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Cruising Life
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How To Run An Inlet

This is Boating 101, but it never hurts to have a refresher. Here’s some good basic advice about how to run an inlet from America’s Boating Club: Navigating an inlet can be tricky and dangerous, so you should know how to safely run an inlet before you encounter one. Prepare for the approach. Before you make an approach, study the wind and tide, and eyeball the chart. Go out to the sea buoy before shooting the inlet. The buoys’ locations were calculated to assist a direct approach. Call the pros. If there’s a U.S. Coast Guard unit or commercial tower…

Cruising Life
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New Safety Problems in Panama Canal

By Charlie Bartlett (The Loadstar) – OOCL Utah‘s near-collision on Sunday with a Panama Canal lock gate suggests a tragic and costly accident is waiting to happen, say experts. Video footage shows a fore-positioned ‘alpha’ tug almost crushed between the Hong Kong-flagged containership and the canal’s Agua Clara lock gate. There was no aft-situated ‘delta’ tug to stop the vessel. Representatives of the Panama Canal Captains and Deck Officers Union told The Loadstar how a lack of procedures and under-resourcing by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) left pilots – paid per vessel – calling the shots. “They [pilots] want to finish fast, because the more…

Cruising Life
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Spring Commissioning Checklist: BoatUS

It’s almost that time of year again, particularly for those of us who live in northern states. Time to get ready for the boating season ahead. Here’s a thorough checklist from BoatUS to help make your spring commissioning as efficient as possible: Before You Launch Check the condition of antifouling paint and repaint if necessary. Inspect all hose clamps for rust and replace as necessary. Double clamp fuel lines and exhaust hoses with marine-rated stainless-steel hose clamps. While not technically required, it’s wise to double clamp whenever possible on all hoses — especially those below the waterline. Inspect all hoses…

Cruising Life
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Best EPIRBs and Personal Safety Devices

Every year, the people at nmeaboater.com (the National Marine Electronics Association), ask manufacturers to name a model in a particular category that they consider their best. It’s not necessarily the most technically advanced, or the newest, or the one with the most bells and whistles, but rather the one they rate highest in that category for one reason or another. Here’s the list for boating safety and survival devices – three personal survival devices and two EPIRBs. Take a look: Personal Survival Device ACR Electronics ResQLink View RLS Introducing two-way confirmation between a 406MHz beacon owner and search and rescue…

Cruising Life
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NOAA Satellites Saved 397 People Last Year

Here’s some very good news from NOAA: NOAA satellites, which are crucial in weather and climate forecasts, helped rescue 397 people from potentially life-threatening situations throughout the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2022. NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT, which uses a network of U.S. and international spacecraft to detect and locate distress signals sent from emergency beacons from aircraft, boats and handheld Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) anywhere in the world. A graphic showing three categories of satellite-assisted rescues that took place in 2022: Of the…

Engine Room
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Seven Tips for Long Diesel Engine Life

Do you check your diesel every morning before you leave the dock or your mooring? If you want it to work properly, and enjoy a long life, that’s a very good idea. Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about what you should look for: 1. Oil: Use this double-dip technique. Pull the dip-stick out and wipe it off. Push it back in all the way so that it gets to the bottom of the oil sump. Pull it out and look at the oil color. It should be black (brown or streaked indicates water in the oil). Smear the oil on your…

Cruising Life
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Where To Keep Your Boat in a Hurricane: BoatUS

Here’s some great, and very timely, advice from BoatUS about where to keep your boat in a hurricane, with specific recommendations if you plan to keep it ashore, on a fixed dock, a floating dock, a canal or river, on a trailer, a lift or a storage rack. Scroll down: Going back as far as Hurricane Alicia in 1983, our BoatUS Hurricane Catastrophe Team (CAT) professionals have spent thousands of hours working to identify and recover damaged boats. They’ve seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t when a boat is prepared for a hurricane. When asked where CAT team members…

Cruising Life
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What Those Numbers Mean on a Chart

Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to read a chart – electronic or paper – showing numbers, including some with underlines or enclosed by parentheses. Here’s how to read these symbols to keep off the rocks and navigate safely: Nautical datums are stated in two ways. Look in the title block area (that area of a chart just beneath the title) to the “Chart Datum”, or soundings (depths). These will be stated as feet, fathoms, meters or a combination such as fathoms and feet or meters and decimeters (tenths of a meter). Next determine the “Height Datum.”…

Electronics
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5 Top Multifunction Displays from NMEA

Every year, the people at nmeaboater.com (the National Marine Electronics Association) ask manufacturers to name one model in a boating electronics category that they think is their best. It’s not necessarily the most technically advanced or the one with the most bells and whistles, but it is the one that, for a variety of reasons, they put at the top of their line. Here’s the list for multifunction displays: Simrad NSX A new mid-range product in the Simrad line of MFDs, the NSX chartplotter/fishfinder redefines the easy-to-use touchscreen experience, while providing powerful new C-MAP charting and navigation with DISCOVER X and…

Cruising Life
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NOAA Proposes Speed Limits Near Whales

NOAA is proposing new speed limits to protect North Atlantic right whales. Here’s NOAA’s announcement last week: Today, NOAA Fisheries announced proposed changes to vessel speed regulations to further protect North Atlantic right whales from death and serious injuries resulting from collisions — part of a multifaceted approach to stabilize and recover this endangered population. The changes would expand the current mandatory seasonal speed restrictions of 10 knots or less in designated areas of the ocean and extend to most vessels measuring 35 to 65 feet in length. In addition, the agency is releasing a draft “roadmap” for public comment about…

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