The Sailboat Cruiser

The Sailboat Cruiser is the occasional newsletter of sailboat-cruising.com and sets out to bring you the news, views and general musings of the writer - Dick McClary, a sailboat cruiser and creator/owner of sailboat-cruising.com.

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The Sailboat Cruiser #77
November '23

What's in This Issue:

• Green Power Maybe?


• 'The Hunter & the Gatherer';


• SkipperBlogs;


• Download Our eBooks!


• This Month's Mystery Boat;


• Used Sailboats for Sale;


• Used Sailing Gear & Equipment;


• Back Issues of The Sailboat Cruiser;

Green Power Maybe?

After all, a couple of people in my sailing club had them, and raved about them in that superior fashion of electric car owners.

Then I saw an article in Yachting Monthly Magazine -

'Electric Outboard Motors: We Test 13 Options'.

It seemed there was one clear winner, the Remigo.

With interest piqued I called the local stockist...

"Could I have a look at one?"
"Better than that, said proprietor Anthony Collins, you can try one out on the water."

First I took a look at one in his workshop; it seemed that the designer had thrown away the book on outboard motor design and started from scratch.

The Remigo looks like a daggerboard with a propellor on one end and a tiller on the other.

On the water, it was equally impressive. Once you got used to the fact that there was no twistgrip throttle - speed control was by sequentially pressing a button on top of the unit - operation was simplicity itself.

I had no way of telling how quickly we were going, but it seemed quicker than my 2.5hp 4-stroke Yamaha could manage - nor did I know when we'd run out of power, not having yet realised that all I had to do was look at the display to find out.

However, Anthony assured me that the motor was fully charged and that in eco mode we could toodle along at 2 knots for about 30 nautical miles, whereas a few more presses on the button would get us up to 5 knots and could then expect things to fizzle out after around 5nm. At three knots, you could expect a range of about 14nm.

Back alongside the jetty I noticed that the outboard bracket was not permanently attached to the unit. It stayed mounted on the dinghy transom and the unit lifted off it when not in use.

Forget about mounting it on a bracket on the pushpit of your sailboat - you just lift it aboard (it only weighs 12kg) and stow it in a locker. There's no fuel, oil or cooling water to run out of it.

I was mightily impressed - so much so that I'm now the proud owner of one!

I'm still not the slightest bit interested in an electric car though.

'Silent Yachting', the Main Dealer for Remigo Electric Outboards

The Hunter & the Gatherer, by Catherine Lawson & David Bristow

The first thing that struck me about the book (when I could finally prise it away from my wife) was its visual and tactile appeal. It's properly bound like a hardback, with an embossed cover and quality glossy pages most of which are enhanced by superb colour photographs.

The authors, Australians Catherine Lawson and David Bristow, are long-term liveaboard cruisers who live an off-the-grid lifestyle aboard their catamaran ‘Wild One’ with their young daughter Maya. Catherine tells us "I strive to own as little as possible and live for the family, undiscovered destinations, and keeping our wild places wild."

David says "I prefer to repair rather than to replace, to own less and live more" - two statements that tell us a great deal about their passions and their approach to living afloat.

Catherine - an erstwhile creator of recipes for travel magazines - is not always a fan of cookbooks, explaining that "invariably they call for ingredients that we don't have onboard and are rarely stocked in the remote harbour towns that we sail into".

As you will have guessed, this is a criticism that cannot be levelled at 'The Hunter & The Gatherer' in which all 160-odd innovative recipes are based on ingredients that can be:

• Harvested from the sea - fish, crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, crayfish and prawns), cephalopods (squid, octopus and cuttlefish) and molluscs prised from rocks or dug from the sand;
• Foraged ashore - fruit and vegetables;
• Grown aboard - herbs and greens;
• Purchased from local fishermen;
• Purchased from local markets.

Furthermore, the recipes are flexible with plenty of substitute ingredients suggested, and cater for personal tastes and dietary requirements. For example, there are recipes for:

• Those who prefer to avoid gluten, fructose, dairy or nuts; Vegan meals for those who are so inclined;
• Quick-to-Cook meals for when you are short on time or under sail, when the galley is not the place you want to be;
• One Pot meals for stovetop cooks and sailors who hate washing up;
• No-cook meals for flame-free things to eat;
• Campfire cooking meals over hot coals with mates and beers.

The writers have ensured that the book is easy to navigate with the contents set out at the front and a detailed recipe-by-recipe index at the back.

In all, this is a unique and very useful source of culinary inspiration for cruising sailors, and deserves a place aboard.

SkipperBlogs

From this one platform, you can:

• Create your own website;
• Publish regular Newsletters;
• Have your progress tracked on mapping software;
• Share your website articles via social media, and much more...

For those of you contemplating a cruising adventure at some point, I recommend that you download the free Basic version at SkipperBlogs.com from where you will be able to create your own website forming the basis of your personal platform.

Take a Look at Our eBooks!

This Month's Mystery Boat

Želimir Šarić thought that 'Plane to Sea' was a Grand Soleil 46.3, and after some research on the net, I'm sure that Želimir is absolutely correct.

So thank you Želimir, and well done.

Let's see how you all get on with this one...

If so, please let me know by clicking here...

Cruising Sailboats for Sale

The full list of monohulls and multihulls currently for sale can be seen at cruising-sailboats-for-sale.

Used Sailing Gear & Equipment

Among the latest items listed, we have:

• KVH TracVision TV6 Marine Satellite TV;
• Andersen & Barient Winches;
• Yanmar 2GM Diesel;
• Watt & Sea Cruising Hydrogenerator;
• 45lb CQR Anchor & Chain;
• Gill Foul Weather Gear;
• Yanmar Fuel Filters;
• Luff Hanked Dacron Staysail;
• Loos Tensioning Gauges;
• Mast & Whisker Pole;
• Winch Handles;
• Monitor Windvane Self-Steering Gear;
• Spinlock Deckvest 150 Lifejackets & Tethers;
• Parachute Anchor;
• New Harken Triple Block;
• Galvanised Turnbuckles;
• 35lb CQR Anchor;

Take a look at these and all the other stuff at used cruising gear for sale...

And finally...

And this newsletter can be a two-way thing. If you've read anything you'd like to comment on, or perhaps there's an event you'd like to see announced in a future newsletter, then please let me know.

See you next month!