It isn’t often that a small town in Nebraska gets featured in Navagear. Still, this cautionary tale deserves some attention. Note how all the kids had PFDs and nobody died.

Luke Nichols has this story in the Beatrice Daily Sun:

A Wymore man was cited at Rockford Lake Monday evening after the boat he was driving capsized, sending all nine occupants into the lake.

Dan Zuehlke, conservation officer for Nebraska Game and Parks, said Kevin Marom was driving a 15-foot fiberglass speedboat during windy conditions Monday.

The boat’s maximum capacity was five, but Marom had eight other occupants with him including five children. Zuehlke said wind gusts Monday afternoon were near 50 mph causing two to three foot waves on Rockford Lake. The boat capsized after nose-diving into a swell.

A rescue effort was led by Mike Alm, another boater on the lake at the time, who transported the children into the shoreline.

“The conditions were pretty bad,” Zuehlke said. “It was nothing short of a miracle that we aren’t looking for bodies in the water today.”

All five children in the boat were wearing life jackets, there were no injuries.

Read more

The other day when Tim was working on his foredeck hatch leak on the C-Dory, I suggested some super tape I’ve used for temporary leak protection. Tim got directed to some high-grade duct tape that promises to minimize the horrible, near permanent residue from regular duct tape. I was actually thinking of another product, 3M Preservation Sealing Tape, which costs-an-arm-and-a-small-piece-of-a-leg, like you’d expect of any good, marine-grade product (ahem). Its intended use is to supplement those plastic shrink wrap jobs that some folks use to store or transport boats. 3M claims that it comes off a year later without residue. It’s tough and thicker than most tapes. I’ve left it on surfaces in Mexico for a year, and from experience can say that it eventually crumbles in intense direct sunlight, and will leave a little yellowish stain on white fiberglass. It sticks very well to smooth surfaces and seals pretty well, but it does not stick well on rough surfaces like non-skid.

I originally tried preservation tape as a rigging tape on a sailboat we raced regularly, and it worked quite nicely for the purpose, and the 2 inch wide roll made it quick work to cover sharp pins and fittings. However, I’ve since learned that you really don’t want to put tape over any kind of stainless steel fittings or rigging, because it almost inevitably results in corrosion under the tape as salt water works it’s way under the edges. Stagnant salt water is terrible for stainless, because the corrosion protection of stainless relies on exposure to oxygen to maintain the protective oxide film on the metal’s surface. When you see a little rust-colored stain weeping from fittings on your boat, it’s the same problem, and a good sign that it’s time to pull the fitting and rebed it with a high quality sealant like polysulfide (try to avoid silicone unless you are bedding a plastic fitting that requires it).

Probably the best thing to do for covering sharp pins or fittings on a boat is to fit a nice piece of breathable leather or heavy fabric, with some kind of lacing or velcro that makes it easy to remove and inspect the fitting.

Prism Kites is another one of the many local businesses I like to promote. They’re well-known for their cutting-edge stunt kites; you know, those two-line rigs you see spinning, flipping, and dancing all around at the park. I own two of these, but the fact is, I don’t take them cruising with me.

Why not? Mostly, because I like another Prism kite even better! I love my little Triads. In my opinion, the Triad is Prism’s most versatile kite, and I’ll tell you why:

• It packs very small, so it’s a kite you’re more likely to have with you in the car or boat.
• It’s a single-line kite, easy for children and adults to fly without any special skills.
• It’s looks good, and always draws comments or questions from onlookers.
• It flies well in lighter wind, which can be less intimidating for children.

Although it’s not a “stunt kite”, the Triad is actually very engaging to fly. If you just hold the line steady, it tends to fly in a stable orientation like a traditional single-line kite. But if you alternately tug on the line and give it slack, you can get it to tumble and dance around. It’s a lot of fun to fly, and you can enjoy it on very short line in smaller areas, or let it out on a really long line. I fly mine on 500 feet of line sometimes, if I feel like I want to reel in 500 feet of line when I’m done!

But I’m thinking of getting another Prism kite. A new model, and one guaranteed to draw even more attention than the Triad. Quite a bit larger than the triad, but the “gee-wiz” factor might be enough to offset the larger storage requirements.

It’s the EO (“Expandable Object”) kite, which can be described as a box kite that stores flat and requires, essentially, no assembly at all. Just take it out of its package and it pops open. Attach your line and get it up there. It’s available in two sizes.

Like the Triad, the EO will fly stable with a steady line, or wild-n-crazy if you play the line. I haven’t even seen one in person yet, but I’m convinced…I gotta get me one o’ them. Or maybe one of each!

Remember the Flex Fold crab trap? We took our video camera into Fisheries Supply, one of our favorite marine stores in Seattle, and tried out the exciting, flexing, folding action. Actually, this is a really nice accessory to keep on your boat for occasional crabbing. By no means the cheapest, but probably the best folding crab trap we’ve seen. Enjoy!

Click To Play

Okay. Well, I posted this, and then discovered that Mark Philbrook, inventor of the Flex Fold trap, posted a very thorough demonstration on YouTube a couple weeks back. And it’s a little embarassing…because we obviously didn’t RTFM, or one might say WTFV (Watch the Flipping Video). His video shows some details that are nice to know if you’re going to get one of these babies.

Tim and I decided to put the Bridgenorth Bailer through it’s paces, and our research shows that this is really about the most fun you’ll ever have with a bilge pump. It’s the Swiss Army knife of water pumping boathooks. I picked one up at Fisheries Supply in Seattle a few weeks ago, and wish they’d had the 8 foot version in stock, as our only frustration with this one was that it was too easy to extend to full lock while pumping.

I’ve checked out every Puget Sound/San Juan Islands cruising book I could find at the Seattle Public Library. Here is my summary:

A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, second edition, by Migael Scherer, published by McGraw Hill/International Marine, 2005; $39.95. I like this one a lot. Sturdy, well organized, folds flat on any page, lots of good information, very professional presentation. But what really makes this book shine is that the author’s voice comes through. Not only is the book a thorough and authoritative reference, but it has a bit of personality, as well. It’s not cutesy or in-your-face or distracting; I just mean that you can sense the individual human personality behind the words on the page, and this gives the book a genuineness that makes it very pleasant to read. Perhaps another way of saying this would be: If I were to write a cruising guide, my goal would be to produce something like this. After conducting this review, this is the book I went out and bought.

Gunkholing in the San Juan Islands, 2004 edition, by Jo Bailey and Carl Nyberg, published by San Juan Enterprises, Inc.; $24.95. Indispensible. This book is not quite as handy a reference book as the previous title, both because it doesn’t fold flat, and because the writing and presentation has even more “personality”; so much personality that it sometimes gets in the way of finding the information you need in a hurry. However, there is a LOT of information here: more detail, history, and anecdotes than any of the others. With this book, you sit down while your boat is moored, you read the passage about your intended cruising area, you stick some post-it notes in there for quick reference at the helm, and then you get underway. I love this book, and I’ve used it (the older, smaller edition) while cruising; it’s a must if you intend to explore beyond the standard high-profile destinations. I probably won’t go out and buy the new version right away, because I already have an older copy. But the new version does have a great deal of updated information, and covers a lot more ground, extending its scope across Rosario Strait to discuss Lummi, Cypress, and Guemes Islands; the Swinomish Channel and Deception Pass; and the upper reach of Skagit Bay.

The San Juan Islands, by Anne & Laurence Yeadon-Jones, published by Fine Edge, 2005; $39.95. Wow, this one is tough to rate. On the one hand, it has absolutely the most beautiful illustrations; hand-drawn maps that combine relevant navigational information with friendly, organic drawings providing a sense of what it’s really like there. I really loved these maps, and at first glance, I figured this was the book I would buy for myself. But the book is a very limited in scope; the destinations it does cover are well presented, but it just doesn’t cover very many destinations. It feel like it was meant to be kept at home as a tool to help people discuss the San Juans, dream about the San Juans, and share the San Juans with children or non-boating friends and family. Also, the binding on my library copy came apart while I had it out, so I had to explain all those loose pages to the understanding librarian. Overall, it just isn’t as sturdy as you would want on the boat, and it doesn’t cover places you might want to go after you’ve visited the top twenty destinations. Still, I might buy a copy for myself, to keep at home, just because it’s such a joy to browse through.

Exploring the San Juan and Gulf Islands: Cruising Paradise of the Pacific Northwest, second edition, by Don Douglass & Reanne Hemingway-Douglass, published by Fine Edge, 2003; $30. This book just leaves me cold. I’m not sure why. It’s extremely comprehensive, it has a lot of information about virtually every destination, surpassed only by the incredible detail in Gunkholing. It has maps, photographs, marina diagrams, and telephone numbers for shoreside facilities of interest to boaters. What’s not to like? I really can’t say. The marina diagrams are a little too “MacPaint”, if you know what I mean. The book won’t fold flat and stay open to the page you’re using. But really, I guess it’s just the tone of the text; a little too cold and encyclopedic for my taste, which always leaves me feeling like the author is trying to convince you they don’t exist. I may be alone in this, but even with reference work, I want to get a sense that I’m reading the words of an actual person; I want the author’s personality to show through a little, from time to time. I might buy this one if I had an experience where the Scherer title failed me and this one would have served my needs.

And that was every title I could find at the library…or was it?

…But Hold On!

I’ve neglected one of the most popular titles!
Waggoner Cruising Guide, by Robert Hale, published by Weatherly Press, 2007; $19.95. This book has many loyal followers, and it was an oversight that I didn’t include it when I gathered the other titles together in front of me. In the interest of science, I’m going to get a copy from the library and give it a thorough going-over. I’ll report my findings here. One thing I did figure out, right off the bat: Even if you never buy a copy of this book, you might find the website valuable: http://www.waggonerguide.com/. Stay tuned!

Well, that’s what I think, anyway. I have owned a pair of DuBarry “Shamrock” boots since 1997, and this afternoon I had occassion to use them again. Man, this is shweeeet footware, I tell ya! I’ve used them offshore, I’ve used them for year-round racing in Puget Sound, and today I wore them while unblocking a clogged gutter downspout!

I know, it’s not really very glamorous. But these boots were the obvious choice for heading out to climb a ladder in the rain; they’re waterproof and breathable, they have a non-marking, non-skid sole with enough structure to allow you to stand on a ladder rung for an extended period, they’re lightweight, and they’ve just so comfy! This is not a paid advertisement, I assure you. I just love these boots. Can you tell?

I bought my pair when I was living in Dublin, Ireland. I crewed on various racing boats sailing out of Dún Laoghaire and Howth. I’d never seen these funny blue boots everyone seemed to wear aboard, but virtually all the racing sailors I encountered swore by them. They sure looked nice, so I figured that despite the high price, I would buy a pair to bring home as useful gear AND a unique souvenir. Back in Seattle, I was certain to be the only one at the yacht club with a pair!

Which I was for a little while, but that didn’t last long. DuBarry started exporting to the United States within a couple years. Nobody bought them at first, because nobody had heard of them, and they were so expensive. But word got around, and now you can find them lots of places. If you spend lots of hours sailing in crappy weather, you owe it to yourself to find a dealer and at least try on a pair.

Several weeks ago, we told you about an amazing folding crab trap called the Stow-B-Low Crab Pod. I’ve got a small boat, and I’m primarily a cruiser, but golly, I like crab. If only I could have a crab trap with me, all the time, without having an enormous, hideous rusty-pokey-snaggy thing monopolizing the cockpit. The Stow-B-Low seems like a great alternative. The only thing (besides the price) dissuading me is the fact that it doesn’t really LOOK like other crab traps you see. I don’t really know that much about crabbing. This rig MIGHT work great, but… Suffice to say I’m waiting to hear the good news before I buy one.

And then I stumbled across a serious competitor. Behold the Flex Fold Crab Trap.

This one ain’t cheap, either, but wow…it looks like a 3/4 scale version of the big commercial rigs. It has real gates. It’s made in Victoria, Canada, by a fellow named Mark Philbrook. It collapses in a really clever way, stowing into a bag that is just 17 inches in diameter and 2 inches thick. Heck, I’ve even got a spot like that on my boat. I think it may be time to procure a Stow-B-Low and a Flex Fold, and have us a crab-off! Manufacturers, please feel free to contact Navagear about providing review samples

Attach a wateproof camera to a kite to see yourself kiteboarding! I’m not a kiteboarder, but I can see taking a parafoil kite onboard just for capturing some cool pictures of my boat underway, or interesting aerial shots in places where you can’t get elevation otherwise.

via: The Voyage of the S/V Aquarius

Want something to do to wile away the winter nights? Well, cozy up to the screen with a couple bits of line and work on your knots with the animated illustrations on this neat website.