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17Jul 2023 by qNF2PmKMYs No Comments
Blue Water Cruising – Know Thy Boat

Blue Water Cruising – Know Thy Boat

Boat Maintenance, Newbie tips
Blue Water Cruising - Know Thy Boat (systems) This article is adapted from a piece originally written for Sailing Today magazine as Blue Water Diesels - an article about preparing a boat and her crew for long distance cruising. Man has long been inclined to head off over the horizon and explore. The motivation and the risks have changed over time - today it is about adventure and fulfillment rather than empire building and wealth creation - and your crew probably won’t get scurvy and teredo navalis isn't going to compromise your plastic hulled yacht. Technology has mitigated many of the challenges faced by mariners of old and has made passage making easier and safer than ever before. We take for granted pin-point navigational accuracy, autopilots and the ubiquitous diesel…
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31May 2023 by qNF2PmKMYs No Comments
Born To Win – John Bertrand

Born To Win – John Bertrand

Memorable Books
Born To Win – John Bertrand The America’s Cup – 1983 The most exciting  boat book ever? Books written around boats and sailing can be many things, informative, inspiring perhaps, part of a broad education even, but they are rarely edge-of-the-seat stuff. This book about John Bertrand and how he and his team won the America’s Cup in 1983 is gripping stuff – it reads like a thriller. John Bertrand lead the Australian team that broke America’s 132 year winning streak – the longest in sporting history. The boat, Australia II, of the 12 meter class, was revolutionary with it’s winged keel, the politics were nasty and the sailing intense. It was all a long time ago but at the time it was a near seismic event on a global…
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31May 2023 by qNF2PmKMYs No Comments
Marine Diesel Engine Cooling Systems

Marine Diesel Engine Cooling Systems

Boat Maintenance
Marine Engines – Antifreeze Afloat – About Marine Diesel Engine Cooling Systems. Antifreeze used to be simple – you just mixed the lurid green stuff 50:50 with water and chucked it in. You changed it every two years if you were feeling indulgent and the world was a simple, kindly place… Then it started to get complicated, and it really is complicated now. In the name of extended service intervals the manufacturers got all fancy and started messing with antifreeze. Antifreeze basically has two components, three if you count the water. The actual non-freezing quality of antifreeze comes courtesy of glycol, either ethylene or propylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is highly toxic, propylene glycol is sufficiently inoffensive that it is used as a food additive. The other, vital component of antifreeze…
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30May 2023 by qNF2PmKMYs No Comments
Yacht Etiquette – Life-Skills for sailors

Yacht Etiquette – Life-Skills for sailors

Newbie tips
Yacht Etiquette… or what your mother would have taught you – if you had grown up on a boat… There is no great mystery to yacht etiquette – like all sailing matters it is essentially common sense – plus respect for boat and skipper. Many people come to sailing via corporate events or sailing school courses which set a poor example in terms of the care and respect shown to the vessel. A privately owned vessel is someone’s pride and joy – things will go better if you treat it accordingly. An excellent mind-set is to think of the yacht you are joining as being someone’s home – you wouldn’t enter without knocking and you wouldn’t slam doors – exactly the same on a yacht. Arriving Be on time, no…
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