Índice para April 2024 em PassageMaker

The hook has been dropped and set. Your crew is itching for a night on the town. Since no one is ready to swim ashore, the tender will have to be launched, but it is such a pain in the neck, the crew starts foraging in the galley and considers reading a book in the cockpit instead. If your dinghy storage and launching system is keeping you from enjoying visits to the shore, or even from anchoring out at all, it’s a problem. It’s an even bigger problem if you can’t launch your tender in a hurry with a short crew in an emergency. Let’s explore options for the little boat on the big boat. ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT Cruising boats of yore typically had a wooden dinghy stowed…

For decades, shorthanded cruisers have easily managed boats in the 40- to 50-foot range, but two things have contributed to a sudden growth in shorthanding. First, new technology, from engines to electronics, is allowing shorthanders to cruise farther, safer and easier. Second, the growth in adventure travel—partly as a result of the Covid pandemic—is encouraging more twosomes to cast off, knowing they won’t have to give up home-type amenities or careers (with Starlink on board). What are the main considerations for joining the shorthanded-cruiser community? Here are the key factors. THE YACHT The starting point, of course, is choosing the yacht. Many vessels are touted as being cruising yachts when they are best suited for weekend overnighting. Filtering out the hype is your first task: Look for things like top…

The workboats that ply the North Sea have made an indelible impression on the crew of our yacht design atelier. We draw constant inspiration from the high flared bows, beefy weather-proof cowlings and large pilothouses of the commercial fleets that earn a living on the sea. The craft’s intended purpose is defined even before its keel is laid, and many of these boats work hard until they are no longer useful. Sadly, many are sent to the scrapyard because of age or European Union regulation. But once the work era has ended, they can be given a second life as a regal and functional private vessel for liveaboard cruising, charter and more. For this purpose, we have chosen the eurokotter as an ideal platform for a conversion to PM-8, a…

“Do you see that boat coming up on our right side?” I had not. Fortunately, my wife, Dori, warned me in time to make a turn to star-board and pass behind the boat, complying with our requirement as the give-way vessel in this crossing scenario. It is not unusual for a watch person to alert the helmsman of an approaching vessel. It is, in actuality, precisely what the watch person or lookout is supposed to do. The problem with our situation on that day was that Dori was not technically on watch. Either nobody was, or I was supposed to be. Rule 5 of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea states: “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as…

I’m looking at something so priceless, it seems borderline illegal. The feeling is not unlike breaking into a vault without lifting a finger. There’s the impenetrable door made of steel-reinforced concrete, cast aside on its hinges to reveal a gleaming bounty of diamonds ordinarily stored in Switzerland. Or, in this case, Holland, where my inside man, Joost Mertens, is showing me an archive of something far more interesting: line drawings of the first Doggersbanks, penned by Dick Boon in 1968, forever changing motoryacht design. “Somebody hired Mr. Boon to make this drawing,” Mertens says as he moves his cursor around the screen. “People developed plans from these line plans; it was all calculations done on the water surface and projected area of the frames, the volume of the boat, principal…

Despite growing up in landlocked Indiana, I have always been crazy about boats. As a teen, I cut my teeth on a wooden Sailfish and worked my way up to a 26-foot sloop, which I later sailed solo to Bermuda. Smartly relocating to Florida, I followed my sloop with a series of larger sailboats that I piloted from Maine to the Bahamas, and I raced a 36-footer extensively in South Florida before earning my captain’s license, which I used as a part-time captain of an 84-foot Burger. Now that I’m getting older, I have transitioned away from sailing and into power-boating—both for its ease of use and to appease my wife, Robin, who wants to spend more time on the water, but is most comfortable cruising at trawler speeds. (I…

Beyond all the folderol of sanding and stripping, buffing and waxing, varnishing and painting, refit time is perfect for creating an essential item for every boat: an owner’s manual. Chances are that you never bought a car—even a very used one—that didn’t have a dog-eared manual stuffed in the glove box. If you did find it missing, then spending a couple of bucks online would solve the dilemma of that unmarked switch on the dashboard. But boats? I’ve never bought a boat, new or used, that had a manual. Ever. Boatbuilders take the easy way out by tossing all the various parts and components manuals or service bulletins into a drawer, often in the galley, sealed in plastic. Previous owners often follow suit, adding loose papers into the same drawer.…

Hull No. 1 in Outer Reef’s Azure series was a 640 that splashed half a decade ago at the Cannes Yachting Festival. The Côte d’Azur was the ideal backdrop for the model, which takes its design cues from the alfresco lifestyle of the Mediterranean coast. With its Azure 670 Sport Yacht, Outer Reef ups the ante. Like the 640, the 670 has a CE Class A hull modified to create more lift with heavier loads aft. But because of the 670’s extra length, the cockpit could be reconfigured with a section dedicated to water sports. There is also a deep stowage locker—ideal for scuba enthusiasts—and there’s a hydraulic swim platform for launch and retrieval of water toys. Outer Reef also expanded the usable outdoor space on the foredeck with a…

Completing the survey phase of a trawler purchase gives you a clearer picture of the boat’s overall condition and needed repairs. By this point, you’ve spent a lot of time and money. Unless the survey is so bad that you plan to withdraw your offer and walk away, the clock now starts on a short time frame to make important decisions. The surveyor and diesel mechanic normally need a couple of days after the survey to finalize their written reports. While waiting for their summaries, you should corral the costs associated with addressing the survey findings. Your notes from attending the survey and listening to the surveyor’s debrief should include critical discoveries. It is up to you and your broker to determine reasonable cost estimates for the scope of work.…

Risk and reward are inexorably linked in many areas of life. Nowhere is this truer than in cruising. Reaching some of the world’s most beautiful, unspoiled cruising grounds often involves challenging open-water passages or narrow, difficult channels. It is precisely these risks that make the rewards that much sweeter. One such place is Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska. Getting there from the Pacific Northwest starts with a nearly 700-mile Inside Passage run from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska. A good deal of this leg is in relatively low-risk, protected water, but there are a witches’ brew of pitfalls, including tidal rapids, floating logs, the infamously windy Johnstone Strait, and two short but formidable open-ocean passages at Cape Caution and Dixon Entrance. Once you reach Ketchikan, it…