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The Sailboat Cruiser
The Sailboat Cruiser is the free monthly (OK, monthly-ish) 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 #69
October/November 2021
What's in This Issue:
If so, I'd like you to test something for me.I've spent hours this last week 'turbocharging' sailboat-cruising.com so that the pages load much faster - positively meteoric in fact.
If you have the time, please go to my
Home Page
and click a few of the links that take you around the site. You should get from page to page almost instantly.
If this isn't the case, please let me know.
Then come back here, and read on...
In the last couple of months there have been several accounts of orcas (aka killer whales) attacking sailboats in the North Atlantic off the coasts of Spain and Portugal, to the extent that Spain has banned small boats from some areas. The orca's strategy is to disable the boat by slamming into its rudder, which is clearly the weakest part of a boat's underwater structure.
More than one boat has had to be towed into harbour as a result, but currently no sinkings have come to light.
Scientists are doing their best to discover why these intelligent creatures are behaving in this way - my view is that the scientists may be over-thinking the issue.
Perhaps the orcas have realised just who the other species is that is devastating the fish stocks and polluting their environment with plastic rubbish and chemicals.
Maybe I'm attributing too much cerebral capability to these magnificent beasts - but it makes you think, doesn't it?
Video of sailboat under attack from 30 orcas...
Take it from someone who's got years of Caribbean Island Hopping under his keel - there's few, if any, sailboat cruising grounds that can compete with what the Windward & Leeward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean have to offer. But what's so special about these islands? Well, for starters:
- Constant warm north-east trade winds;
- Glorious sailing in the long ocean swells between the islands;
- Plenty of sheltered anchorages on the leeward (western) side of the islands;
- Islands just a daysail apart - there's no need for overnight passages unless you choose to make them;
- Good yachting services and facilities on the larger islands;
- Memorable beach bars and restaurants ashore;
- Scenic walks ashore to suit all ages and fitness levels;
- A sailing season throughout which all Canadians, most North Americans and many Europeans would otherwise be having to be dealing with
ice, snow, rain and other meteorological unpleasantness;
- Rum;
- Friendly, delightful local people.
Got your attention?
Right, let's cast off our shorelines and
go island hopping through these delightful Caribbean islands...
I'm referring to the island maps in the 'Caribbean Island Hopping' article referred to above. They're pretty good, don't you think?Of course, they were created by a far fairer hand than mine - that of the talented
Simon Udal
in fact.
Simon created the maps for 'Superyacht Publications Ltd' who kindly allowed me to use them in my article.
It's worth mentioning that their 'Superyacht Services Guides' are super-useful to the average sailboat cruiser as well as our upmarket cousins.
They cover all the main cruising areas of the world, so if you're looking to repair your bimini in the Bahamas, service your liferaft in Bora Bora or find a local beach bar, then the appropriate Guide will get you sorted.
What's more, you can get all the info in their online
Digital Guides...
For those sailors whose cruising grounds are in the tropics, the sailing season is about to start; for those in higher latitudes it has probably just ended - it's time to haul out and lay up ashore.But some things are best done before hauling out, while the boat's still afloat. For example, now's the time to get the sails down, flaked and bagged - and it's much easier to do with the boat head to wind, which she may well not be when laid up ashore.
And it's never a good idea to leave furling headsails in place; they have a habit of unfurling in a blow.
Condensation will have collected on internal engine surfaces throughout the season and this is now contained within the oil.
This can cause damage if left in the engine over the winter, so it should be changed along with the oil filters.
The oil should be warm and viscous or it won't drain properly, so now's the time to do it - just before hauling out.
So that's the easy bit done; now let's
make a start on the real work...
But here's a tip - If you're thinking of looking at a secondhand sailboat, or just want to be aware of what to look for - and when to walk away no matter what - then you really ought to take a look at
The Boat Buyer's Bundle...
First though, let's look back at 'Xenon', last month's Mystery Boat...
'Xenon' was correctly identified by Torsten, from Germany, as a
Sirius 40 DS.
Torston chose
Secrets of Sailboat Fishing
as his complementary eBook.
But let's see how you get on with this month's Mystery Boat...
Any ideas anyone?
If so, please let me know
by clicking here
We provide a free platform for owners (but not brokers) to advertise their sailboats for sale on our website. These are the latest submissions:
The full list of monohulls and multihulls currently for sale can be seen at
cruising-sailboats-for-sale.
It's always worth taking a look at what visitors to sailboat-cruising.com are getting rid of. Remember that one man's junk is another man's gold!Among other items this month, we have:
- B&G H3000 CPU;
- B&G H3000 GFD MONO Autopilot Display & Navpod;
- B&G Halcyon 2000;
- B&G Horizontal 213 Mast Head Unit;
- B&G ACP1 Autopilot Computer Processor;
- B&G ZG100 External GPS Antenna with Heading Sensor;
- Simrad SiriusXM Marine Satellite Weather/Audio Receiver with Shakespeare Antenna;
- Lowrance SonicHub2 Marine Audio Server;
- Monitor Windvane Self-Steering Gear;
- Dyer Dhow Midget Sailing Dinghy;
- Canvas Boat Cover;
- Manual Anchor Windlass.
Take a look at these and all the other stuff at
used cruising gear for sale...
And finally...
If you know anyone who might be interested in the contents of this newsletter, please forward it to them. It's not secret!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!
Dick McClary
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