Things You Didn't Know You Need on Your Boat

There are a number of things I have on my boat that I wouldn't want to be without. I never would have guessed when I started out I would make use of these things. Here are some of those things, and if it isn't obvious, how I use them.

ELECTRIC CARVING KNIFE: (HUH???) Yeah. You can get "Memory Foam" pretty cheaply (right now, $100 for twin-sized at Wal-Mart). A layer of memory foam makes most berths markedly more comfortable. However, you will have to cut it to fit, and electric carving knives cut all kinds of foam very well.

DREMEL: Probably not a surprise to see that, but I didn't realize how much I would use it when I first started sailing. Among other things, it cuts PVC pipe extremely well, and PVC pipe can be handy for all sorts of things (not boat plumbing, however -- boats flex too much for rigid plumbing).

BARKEEPER'S FRIEND: (in the dry form and the spray form, but not the liquid). This product gets up all kinds of stains.

FORMULA 4-0-9: Does a great job of cleaning many things, but it won't get rust stains up (however, Barkeeper's Friend will).

SNATCH BLOCKS: Snatch blocks open to clasp the line it will be working, and can then be attached to all sorts of things, including any spot on a perforated toe rail and the base of stanchions (be careful about how much strain you put on your stanchions). Many people recommend keeping them out of sight when they're not being used as they are a tempting target. New ones cost around $170 and up, but I have gotten mine at marine flea markets for $20 - 30. They can be used for all sorts of things and can be incredibly useful in an emergency.

CONCENTRATED LIQUID BOULLON: It comes in several forms, including foil packs and small jars. You *can* use real boullon when cooking without having to store the leftovers in your finite refrigerated space.

MAYONNAISE: It enhances many dishes and sandwiches. It does not have to be refrigerated (read the label -- it even says that!) Mayonnaise actually has a high acid content and is inhospitable to salmonella. It isn't the mayonnaise that grows food poisoning bacteria -- it's the food it's mixed with. So *always* use a clean knife or spoon to scoop it out. By the way, refrigerate any left over pasta or rice -- or feed the crabs with it. Pasta grows salmonella very easily. But keep your jar of mayonnaise free of contamination and you can use it for months. The one I'm using now has been open for five months (including hot summer months). I learned this from my mother-in-law, who kept her mayonnaise, opened, in a cabinet. She was French, and when I questioned her about this, informed me rather archly that the French had invented mayonnaise and that she knew a bit about it (she did -- she studied cooking at the Cordon Bleu in Paris). 'Nuff said for me!

P-TOUCH LABEL MAKER: I label all my storage boxes. My top companionway step is actually a small storage box. Everything that goes in there has a "1" on it (made by the P-Touch, because those labels stick so well and last forever). 95% of the time, whatever tool I need is in that little box. I also have everything labeled that goes in my cockpit box. It makes it much easier to put things away. P-TOUCH labels are impervious to weather. I know someone who has had his headsail train track labeled for years with where the track should be for close-hauled, broad reach, etc. All the lines on my boom are labeled: topping lift, top reef, bottom reef, etc. My line clutches are labeled: spinnaker, headsail halyard, mainsail halyard, etc. This makes things much easier for people new to my boat. 

KNEE PADS: Once you have them, you'll keep them handy.

SAILING GLOVES: Don't give me that macho attitude that real sailors don't wear gloves! If "macho man" cuts his hand or gets a serious friction burn out of pride, he's still a handicapped crew member. Get gloves and wear them. I keep them in my "skipper's cockpit box" -- I'll write about that shortly -- so they're always handy. That way I always put them on. 

I would love to hear from other posters regarding things they have found useful enough on their boat to let them take up some of their finite storage space. I know this board can be hard to respond to. If you can't do that, just email me at

Rakuflames@gmail.com

I'll be glad to post it and give you the credit. I know I have lots to learn from you guys. Bring it on!

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Why Sailing is not Like Driving a Car, No. 2

In yesterday's entry I wrote about how important it is to train your crew well, teaching even total newcomers some useful skill that you can count on in a pinch.

For how to teach, I used the example of how one club instructor put her hands over her mouth to force her to not give too many prompts when her students should have been performing independently.

While teaching sail school, she had realized that her students couldn't dock a sailboat unless they could do it without her giving them a single prompt, and she had her hands over her mouth as they approached the safety boat to dock next to it.

Last night I happened to speak with the father of this instructor. Her father said that she had been steering their tiller sailboat for 10 years when she signed up for driver's ed at school. Neither she nor her parents expected any problems. She was a straight-A student, and many students took "Driver's Ed" for the easy A of it.

Not this young lady. She was flunking driver's ed. HUH? NOBODY flunks driver's ed!

So her dad took her to a large, empty parking lot one Sunday, one without parking bumpers or other barriers, to see what was going on.

She started out driving straight, just fine. He didn't see a problem. Then he told her to turn left -- and she turned the car right!

She was handling the steering wheel like a tiller!

So if you have a crew member struggling with some basic skill, isolate that skill and watch carefully what is going on. Several months ago, I did this with a sailor I knew. He had been sailing the Catalinas for five years but his movement across the water was often erratic and unpredictable. He obviously struggled with tacking to the point that he would know he was going to run aground on a known high point, but seemed unable to turn the boat in time to get out of the way.

So I went out with him, and discovered that he really didn't have any solid idea of how to tack the boat. He just tried something new each time, hoping he would figure it out and get it right (it turned out that someone had told him to do this -- see my many references about people who give one bad advice!)

I wrote a very detailed, 15-step method for tacking and gave it to him. He said he would read it and study it, and agreed to go out with me on one of the little 16.5' Catalinas to sort it out.

After reading the list, he politely canceled the sailing date.

He canceled s similar date with someone else.

Finally he said to me one day, "I just want to be the best sailor I can." I said, "Then go out with me and let's sort this out."

So we did, and I and my list of things to do were driving him crazy. Finally he said, "Just let me do it my way," and I said "OK."

Turned out he was doing everything right -- except for one thing: he didn't know where to start the tack. Somewhere in sail school he had not learned that (probably because instructors always prompted  him -- too much "help"). So he would, say, have the wind nearly astern when he started the tack. Of course the boat would make a broad, slow turn, and it might end anywhere, including moving in a complete circle, ending where he had been before.  If you don't tack with a plan, how will you know when to end it? Or he might not have had enough speed by the time he got to the "no-go" zone, and the boat would swing back over to starboard.

All I had to do was remind him of the "no go" zone, and explain that he should sail along, say, the starboard side, build up speed, spot where he wanted to end, move through the "no go" zone -- and stop the tack.

He did it perfectly the first time -- with no prompts. Then he did it perfectly three more times.

So then we expanded the concept to a controlled jybe, keeping the boom close to center so there wouldn't be a huge snap when the sail picked up the wind on the other side. Then he did THAT perfectly with no prompts.

So then we just sailed around, and he started calling all the moves very well: "prepare to tack," and I had to hustle to keep up with him, because he now knew exactly what he was doing. Acting as skipper and calling all the shots, sometimes he tacked and sometimes he jybed, getting it all right every single time.

Meanwhile, the wind shifted to northerly. Uh-oh! When the wind is from the north, to get into the marina you have to sail up a narrow north-south canal to get to the entrance. It certainly isn't impossible, but unless you have a motor, you have to make a series of short, quick tacks -- or run aground at a place where this man had been notorious for running aground.

No problem this time!. He took charge as skipper, executed the tacks crisply and accurately, turned into the club's basin, and expertly sailed the little boat into its slip. He told me what to do, when to do it, and used one sail, expertly managed, to get the boat home -- just as he had been doing most of the afternoon.

Give too many prompts, and you keep your crew member from learning. This person's problem with tacking is the most concrete and perfect example I can think of to demonstrate just how important it is to let anyone you're teaching to perform completely independently, even if you see them making a mistake.

If they make a mistake, discuss it *afterwards.* Give them a chance to practice it, and when they get to that point on the next attempt, put your hands over your mouth if you have to, but DO NOT PROMPT THEM OR GIVE THE CLUES. Just don't. Discuss it afterwards.

Even then, don't tell them what they did wrong. ASK them if they know what mistake they made. Give them time to think. Give them a chance to learn.

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Why Sailing is not Like Driving a Car, No. 1

Two days ago I wrote about how a sailor and his two friends ended up in a lot of trouble, going way too fast to be able to control the boat in winds and waves much too big for the sails they had up (which included a giant asymmetrical spinnaker). The title of it is "Too Much Sail Up!"

Nothing like that ever happens in a car. Cars aren't moved around by wind, waves, and current. This is why we get speeding tickets -- because we have such effective ways to slow our cars down. In the article named above, Dick ended up in a very dangerous situation because sailboats don't have brakes -- and because no one else on the boat knew how to steer her well.

The problem is that most of the people who read this blog are going to end up in a situation somewhat like Dick's some day -- unless it's happened already. Even then, something just as dangerous could happen to us again. And, like Dick, as our enthusiasm and confidence grows, we'll start inviting other people to sail with us, including some people who perhaps have never sailed before or who have very litttle experience. We'll think "I know everything I need to know to get my boat and friends in safely," but it doesn't always work out that way. All the adults on your boat should learn some skill that can help in a pinch, even if it's just "tailing" the sheets as you change a tack, or steering for short distances.

I'm going to list some reasons sailing a boat is different than driving a car, and explain a few things I feel are important about those differences. This is important because people new to sailing will tend to think about sailing as they think about driving. It's important that they know the differences.  I invite *anyone* who has a similar example comparing driving to sailing to send me an email at

Rakuflames@gmail.com

I know it can be hard to participate on this board and I want to fix that.

For now, please send only things you've noticed have to be done very differently on a sailboat than in a car. If it works well, we will open the blog up to other topics later. I have always wanted this board to be more interactive, and this may be one way to do it.

So here's some big difference between driving and sailing that occurred to me this morning. I hadn't really thought about this first one one before:

WHEN WE DRIVE, we drive in two dimensions. We're driving on what geometry calls a two-dimensional plane. No matter where we go, unless the car becomes airborne in an accident, we only have to deal with flat surfaces. We don't have to worry about whether the keel is going to catch on something. We don't have to worry about whether a mast is going to hit something. Length ("Are we there yet, Daddy? Are we there?") is an issue. Width (is that oncoming truck crossing the center line?) is an issue. But we don't have to worry about what is under or over us.

BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we sail in three dimensions. We have to pay attention to what is above and below us as well as what is all around us. Driving is like moving over a long piece of paper. Sailing is like moving through a very large tube.

WHEN WE DRIVE, it's very clear where our car is supposed to be. This makes both our car and other people's cars much more predictable than boats.

BUT WHEN WE SAIL, except in rare circumstances, there are no "lanes" on the water when sailing. Even when in a channel, often there's no hard and fast rule about which side of the channel to be on. I try to stay to the starboard side of the channel when I can, but if a section of channel is "shoaling," or starting to fill up with sand, I may have to move more to center or even port side of the channel so my keel won't play tag with the bottom.

WHEN WE DRIVE, we have brakes.

BUT WHEN WE SAIL, the closest thing we have to brakes is to put the boat in reverse. This takes several seconds. First you have to slow down in forward to a dead crawl. Then you have to shift into neutral, and then into reverse. The time we're most likely to do this is while docking, and timing can be critical. Tricky judgments have to be made at that point, so we don't give the boat too much throttle in reverse, but enough to keep from hitting that big cement pier that's coming closer and closer to our bow. (Of course if you are bringing your boat in stern first, that's all changed. You're in reverse, and now you have to move your gear shift from reverse, to neutral, to forward.)

WHEN WE DRIVE, steering is simpler. Unless we're driving on a very slippery surface such as ice, steering is easy.  There's a direct relationship between how much you turn the steering wheel on a car and exactly how far that car turns. That's why we can change lanes safely as well as parallel park without causing a traffic jam. It's very clear when to stop a turn, and the car straightens out immediately. That's because the car has traction.

BUT WHEN WE SAIL, we don't want traction. We want the boat to glide as effortlessly through the water as possible. The things that can give us traction in the water, such as barnacles and other crud on the hull, are bad, and we work hard to get rid of them.

In addition, because of lack of traction on a sailboat, deciding when to end a turn is trickier. We may spot a point on the land that we want to be the end of our turn, but we have to stop turning the wheel or pushing the tiller before we get to that point because the boat glides with no traction. It will continue to turn after we have "centered up" the wheel or tiller.


That's a very short and incomplete list of some of the important differences. Why waste blog space on it? If you're going to sail with beginners, you have to lead them past that stage where they're clueless to a point where they can seamlessly step up to their assignment and know how to do the job. If you have to go up to the bow to do something difficult like changing a sail, the boat has to be under control by a helmsman who understands the differences between driving a car and piloting a boat.

And unless you train them well, beginners will look to their driving skills to help them out. While there's some overlap, the differences are important and have to be acknowledged.

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Chart Plotter or No Chart Plotter?

       Or, There’s more than one way to get from here to there.

May 12, 2013

 

On sailing forums online, you’ll sometimes see heated debates over whether people should use chart plotters or not. The people arguing in favor of them point out their compactness and ease of use. It can be hard to find a place to spread out a chart in the cockpit, and on smaller boats, even the so-called “chart table” in the cabin won’t be big enough. I use mine as an addition to the galley.

The arguments of those opposed to their use pretty much boil down to “reliance on electronics makes you stupid.” There are all sorts of varieties of those arguments, some descending into the absurd (“What if all the satellites went out at once? What would you do then? Huh? HUH???”)

Here’s a picture of mine. The model is Garmin 441S (the S stands for “sounder,” because you can connect a depth sounder to it, and I strongly recommend that.)

If you look at the picture, you’ll see a representation of my boat as she approaches the entrance to a channel. It shows a line for me to follow, where the channel markers are, and the depths of the waters surrounding my boat. It shows the path I’ve chosen because I’ve saved the entrance to that channel as a “waypoint,” and told the chart potter to guide me there. What’s not to love?

Well, a couple of things. First of all, as you get all that detail, you lose the bigger picture. Without that bigger picture, you might be entering the wrong channel, just as an example of one thing that can go wrong. For another, the chart plotter is only as good as the information you put into it, and it is fairly complicated to learn how to put the waypoints in. It’s easy to make a mistake entering the numbers. So unless you’re just a little bit anal and double check what you’ve put in, you could end up going somewhere you didn’t intend.

Second, although they will shortly be coming out with a chart plotter that remedies this problem, the chart plotter I have will cheerfully steer me onto a sandbar if I don't put in a path around it, a fairly complicated thing to do, or a reef (they can really do a lot of damage to your boat), or through a restricted area (where I live you will get to meet either the Coast Guard or the Air Force, depending on where you’ve wandered). In other words, until the new generation comes out, they can’t pick a safe route for you. You can use your chart plotter badly and end up in a pickle.

Third, they can malfunction. My chart plotter started telling me that I was always at latitude 32º, which runs roughly through the middle of Georgia, while I live near the midline of Florida. Every waypoint I had saved came up as being at latitude 32º. I took it back to the store, and they told me it needed a software update. So if you get a chart plotter, check the manufacturer’s website from time to time. Your chart plotter has to be able to talk the same language as the signals it’s receiving, and sometimes that will mean an update.

That takes us back to paper charts. You really should have paper charts of any waters you’re going to sail. You can get the big picture, study it in detail, note where the high spots and reefs are, and get a global feeling for where you’re going. You can pick your waypoints by latitude and longitude on the big chart, and then enter them that way on the chart plotter (as I said, double check afterwards and make sure they’re right.)

However, you can zoom in and zoom out with your chart plotter. The more you zoom in, the less you have of the bigger picture, but the more detail you have about the immediate area you’re in. You can’t zoom in on a paper chart. You can even hook the chart plotter up to your computer and get a larger view if you want (personally, I don’t risk having my computer in the cockpit – too many things can happen to it, from a drink being spilled on it to having someone step on it.)

The paper chart, for instance, will show you where two channels intersect. The chart plotter will not only show you that, but show you where your boat is as well, so you know exactly where to turn. You wouldn’t think channel intersections would be confusing, but on the water, they can be difficult to sort out, especially when you first start sailing.

On this chart plotter, the more shallow water is darker, and the deeper water is lighter, showing very clearly where the intersection is. I’m just about to make a 90º turn to port at this point in order to turn into the east-west channel. You can also see the depth of the water under my boat, which at 18.6’ is a clear indication that I’m in the channel.

If you look to the northwest of the boat, you’ll see some green. It looks like an island, but it’s not. That’s the chart plotter letting me know that the water in that area goes from very deep to very shallow, very rapidly (I mentioned that in another article; here’s a visual representation of it). In rare extreme tides, that area will be above the water, which is why it’s green. While you’ll see that area as shallow on the paper chart, seeing where my boat is puts that danger right in my face. Suppose I were very close to that spot? I might not have time to look at the paper chart and estimate (which is all I would be able to do) how close I was to it.

The chart plotter can tell you a lot of things. It will give you your speed over ground, or the current time, or what time it estimates you will get to the waypoint you’ve selected. These are all choices you make in the menus, and learning to wade through the menus will take some time and dedication. By zooming in and out, you will get all the information on the paper chart. In addition it will have easy access to information about tides and currents.

So where do I sit on this debate? Obviously I’m not opposed to the use of chart plotters, but I think most people who argue about them miss one of their best features: they can really help you learn how to read a paper chart. (Of course, the people saying that chart plotters are crutches for lazy sailors have been sailing a long time, and, I think, don’t remember how complicated it is to learn all this stuff.) I recommend having a crew member take the latitude and longitude off the chart plotter and on to the paper chart every half hour, so you can mark your course. You can use a grease pencil and remove the marks when you’re done if the chart is waterproof.

You’ll learn a lot about using your paper chart from this practice. In addition, in your cruising log, note the time as well as the latitude and longitude. Then, if your chart plotter should go out (and that does happen), you’ll have a good idea of where you are, and a good idea of how fast you’re moving across the water. With that information, if the chart plotter should go out, you’ll be able to use the paper chart much more effectively. (Update: someone on Cruisers Forum suggested including the compass heading in the log also, and I think that's a good idea.) You’ll be able to estimate the distance you’ve traveled and make better guesses about where you are.

So, my opinion is to use paper chart and chart plotter together, but intelligently. You do that, and your electronics won’t make you stupid. They will make you a more highly skilled sailor.

Keep Your Feet OUT of the Anchor Locker

     
     Or, Now is not the time to go for a swim!

April 26, 2013

     The average depth of the ocean is 2.3 miles.

A friend of mine had gone with me on a club cruise to Terra Ceia, a little cove at the end of a narrow channel off Tampa Bay. It’s always a lovely cruise, with a sheltered anchorage. Boats raft up and often there’s a chili cook-off.

My friend had done a lot of small boat sailing, but hadn’t done much on bigger boats, and she had no familiarity with anchoring. But we didn’t have to put the anchor down, because the boat we rafted up to had its anchor down. We minimized the number of anchors down so if there was a wind shift during the night, we wouldn’t have too many crossed anchor rodes.

The next morning, however, we couldn’t get the engine started, and I did put the anchor down, and then the wind backed the boat away to set it. A friend came along, rafted up, helped us solve our battery problem, and we were ready to get on our way.

There was little wind and it was a simple process. I explained to my friend what I wanted her to do to help get the anchor up –- slowly pull the rode into the anchor locker as I slowly drove up on the anchor. I told her there would be no real physical effort because the line would be slack. I showed her how to sit on the back edge of the anchor locker, with her feet wedged on the corner edges, and to use her whole back to pull, although there would be little strain on the rode. I showed her how to lock it off temporarily if needed, and I was going to have her lock it off at the end of the double-braided rode, and I would come up and deal with the chain. Come to think of it, I gave her a lot of instructions all at once. Just once. Hmmm …

I emphasized that she must keep her feet out of the anchor locker, and explained to her that it was extremely dangerous to get the anchor rode wrapped around one’s leg. She said she understood, took the right position, put on gloves and was ready to go.

After about a minute, I told her to lock it off. I put the engine in neutral and walked forward to see how she was doing.

There she sat, feet in the anchor locker, with all the rode she had pulled piled on top of her feet.

I pointed out to her that if the anchor rode started to pay itself out, she could get a foot caught and be pulled into the water, tangled in the anchor rode. I showed her the knife clipped to my pants. I told her that since the water was only 8’ deep, there was a 50/50 chance that I could have cut her free. In deeper water I might not have been able to get to her.

She really hadn’t thought of anchors as dangerous things until then. She had a lot of instructions given to her at once, and she missed one of them in the excitement of doing a new and important thing on the boat.

LESSON LEARNED:

The fault lies with me, not my friend. I should have gone over this process with her more thoroughly. I should have made the dangers very clear to her. We both got impatient after the delay, but that’s no excuse.

In addition, I should have given her the knife and had her clip it to HER clothes. A bra strap would have done. If things went terribly wrong, she would be the one in the water, not me. She needed the knife, not me.

You can give very specific directions, and people may not hear you –- for the best of reasons –- they’re thinking, they’re excited, or just because a bird flew overhead and cried out in the middle of it. Maybe –- just maybe –- you gave unclear or even wrong directions. Maybe you overloaded the person with too much information all at once.

Check after you’ve given someone directions and make sure things are going as you expected. Anything we do on sailboats can be dangerous.