July 24th, 2008 — Marine Electronics
I came across this article by Paul Mckey about his experience using marine electronics on a recent sailing trip.
I agree with Paul the user interface is just too complex and not at all intuitive on most pieces of marine electronics.
If you’ve got some feedback on this leave a comment below.
July 18th, 2008 — News
Maritime Safety Queensland announced this week that it has brought forward the date requiring boats to carry a 406 Mhz EPIRB.
From the 1st November 2008 all vessels required to carry an EPIRB must carry a 406 Mhz EPIRB. See the MSQ website for more details. The website also has information on the disposal of your old 121.5 Mhz EPIRB which will no longer be supported after February 2009.
July 16th, 2008 — News
Congratulations to French Sailor Thomas Coville who has set a new solo North Atlantic crossing record on his 32m trimaran Sodeb’O. The new record is 5 days 19 hours and 29 minutes. The record was previously held by Francis Joyon who completed the route in 6 days and 4 hours in 2005.
Coville sailed from the Ambrose Lighthouse off New York to the Lizard, on the South West coast of England a distance of 2859.9 nautical miles at an average speed of 20.5 knots.
More details are available on the Sodeb’o website.
July 15th, 2008 — News
The quest to be the first sailing boat to break the 50 knot barrier is hotting up with teams from Australia, France and Britain waiting for the right conditions.
At the moment the French team appear to be in pole position. They are at their base near Marseille in the south of France conducting trials and waiting for the right conditions for an attempt on the record. Their boat is a 60′ trimaran made of carbon fibre and titanium with a fairly conventional rig. The boat is equipped with hydrofoils and over a certain speed the hulls lift clear of the water and the boat flys along on the foils considerably reducing drag. l’Hydroptere has already reached a verified speed of 44.81 knots and the team has spent the last few months optimising the boat to break the 50 knot barrier.
The Australian team only launched their boat WotRocket in May. The project was conceived by by 18 foot skiff champion, Rolex Sydney Hobart veteran Sean Langman only four years ago. The carbon fibre craft has a 9m hull with two small foils and a crew pod on the end of a transverse beam. The boat is powered by a 9m rigid sail. The WotRocket team hope to use super cavitation technology, new to sailing craft, to break through the 50 knot barrier. According to the WotRocket website “supercavitation will in effect mean Wot Rocket flies in a gas bubble created by the outward deflection of water by a specially shaped nose cone and the expansion of gases from its fin and foil design. By keeping water from contacting the surface of the body of Wot Rocket, this will significantly reduce drag and allow extremely high speeds.”
July 12th, 2008 — Boat Maintenance and Repairs, Engines and propulsion
Although the dripless shaftseal has been around for many years a lot of boats still have the old stuffing box.
The stuffing box is an old solution to the problem of allowing the prop shaft to turn and exit the hull without letting to much water in.
The advantages of this system are that it is cheap and reliable. Maintenance is easily performed with basic tools and skill level. The packing is cheap and at a pinch it can be replaced on smaller craft whilst the boat is in the water. Though obviously it easier to do this whilst on the slip.
The down side of this system is that whilst underway the seal must be allowed to drip to keep the seal lubricated and cool whilst in use. Obviously this allows a small but steady trickle of salt water into the hull which then must collected and disposed of. Also as the packing material is compressed against the expensive shaft it wears a groove into your expensive prop shaft overtime. Eventually the shaft diameter is reduced so much that seal cannot be maintained and the shaft must repaired or replaced.
To overcome the disadvantages of the stuffing box two types of dripless shaft seal have been developed.
July 8th, 2008 — Cruising Stories, Navigation
A test of competent seamanship is often best illustrated when preparing to cross a barred entrance particularly when conditions on the bar itself are challenging. In the case of Mooloolaba entrance, which over the years has enjoyed a reputation for being one of the easiest bars to negotiate, the recent shoaling has necessitated continual marking and revision of the channel by local port authorities. Skippers would do well to consider the rule of twelfths and understand how even a low ocean swell and it’s direction can impinge on the safety of a vessel crossing a shifting sand bar like Mooloolaba entrance. Combine the limitations of channel markers and navigation aids with a good lookout out for changes in water colour and swell pattern to stay in the channel. Understand the currency of navigation information and accept that sometimes the channel markers and nav aids will not correspond to your chart or plotter map.
The 80’ foot schooner Joshua C successfully entered the Mooloolah River using the 2.37 metre high tide on the evening of Wednesday June 18. There a number of reasons to note the event. First of all in the previous few weeks to the Joshua C entering Mooloolabah Harbour there had been several groundings at the entrance to the river by vessels of considerably less draught than the Joshua C’s 8’. Despite recent dredging in both the river confines and on the bar itself, the build up of sand (after the heavy May rains experienced across south east Queensland) was such that waves would form and break across the river mouth on even a slight swell.
I personally watched a local prawn trawler trying to depart the entrance make two unsuccessful attempts before bottoming out less than 100 metres from the breakwalls. Within 10 minutes of the trawler returning to it’s berth a 50’ yacht (just one of number of yachts in a procession of “go arounds” to seaward of the heavily breaking shoal) attempted the crossing and was pounded by heavy surf whilst firmly aground in the same spot the trawler had only minutes before failed to negotiate. Fortunately the yacht shrouded by it’s own cloud of diesel smoke and taking the breaking seas heavily on it’s beam for at least 5 minutes was able to escape back to the deeper water by using full power astern.
All this occurred about 1530 hrs on the afternoon of Wednesday June 4 the predicted time of a 0.23 metre low tide which happened to be the lowest tide of the year.
The second reason to note the event of Joshua C’s arrival in Mooloolaba is that her skipper Robin Cook not only passed through the “dangerous“ Mooloolah River entrance that calm June evening but even more triumphiantly crossed the extremely shoal Maroochy River bar an hour previously. This transit was paramount to the departure of the Joshua C for her Coral Sea cruise after 10 years lying in the Maroochy River system.
As alluded to in the Boatweb article “Wedding before the Mast“, there were plenty of doomsayers and wagers against the Joshua C’s chances of ever crossing the Maroochy River bar. In the final period of waiting for the penultimate combination of a big high tide and fair weather to achieve the bar crossing the Joshua C lay to anchors at Cotton Tree. It was here in a deepish hole (for there are no deep holes in the Maroochy River system any more) close to the southern bank less than a couple of hundred metres from the dreaded Maroochy bar that the vessel survived the strong winds, torrential rain and subsequent flooding experienced in May. Apart from swinging 360 degrees at the height of the storm the 50 tonne Joshua C remained in a channel in which paddlers, jetskis and small outboards have exclusive passage.
And finally the Joshua C’s arrival in Mooloolaba from the Maroochy River will spell the end of an era for the Sunshine Coast. The schooner’s construction, launching and preparation for sea is a saga that has involved many local people. The times when a vessel could tie up to a tree in a quiet estuary and the owner go about his business on board are gone. The Maroochy River will never again have a vessel like the Joshua C grace it’s waters, not to mention the chance for land lubbers to step aboard a sailing ship and be introduced to a world of rum infused sailing dreams while a Jimmy Buffet tune plays on the cockpit sound system. From homeless youth to local business people the Joshua C project has inspired many to embrace life on the ocean wave. Congratulations to Robin and first mate Annette who are heading north at the end of June.
One man band, sailorman, artist , writer, urger has lived aboard for ten years. My main accomplishment is recovery from frozen shoulder and having my name on a statue honoring Matthew Flinders in Hervey Bay. I also surf a bit and don’t mind a bit of hastily organised fishing.
July 4th, 2008 — Boat Finance and Insurance
If you are thinking borrowing money to buy a boat here are some commonly asked questions.
Can I finance up to 100% of the boat price?
Yes, the majority of new & used boats are 100% financed, however the buyers can elect to pay any level of deposit they desire.
Do I need to provide any other security in addition to the boat for the loan?
No, usually the boat is the only security.
Would I qualify for a boat loan?
There are four main things that Finance Companies look for when approving a loan – these are:
How many years can I have the loan for?
Usually up to 5 years, if required a residual of up to 40% can be structured into the loan in order to keep payments lower. The residual can be refinanced for a further period of up to 5 years at the end of the initial term.
Can I Finance a USED BOAT?
Absolutely, at least 50% of all boats financed are used. Typically, the boat would need to be no older than 15 years for this finance however, there are always exceptions. Recently someone financed a 1953 Halvorsen Bridgedeck Cruiser. You can also finance boats which are being privately sold.
with compliments of
Finlease (Australia) Pty Ltd
www.finlease.com.au
1300 FINLEASE (346 532)
July 2nd, 2008 — News
Sail Port Stephens 2009 – A regatta for everyone…
It gets a tick on all fronts….sound like a regatta you’d like to sail in ?
It’s all just a day’s sail or a two hour drive from Sydney…. and there’s easy access from Victoria and Queensland with direct flights into Newcastle airport at Williamtown – just 40 mins from the regatta centre….
Sail Port Stephens in April this year was a quiet little success, and the 175 odd yachties and their families and partners who participated in this year’s event have been talking about it ever since.
So lock it in your calendars and make sure you’re there next year !!
June 30th, 2008 — Cruising Stories
In 1854 seven Cornish fisherman had decided to leave behind the hard times they were experiencing at home and try their luck in the Australian gold rush. They were all shareholders in a fishing boat, a 37 foot Mounts Bay lugger called Mystery. The group were considering selling the boat to pay for their passages when it was suggested over a pint in the pub that they should just set sail in the Mystery.
The group set sail on 18th November 1854 and covered the 11,800 nautical miles to Melbourne in 116 days, stopping only in Cape Town for supplies and repairs.
153 years later sailor and adventurer Pete Goss was looking for a new challenge when he came across the story of the Mystery and decided to re enact the voyage. The project commenced in August 2007 with design and building of the boat. Spirit of Mystery was launched on 21st June and will be fitted out over the coming months. The boat is a close replica of the original Mystery. No plans were used to build these boats in 1854 and no craft from that era have survived to the present although the basic dimensions of Mystery are known. Fortunately plans for a Mounts Bay lugger were found in a report into a 1848 storm in Scotland which sank 124 boats greatly assisting designer and builder Chris Rees.
Goss will be sailing with a crew of three making it considerably less cramped than on the original voyage and there will be a few modern conveniences onboard that were unavailable in 1854 including safety and communication equipment. However Goss intends to sail and navigate the boat just as it was done on the original voyage using a sextant and celestial navigation. An engine has been fitted to the boat for legal and practical reasons but the intention is not use it on the voyage. There are no electrics apart from a solar panel for the satcom.
Goss hopes to have the boat completed in time to set off in October and be in Cape Town for Christmas.
No stranger to adventure Goss, a former Royal Marine has taken part many offshore yacht races and organised expeditions to the North Pole. He famously rescued fellow competitor Rapheal Dinelli in the 1996 Vendee Globe. His revolutionary catamaran Team Philips broke up in a storm in December 2000 on its way to begin “The Race” to be the fastest boat to sail around the world.
Click here to visit the Spirit of Mystery website.
June 27th, 2008 — News
Last month we posted a reminder that 121Mhz EPIRBs will no longer be supported after 1st February 2006 and commented on the advantages of the 406 Mhz EPIRB.
Boat operators in NSW should be aware that Ports and Waterways Minister Joe Tripodi has announced a new law which will come into effect on 1st July 2008. All vessels over 8m will be required to carry a 406mHZ EPIRB when 2 nautical miles or more from shore. Vessels under 8m are only recommended to carry a 406 Mhz EPIRB.
There were 141 EPIRB activations between January and March this year of which 108 were false alarms. This is obviously wastes a lot of time and money. In addition to providing quicker and more accurate position information when activated 406 EPIRBs are able to be individually identified. This enables the rescue authorities to eliminate most false alarms by contacting the vessels or owners when possible to confirm there is an emergency.
For more information contact AMSA or NSW Maritime.
Personally I think it would make sense to have every vessel carry an EPIRB whilst operating offshore. If you are to going force people to carry safety equipment the rules should applied across the board.
Is there any reason why a vessel under 8m is less likely to need one? Any comments?
