
disturbing its internal geometry? Practice setting it in
calm conditions first and then in more "boisterous"
conditions.
Chafe
Check it often (at least once every 1-2 hours) for
chafe. Adjust the bridal if necessary or with a separate Watch for chafe
line or lines attached to the bridal with clove hitches
try and take some of the strain off it if necessary.
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Retrieval
Most have a retrieval system making this easier,
however if you have to move while it is set in a storm
you are unlikely to be able to retrieve it, you will just
have to cut it loose.
Shipping
If there is any shipping in the area you need to Be aware of shipping
carefully consider whether you can use a parachute
sea anchor as altogether the anchor and the boat can
take up nearly 200 metres of sea room and there is no
way to alert the master other than by VHF which he
may not respond to.
If you do set a sea anchor you should maintain an Maintain an anchor watch
anchor watch, both visually and using radar. Show the
day shapes and lights "Vessel not under command".
As you probably do not have these, fire white flares if
you see a ship or try and attract the attention of the
ship in some other way.
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Pirates
Your exposure to pirates is determined mainly by Pirates are in specific areas
where you are. The worst areas are the South China – know the risks before you
Sea and the entrance to the Red Sea. In addition get there
Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador have all attracted
some bad press recently. Research any area you are
entering and find out as much as you can.
Forewarned is forearmed.
If a boat does catch up with you have your engine Keep moving and keep your
running early, do not stop and try and keep your stern stern presented to them
presented to them. Let your headsail sheets fly –
heavy flogging lines are a deterrent, the unsheeted
headsail will also allow you more manoeuvrability.
Sheet your main hard amidships. Have other crew go
below and try and prevent anybody from boarding.
If they have weapons and you are not prepared to If all else fails – cooperate
engage in a floating firefight you will have to
cooperate. It is not worth risking your life when they
might only steal your things and ransack your boat.
If you carry guns you must be prepared to use them. There is no point in guns
This means seriously injuring or killing someone else. unless you are prepared to
If you cannot do this then do not carry guns. They will use them
be more trouble than they are worth at best and may
be turned upon you at worst.
If you do carry guns you will need to declare them Guns will be a huge
every time you enter a new country. You may have to overhead when entering
place them into the safekeeping of some countries new countries
authorities. The cost and paperwork will be onerous. If
they have been placed into safekeeping you may
need to exit that country out of the same port.
One final thought about guns – in certain parts of the Pirates probably have more
world pirates will carry military assault rifles. You will firepower then you
not be able to match their firepower and your weapons
may trigger a worse response.
Not having guns does not mean you don’t have any Not having guns doesn’t
weapons. You have flares and possibly a spear gun. mean you have no weapons
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You probably have petrol and a bottle. You can also
ram their boat. A flare shot into a small boat will
distract its crew, as will a spear shot from a spear gun
into a rubber dinghy. A Molotov cocktail will definitely
slow them down. It all depends on the circumstances
and how far you are prepared to go.
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Pumps
Try and standardise on board pumps, so that you only Standardise on pumps
have to carry the spares and service kits for one type
of pump. The other advantage is that you also only
have to know how to strip down and fix that one type
of pump.
Fit your fresh water pump in a position where you can Make sure that all your bilge
hear it cycling. It is better to be alerted that your fresh pumps work at all times and
water is being pumped out than to lose all your fresh carry spares
water.
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Radar
Radar is an important piece of safety equipment. If If you have Radar on board
you have it, it must be used and therefore there must at least one crew member
be someone qualified to use it on board. Radar must be trained to use it
assisted collision is a well established phenomenon.
However, thankfully, there is little fog in the tropics. Radar assisted collision
Use it at night. It will give you advance warning not
only of ships, but also of squalls. You can also see a Radar is good for squalls
"map" of squalls around you which will give you a
chance to zig and zag through them (or into them if
you are collecting rainwater. On clear nights without Do not set the radar alarm
squalls, set the alarm for shipping. Do not rely on it, and then go to sleep!
just accept that it is another set of eyes looking out for
you. You cannot delegate watch keeping to a
machine.
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Reducing Sail
When the wind comes up, best practice is to reduce Reduce sail as soon as you
sail early. As a general rule take a reef in when you think of it
first think of doing it and leave it in for half an hour
after you first think of shaking it out. Shake the reef out half an
hour after you first think of it
Most boats will not sail any faster if over canvassed,
unless they begin to plane. Being over-canvassed
stresses the rig and crew unnecessarily.
Sailing Catamarans must be done strictly by numbers. On a Cat sail strictly by the
There will be a precise table of wind speeds, points of book
sail and which sail to set. Follow it precisely or even
conservatively.
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Refrigeration
Refrigeration is the subject of many text books. Purists Separate fridge and freezer
will scare you about how much power they consume. I
agree, you can sail around the world without cold
beer, but what is the point? Have a separate fridge
and freezer run with separate compressors. That way
if one breaks you still have the other. You will not use
any more energy. In fact you may use less, as a
dedicated freezer that is opened less often will usually Insulation is critical to
use less power than a combined unit. successful refrigeration
Meal planning is an important issue. Take frozen food
out of the freezer say once every two days and place
it in the normal refrigerator until it is needed. It will
help cool the refrigerator and the freezer stays shut
longer.
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Rig
Sloop, ketch, schooner, yawl, junk? Which rig? There Which rig?
are devotees to all, but without doubt the sloop is the
most common rig out there. The cutter rig is very
similar to a sloop. Next is the ketch. All the rest are
peripheral, but good to spot when you see them.
One thing is for certain: Lifting your main is an Lifting the main is hard work
energetic activity. You are far more likely to set your
main if it is furled in the mast and (as on an Amel) you
only need to push a couple of buttons to set it.
Nevertheless, many cruisers would still choose a slab
reefed main/lazybag and furled headsail combination.
Power winches? Have one to lift the main if you can. Power winches? Maybe one
Many boats sail around with only their headsails set to lift the main
because of the work involved in lifting the main.
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Safety
Safety is not a long list of equipment, important as the Safety is a state of mind, a
right equipment is, it is a state of mind. It is a constant constant awareness
awareness of the capabilities of yourself and your
boat. Putting to sea is a calculated risk involving many
different variables, many of which you have little or no Calculated risk
control over. Being prepared involves knowing
yourself and your boat very, very well. Know your
boats limitations and weak points and mitigate them.
What are the key systems in your boat? How reliable Know yours and your boats
are they? When did you last check them? When were limitations
they last maintained? Have you got all the safety kit?
Does it work? Is it “in date”? What procedures do you
have on board for pre-passage checks? Watches?
Weather? Navigation? Comms? etc etc. Have you
practiced drills for MOB, Abandon Ship, Fire? Have
you practiced these drills regularly? Safety is a state
of mind, that is only acquired with experience.
Radio Equipment
A 25 watt VHF GMDSS capable radio transceiver VHF
should be permanently installed. A cockpit speaker is
recommended. Masthead antennae are best, but carry
an emergency antenna as well. You will need a Short
Range Certificate (SRC) or equivalent to legally
operate it in some countries.
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EPIRB:
Carry an Emergency Position Indicating Radio
Beacon. A Satellite EPIRB transmitting on 406MHz or EPIRB
an Inmarsat type "E" EPIRB should be carried and be
registered to the boat with the appropriate authority.
See "EPIRB".
Navigation lights:
Navigation lights should be fitted and working so that
the boat complies with the International Regulations Nav Lights
for Preventing Collision at Sea (Colregs). Maintain two
sets of navigation lights, each on their own dedicated
fused circuits. Most yachts carry deck level nav lights
and a masthead tricolour navlight. Standardise your
nav lights so that they all use the same bulbs and
carry several spares.
Radar Reflector
Fit a permanently mounted radar reflector at least two
thirds the way up the mast. An echoing area Radar Reflector
equivalent to 10sq.m. is recommended.
Flares:
Carry flares in a watertight container and have the
following types: Flares
6 white hand flares
6 red hand held flares
8 red parachute flares
4 orange smoke flares
The container should be stowed so that it can be
accessed quickly and easily. It is one of the items you
should take with you when abandoning ship.
Lifebuoys:
Lifebouys or rings should be stowed within reach of
the helmsman so that they can be deployed instantly. Lifebouys
They should be stowed securely, but be capable of
being used instantly.
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The lifebuoys should have permanent foam buoyancy,
unless they are inflatable in which case they should be
tested at intervals in accordance with manufacturer's
instructions.
Harness:
If separate from a combined lifejacket/harness, the
safety line should not be more than 2 metres long with Keep Harnesses short
a snap hook at each end. Every harness should have
a crotch strap. Have a harness and safety line
provided for each member of the crew. Where/when
possible keep the safety line as short as possible. Do
this by doubling the safety line back on itself and
snapping it back onto your harness. This is easier to
perform than snapping the harness onto the jackline,
and it permits you to move more easily along the jack
lines.
Lifeiacket/Combined Harness.
Every Lifejacket/combined harness should be fitted
with a whistle, a light, yacht name, retroreflective tape, Lifejackets
a crotch strap and a safety line not more than 2
metres long (preferably much shorter) with a snap
hook at each end . Every member of the crew should
have their lifejacket/combined harness that is "theirs"
for the duration of the voyage (i.e. it has been put on,
at least once, and been checked to fit snugly, but
comfortably; and not have any defects. If gas operated
it should have a certification that it has been checked
and serviced within the proscribed service interval).
Heavy Equipment
All heavy equipment (i.e. batteries, gas bottles and
stoves) should be firmly secured to prevent damage Firmly secure heavy
from possible knockdown or capsize. equipment
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Sails
Cruising in the tropics is mostly downwind running Running only please!
West. Occasionally you will have to go to windward
and it is invariably a rude shock when this happens.
How dare the wind not be from the East! The perfect
long distance passage making wind is 20-25 knots
from the quarter. It is fast and comfortable, but you
must have the correct sails for all these conditions.
Downwind
Sailing thousands of miles downwind is comfortable.
The wind across the deck is reduced by the boat
speed, and the rig is not under any great strain. You
ride with the seas so may suffer some rolling, but
there will not be any pounding.
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A good rig for downwind cruising is a boat equipped
with two roller furling genoas mounted on twin fore Choose a well balanced boat
and aft forestays, one just aft of the other. The inboard with a big strong rudder
sail will be your everyday sail, the one that you will
also use for reaching and beating. It will of necessity
be slightly smaller than the forward headsail and
perhaps be self tacking. These sails must be quite
heavy and hard wearing. They can be used in winds
all the way up to gale force.
You will need a large code zero for lighter airs, say 10
to 18 knots or so. If your code zero is built with heavier
sailcloth you can fly it in more wind. You will need 2
poles. These should be permanently mounted on
tracks on the mast.
Sail repairs
You will need to repair your sails. Chafe is a big
problem with downwind sailing, both of your sails and
your running rigging. Keeping your sails in good order
can save you trouble and money later.
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Scuba
Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Carry SCUBA kit
Breathing Apparatus. This is very good equipment to
have on a cruising yacht. Learn to use it and consider
doing a dive course before you leave. You will need a
compressor on board and the overall investment is
considerable.
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Seasickness
Sea sickness is horrible. It is also sexist. Without Seasickness is sexist: Most
doubt, most men do not get sea sick, but some do. women suffer.
Equally most women do get sea sick, but some do
not. Most people who do get sea sick are sick for the
first 3 days of any passage, and then recover, Some
do not and are sick for the whole voyage. There are
many sea sickness remedies on the market, most are
chemical: you swallow them.
There are magnets and other more exotic "voodoo" Get is sorted before you go
remedies. Find out what suits you with trial and error,
because everybody is different. Many people find that
sea sickness drugs are mind altering and make them
feel very depressed. What is the point of doing the
cruising if it is a horrible, depressing experience? Find
the drug or remedy that suits you, that has the least
side effects.
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Simplicity
Keep It Simple Stupid! The KISS principle. If there are KISS
two choices, a simple approach and an automated
approach, select the simple one.
It is said that cruising is a fixing your boat in exotic Cruising is fixing your boat
places. Certainly that is true and inescapable. The in exotic places………
issue is how much fixing you will have to do. As a
general rule, the more complicated your systems, the
more fixing you will do. This is not just because of the
added complexity and increased maintenance that
flows as a direct result, but because you will be less
intimate with your equipment. With an automatic
watermaker, for instance, you might not even switch it
on and off. It simply senses the genset is on because
voltage is up, it switches itself on, waits until the water
is fresh, fills your tanks, flushes itself and turns off.
Brilliant you think. Wrong! What if the sea water your
boat is in is dirty? What if something is wrong and it is
not alarmed? What if something does not quite work
and it fills your tanks with salt water?
If you have to physically switch the watermaker on, Know your equipment
adjust the back pressure manually (checking the
pressure dials), check the product freshness by
tasting it, you can also inspect for wear and chafe,
especially in the high pressure lines, check for leaks
and hear any odd noises – every time you make
water. You will know and understand your system
inside out and will be able to pre-empt many
problems.
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The principle is the same with all your other systems.
If in doubt keep it simple. If you can, before you leave,
sail your boat frequently in lots of different conditions.
Live aboard for weekends and holidays. If possible,
live aboard for a couple of months. You will learn two
things: there are lots of things you thought
indispensable that you can easily live without, and
there are things you did not consider that you will find
that you need. Far better to spend your money and
time on the latter!
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Smart Chargers
Smart chargers were developed to manage large Get a smart charger
battery banks more effectively than the simple
automotive regulators found built into most alternators.
The latter will rapidly charge a depleted battery bank
up to about half and then trickle charge it. This fine is
if the battery is being used as in a car. This is not the
case on a boat. Plenty of experience has been gained
in this area and fitting a smart charger is a smart thing
to do. As with the rest of your electrical power
installation the smart charger is merely a single
component and must be chosen to compliment all the
other components in the system.
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Solar Panels
Solar panels can deliver a good deal of power, A supplementary power
however you will need several to make a difference, source
so you will need a large area to mount them. Cats
generally have a suitably large area, whereas a
monohull may be able to fit 4 to 6 above the bimini or
on the rail. The same comments generally apply to
solar panels as to wind turbines, the power they
provide is supplementary and cannot be relied upon. It
may sound obvious, but solar panels do not work at
night and unless they are in direct sunlight they do not
work very well. If you do have solar panels you must
fit a diode in the circuit otherwise they will drain power
at night.
Solar panels are very expensive (over USD $500 for a Solar Panels consume more
75 watt panel) and it is rumoured that they require power to make than they
more power to make than they will produce in the generate in their whole
whole of their operating lifetime. Economically working life
speaking it will undoubtedly be cheaper to run your
engine or genset a little longer.
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Spares
So you are going cruising. Where? If you are heading It depends on where you
off down the Solent for a day or two, perhaps even want to go
across the channel or down Long Island Sound, you
could probably get away with a spare fan belt, impeller
and a couple of shackles. Italy and Spain are quite
challenging ship chandlery wise, (Gibraltar is great)
but much further away and you are beginning to need Have a comprehensive
to consider your spares inventory very carefully. The inventory of spares
Caribbean serves its large fleet of yachts well, but the
Pacific only has pockets of availability (Papeete and
Noumea) and very little in most places.
Some principles:
1. Carry spares for every system/item on board.
Prepare a list.
2. Try and standardise with various items. Standardise to reduce
a. Winches: do not have more than one spares
brand. The Lewmar service kit covers
quite a few sizes.
b. Fresh water pumps: try and standardise
on brand/type instead using identical
service kits rather than having several
different types.
Specifics:
Engine: Impellers (several), fan belts, all service Engine
items, timing belt, water pump, jubilee clips (several
for every size on the engine - never use jubilee clips
twice, always discard and replace).
Electrics: If you are a 24v boat and you use a voltage Electrics
dropper for your 12v equipment, carry a spare! Fuses
of every type and variety used on board - Make a list.
Light bulbs of every type and variety used on board:
make a list. Try and check what connectors are used
on board and carry a comprehensive spares kit. You
could be surprised when the lack of a small 10c
electrical connector stops you in your tracks! A
comprehensive selection of "chop blocks" is also vital.
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Batteries: A large stock of all the various sizes of
alkaline batteries that you use will probably be Batteries
necessary. Invariably this means lots of AA and quite
a few D size batteries. The multi-meter probably uses
one of the smaller 9v "square" batteries.
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Squalls
Squalls in the tropics are mini weather systems. Most Squalls are mini weather
are just a bit of cloud, some rain and a gust or two of systems
wind. Some can be quite large, containing torrential
rain and/or vicious gusts of wind.
It can be quite exciting to have your sails set for 15 Squalls are usually benign,
knots of wind and then be confronted with 50 knots. just occasionally they may
When that happens, luff up into the wind, just contain vicious little 50kn
maintaining headway on the same tack and ride it out. wind systems
The noise will be terrible, but there should not be any
harm done.
If you are running poled out, furl those sails before it Treat every squall with
hits! respect
You can see squalls visually during the day. The radar Your radar is great for
is great for tracking squalls during day and especially squally conditions
at night. Sometimes there will be a few squalls around
you that join forces. You can see them all bunching
together on radar.
Shipping probably will not be visible under a squall on Shipping may not be visible
radar. Keep a good look out, especially as visibility under a squall, even on
reduces. radar.
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SSB (HF radio)
The installation of your SSB is critical and should be Installation is critical
done by a qualified person who understands them
very well and has used them extensively.
The most critical parts are the ground and the aerial.
The ground needs to be excellent. If you have a metal
boat, the hull is a good ground (through a capacitor to
keep the DC circuit isolated). If not, then a sintered
copper plate is probably the answer.
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Storms
Storm tactics are the subject of several books. It is
very worthwhile deciding what your tactics will be,
thinking them through and then practising the drills.
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Strobes
Have personal strobes on board for those on watch at Personal strobes for those
night. An MOB with a strobe will be visible for a couple on watch
of miles, perhaps even over the horizon. Make sure
they are attached to lifejackets and are easily used,
otherwise they will be in a locker when you have an
MOB.
Fitting a strobe to the top of your mast is not a good Not on top of the mast
idea. It is illegal and will disorientate you. Shipping
might mistake you for a North Cardinal mark.
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Sun (mainly its avoidance)
The sun in the tropics is relentlessly hot and it goes Stay out of the sun
without saying that you should stay out of it as much
as possible. If you are staring out of the window as
you are reading this on a rainy day in November
somewhere in England this may sound hard to
believe, but it is essential. No matter how hard you try,
you will be exposed to alot of sun.
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Taxes
Generally you will not be required to pay taxes on any Check the rules for each
vessel that is in transit. The problem arises should you country
wish to stay longer than a specified period in any
country in which the tax has not been paid. Check the
requirements of the country you are visiting.
Europeans should be aware that VAT may become VAT: 3 year rule
payable on their boat if it has been absent from the
EU for longer than 3 years. France is known to be
aggressive with boats that may have not paid VAT.
Boats registered in Gibraltar, Jersey, Geurnsey and
other tax havens should travel warily. On the other
hand France can be useful. Visits to French overseas
territories such as French Polynesia and Martinique
may count as visits to the EU, though this may be
changing.
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Tools
You will need a good toolkit. Maintain it meticulously
and replace items that are lost, borrowed or sunk,
promptly. Your toolkit is part of your safety equipment.
Roll and tie up tool rollin. Oil this lightly to help stop
your tools rusting.
• Adjustable spanners, one large and one small
• Hammers, large and small, a rubber mallet
• Pipewrench
• Pliers, carry a wide selection of sizes pointed,
circlip and conventional
• Screwdrivers, carry a wide selection of Phillips and
flat, long and short and of various sizes. Carry a
screwdriver that can accept a range of heads and
carry a comprehensive selection of odd heads for
odd fastenings. Screwdrivers do not swim and
other yachties who borrow them do not always
return them. Carry spares of those used most
often, ie. mid range sized Phillips, and flat and a
small one for electrical work. Carry at least two
very large screwdrivers for adjusting your rigging.
• Socket set, small with a set of sockets from 5mm
to 10mm. This is very useful for hose (jubilee)
clips.
• Common size spanners, both Metric and imperial
(AF); US equipment is still lmperial.
• Stanley knife or similar and several packs of spare
blades.
• Medium sized Vicegrips
• Small hacksaw
• Small and medium flat files
• Small metal measuring tape, both metric & imperial
Electrical
• A good digital multimeter is vital. Get one that can
measure voltage, amps and resistance.
• Soldering Irons, 240v, 12v and butane
• Die for crimping copper and telurit connectors
• Combination wire stripping and crimping tool
• Two lengths of thickish cable with a crocodile clip
on each end. These should be long enough to
reach from the batteries to the chart table, and/or
the alternator, and most equipment nearby. They
will be invaluable for checking suspect circuits and
equipment.
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Secondary toolbox
• Pipe wrench
• Larger vice grips
• Impact driver
• Comprehensive selection of files and rasps, flat,
rounded, small round, small triangular
• Sharpening stone
• Tenon & Coping saws
• Hand drill
• More/backup screwdrivers and pliers
• Wood chisels
• G-clamps (one small, one medium)
• Large adjustable spanner
• Large and small hacksaws, lots of spare blades
• Palette knife and Putty knife
• Several plastic and steel scrapers - for cleaning
the bottom of your boat. Drill holes in the handles
for attaching a lanyard that can be tied around your
wrist for underwater work.
• Circlip pliers
• Small and large, straight and bent, artery forceps:
• Glass fibre measuring tape
• Bradawl
• Screw Extractors
• Dental and make-up mirrors for seeing behind
things and around corners
Power tools
• Chargeable hand drill/ screwdriver, 12v so that it
can be charged directly from your boats DC
circuit. Carry spare batteries.
• Grinder
• Jig saw, variable speed with a variety of blades for
steel and wood
• Orbital sander
• Power drill with variable speeds and reverse.
Include the following:
o Right angle or flexible chuck
o Sanding discs and selection of discs.
o Cutting wheels
o Grindstones
o Wire brushes
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Mechanical
• Allen keys, both metric and imperial.
• Hexagonal wrenches, metric and imperial.
• lmpact screw driver for loosening seized bolts and
screws with a variety of heads
• Socketset, both metric and imperial. Sockets
ranged from 4mm to 23mm and the imperial
equivalents. The case should hold all its
components securely in order. Keep the set lightly
oiled to help avoid rust
• Wire brushes, large and small, both brass and
stainless steel
• Find out from your engine manufacturer what tools
are needed for your type of engine. Carry them all.
• Vernier calipers, some plastic and at least one
good quality, made of steel
• Tool for removing an oil filter
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Voltage
The chances are that if you are buying a boat new, or
used, that your voltage is already determined and you
will have to live with it. If not, or you are doing a very
substantial refit, or you are building your own boat you
can choose your voltage.
I recommend 24v because of the efficiency gains you 24v is probably best
enjoy over 12v. Items such as your windlass or power
winches are much more efficient at 24v because they
use half the current of 12v equipment. The higher the
current, the greater the energy loss suffered from
resistance in the circuit. You will still need 12v for
some of your equipment, but that can be supplied
from a voltage dropper and normally is limited to your
radios. There is nearly as much equipment specified
in 24v and generally the advantages of 24v outweigh
the disadvantages.
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Washboards
Washboards should either be the attached
permanently/sliding variety or be tied on with a
lanyard. Boats have sunk because a washboard was
lost, perhaps in a capsize. The crew have then been
unable to save the stricken vessel because they could
not slow the flow of water in through the companion
way.
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Washing
Washing is the bane of the cruising lifestyle. Smart Not having a washing
boats have washing machines. Most people hand machine is more expensive
wash and frequent the laundromats. If you do not
have a washing machine, you will spend several times
the cost of a machine in laundromats, so do not think
that by not having one that you are saving money!
The issues determining whether or not you have a If you have space, fit one
washing machine on board are number of people on
board, space, water, power and whether you want to
load your boat with yet another system.
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Watches
When sailing or coastal cruising short legs it may be
possible to not set a formal watch (everyone is on
watch) or to operate an ad hoc watch system, but as
soon as you go further off shore or the passage is
longer than 12 hours you should set a formal watch. Set a formal watch if a
The watches should cover the whole 24 hour period voyage is overnight
and still allow everybody ample time to rest.
Watches are more and more difficult the more short Very difficult to keep if short
handed you are. If single handed, you have no choice handed
but to sleep. Many couples who sail alone, or with
their kids, find it difficult to maintain a complete watch.
Be aware that a fast ship can speed from under the A fast ship can run you
horizon to running you over in about 10 minutes. Have down in 10 minutes
a "watch watch" with an alarm that can be set to
sound every 10 minutes. When it sounds, scan the
horizon from right to left. Your eye is trained naturally Get a watch watch
to scan from left to right and you are more likely to
miss something. Beware of squalls. See "Squalls"
Some tips:
Crew on watch at night should wear a lifejacket and If alone on watch wear a
be harnessed on, especially if they are alone. lifejacket and harness on
Anything can happen and if the rest of the boat is
asleep an MOB may be in the sea for several hours
before someone else wakes up. It is desirable that Mandatory harness on if
crew should also be harnessed on to the boat when crew go on deck, especially
on night watch even if in the cockpit. Make it at night
mandatory that crew are harnessed on if they leave
the cockpit for any reason, even if the sea is flat calm.
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Water Turbine Generators
Water turbine generators are very effective and can Very efficient
provide all the power needs of a boat under way. But
you do not get the power for nothing, they will cost you
up to a knot in boat speed. Across the Atlantic this They slow you down
could be 2 days!
They obviously do not work at all at anchor. They do not work at anchor
Considering the statistic that cruising boats are at (duh!)
anchor or in port 90% of the time one needs to work
out whether the cost of the water generator is justified.
Another problem is that big fish and sharks will eat the The turbine gets eaten
turbine, so carry spares!
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Waterline
If you are buying a boat to go cruising, or you have a
boat already that you are preparing to go cruising,
raise her waterline by 6 inches (15cm). Yachties
typically load something like 1½ tons of personal
belongings on to their boats. You are probably also
going to be loading the boat with extra equipment. On
long passages you may pile another ton of provisions
on board.
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Watermakers
Watermakers (desalinators) are becoming mandatory Not really expensive
on modern cruising boats. Having unlimited water is
great in the tropics. You can wash yourself and your
clothes frequently! Run a washing machine! They are
also not all that expensive.
The high pressure pump does come with some Clark or CAT?
choices. There is Clark technology where the feed
pump provides the energy for the high pressure (HP)
pump. This technology relies on several chambers to
"intensify" pressure sufficiently for the water maker to
work. Sealing is critical in a Clarke pump, so make
sure you carry spare seals and know how to fit them if
it stops working. They do stop working! The other type
of pump is a normal piston (plunger) type pump, of
which CAT is a good example.
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High pressure vessels and membranes are
mandatory. There is very little to choose from in This is how to build your
functionality and they all work the same way. Choose own
the type you like that offers the best price/performance
equation and that delivers the production capacity you
require. You will need to match the capacity of the HP
pump to the input capacity of the membranes. Also, it
may be better to split the production capacity across
two or more membranes which can be isolated with
valves to provide some redundancy should one fail.
Remember that this part of the system is operating at
60bar. Evaluate the robustness of the different types
and brands on offer. See www.wateranywhere.com.
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One boat had built a water maker by using a high
pressure cleaning system bought in a supermarket, a
solution that was innovative and cheap. Because the
cleaner was not salt water rated he flushed it every
time he used it.
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Operation is simple:
1. Set your inlet Y valve to select raw sea water.
2. Open the back-pressure valve completely
3. Set your output Y valves to close the lines to
the flush water tank and main water tank and
open the sampling port. This is because the
first few litres of production water will be salty. If
you are making water for the first time after
pickling the membrane flush it for approx 30
minutes or according to the manufacturers
recommendations.
4. Turn on your watermaker or engage the clutch
with your genset or engine running
5. After letting any air out, slowly close the ball
valve until the high pressure guage reaches
approx. 60bar. At this point you should be
making water. This is the point of maximum
fresh water production and increasing the back
pressure any further will not make any more
water, but it will damage your membrane.
Flushing
Always make some flush water for the flush water tank
first. To flush the system do as follows: while the
watermaker is running set the inlet Y valve from raw
sea water to flush tank. Then when the flush tank is
almost empty, turn the whole system off. To pickle the
watermaker simply add sufficient chemicals and
perform a normal flush.
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Weather
You need to be able to accurately interpret met charts Know how to interpret met
and you will want a reliable source of weather charts – do a meteorology
information. The good news is that there are lots of course
resources and you can generally access sufficient
resources to keep your boat and crew safe. Bear in
mind that an ocean weather forecast covers a vast Ocean forecasts cover vast
area and is quite generalised. Within the forecast area areas
you are likely to find conditions that can vary
considerably from those forecast. That is why you
need to be able to interpret met charts. In the tropics,
especially in areas affected by phenomena such as
the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) there
are often squalls. These are small weather systems in
their own right that can contain torrential rain and/or
strong gusting winds up to 40 or even 50 knots. Your
weather forecast may not make any mention of these
squalls, however you should expect them. They will be
visible either visually or on your radar.
Understand how the weather works in the areas you Know the weather patterns
intend to sail in, especially if you intend to sail in the in the area you are sailing in
more "interesting" areas of the world. The North
Atlantic, the English Channel, the Tasman, The Cape
of Good Hope, Cape Horn, Bering Sea and North of
Venezuela all deserve special mention in this regard. I
am sure there are many other places that have
equally special weather patterns. The SPCZ has
already been mentioned and prior swotting up on the
weather and how it works in the area you are sailing in
will provide a good context for understanding the
weather reports you receive.
If in the tropics, stay on the winter side of the equator. In the tropics stay on the
This generally will help keep you safe, but note: there winter side of the equator
have been out of season storms and some areas can
have tropical revolving storms (TRS) at any time of
year. Repeating: know what to expect in the area you
are sailing in. If a TRS is brewing, run for the equator,
unless that is absolutely is not possible or it is too far.
Read up on this topic and have a strategy in mind for
the area you are in if you are caught.
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Wind turbine generators
Wind turbine generators are a popular way of adding
to your boats power resources. New ones typically
can provide up to 400 watts. They work in wind from
about 10 knots up to 25 knots after which they cut out.
They have a lot of disadvantages:
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Wind vane autopilot
A number of manufacturers make wind vane It is worthwhile considering
autopilots, but they have largely fallen into disuse a windvane
because electronic autopilots have replaced them.
The advantages of a wind vane are considerable,
however, and it is worth considering one. The principle Use no power
advantages are that they use no electrical power and Strong and silent
they are silent.
One great advantage is that you can set up a wind Connect a tiller pilot to a
vane to work electronically. The smallest tiller pilot will wind vane – if you already
tip the pendulum easily (you take the actual vane itself have a windvane it is a very
off, leaving the mechanism and paddle). This is a cost effective autopilot
great backup system, or possibly the wind vane solution
operating normally, supplemented by a tiller pilot is
your main system.
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attached to the paddle alter your helm to correct your
course. This correction will be an over-correction and
the same process will then repeat, but in the opposite
direction. This constant process of over-correction
means that you sail in a series of S-curves. The
extent of the over-correction depends on a range of
factors including: how well balanced the boat is, how
she performs on that point of sail, how well you have
set your wind vane up, the gearing designed into you
wheel (or how far along the tiller you set the lines) and
what type of rudder you have.
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