Red Tabby Cruising Committee Meets

The first Meeting of the Red Tabby Cruising Committee has adjourned… and it was fantastic! There were free drinks for everyone, three course meals, cupcakes to frolic in… 

Well, possibly not free for everyone – but for beloved guests of honour… absolutely. (The First Mate‘s strangled choking noises behind me are a tad reminiscent of when he was trying to bift me off the cupcake pile last night. But frankly if I heeded all of the Can Opener’s gasping and in articulate overreacting I would never get anything done. And certainly the cupcake count of my life would be dramatically lower.)

The First Mate spent the better part of this morning with Cruising Committee work: drafting emails to Cruising Section Members to publicise upcoming club cruising events this Spring. Tomorrow he’ll be compiling the updated Section contact list. Moaning and aching all day, he was. As if he were the only one frenetically employed…

At times, I do find the Can Opener has little regard for real effort – I have been busy all morning filing the leftover patisserie I looted. Filed according to colour, culinary heritage and tastiness… (Oi! WHERE did these come from, Fuzzbucket?? I thought I completely emptied your dreadful sac à main last night! My dear First Mate, that delightful Red Tabby chef absolutely pressed them upon me when I told him I could get him Dee Cafari‘s autograph. She still remembers me…)

Quality control is my forté. 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Sailing 2013 Begins!

Spring Events Schedule

What‘s on in Spring 2013?

We’ve scheduled ourselves for every lecture we can find in our area, some good courses, special events and even some brave-the-elements sailing! 

If we can find more, we’ll add to the list as we go along.

Here’s our list for Spring 2013:

• Boat Show lectures
• Cruising Association lectures
• 2 Cruising Association seminars
• Red Tabby lectures  
• Red Tabby’s Boat Show Cocktail Party
• RYA first aid course
• RYA sea survival course  
• Red Tabby Sailing Forum!
• passages with Cap’n Davie 
• Red Tabby J80 sailing?
• and, of course, the Red Tabby Cruising Committee dinners!

(OY! There’s research, organising and work to be done for the Cruising Committee too, Furrball! Not just mealtimes!  Speak for yerself, Oh Opposable–Thumbed-One…)

Great Bastet, it’s gonna be great!

 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Cruising Committee

The Cruising Committee meeting cake… of the The Cruising Kitty’s dreams

News flash:
The Can Opener has been invited to join the Cruising Committee at the Red Tabby Yacht Club!

What does it mean? Well… actually we don’t know.

They said we just had to show up for 6 dinner meetings in 2013 and maybe do some other committee type stuff. Like research and organising for upcoming events and event planning. 

Sounds pretty ominous to me.

I immediately volunteered to take care of the dinner–eating end of things and the Can Opener can do the research and organising end of the stick. We like to help the First Mate out wherever possible. Especially in the specialist area of desserts.

And we’ll get to meet a lot of other cruising cats which should be great! I wonder if Pussy Galore has signed up…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

RYA VHF Radio text – Reviewed!

I assigned this book to the Can Opener to read while we were on the Spain to Greece delivery. He ploughed through it quite quickly – clearly a riveting read.   

Also required reading not just by me, but by the UK Coastguard too. Anyone who operates a VHF* on their yacht must also have a VHF license. 

VHF radio equipment is regularly used for sending and receiving boat to boat, boat to marina and boat to Coast Guard messages. It is an important piece of safety equipment on most yachts.

I’ll be dragging the Can Opener with me on a course to get our licenses soon. And this is the textbook that goes with the RYA licensing course…

How do you use a VHF? What can it be used for anyways? How do you send a distress message properly? 

These answers could save our lives one day, so I made sure the Can Opener paid careful attention to this valuable little book.

Best Thing About This Book

• clear
• concise
• has all the info in it we need to know to get our VHF Operator Licenses
  

Wild Wishes

• There was no brand to brand comparison of VHF equipment – just general explanations of what an average VHF looks like and how it works.
• But hey – that was not the goal of this book. This little book did the job it promised to do.
  

Conclusion 

We like books that do their job. And if you are going to get your VHF license with RYA… you kind of have to buy it. So we did.

Fortunately this is a well written and useful little text.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz…Currently VHF is at the low-end of practical frequency usage, new systems tending to use frequencies in SHF and EHF above the UHF range…. 

Common uses for VHF are FM radio broadcast, television broadcast, land mobile stations (emergency, business, private use and military), long range data communication with radio modems, amateur radio, marine communications, air traffic control communications and air navigation systems (e.g. VOR, DME & ILS). –wikipedia

In the US

 
In the UK

Book Reviews
Next: The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat, by John Vigor
Previously: Celestial Navigation, by Mary Blewitt

Provisioning The First Leg

Saturday early mornings in Caleta del Vélez, there’s a market that sets up and lines the waterfront street by the marina. 

Vendors and canopies pop up over rickety tables, mountains of goods are carefully laid out. Clothes, toys, sunglasses, bedsheets… and piles of food. 

From my perch on the Can Opener’s shoulder and by tweaking his ears starboard and port side as needed, I deftly steered him towards the prepared meat section. 

…Somehow, we still managed to arrive in front of the area targeting that evolutionary wonder, the herbivore. 

Nothing against herbivores. Most are quite tasty. Living with one, however, is another thing altogether*. Quite messes up my laboriously planned 5-course meat menus. 

Despite my clearly reasoned arguments in favour of daily steak tartar rations, the Can Opener was not to be deterred. He and the crew loaded up on (brightly coloured and admittedly beautiful in a still-life-in-oils kind of way) fruits and vegetables. We were planning a 5 day crossing of the Alboran and Balearic Seas and the Algerian Basin, so spoilage was not an issue.

The Can Opener mumbled something about scurvy as he passed the oranges to the vendor for weighing. Then he added ginger, packs of pasta and rice, and jars of tomato, pesto and British-mild veggie curry sauce to our satchel at the next stall (accompanied all the while by a mini lecture to me about bland food and seasickness).

I don’t need a lecture on seasickness, I know all about it. I’ll be bed-ridden for the first 3 days at sea as usual, and expect to be waited on hand and foot till it passes. Happens to the best of us.

By dint of much abuse of the First Mate’s ears, I was finally able to get him to relent and load up on copious amounts of sardine tins. Enough to get me through to Sardinia anyway. 

We do not eat kibble.

–Captain Cat

 (transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Note: The Can Opener is not an actual vegetarian, just a near one. He tries a lot and then fails… every time a juicy steak walks by. On passage, however, he sticks to his idealised agenda. There are no burger franchises at sea.

Celestial Navigation For Yachtsmen – Reviewed

Links below at bottom of post

Book the Captain has snoozed upon:  
Celestial Navigation For Yachtsmen, by Mary Blewitt 

How do you use a sextant, take a noon site and do all those calculations to find out where on earth you are?  

Just after WWII, Mary Blewitt (past Secretary of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and then Chairman of the Royal Yachting Association Racing Rules Committee) summed it all up in 50 short pages – concise, clear, down to earth. 

Her work is considered the gold standard on celestial navigation.

If you’re thinking of crossing an ocean, it may be the best investment you make. (Well, that and buying a sextant…)

Conclusion
One of the best cruising ‘texts’ the Can Opener ever bought. The info is timeless.  

Ever read Celestial Navigation For Yachtsmen, by Mary Blewitt? How did you find it? Any good recommendations for other books for the sea library?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Book Reviews

Previously: Sail Away!
Next: RYA VHF Radio text – Reviewed!
 

http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/httpthecruisi-20/8001/2a7349fb-703b-4388-9c61-04128e64e9dc <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fhttpthecruisi-20%2F8001%2F2a7349fb-703b-4388-9c61-04128e64e9dc&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822/GB/thecrukit01-21/8001/c49de04e-db2c-42f8-b38e-fd7fd2410d2a <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Fthecrukit01-21%2F8001%2Fc49de04e-db2c-42f8-b38e-fd7fd2410d2a&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>

Cruising Progress Report

Cruising Progress Report: How are we doing?

Here are the key areas in my master plan to get the Can Opener ready for blue water cruising…

…and a quick check on how he’s progressed through that plan since August 2011:  

1. The Plan to Get Fit – done!
   
2. The Plan to Get Social – done!
3. The Plan to Get Trained – ongoing!
4. The Plan to Find a Boat that Fits – in progress!
5. The Plan to Get a Boat 
6. The Plan to Refit the Boat 
7. The Plan to Blast Off

 

Will we achieve our goal to get long term blue water cruising by September 2014?

Even the best plans are revised continuously en route. But having a plan in the first place is the best way forward. 

This is our plan. And we’re making progress.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Sail Away! – Reviewed

Book the Captain just finished snoozing on:  
Sail Away! *, by Paul and Sheryl Shard

How do you provision and collect inventory to prepare a yacht to cruise – and what’s the cruising life really like? 

Topics Covered

• secrets of successful cruises
• the cost of cruising
• outfitting
• provisioning
• maintaining inventory
• cooking at sea
• personal comfort

Best Part
This book is not set up as an inflexible ‘to do’ list, but rather as an ‘adapt it to you’ list. The Shard’s realise (for ex.) that everyone eats differently and simply using someone else’s shopping list is unlikely to leave you happy. 

So they describe in very useful detail how they tracked their own preferences ashore, and how they created systems to adapt those preferences to life on a boat. 

Then they teach methods to create your own systems that are geared to suit you best. 

Makes sense. We like it!

Wishes
While reading this, we wished we could have copies of the Shard’s lists anyways as a good point to start from. Then we would adapt those lists for ourselves.

And lo! They made that possible. There’s info in the Appendix on how to order disks with their lists on it/them… 

…but booo! They meant floppy disks. 

It seems this book has not been updated since 1998. A quick check at the publisher’s website does not list this book. So it doesn’t look like you can still buy these disks, floppy or otherwise.

The book itself, however, is still available on Amazon, and it’s info is timeless.

Conclusion
This was the first cruising ‘text’ the Can Opener ever bought. It’s still one of his favourites.

Ever read Sail Away! by Paul and Sheryl Shard? How did you find it? Any good recommendations for other books for the sea library?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* (not to be confused with Sail Away – no exclamation point – by Nicole Rodriguez…)

Book Reviews

Next: Celestial Navigation For Yachtsmen
Previously: Sell Up & Sail – Reviewed 

http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/httpthecruisi-20/8001/8b4655db-b8a3-4682-99f9-a5058d06e5a1 <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fhttpthecruisi-20%2F8001%2F8b4655db-b8a3-4682-99f9-a5058d06e5a1&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822/GB/thecrukit02-21/8001/be3f1d76-ca44-4a67-bfcc-80cbf49ab0e2 <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Fthecrukit02-21%2F8001%2Fbe3f1d76-ca44-4a67-bfcc-80cbf49ab0e2&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>

Ocean Passage Making

Ocean Passage Making presentation at the Red Tabby

Can’t go under it. Can’t go over it. Can’t go around… 

The First Mate and I tripped lightly last week down to the Red Tabby, eyes aglow, to listen to a presentation chock full of ocean crossing tips. Here are the…

…Highlights


Charts 
You need to have:

• tons of paper charts for the region you are cruising (for an around-the-world race you need an amazing 380 (approx) paper charts on board – which is legally required)
• electronic copies of same
• Broadcast Schedules of the Weather Forecast
• Nautical Almanac – 1 per region
• Pilots 

It costs 1000s £/$ to get all this, so look for as much as possible online – where you can often download it free (and make both paper copies and electronic copies). More and more stuff offered free online every day.

Self-Sufficiency

• On a good boat:
• everything has a back up
• everything is redundant
• eg. backup halyards – alternate tension between 2 halyards every 12 hours to reduce strain.

• Don’t rely on water-makers or refrigerators.
• Plan not to rely on them – treat them as an added bonus if you have them and they happen to still work.
• Use baby wipes to keep clean and save water! 

• VHF range is only 25-50 nautical miles max – how will you get info/data, communication outside this range? Make sure you already have what you need before you go.

Preventing breakdowns – Attention to detail

• Constantly do checks – prevention is better than cure.
• Go through scenarios and plan for emergencies 
• what if the rudder breaks? 
• what if a shroud snaps?…
• Build tools and spares inventory with this in mind.
• Prevent chafe on metal, sails and lines before it happens.
• There’s lots of chafe on trade wind routes!
  
• Get rid of metal to metal connections – eg.. use spectra lines to tie on shackles to boom.
• eg. Use cable ties or seizing wire to secure shackle pins.

Choosing Crew

• Are they medically fit? Do they get seasick?
• Know and confirm the experience and skill level of your crew in detail.
• Can you rely on them to keep a proper lookout?
• Are they reliable?
• Do they have a long attention span?
• Reliability is more important than navigational ability.
• It’s helpful to choose crew with useful, different backgrounds eg medical, mechanical, communications experts…

How will a medical emergency be handled? 

Effective helicopter range is 200 miles offshore – this leaves a big gap in the middle of the ocean where you have to handle medical emergencies on your own.

• Get pre-passage medical training – first aid, wilderness first aid, wilderness dental, pet aid, survival training…
• Choose crew with medical backgrounds, as above.

Clearly these lecture tips do not cover everything you need to know for an ocean passage. But they’re good points to think about. It was an evening well spent.

Have you completed an ocean passage? What are some highlights and tips that you recommend?

Are you preparing for an ocean passage? What other topics are you researching?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

Cruising Lectures
Previously: Cruising in Oceania

Sell Up & Sail – Reviewed

Links at bottom below post

Book the Captain just finished snoozing on: 
Sell Up & Sail: Taking the Ulysses Option, by Bill and Laurel Cooper  

How do you move from dreaming about cruising to actually doing it – and what’s it really like to live aboard a yacht?

Best Part
The authors’ dry delivery style is quite engaging. You get a strong impression of what having drinks at the taverna with them would be like – a lot of fun!

Though it does discuss repairs and some technical topics, really the focus of the book is on the stuff of ‘life aboard’. With a palatable ratio of info-to-anecdotes that makes it an enjoyable read.

Wishes
The book we borrowed is copyright 2001. It looks like there is a 2005 edition on Amazon. Still, we wish there was a more recent edition.  

A more up to date and comprehensive tome to invest in (a real biceps builder) would be The Voyager’s Handbook, by Beth Leonard.  It’s got the soft stuff as well as a ton of technical detail too.

Conclusion
Sell Up & Sail gives a feel for what cruising was like 10 and 20 years ago – and how things have changed.

Apparently it’s a lot more crowded and harder to find isolated spots in the Med these days. Since we won’t know what we’re missing, I guess we won’t be too devastated.

But things have changed and up to date info is pretty crucial to get – for instance the Gulf of Aden is listed in this book as a perfectly fine route to sail. Of course, this just ain’t currently so. Don’t leave home without getting up to date info on crucial safety topics like this!

And the sections on communications equipment and electronics really speak of a bygone age. Technology and brand names have moved on, everything’s changed.

So while it was a fun historical romp and we’re glad we borrowed it to read, it’s probably not the first investment to choose for an up to date cruising library. We’d look forward to looking at an updated edition of this in the future, however. 

Ever read Sell Up & Sail? How did you find it? Any good recommendations for other books for the sea library?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Book Reviews
Next: Sail Away! – Reviewed

Previously: World Cruising Survey – Reviewed

http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822/US/httpthecruisi-20/8001/470c7563-828d-4483-95cc-8b4999add74b <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fhttpthecruisi-20%2F8001%2F470c7563-828d-4483-95cc-8b4999add74b&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822/GB/thecrukit01-21/8001/3096009c-9fd7-41b6-9981-cc701cb4c411 <A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_mfw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Fthecrukit01-21%2F8001%2F3096009c-9fd7-41b6-9981-cc701cb4c411&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>