Surf city...

One of the things nice about traveling via sailboat is that it puts you close to a lot of surf action in out of the way places where you might have a break all to yourself... All day! In other words, Heaven!

The downside of course is that space is always at a premium on a sailboat and there is only so much space for surfboards and having a big quiver becomes problematic. Throw in the fact that I am a big guy and where to put the longboard gets way too interesting.

I've been hearing a lot of very positive buzz from various people in the Pacific about the Uli inflatable surfboards and standup boards. Problem is, they are far and few between in the Caribbean but I am hoping on getting my hands on one to test sooner or later. The 10' Longboard being the object of current desire and if anyone has personal experience with this board I'd love to hear from them! Of course I wish it were a single fin and a bit lighter but you can't have everything.

Cocktail sauce...

For years I have been looking for the perfect cocktail sauce to go with crab, shrimp and fish but without any luck. A few close calls but never the sauce that was "just right". A proper cocktail sauce is a work of art and a far cry from the ketchup with a bit of horeradish concoctions you find pretending these days.

The problem was my Dad always had a few gallons of his secret Cocktail sauce around the house and back in those younger days I had scant interest in things cooking... A big mistake!

So the search continues... But in the meantime here is something that is very close, though not quite my Dad's, but now the official "So It Goes" cocktail sauce from the ever wonderful food blog Coconut and Lime... Homemade Cocktail Sauce!

The short list revisited...1

One of the designs that has been on the short list for the next Loose Moose is the Dudley Dix DIDI 38/40 which is ( for me at least) something of a departure as it is... sort of Normal. I mean it looks like a whole lot of other boats you are going to see anywhere there are boats. certainly not my normal piss off the neighbors sort of ting...

Actually there is a reason a lot of boats tend to look the same... Certain stuff works!

With Dix's DIDI though there is a lot under the hood that sets it apart from the same old same old plastic Bendytoys and suchlike. Dudley Dix really knows how to put a boat together and the class of DiDI's (from Mini TransAt to the 40CR) all share a serious turn of speed as well as a boat designed to be built easily and cheaply. This is really an important point as not ALL designers of home buildable boats actually know how to put a boat together...

What is even better about the DIDI's is with CNC cutting of the plywood it makes for a real go together fast kit that saves a lot of time as well as money and leaves you with a very pro finish. I was recently asking Roy over at CKD Boats who do kits for the DIDI's, what a 38/40 (and ship them all over the world for surprisingly little) would run and the current cost was just around $13,000 (for the ply kit less plans) which makes for a very cheap boat to build that will kick some serious ass around the buoys or make a fine cruising home for a couple. Throw in the bonus that the DIDI strikes fear into the hearts of Bendytoy owners everywhere (no bad thing) and how cool is that?

We'd, of course, go with the cruising rig and shoal draft option but even so, I'd still expect to show our transoms to most production boats in the same size range more often than not... One of the reasons I like this boat so much is that of all the various designs out there, it is the closest thing to being a CAL 40 you can build yourself and an apt successor to that great design and the Lapworth legacy.

This is one very , very cool boat!

Almost works department...

I've never been real into decoration on boats, thinking that the boats themselves are decoration enough.

Of course there is a long history of decoration in the form of figureheads and suchlike but on modern boats they seldom look very good at best and truly garish at worst. There is an old bit of advice about the wearing of hats... " Never wear a hat with more character than you have..." Pretty much says it all!

Case in point... A Jongert anchored behind us the other day with a truly lovely Mermaid figurehead but as much as I liked the figurehead, it just did not mesh with the overall look of the boat. Esthetics can be problematic! Maybe a different hull color would make all the difference...

Tostadas...

Homesick Texan has yet to come up with a single dish I do not feel the need to make for myself and eat...

Her most recent Fish Tostadas Vera Cruz style is all sorts of good ...and the salsa is perfection! Just the thing to make with all that Mahi Mahi you've been catching!

Speaking of catching fish...Because the various "My place in the food chain" posts have been so popular and people keep asking for more, I've added a new blog dedicated to things centered around fishing, spearfishing and similar mayhem done on and around sailboats. Do check it out... Fishing Under Sail.

Free SPOT PLB offer...

I've always been of two minds on the whole EPIRB thing...

For the most part I've always felt anyone going to sea in his own boat should be able to take care of themselves. A well found boat and the skill to use it, maintain it and get out of trouble when needful are very much what it is all about. EPIRB's by their very nature set up a whole chain of events when you set them off and not all of them are positive.

Search and rescue is a dangerous business and when an EPIRB goes off somewhere you are putting those whose job it is to get us out of trouble into a situation where in coming to help you they may very well be in danger or harms way.

That said there are times when it is needful to ask for help... EPIRB's are the most effective way to say HELP but they have always been an ALL or Nothing sort of message. No means of saying I just need a "little" help... I'd hate to scramble a bunch of C-130's because I needed a couple of gallons of fuel! Sadly such "Rescues" are not that uncommon...

SPOT which is NOT an EPIRB or a Marine unit but a "Personal Location Beacon" which allows for limited message giving such as "I'm OK", "I need Help" is a step in the right direction but still not what I'd really like to have and it most certainly does not replace the purpose of an EPIRB.

Over the last few months I have been keeping track of quite a few people using Globalstar SPOT's and to a man they are all very happy with their units and find them both effective and trouble free. A great way to let the family know you are OK and allow them to track your whereabouts.

Currently Spot/Globalstar is giving them away free (we LIKE free) until March 27th
SPOT special offer. You do have to do a yearly contract which you would have to do in any case, which makes it something of a no-brainer!

Resin infusion...

Right now I am in that pre-boatbuilding process of working out the battle plan for the next Loose Moose. One thing I have learned is that success in a boat building project is all about preparation and having ALL the details sorted out before you actually lay the keel.

Lots of prep also allows you to save lots of money and time (and we all know time IS money) in a project as well.

One of the areas I have been getting seriously into is the world of resin infusion. Not only is it a great way to build a boat and get the most out of materials, it allows home builders the ability to get a more tooled and professional finish. No bad thing when you think about it!

One of the blogs I read regularly is The Scrumble Project, an excellent account of building a Bob Oram catamaran. Always a good read, always interesting and cunning ways to build boats from people who know what they are doing. Case in point is a recent post on resin infusion which is useful whether you are building an Multihull or Monohull. Good stuff!

Somalia pirates...

One thing we get asked about a LOT is what do we do about pirates here in the Caribbean. Truth is, outside of certain Government officials and some so-called marine professionals here in the Caribbean there is really not piracy in the accepted sense. Which is not to say that there are not some villians who operate off boats but they are more akin to muggers than proper pirates.

Not so off the coast of Africa. These days prudent cruisers are giving Somalia a wide berth! Today's Big Picture has some awesome pictures of what modern day piracy really looks like..Riveting stuff!

Sunday Chicken...

One of my favorite food blogs is Simply Spicy and it certainly lives up to its title as just about all the recipes are simple and spicy. I'm all for spicy but the real treat is in being simple. Just about everything on the site works for those of us on boats where overly complicated is a no go area.

The other nice thing abut cooking Indian dishes in the Caribbean is that over the years there has been a large influx of people from the sub continent and a vibrant Indian community which makes finding the ingredients both easy and cheap!

Since today is Sunday what better than to point you towards a great Sunday staple...Black Pepper Chicken!

Hauling out...

Being in the Caribbean these days it is a bit of a six of one, half dozen of another situation as things cost more but it's still fairly easy to keep to a budget if you are handy. That said, there are dark clouds on the horizon...

Our favorite boat yard in St Martin just came up with the bright idea of not allowing owners to do any work below the waterline when hauled out. This adds a big chunk of change to a one-week haul out. Enough so that most likely we won't be using the yard in question.

Funny thing is that this year I was actually considering having the yard folk do part of the bottom work as I had a couple of other projects that I needed to fit in to the haul out window this year. Being forced to use the yard folk on the other hand just does not sit well for a couple of reasons...

One, being that in my forty-odd years of hanging around, working and being worked on in various yards all over the world, I know something about boat yards. Good workers do not sand and paint bottoms. It's an awful job and almost always gets relegated to the worst guy in the yard and, in my experience, the worst guy always seems to cause as much damage as actual work. I've seen holes sanded through hulls, paint not mixed and waterlines painted that looked like the current stock market charts. The only way to survive such boatyard talent is to stand behind them and supervise every step of the way. Which in all fairness they don't like anymore than you do. So much for those other projects you wanted to do... like the new hard dodger you wanted to build! Throw in the always possible scenario that the guy doing your bottom work could easily get deported for being an illegal and your one-week haulout might turn into two, three or more weeks does not exactly inspire confidence!

The other thing is, that it is the skinny part of the wedge... Today they don't let you work on your boat and tomorrow they require you to buy the paint from them and so it goes.

But boats are neat in that you simply point the pointy end towards someplace more accommodating somewhere else, and there is always a somewhere else! When enough people do it and let the yard know just why they won't be doing a haul out there in time they will hopefully change their tactics and once again let you do the work needed the way it should be done. On the other hand, if they don't, you may have found an even better place somewhere else.

Speaking of somewhere else... We plan to be sailing up to New England and the Chesapeake for the coming "H" season and one of the places we will not be stopping on the way up or on the way back down to the Caribbean is Florida, whose various anti-cruising/anchoring silliness means that we will not buy stuff from chandleries, not do dinners out, not spend money in shopping malls, not pay to see movies, and not pay one red cent to the coffers of the late great state of Florida... We will however wave as we go by!

A new Blog...

Just a quick note.

Over the last few years I have received a lot of feedback on the various "My place in the food chain" posts. People seem to like fishing and spearfishing from sailboats it would seem and I get a lot of email of the "Why don't you do more fishing stuff " which does not always fit in the Boat Bits framework...

So it seemed like a good idea to do a blog devoted to the art and madness that is fishing and spearfishing from sailboats.

On the bonus side it also allows me to throw in the whole gamut of what do you do with that fish after you have caught it thing and as a couple of my great loves are eating and cooking I expect that the new blog will contain a lot of cooking/eating subject matter as well.

Fishing Under Sail... (An evolutionary step above fishing with clubs)

Pita Bread

One of my favorite foodie blogs Smitten Kitchen has a great recipe for Pita bread which seems just the thing for those who want fresh bread on board without all the hassle...

A TOOL OF NOTE...

I have a lot of tools aboard "So It Goes" and for a while now I have been meaning to try and de-clutter my various tool storage as it seems these days to do any one job seems to have be getting out several tool bags. Last time I checked I think I had nearly twenty screw drivers and no matter which tool bag I pull out I never seem to have the screw driver I needed for the job at hand... As we say, So it goes...

I keep testing various multi-tools which seem to be cunning and clever but never actually seem to be good tools that hold up to the rigors of actually doing work day after day and year after year. I could of course use other words that come to mind where multi tools are concerned but as this is a family blog I'll leave it to your imagination...

The Enderes XV-1 screwdriver seems to be the exception to the rule as its well built with high quality bits (14 of them that stow securely on the handle) and the bonus of a ratcheting mechanism that is up to years of hard use. At under $20 this is just the sort of tool I can buy a few of them and have one in each of my many tool bags so whatever tool bag I have out I'll at least always have the right screw driver!

My next dinghy...

Ever since I saw the first Hobie kayak with the Mirage drive I've been mulling over cunning and clever plans to install one in a tender for "So It Goes". Well, truth be told, I've been thinking about how it would be a very cool drive for "So It Goes" and how nice it would be to dispense with the prop entirely (but that's another subject for later).

For those not lucky enough to have seen the Mirage drive, it is a pedal drive system which uses "fins" instead of a propeller and while it is different, once you see them in action you realize that this is a seriously impressive bit of technology and makes the case of the advantage of designing outside the box of the same old, same old.

Mirage drives are available for just under the $500 mark and for the last few years I have been expecting dinghy designers to be all over this. But sadly, the designer sector has been surprisingly quiet on this front. Maybe they were all too busy doing the same old, same old or just so "In the box" that they could not see outside of it... Most likely most of them were just waiting for someone else to show them the way and do the grunt work for them!

Luckily for us there are still some brave souls about and someone actually has worked the Mirage into a dinghy plan... Wooden Widget, a small company who has been selling a lot of plans for their fabric-based Origami folding dinghies. The Origami has been gaining quite an impressive word of mouth as a folding dinghy which actually works. Wooden Widgets new dinghy the Deckster not only works the Hobie Mirage drive into the mix but has a very clever cutout in the front to allow it to stow on the deck without having to resort to the messiness and hassle of the nesting or two part dinghy.

Currently the one problem I do see is that the Mirage drive is slightly problematic with more than one person in the dinghy which hopefully will be addressed in the next version of the Deckster, as the deckster is a small ( just under six feet) dinghy and a larger one would be a great addition to the line.

Construction seems very straightforward and if you decide to forego the Mirage drive you can always go the same old, same old route and do the oar/outboard/sail thing.

Click on the above image to learn more about the Deckster

The list...

Everyone on sailboats knows about "THE LIST" that ever present assemblage of stuff that needs to be done and no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you do it seems to have a life of its own. On boats it's the third leg of the old "sure as death, taxes and the LIST"

Of course right now its Heineken Regatta week so nothing to do (Spelled LIST holiday!) but fend off those errant bareboats who may be exceptional racers but whose anchoring chops are somewhat shall we say... lacking? Make note to self next year have a cannon...

On the something really, really different tack one of my favorite foodie blogs CooksDen on the galley gear front has a wonderful post on the taste difference between Organic and Non organic food. Video and out takes as well...Gotta love these folks!

Today, I am two separate gorillas...

Reading over some advice that was given to someone thinking about upgrading a CAL 34, it seemed the order of the day was bigger is better and if you can spend a lot of money in the process all the better!

Well, color me both cheap and confused...

Sure I understand the wanting to improve stuff and it is even nice to spend money on yourself, but the whole bigger is better thing is kind of confusing to me. Now I am all for better and if someone starts making a winch that works better I'm all over it! Sadly these days, better translates as bigger, more expensive or more complicated which is not better at all! Now apparently Ceramic is the new material for winches and White is the new hip color!

First of all, bigger winches tend to start adding pounds unless you go with some sort of exotic carbon sort but then the winches cost more than your boat and even the most dedicated to throwing money down that wet hole will balk at buying hardware that costs more than the boat.

Over the years I have come across a lot of boats and never have I come across one that had inadequate winches. Yet all these macho guys seem to want really, really big winches which is like going into the your local marine store and telling them I'm just not strong enough to sail my boat with out a bit of help... Big strapping winches being the Viagra of the yachting world... followed by powered winches and where does it end.

Well powered winches brings to mind broken hardware and ripped sails...

Let's face it, I'm a lazy guy as well as not being as young or as in shape as I used to be yet the forty-year old, non self-tailing, two-speed Barients on So It Goes still kick some serious butt... and if ever I start looking fondly at big expensive winch systems, please tap me on the shoulder and just point me towards Mr Apollo...

...Five years ago, I was a four stone apology
Today, I am two separate gorillas...