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Safety is always a concern for those venturing out onto the world’s oceans. On yachts there are mandatory safety requirements, which include fire extinguishers, flares, running lights, sound making devices and PFDs. The adequacy of the list is questionable; a VHF radio should be obligatory as should a comprehensive medicine chest. A conch horn may…
I’ve been called a sailing traditionalist — perhaps because I grew up on a funky old 1924 schooner with tarred hemp anchor rodes, Egyptian cotton sails, and kerosene running lights. Alas, time moves on. It’s 2014! Ticky-tack is currently all the rage. Weak is fashionable. Shoddy is chic. And if I want to keep my…
Okay, so I’m a weather-wimp. I whine and complain if the temperature falls below, say, 78 degrees. I’m not ashamed to admit this. My wife Carolyn is a weather-wimp too. We’ve even received scientific reinforcement: a doctor in the Virgins told us the specific gravity of our blood samples were the same as Cruzan rum!…
Ship/Yacht/Boat launchings are such fun. A launching is the birthing of a yacht that months or years before was a mere concept. After much work, trial and tribulation a vessel is born; it is a time for celebration. In big ship launchings, especially the royal navy, a female royal is usually invited to give a…
Charlie loves wine. Ever since he got a touch of gout he slowed down on his beer drinking and took to wine. The French and Italians loved him more, the Germans and Brits made fun of him and the Americans were ambivalent. But Charlie never became a wine snob. In restaurants he even overlooked the…
Teaching your husband to reverse a boat trailer in an empty church car park, and the hard-won art of saying nothing at all.
Once again, we are in the Southern Hemisphere—this isn’t so bad, except for having to stand on your head all day. And the fact that everything is back-asswards. For instance, the south wind is cold and the north wind is warm. This ain’t so bad either, except it throws a lot of old English poetry…
Buying a used fiberglass boat isn’t easy. Many are as weak as my morals. A few are like my wife – looks good, but rotten to the core! Get a little closer and you’ll see the drooping transom, sagging rigging and wobbly bits. …but enough about my wife. Let’s refocus on fiberglass recreational watercraft. Many…
It’s a funny thing about absolutes but people are always trying to quantify them. I mean if something is perfect, that should be it. But, of course, nothing in life is. The word is an enigma. ‘Almost perfect’ shouldn’t exist. It’s the same as ‘exactly.’ It can’t be almost exactly; it either is exact or…
Every once in a while some idiot that I’m not particularly fond of begins to like me, and so I sing for ‘em. That usually solves the ‘budding friendship’ problem right there. To put it another way, I have a talent for making Bob Dylan songs sound worse than even he does! All of which…
Have you ever watched a TV show entitled ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’? I remember getting a few chuckles from that one a few years ago. But nowadays humor has descended into the depths of vulgarity, which sometimes makes you cringe with embarrassment or shake your head in despair at how base we have become….
Each evening, my wife Carolyn and I stroll the streets of Papeete in search of adventure. We almost always find it. Tahiti is an enthralling isle, the only place on our planet where so many sailors jump ship that you have to post a bond of US$1800 per person to step ashore. Yes, like the…
Catamarans have become the charter yacht of choice in the Caribbean. Every year more and more cats join the crewed yacht fleet while the bareboat companies vie for these multi-hulls as demand increases. Charlie is often called upon to teach catamaran sailing to neophytes. One of the first questions from Joe and Sheila, sixty-something students-for-a-week,…
Every port authority in the world has a few sadists, and the meanest and cruelest of these maritime professionals are often put in charge of the Designated Anchorage for Yachts. Exactly why this is internationally so, I am not sure—but it is. Trust me. These peoples’ sole qualification: They know nothing about—nor care about—those they…
Thousands of articles are written each year about the “Perfect Boat.” Amazingly, thousands of these vessels exist, mostly owned by (luckier still, eh?) marine journalists.
Sailboats, in fact boats in general, make noises when at anchor – and the more the boat rolls the more the noises increase. Some sailors are so attuned to their boat’s noises that they can instantly tell when something is amiss. When a boat rolls and some item in a locker, on a shelf or…
I’m exhausted by my marine exhaust system – or rather the engineering and construction thereof. I thought it would be dead simple – which was both dead-wrong and dead-stupid. I honestly thought I’d re-power my Amphitrite 43 in a lazy day or two while smiling the entire time. Sure, there’d be some small technical issues…
By now the Off Season is behind us. It’s a funny thing but by the end of the summer season, as August winds down, everyone in the tourism industry is ready for a break; restful weekends and holidays are anticipated as employees wave goodbye to the last tourists with a sigh of relief. But by…
Old Fogies with Old Engines… The title of this column isn’t a code phrase for geriatric sexual performance—really, is your mind that much in the gutter? Instead, it is an essay about old diesel marine auxiliaries. My new boat (well, new to me but built in 1981) has a FOUR-154 Perkins in it. At first,…
Charlie loves this phrase. It has two meanings: typically in cruising parlance it means to visit a destination and leave it in as good or better a state than when you arrived. This philosophy means that those coming after you will be welcomed rather than treated with suspicion, disdain or perhaps even hatred. Some cruisers…
Red Coral PropertiesOwner-verified on First Mate →Intracoastal Yacht SalesOwner-verified on First Mate →Caribbean Marine Surveyors LtdOwner-verified on First Mate →Harel Yacht BrokerOwner-verified on First Mate →Shelter Bay MarinaOwner-verified on First Mate →St. Croix MarineOwner-verified on First Mate →Christiansen Commercial Real EstateOwner-verified on First Mate →Crown Bay MarinaOwner-verified on First Mate →CarenantillesOwner-verified on First Mate →Marine TraveliftOwner-verified on First Mate →Parts & PowerOwner-verified on First Mate →Budget MarineOwner-verified on First Mate →Sevenstar Yacht TransportOwner-verified on First Mate →Offshore MarineOwner-verified on First Mate →Dolphin Water TaxiOwner-verified on First Mate →Golden Hind ChandleryOwner-verified on First Mate →Cay ElectronicsOwner-verified on First Mate →Smart Marine SolutionsOwner-verified on First Mate →Paradise Yacht ManagementOwner-verified on First Mate →Jolly Harbour Marina / Boat YardOwner-verified on First Mate →Every regatta and carnivalThe Caribbean season →Who pours the best sundowner?Vote — Best Waterfront Bar →