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Happy Mother's Day!

Cruising Shot of the Week

By Brian Coffou

This is a shot of sunset at Copper Island in the BVI's. Sure beats the ice covered bay of Green Bay, WI, when we returned.

Have a cool cruising shot to share? Send it to comments@cruisingcompass.com

Docktalk

Calling All USCG Captains. . .

The U.S Department of Homeland Security has pushed the deadline for obtaining a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card to April 15, 2009. All U.S. Coast Guard-credentialed mariners must have a TWIC by that date or risk their license being declared invalid. The previous deadline was Sept. 25.

According to the US Dept of Homeland Security site, “The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC™) program is a Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard initiative. The TWIC™ program provides a tamper-resistant biometric credential to maritime workers requiring unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities, outer continental shelf facilities, and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act, or MTSA, and all U.S. Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners. An estimated 750,000 individuals will require TWIC™s. Enrollment and issuance will take place over an 18-month period. To obtain a TWIC™, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph and successfully pass a security threat assessment conducted by TSA.” More info: https://twicprogram.tsa.dhs.gov/.

Strictly Sail Pacific exceeds expectations

The 12th Annual Strictly Sail Pacific drew over 200 exhibitors and some 70 boats—from small trailerable dinghies to the Tayana 54, a bluewater cruiser that made its world debut at the show.

Although attendance was down by roughly 15% compared to the gate for 2007, many exhibitors echoed the sentiment that a smaller gate did not impact the quality of the crowd.

"This year's show drew quality potential buyers, and it exceeded our expectations," said Dave Moore, owner of Cruising Yachts, Inc. (Alameda, Calif.), one of the show's largest vendors with a fleet of 13 boats in the in-water section. Cruising Yachts showcased boats from Hunter, Jeanneau, and Caliber, ranging from 31 to 49 feet, of which 6 were sold at the show.

"This was one of our best shows," said Alex Harrison of Hanse Yachts US (Annapolis, Md.). "The customers were there—the ones who are serious about buying boats."

"Plans are already in place to work closely with Jack London Square and the Port of Oakland to create additional exhibit space for next year's show," said Murphy.

Although Sail America plans to keep the show at Jack London Square for the foreseeable future, the organization will continue to consider new locations for the show's long-term future.

Poor Economy Creates New Sailors

Apparently amidst the doom and gloom surrounding the credit crunch and bank troubles there is evidence that sailing schools in the UK are seeing an increase in bookings for RYA sailing courses.

New figures out this week from the Center for Economics and Business Research predict that thousands of jobs will be slashed over the next few months. Many of the people taking courses with companies such as Global Yacht Training, a UK RYA Sailing School, are looking for a change in direction in their careers and are looking into the yachting industry.

Fedor Konyukhov sets Antarctica record



Russian solo circumnavigator Fedor Konyukhov returned to Albany, Western Australia, (May 7th, 2008) a hero today, throwing down the gauntlet to yachtsmen around the world to break his 102 day record around the Antarctica Cup Racetrack.

Setting out from Albany with his Open 85ft monohull Trading Network Alye Parusa at 18:21:40 UTC (10:21:40 WST) on Australia Day – January 26th to take on yachting’s last great frontier. He braved a succession of storms, freezing temperatures, the ever present threat of icebergs and collisions with whales. Konyukhov came through it all unscathed, returning to King George Sound at 02: 56:50 UTC (10:56:50 WST) yesterday to record a time of 102 days 00 hours 56 minutes 50secs for this 16,400 mile circuit of Antarctica. More: www.sail-world.com/.

2008 Newport Bermuda Race entries reach the 200



The second century of racing to Bermuda starts June 20th off Castle Hill in Newport, RI, and finishes off St. David’s Lighthouse in Bermuda after crossing 635 miles of open ocean.

Organizers predict up to 220 boats on the staring line on June 20, making this the second largest fleet in the history of the race, surpassed only by the 264 entries in the 2006 centennial event.

“These new entries are primarily sailors with solid amateur programs and substantial near-shore racing experience. The Newport Bermuda Race organization has a long history of commitment to safety, and is dedicated to supporting sailors in their quest to participate in blue water sailing in one of the world’s classic ocean races. It’s the perfect venue for sailors who are ready to step up to their first ‘thrash to the Onion Patch.’ This race across the Gulf Stream has become a rite of passage for sailors – and has divisions tailored for the most amateur Corinthian crews to the highest-profile professional programs,” said Participation Chairman Richard Shulman.

Accepted yachts have until mid-May to complete the entry process. See who is entered to date at the race website – www.bermudarace.com/.

US Sailing adds new sailing school in Boston

Courageous Sailing Center of Boston, Mass., has joined US SAILING, the national governing body for sailing, in offering the nation’s premier sailing education experience.

“US SAILING accredits only the top sailing schools in the country,” says Hart Kelley, the organization’s Director of Keelboat Programs. “We are pleased to welcome Courageous Sailing Center as an accredited school.”

And now, to make it easier for prospective US SAILING-certified instructors to fulfill course requirements for CPR and First Aid certification, US SAILING has teamed up with the American Red Cross to provide an online training program. All of US SAILING instructor training programs - including all Small Boat Levels, Windsurfing, Powerboat, and Keelboat programs – require current CPR and First Aid certification. The online training program offered through the Red Cross provides convenient, effective, and affordable training for instructors at all levels. Read More: www.ussailing.org/.

“US SAILING graduates accomplished sailors,” says John Maconga, Courageous Sailing Center’s Executive Director. “We chose them because our students demand the best, and US SAILING’s emphasis on achievement, competency, and safety ensures that, together, we will deliver that.” More info: www.courageoussailing.org.

GE to stop lending on boats

GE Money announced on Friday that it will discontinue its retail boat loan programs. Cristy F. Williams, vice president of communications for GE Money and Sales Finance, told IBI in an email that the company has been in the marine industry for 30 years. Industry estimates put GE's market share at about 10 to 12 per cent of the national total of retail boat loans. From: IBI Magazine.



Prout Launches New Generation of Cats

After a couple years in the strategizing and planning stages, Prout is on their way back to the top of the multihull market with introductory pricing at below market. Celebrity Yachts, owner of the Prout brand and builder, has some exciting new blue water cruising models designed and under construction or planned to start construction in the next 18 months. Now constructed in the Far East, Prout can offer owners better value and cost-effective space to build any size multihulls up to 220'.

The all new Prout 45S and the Prout 50S (sailing catamarans) will be introduced at the 2008 Annapolis Boat Show. More info: www.proutcats.com.

Cool Things To Do

Newport Spring Boat Show

The Newport Spring Boat Show will just around the corner, May 16-18 at Rhode Island’s Newport Yachting Center. Check out the in-water show, exhibitor booths along the shoreline and the new marine consignment tent, which will be filled with used items from boaters and boat dealers alike. Purchase Advance Discount tickets today and save $2. Go to: www.newportspringboatshow.com/. Photo Newport Spring Boat Show.

NBC Covers Olympic Sailing

NBC in America has launched a new sailing section on their 2008 Olympic Summer Games website. It features athletes’ profiles, video, great photos and of course, updates on the Olympic Sailing Events. Go to: www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html.

European Finn Championship



Olympic Finn Athletes will be competing this week at La Marina di Scarlino in Tuscany in the European Finn Championship. Opening Ceremonies were held at Scarlino’s Medieval Castle.

Sailing lovers can follow all racing by logging onto www.sailrev.tv and at the end of every day results and photos will be posted on the event’s website www.eurofinn2008.it. Photo by Taylor (CNS) of Ben Ainslie (GBR).

Boat Rat's Tip of the Week

Boat Rat's Tip of the Week

Filling Dings

Nobody knows how it happens but through the year our boats seem to develop little dings, gouges and other blemishes. It could be encounters with the fuel dock or it could be gremlins. But the dings are there and if they expose raw fiberglass beneath the gel coat, they need to be filled, fared and recoated.

You will want to match your existing gel coat color, which will be easy if it is white and problematical if it is any other color since gel coat colors fade in sunlight. Matching a color will take some trial and error.

But to start, sand the ding and surrounding gel coat to give your filler rough surfaces on which to adhere. Usually 100 or 120 grit paper will do the job. Next, fill the ding with a durable putty. You can use Bondofill or MarineTex or you can go with epoxy and micro-balloons. We prefer the latter since the patch will be indestructible. West Epoxy System Three is also a well known brand of epoxy.

Epoxy or other fillers are hard so you want to make sure you fill the ding without leaving a lot of excess filler to sand off. If the ding is large, it is best to fill it half way, let the filler dry, sand it to rough up the surface and then finish the filling job with a smooth coat. A flat putty knife will be the tool for the job. If the patch is under the hull and thus upside down, you will need to hold the wet filler in place by taping wax paper tightly over the area.

If the gremlins really went to work and left behind a ding that penetrates right into the laminate, you will have to grind our the area with a grinding tool and then fare the injury with a sanding tool before filling it. To give the epoxy paste structural integrity, chop fiberglass roving into small pieces and mix it into the paste before filling the prepared area. Don't overfill the area because you will want to sand it down and finish the patch with a skim coat of pure paste.

Once the patch has been completed, sand the whole area with progressively finer grit papers until you get to 400 grit wet and dry paper for the final smoothing coat. Apply the gel coat over the patch and sanded area without leaving bush marks. The final steps are to feather the edges of the gel coat patch to smooth it out with 400 grit wet and dry paper and then buff the sanded area with a buffing wheel and buffing compound and polish the whole area with hull wax.

Cruising Community

Increase in vessels inspections by Federal authorities along Georgia coastal waters

The Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net's "Georgia" page has some news of interest to anyone now cruising along the Georgia coastline. Apparently. both the Georgia DNS (Department of Natural Resources) and ICE (Federal Customs) are inspecting more of the boats cruising these waters on a regular basis. “Everyone had better be sure ALL their papers and safety equipment are in good order and up to snuff!” said Claiborne Young, publisher of the Cruisers’ Net. More info: www.CruisersNet.net.



Panama Canal traffic jam making boaters wait

More than 150 yachts are in a marine 'traffic jam' on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, awaiting transit to the Pacific Ocean. Many have been told it will be 'weeks' - in one case two months - before they will be able to get through.

This delay could put them in danger of meeting the cyclone (hurricane) season in the South Pacific.

YM reports: 'There are around 50 yachts in the Flats anchorage at Colon, another 30 in the Panama Canal Yacht Club (PCYC), 30 or 40 in Shelter Bay Marina and a similar number cruising the Atlantic Panama coast. All are waiting to go through the Panama Canal and things aren't looking good. On the vessel Skylax who arrived a week ago, they were given date for the transit of June 23rd, a nine and a half week wait. And the same goes for all the other yachts except for anyone with a few thousand surplus dollars who can arrange a special transit.

Those who don't want to or can't afford to pay the 10% booking fee or the high fees for bidding, are handled on a first-come, first-serve basis. And about 37 vessels (or so) pass through the canal on a daily basis. Let's do the math - if there are more than 100 ships waiting to go through and only about 10 per day taken from the line, that's about how long you are going to have to wait. And more importantly - this backlog has been building up for weeks and it does not show any signs of letting off any time soon.

There’s always Dockwise Yacht Transport if you can’t afford to wait. One French yacht enlisted the services of a local agent to have his boat trucked from the Caribbean to the Pacific side.

According to Noonsite.com, the agent, Mr Erick Galvez, (of Centenario & Co. S.A.) made a feasibility study then cleared the operation with the local and port authorities, who gave their approval. The measurements had to be very precise as there are strict limits imposed by road bridges and other obstructions. In this case, a total height of 13.5 feet (4.15m) (including the lowloader), 13.5 feet width and 42 feet (12.8m) length were acceptable.

The mast was lifted at Shelter Bay Marina near Colon and placed on top of the yacht. The yacht then motored to Manzanillo port terminal where it was lifted from the water with a gantry crane and placed on a flat bed trailer. The truck crossed the isthmus to La Playita on the Pacific side. The yacht was lowered into the water with a rolling lift at Amador Marina and finally the mast was placed back in position with a shore crane.

This was the first time this operation was completed by this agent, who indicated a total cost of $5,000 for the entire operation.

Yacht Attacked in Fiji

An Australian couple cruising Fiji on their 40 foot (12m) sailing catamaran Another Angel were attacked at 3am on Saturday morning May 3rd, assaulted and robbed. The main items stolen were a laptop, satellite phone and about AUS$18,000 in cash.

The yacht was anchored at the time at the Natovi jetty, about 15 kilometres from Korovou town on the island of Tailevu in the Yasawas, when they were attacked. The couple woke to hear someone on deck and when they confronted the intruders the 62 year old skipper Brian Dodds was beaten and tied up, and his wife, Jan, 59, was sexually assaulted though not raped.

The two men threatened to return and burn the boat if they were reported to the authorities, and the men returned to scene, but were repelled by the skipper, when a light was switched on some time after the attackers had left.

The couple were treated at the local hospital and local police are undertaking a search for the two men who have now been identified, and are now on the run.

It is a further blow for the burgeoning Fiji yachting industry after it successfully persuaded the Fijian government to back off on plans for stringent new restrictions on the amount of time yachts could remain in the archipelago. From: noonsite.com.

Banderas Bay, La Cruz Marina Update

After a winter of what cruisers took to be unreasonably high slip rates at the new Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz, a paucity of tenants, plus the input of marina manager Christian Mancebo, have combined to convince the board of directors to reduce slip fees.

Latitude38 said that according to Mancebo, "the summer rate will be 35 cents a foot per day for stays of one month or more. Check our math, but we think that works out to $420 a month for a 40 footer. Shorter stays will be 50 cents/foot per day. This is a gigantic reduction in slip fees." More: L’ectronic Latitude.

Website of the Week

www.womenandcruising.com/



A new online resource for Cruising Women

For several years now, cruisers and authors Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall and Gwen Hamlin have been doing Women and Cruising seminars at boat shows around the country (USA).

They’ve just launched a new website based on their seminar to give women (particularly novice sailors) an opportunity to voice the hundreds of questions they often have on their minds as they contemplate setting off with their partners or on their own.

They have also made two of their popular seminar handouts available as downloads on the site: Our Women and Cruising Seminar handout (a 7-page pdf) and Pam's Outfitting Checklist. They want to hear from readers who know of other resources that may of interest women. Contact Kathy Parsons: kathy@ForCruisers.com.

For the Hungry Crew

Swiss Spinach Quiche

• 1 can buttermilk biscuit (or a favorite un-baked pie crust)
• 8 ounces Swiss cheese, cut into strips
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 10 ounces chopped cooked spinach, drained well
• dash of ground black pepper

* I carry cooked chopped spinach in a can. Please read label carefully for brand supermarket cans show NO SALT. Drain well.

Place biscuits down in a non-greased pie pan, press together forming a pie shell. Toss Swiss cheese and flour and put into un-baked pie shell. In a medium bowl mix milk, eggs, seasonings, then add spinach, pour over cheese. Bake 350 for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned. - Serves 6

From Cook with KISS by Corinne C. Kanter www.sailcopress.com.

Mindbender

Blazers - From Whence They Came

Uniforms were not common place amongst the lower deck but most captains like to show off their crews for ceremonies and since the captain paid the bills they were able to choose the outfits for their men. So where did the term 'Blazer' originate?

Send your answers to comments@cruisingcompass.com. A winner – who will receive and Blue Water Sailing hat—will be selected at random for all of the correct answers.

Congrats to Roger Neiley (Saga 43 SoLunaMare of Laguna Beach, CA, who shared some good info for all of us on Staying Hooked:

• "This is sort of a trick question. The three obvious and primary factors that determine the load on ground tackle are a) wind force, b) wave action (both horizontal and vertical), and current. But there are more considerations:
  
  1. Depending on the windage profile and keel design, a boat that "sails" back and forth at anchor can exert high peak loads on the ground tackle. In addition to this cyclic loading, these forces are usually not in line with the original set of the anchor, so will tend to pull it one direction then the other, then the other...
  
  2. The type of rode can make a big difference in the load characteristics. Stretchy three strand nylon will attenuate loads, reducing peak values (but may lead to more "sailing" back and forth as described above). Heavier chain, due to the catenary shape of the rode from boat to anchor, will also reduce peak loads...until you come up short on the chain and all of a sudden there is a non-elastic spike that the anchor will feel.
  
  3. You can also say that the type of bottom and how well the anchor is set can make a difference. Many anchors "creep" under load, which effectively reduces peak forces.
  
  I'll bet there are other factors as well, just going to show that (excuse the pun) there are no "hard and fast" rules about anchoring!