Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

Experience

Preventing the loss of washboards during heavy weather sailing
It is critical that the main hatch be kept secured during heavy weather sailing. Yet washboards are difficult to handle in these times. Each ascent / decent of a crew member necessitates a dismantling and reassembly of the washboards. This involves replacing typically two to three washboards in the correct sequence and orientation to correctly fit. Performing this operation in difficult conditions makes it very likely that a board could be lost overboard. In particularly difficult situations, where the boat has rolled or pitch poled, the washboards tend to fall out and get lost further exacerbating a survival situation.

Dealing with cockroaches
Cockroaches are a common infesting insect in warm climates. They make boating life unpleasant, unhealthy, and lonesome.

Re-floating techniques after running aground
Every now then you will run aground, it is part of the life of an adventurous cruising sailor.

Keeping afloat after colliding with a waterborne object
The risk of colliding with a floating or waterborne object such as a whale, tree or a freight container is very low. Sadly marine experts believe two centuries of whaling may have reduced whale numbers to 1% of the original population. There are now believed to be as little as 10,000 humpback whales in the North Atlantic were 240,000 roamed (1.5m worldwide). Meanwhile the seas have become crowded with commercial shipping. Some countries in 2007 are increasing the number of ships in their fleets by 20% a year. There will be 7,000 container ships on the sea in 2008, the largest carrying 10,000 x 20ft container stacked 18 layers high on their decks. This increases the likelihood of container collision. Container collision sounds strange but piled high as described they fall off ships. Whilst some containers sink, others float just below the surface, depending on the buoyancy and packaging of the cargo they contain. The risk of colliding with a container is higher in busy shipping lanes and during winter and spring when storms make it more likely that containers are washed overboard from freighters. The problem with waterborne objects is keeping a look out for them. As they often reside just below the surface it is not practical to place a watch on the bow for days on end and they are completely imperceptible at night or in high seas.

Preventing line chafe
If a fibre line is loaded up and exposed to an edge, or anything rough or sharp, the back-and-forth rubbing motion exerted upon this point will cause the line to chafe in two. All running rigging (ropes leading through various blocks, and to different places of the masts, sails, tacks etc) are subject to chafe, be they halyards, topping lifts, leech-lines, bow-lines, down-haulers or furling lines on roller reefing gear. Sails themselves cause chafe in light inconsistent airs when they are not setting properly or in light conditions with a lumpy or rolling sea. These situations cause a sail to be pulling well for a few minutes, but when a roll comes through or the wind dies, the drive is knocked out of the sail causing it to slap around uselessly chafing itself and everything in its immediate orbit. The jib furling line on a roller reefing unit is particularly susceptible to chafe. Although it may appear to be belayed and motionless it is constantly subject to a slight loading-and-unloading back-and-forth movement as the head sail strains and or the vessel bow crests and falls off waves and swells.

Dealing with the three different GPS conventions for describing a waypoint
GPS has forever transformed the art of navigation, but there are sublties of expressing a position that need to be understood. There are three different GPS conventions for describing a waypoint, it is imperative for accuracy of position that you understand which convention you are using aboard and format of information you are being provided from external sources.

Quick and easy leak repairs
Leaks

Reef navigation
Sailing in reef strewn waters is very dangerous. The only safe way to operate in tight reef waters is to use eyeball navigation. To do this you need to get at least six feet above deck level to view the patterns on the water.

If you cruise extensively invest in a powered anchor windless
Manually hauling in long chains and anchors, either with a manual winch or without, is a slow, backbreaking, exhausting task. This is especially the case in very hot climates.

How to make effective curtains
It is difficult to strike the balance between curtains that are both effective and do not detract from the appearance of the yacht.