NUTS & BOATS
The twice monthly newsletter for to-be and already-are cruisers Issue #10 - November 15, 2003
Publisher: Trish Lambert
www.takehersailing.com
(C) P. Lambert 2003
Welcome to new subscribers who have signed up through www.takehersailing.com! IN THIS ISSUE
THIS ISSUE'S COOL CRUISING QUOTEThere are two kinds of adventurers:
those who go truly hoping to find adventure
and those who go secretly hoping they won't. William Least Heat Moon
Send me your cool cruising quotes and I will include them in future issues!
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who is interested in the cruising lifestyle. If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and would like to get your own free subscription, send an email. OUR PRIVACY POLICY
A CRUISER'S EYE VIEW
Nehalennia Crosses the Gulf by Skip Randall Note from Trish: If you haven't yet read the November Cruising Musing on the Take Her Sailing site, you've missed a treat. Skip went "John Steinbeck" on us with a lovely story about a day that he left the dock area and adventured inland. In this issue of Nuts & Boats, Skip regales us with his story of taking Nehalennia on a short passage at the end of October, along with an index of statistics (he keeps me giggling by sending me these indices whenever he does a big project). We were definitely planning on moving the boat from Tarpons Springs (Florida) to Niceville (near Fort Walton Beach, same state) this fall, but I hadn't planned on making the passage this soon. Trish's work commitments were keeping her in Houston till at least the beginning of November, and I wasn't willing to do the trip on my own. But a pair of fortuitous circumstances arose at the end of October that gave me a nudge. The first was a great weather window, with a high sagging down over the Gulf of Mexico and the forecast calling for fair weather and easterly winds for several days. The second was my neighbor at Anclote Isles Marina, Mike, offering to crew for me, IF we could complete the trip by the end of the weekend. Nehalennia, Celtic goddess of seafarers and namesake of our Baba 30, seemed to be whispering in my ear "Go now, go now." So we went. Mike and I cast off at 3PM October 30th, motored out of the Anclote River, and hung a hard right at the channel entrance to shoot the gap between Anclote Key and the mainland. Once clear of the key we set a course to the northwest and picked our way through a six-mile maze of crab pots. After an hour of this (not soon enough!) we had negotiated that minefield and were in the deeper Gulf waters with five-foot swells on our starboard stern quarter and a nice fresh breeze on our starboard beam. A committee of dolphins saw us off into open water by playing in our bow wake for a few minutes. Up went the sails, off went the engine, and I finally shook off most of my getting-underway jitters. Nehalennia was happy, doing what she was designed to do after a summer sitting inert in the slip. At sundown we reefed the main, furled the jib, and set the staysail, which proved to be a wise move--the winds were up to 20+ knots by 10PM. All night we were nicely making way at 5-1/2 knots under double-reefed main and staysail alone. On the midnight watch I was alone with the stars, the sea, and my thoughts, which progressed from pleasant memories of the summer in Tarpon Springs to happy anticipation of our new home in Choctawhatchee Bay and my new job in De Funiak Springs (I'm going to be part-time physician assistant for a family practice doctor there). The next day was one of the finest I've had on the water. It was clear, warm, and sunny with a consistent 15-knot breeze on the beam. We set the jib after breakfast, and the GPS showed a speed over ground from the mid-fives to low-sixes all day long. Otto the autopilot steered reliably over the swells. Mike and I chatted in the cockpit, took turns napping and reading, and thoroughly enjoyed the fine day. On the midnight watch, Halloween served up a few tricks and some fine treats. The main trick was an occasional rogue beam-on swell that rocked Nehalennia from rail to rail and confounded Otto, prompting a great flapping of sails, the shrill off-course alarm, and five minutes of hand steering to get back on course. These annoying episodes also invariably shook the off-watch crew awake. The treats were the brilliant star-filled sky (dominated by my old friend Orion), the lovely crescent moon, and the sight of dolphins backlit by the bioluminescent white-green glow stirred up by the bow wake. At 5AM I was off-watch and sleeping soundly when Mike hailed me awake. "We're two miles off St. Andrew's Bay entrance, Captain, time to get up." It was too dark to safely shoot the entrance, so we tacked back and forth to buy time, sip some coffee, and await the dawn. In the yellow-orange glow of first light, we struck the sails, started the engine and sighted the channel markers with the binocs. By 9AM we were tying off the lines at a slip in the Panama City municipal marina. Over breakfast at Bayou Joe's we shared our thoughts on the trip and agreed that it was a fine passage. SKIP'S GULF PASSAGE INDEX Number of nautical miles traveled: 220 Elapsed time: 42 hours Total hours of sleep obtained: 11 (6 for Skip, 5 for Mike) Top speed: 7.4 knots (surfing down a wave face) Average speed: 5.3 knots Best 24 hour-run: 134 n-miles (5PM 10/30to 5PM 10/31...not too shabby for a heavy 30 footer with two old men aboard) Number of ginger snaps consumed: 75 Cups of coffee consumed: 20 Number of involuntary, unwelcome, #*!!@#*! seawater showers taken: 4 (two each for captain and crew, thanks to seas taken over the beam rail)
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS You've probably figured out that I'm always up to something. Well, in addition to tackling the next ebooklet in the Take Her Sailing Cruising series, I'm preparing to launch an online discussion board. I know there are other boards on the Web, but I also know that there are people who lurk on those boards and feel hesitant to participate, and am hoping that this will be a place they feel comfortable enough to post their thoughts and questions. The Take Her Sailing board will be aimed at those of you who are at the beginning of your cruising adventure, and I am hoping it will address many of your questions and concerns. I am also hoping, therefore, that those of you who HAVE cruising experience will come to the board to provide input and feedback. So...to the call for volunteers: I am looking for a few people who would be willing to moderate sections of the board. I haven't finally decided what those sections will be, because I think it depends on who steps forward to collaborate on this. So far, my thoughts are running to a section specifically on boats, one on cruising in general (including destinations), and one for first mates...but nothing is cast in stone, and your suggestions are most welcome. As moderator, you DO NOT need cruising experience. In fact, it might be better if you don't. You do need to be sufficiently interested in the theme of your section to encourage activity, drop in questions and comments to stir participation, and interact with me from time to time via email to keep improving the board. If you are interested in moderating a section of the Take Her Sailing discussion board, drop me a line at trish@takehersailing.com and we'll take it from there!!!! And even if you don't want to moderate, I do hope that you will participate on the board once it's launched!
CRUISING STRATEGY
Thoughts on Anchoring By Trish LambertIt's mid-November, and cruisers are on the move. The very active 2003 hurricane season is virtually over, the snowbirds are moving south, and cruising havens in tropical climes are looking forward to an influx of visitors. The music of anchor chain leaving the hawse hole will once again sound in warm weather anchorages and concerns about holding fast no matter what will once again be active in the minds of captains and crew. The physics of secure anchoring are well-covered in any number of books and articles; I touch upon this a bit in ebooklet #3 of the Take Her Sailing Cruising Series when covering the equipment that comprises an anchoring system. In this article, I highlight three principles that are system-independent...well, NEARLY independent. These principles are especially important when dropping the hook in unfamiliar waters. The underlying theme of all three principles is the need to get out fast if conditions change. In my experience, increases and/or shifts in wind that turn an initially good anchorage in a dangerous one occur in the middle of the night when I am groggy with sleep and not firing on all cylinders. Therefore, I like to think through escape tactics early, either during or right after the anchoring process. I also want to be certain that the ground tackle can be brought up quickly no matter how much the boat is bouncing. Principle 1: Anchor OUT, not IN.
Don't go into shallower waters just because you can, especially if you are in an unfamiliar anchorage that could become dangerous if conditions change. Get in far enough to be protected, and stay out far enough to make escape easy.
Principle 2: Calculate your escape route.
As you enter an anchorage, make written or mental note of the bearing(s) that got you in. After the hook is down, calculate the reverse track that will get you out and record it in your log or someplace that will be easy to get to in the dead of night. Knowing the exact escape route ahead of time will be invaluable when you're working in the dark and landmarks are all but invisible.
Principle 3: Be able to cut and run FAST.
If you've read THS ebooklets #2 and/or #3, you know that I consider an electric anchor windlass (with good manual back up) an essential piece of safety gear aboard a cruising boat. This opinion was forged during several midnight "anchorage escape drills" over my cruising career. The ability to get the anchor off the bottom and the boat moving quickly is important in these drills, and an electric windlass gets the job done without hurting human bodies in the process. A manual windlass can be slow, and can tempt an adrenaline-pumped crew person to speed things up by pulling up the anchor hand-over-hand. This in turn can cause serious damage to his or her body which may not be noticed until the crisis has passed. I have met several folks on the water who suffer the lingering effects (mainly on the back) of this kind maneuver.
If you elect not to install an electric windlass, it is especially important to think through how you will get the anchor up fast (and safely for you and the boat) in worsening conditions, when the boat may be bouncing in choppy waters and you may be getting pelted with winds and/or rain. Make sure you have whatever equipment is necessary to at least get the ground tackle off the bottom quickly so that you can get the boat moving; the rest of the rode can be pulled in after things have calmed down some.
These principles have proven themselves time and again in my travels. After all, the longer you cruise the more likely you will be faced with midnight anchoring drills, no matter how bullet-proof your anchoring system is. Adopting of policy of thinking about escaping an anchorage as you are arriving there will really help you need to get out fast.
AUDIO CD PRE-RELEASE SPECIAL THINKING ABOUT HOLIDAY GIFTS?
HOW ABOUT GIVING A CD OF BOOKLET #1? I am in the process of creating an audio version of the THS Series booklet #1: Cruising on a Boat: Joining the World's Largest Village. This is NOT a verbatim version of the print booklet. Though I cover the same information, I do so in a conversational style rather than just reading the book into a microphone. I am making the CD available to Nuts & Boats subscribers for advance purchase, with delivery on your doorstep NO LATER THAN December 15. When the product gets officially added to the THS catalog, it will retail for $15.97 plus shipping. Purchase it in advance for the SAME price as the print booklet. That's $11.97 (plus shipping at $4.95 for U.S. Priority Mail; check with me for other domestic and for international rates). Until November 20th, Advance purchase the CD of Booklet #1 for $11.97
| 
