Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
More on book bans, Wil Wheaton weighs in, and in the "She would know since she wrote the book" department...
Latitude 38 has a cautionary story about a Pearson Vanguard and a reef in American Samoa that you'll want to read.
Help if you can.
Listening to Big Sam's Funky Nation
So it goes...
Some really good news, where that money goes, and in the "Now we know where the next big Covid spike is going to happen" department...
Watching the news, talking to friends, and just getting a feel for what's going on via osmosis I'm pretty sure we can all admit that whatever the new normal becomes it won't be anything at all like the old normal.
That said, the jury's out on what the new normal is going to be for folks cruising but my gut instinct says it will be a mashup of a lot of things. There won't be a single new norm but rather a lot of different versions of ordinary depending on your mindset, economic status, and political inclination.
One thing you can say about living in interesting times is it's going to be fascinating.
Offhand, as the overall trend of polarization continues, a lot of the places that were standard cruising destinations will no longer be as welcoming or affordable as they used to be. Which, I suspect, will have a two-fold effect of shifting the standard cruising routes to take advantage of locations more open to cruisers while the more affluent cruisers will continue to do the same old milk runs which will escalate greatly the cost to cruise those areas.
Which, when you think about it, would be no bad thing as it has always been natural that the less well-heeled and more adventurous cruisers have always been the explorers who discover while the more affluent tend to follow in their wake once those places have become trendy.
Which is all a roundabout way of saying that most of the interesting cruising in the new normal is going to be to places where there is not much in the way of cruising guides. Personally, I kind of like the idea of a new age of discovery and rediscovery.
Listening to Liraz
So it goes...
Viral insanity, EBM lays it down, and a scary mosquito-borne virus you might want to read up on...
Doing just about anything involves a learning curve and some pursuits have a steeper curve than others. Take cruising for instance.
Most folk we know, ourselves included, have had a problematic first year. Which mostly translates to not really having a clue, a general suspension of common sense, and being prone to bad decisions.
Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I still marvel at all the little mistakes we made at the beginning. In our case, the main culprits that resulted in that far too steep learning curve were mostly about following the hive mind, non-application of common sense to cruising advice, and in particular, thinking that throwing money at problems was a panacea when it was just the opposite.
Most of us don't really talk about that first year of cruising because who really wants to tell tales of the "Boy, I was really a stupid melon farmer way back when!" sort.
That said, boy, I was really a stupid melon farmer way back when. Trust me you don't really want to hear about it.
Which brings me to the fact that Carolyn Shearlock from over at the BoatGalley has a free course on Overcoming the first-year learning curve. Better yet it's free. The thing is, learning from someone else's hindsight is a whole lot less traumatic than learning from your own mistakes as well as being a lot less expensive. Just the thing I could've used way back when.
Good stuff.
Listening to an album's worth of Lucinda Williams covers.
So it goes...
A bit of skulduggery, people in motion, and did someone say pitchforks...
I can't help but notice that the one cruising forum I find the most valuable is getting less and less traffic and, I suspect, that sooner or later it will lose all relevance.
So, the question comes to mind... why are folks no longer using the SSCA forums?
Looking around the net it seems the Cruisers Forum is still doing its thing but, looking further afield, it would seem that most of the cruising forums seem to have a lot less in the way of posts than they used to and it's starting to look a lot like a ghost town.
Curious.
One of the reasons I like the SSCA forum is that there seemed to be a minimum of BS, misinformation, and the mean-spirited masturbatory one-upmanship that seems the staple output of most of the other forums.
I'm pretty sure that I've gone on record before that the SSCA is a good organization and cruisers would be well advised to join if only for the SSCA newsletters which are invaluable for anyone needing good current information for the places we visit. That said, the organization does have its foibles but it is mostly fighting the good fight so deserves your support.
Drop by and check them out.
Listening to Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers
So it goes...
On living in seriously scary times (but not for the reason you expect), then there's the beer argument we need to consider, and why boats are going to be something of a growth industry down the line...
About that cat on the roof, important to know, and why does this sort of insanity just seem normal these days...
Back in the 80's our number one cruising information resource was the SSCA Newsletter... Boy, does that make me feel old or what!
You know what? In 2013 the SSCA newsletter is still our main resource for good cruising information. Which, is why, when I got the time to pay our dues notice in my email today I paid it... It's worth it!
Just saying...
Listening to Johnny Hallyday
So it goes...
A quick note to the DoJ, about that lobbying, and it just keeps getting sillier and sad...
Eric and Sherrell of Sarana fame just pointed out that there are updates to their cruising guides for Central America...
For those unacquainted with their cruising guides, I have mentioned them before on Boat Bits and they have only gotten better as time goes on (something folks doing cruising guides for places like the Caribbean should take note of)!Just letting you know that our 16th Edition (yes 16th!) of Sarana's Guides to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua was released today. Also our 9th Edition of Sarana's Guides to Costa Rica and Panama is out now too.
Previous buyers can always login and update to the lasted edition here for FREE:
http://www.svsarana.com/guide/Login.php
And for those who want to see what our guide books are all about visit:
http://www.svsarana.com/guide
Thanks!
Eric & Sherrell
A rising trend, what about India, and on the benefits of yogurt...
One reason I like to read cruising blogs is that it helps me to keep an eye on the big picture of cruising... For instance, a blog I read this weekend mentioned the current cost of gas and diesel in Mexico, Estrellita 5.10B lets us know what the cost of groceries is on Nuku Hiva, and Sequitur keeps us abreast of things while they come up from Cape Horn.
Blogs are just about the best way I know to keep your situational awareness and current understanding of what's going on in the various cruising grounds sorted.
Sadly, the same can not be said with forums for the most part... Far too often, I find folks offering advice as a self-proclaimed expert to an area but then you notice that all of their information seems to be from a one week bareboat charter they did ten years ago, which, I might add, is still better than a lot of other folks on forums whose information is based solely on something they heard from a guy who heard it from someone who heard it from someone else who may have actually been there... or, more often they simply make it up.
The yachting press, on the other hand, who once in awhile do an article
on some place you need to know about are often so dated that they are
pretty useless. Since I'm being critical, I might as well add cruising
guides to the pile.
So, here's a thought, since a lot of those cruisers blogging about their voyages and including real information in a timely and accurate manner are such a great resource... Let them know how much you appreciate it and drop them a line to say thanks. Better yet, if they have a donate button, have monetized their blog, or have affiliate programs say it that way.
Listening to Quicksilver Messenger Service
So it goes...
Scalzi pretty much nails it, why don't we have anything like this for boat stuff, and this ruined my day...
I like the point where you have something approaching a plan and you reach that head-space where it's time to actually start collecting charts and cruising guides... It's kinda like Christmas!
We're really pretty lucky these days as we have so much better access to information than we did when we were sailing Loose Moose 2 and set off with old and xeroxed copies of charts, hand drawn or traced chartlets, several years of SSCA bulletins, nearly undecipherable notes on scraps of paper of anchorages not to be missed, and a firm belief that we'd run into folks with more and better proper charts along the way (the unforeseen problem we'd never considered was that as everyone was sailing in the same direction, folks only wanted to trade charts/guides from places in our wake).
Right now, some books that are on my must get list: "Cruising the Coast of Brasil" by Marcal Ceccon, "South Atlantic Circuit"
According to the news this morning, Egypt has shut down the internet and cut cell phone systems to avoid a repeat of the recent silliness that just toppled the President of Tunisia...
Interesting times indeed!
Off hand, I'd be very nervous these days if I was a politician living high on the hog while the citizens of the country I was supposed to serve were poor and underemployed and being fed tough love while the wealthy and big business got to do whatever they wanted to. We are, needless to say, talking about various Arab and middle-eastern countries, of course...
Which has me thinking of various cruising plans over the next couple of years as, whenever possible, I prefer to cruise in interesting places that are not "interesting" to the point of having to pack Kevlar for day to day wear... Well, unless they start making Kevlar in festive Hawaiian prints!
The real bug in the ointment with our plans for the next couple of years has been The Schengen Agreement which make staying for any length of time with a sailboat in Europe somewhat problematic these days and the fact that the Suez canal was part of the exit plan in doing an ass-backwards circumnavigation.
The Schengen, is doable and simply a pain in the butt of keeping the i's dotted and the t's crossed but more so as Turkey has also decided to do some serious additional red tape and visa hassles which add to the problematic nature of things Schengen...
But, Suez to me is the real hassle as I simply don't want to fuss with the bureaucratic nightmare and baksheesh that is part and parcel of doing the Suez canal (pretty much the same sort of reaction that has me no longer flying on planes in the US of A as it is simply no longer fun) these days... and if it's not fun why bother?
I'm thinking I need to spend some serious time looking at my copy of "World Cruising Routes"...
There is something to be said about a pair of panicked cats jumping through the forehatch over your head as you wake up to the sound of gunfire way too up-close-and-personal for comfort...
WTF!
Over the years I've been no stranger to the sound of gunfire and its resulting carnage as my job as a cameraman has taken me to all sorts of places where Kevlar had nothing to do with boatbuilding and the first local phrase committed to memory was always "Don't shoot me I'm a journalist".
St Croix, like the other USVI islands, is very big on guns and folks here (like their mainland fellow citizens) seem to feel the need to exercise their right to bear arms... Of course, it's not as bad as Arizona (is anyplace as screwed up as Arizona one has to wonder?) but when some yahoo on the beach less than a hundred yards away decides to empty his Glock, it does tend to focus one's mind on saner shores...
Which, in fact, brings us to Rod Heikell's new website... Rod, you may remember already has the most excellent Tell-Tales site and is author to many excellent cruising guides (and not the sort targeted to clueless bare-boaters) such as the "Mediterranean Cruising Handbook". His new site aptly entitled "Mediterraneo" looks to be exactly what one would expect from someone who knows the Med like the back of his hand and is well worth a visit!
Late breaking news department... The gunshots that woke us up were in the news this morning... Man swims to safety after being shot in argument!
Rod Heikell who is author of many and varied excellent cruising guides has an great website Tell-Tales which is an incredible resource for anyone wanting to sail away in a trauma free manner. Advice you can take to the bank...
One of the things people in the real world don't get about people in the sailing world is that if you want to go someplace it is a very seasonal thing... You just don't point your boat at Europe and go. For instance, right now is the time to go to Europe from the East coast or Caribbean and not a very big window as Hurricane season (June through November) effectively closes it. So in truth you are looking at a couple of months and if you are not able to go right now you pretty much have to let the calendar roll around till this time next year... 747's make a lot of sense!
Which is where I am at the moment... I'd really like to sail back to Europe now but as I have some commitments and suchlike which I can't finish up here in time to make the window so I'm caught here in the Caribbean for another year. Not such a bad thing as we are going to use extra time to hit some of our favorite places, find some new ones and I'm sure Europe will still be there next year...
Which is a roundabout way of mentioning the fact that we will be doing some extended voyaging in the near future and that the new version of Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Routes
One of the nice things about the whole blogosphere is that in these days of advertising led editorial decisions by the sailing magazines that you are still able to access the sort of content that someone building/ buying a boat or cruising might actually find of some use. Don't get me wrong there are some good articles in the yachting press but far too often The cruising guide to the out islands of somewhere or other begins with something like "We were met at the airport by the fleet manager for XXXXX charter company who whisked us to our fifty foot XXXXX catamaran for a much needed seven days of cruising...Not exactly a real cruising guide is it?
Keep in mind that I have a charter business and while I am all for people chartering (Please do I need a new guitar, a new surfboard, and a bigger boat!) but lets face facts and admit that sailing for a week on a bare boat does not make someone an expert on a cruising area. Hell I've been in the Caribbean for over ten years and I'm still getting to know my way around!
And as long as I'm burning bridges and talking about cruising guides why not throw a bit more gasoline on the fire and just say that cruising guides which are more about advertising than useful information are somewhat suspect as well...But we will leave that for later when I get the new Nomex long johns!
But I digress and rant ( sorry) but there is good stuff out there and with a little looking we can find what we need...A truly great blog Sarana at Sea which is jam packed with all sorts of goodies by someone who is out there doing it so actually has a clue to the big picture is an excellent case in point. I stumbled onto the blog while researching a new wind vane project for So It Goes and there was excellent information on the subject of trim tabs which hooked me in long enough to find that Eric has been quite the busy beaver and had all sorts of handy project ideas...Good stuff that.
There was some mention to a forthcoming Cruising guide to Central America which has now come to fruition as Explore Central America by Eric Baicy & Sherrell Watson
and it is most excellent. Delivered as a PDF file for the bargain price of $13 it is a no brainer. Life would be a lot simpler if all of the cruising guides were on this level of information content and clarity.
