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Mary Celeste
On November 7, 1872, the brig Mary Celeste sailed from New York, bound for Genoa, Italy and carrying a cargo of alcohol in barrels. She was commanded by Benjamin Spooner Briggs of Marion,...
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St. Elmo's Fire
We were off Cape Hatteras in a thunderstorm, and I went forward to hand the main. As I looked up I saw that the mast and rigging were glowing blue. Cool, I thought, St. Elmo's Fire. The skipper thought...
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Important Stuff
Marine insurance is the oldest form of insurance on the planet. Lloyd's of London, where it all began, is still a major player. It began in a coffee house where shipowners gathered each day.Used to be...
View ArticleChecklists
Checklists are necessary for safe sailing. A good source of ideas for improving your boat and your preparation are checklists published for big races - just Google "race checklist sailing." I found...
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Memento Mori
This photo shows my father in about 1973, when he was 51 years old - my age. We were in St. John of the U.S. Virgin Islands for a family vacation, and we'd chartered a very good 20 foot sloop. In this...
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Tack Hooks
Journeyman was originally designed for roller reefing, but now she has old fashioned reefing, so called "jiffy reefing." When I bought her there was no very good way to secure the tack, and I used to...
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Stove fiddles
Journeyman has a two burner Origo alcohol stove. It is not pressurized but burns quite hot and clean. I am very happy with it. The stove lives in a stainless box which contains spills and is easy to...
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Parts list
These are the parts I use in winterizing Journeyman's Westerbeke 12B engine, a 10 H.P. Diesel. The parts add up - $152.97! I could save a few bucks buying an aftermarket oil filter, but filters are...
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Wrench sizes
A great time and temper saver is a list of the wrenches you use for occasional tasks. Reaching the transmission dip stick ("trans. 11/16 socket") or engine zinc ("9/16 crescent") may require the...
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Bungee hatch holder
A good way to hold a cockpit hatch lid open is with stout bungie cord, as shown here. The slight amount of stretch required to get the cord over, for example, a sheet cleat makes it very secure, much...
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Toolbox
Here are five handy items for a boat's toolbox. On the left is a calipers, useful for accurately measuring the diameter of line, standing rigging and bolts. Next is a spool of stainless steel seizing...
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Chock
When I got Journeyman both bow chocks were original equipment and a little small for my taste. I have mentioned before that my mooring is exposed (a five mile fetch to the west) and I pay close...
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How to Tie a Bowline?
My son Willie can tie a bowline with his feet. Pretty good.A few years ago I sailed to Bermuda with a very accomplished sailor. (Circumnavigated in his 60 foot schooner when in his 20's, in the...
View ArticleMy First Yacht
The New Yorker once ran a cartoon of a fellow lettering his yacht's name - "My First Yacht"- while leaning over the transom. The name was upside down.I did have a slightly inspired idea for a yacht...
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Flashlight holder
I use little Mag-Lites on Journeyman, the ones that take AA cells. The Mag-Lites are rugged, waterproof, bright and focusable, and you can keep one in your pocket at night on watch.I keep one just...
View ArticleBowline Strength Test - Conventional Wisdom Bites the Dust
My November 13 post was about the "correct" way to tie a bowline. Searching the web, I came across some comparison testing of the correct and incorrect methods...
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Peter Arno
Peter Arno was a New Yorker cartoonist in the middle decades of the last century. His cartoons were often politically incorrect - he might have said risque - even then. The top one is from 1941, the...
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Lifeboat
While picking up my son (he who can tie a bowline with his feet) at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, I saw some modern lifeboats and took a few pictures.Modern lifeboats are completely covered and have...
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The Shipping Man
A friend of mine, Matt McCleery, has written a book - The Shipping Man. It's a nice tale of a money manager's sudden infatuation with owning a ship, apparently a disease with no hope of cure. It made...
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Yacht Names
I've written about yacht names before, see the January 21, 2010 post. Here are a few that have occurred to me lately. Feel free to use or suggest them - perhaps you'll let me know by comment if you...
View ArticleTonnage
In England sailors until fairly recently described a yacht as, for example, a "seven ton cutter." That didn't mean a yacht weighing seven tons, but rather a yacht with a useful interior space of about...
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Plimsoll
A fundamental aspect of seaworthiness, but one which a yachtsman may forget, is reserve buoyancy. A square rigger deeply laden with cargo did indeed "batten the hatches" before going to sea, for if a...
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Bulbous
Bows, that is. At higher speeds, most of the energy driving a displacement hull is wasted on wave creation, including at the bow. To the extent wave making can be minimized, the efficiency of the hull...
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Is Anyone Not Amazed?
Is anyone not amazed by Banque Populaire V's smashing of the Jules Verne record for non-stop circumnavigation, just completed? Here are the stats: 29,002 miles covered, time elapsed 45d 13h 42m 53s,...
View ArticleNew York Minute
There's boat name for you, if you own a fast racing boat. It's slang for real quick, as in "I'll have your order in a New York minute." Johnny Carson once said it's the interval between a Manhattan...
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