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Cruising Life
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A Docking Tip from the Pros

Here’s a tip that will help you dock easily and safely from Skipper Tips. Give this some practice on your own boat: You turn your boat toward the slip, but a gust of wind sets you downwind. How can you use your engine to pivot the boat faster and get her into the slip before it’s too late? Use this little-known boat docking secret from the pros. When I taught at the Chapman School of Seamanship, the US Coast Guard required that we teach emergency docking on both single- and twin-screw (propeller) vessels. Quite a challenge on a vessel with…

Cruising Life
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Near-Normal Hurricane Season: NOAA

Here’s the latest from NOAA for this year’s Atlantic hurricane season: NOAA forecasters with the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, predict near-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which goes from June 1 to November 30, predicts a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 30% chance of an above-normal season and a 30% chance of a below-normal season. NOAA is forecasting a range of 12 to 17 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 5 to 9 could become hurricanes (winds…

Cruising Life
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How To Trim Your Boat

Here’s some basic advice about how to trim your boat for its best and safest performance, from America’s Boating Club. You probably already know this, but a reminder every once in a while never hurts. Read on: Knowing how to trim your boat (or adjust the angle of your bow) can improve your boat’s performance in the water. Most boats handle best when running on their lines, or parallel with their at-rest waterline. A slight bow-up trim increases a planing hull’s efficiency, but don’t overdo it. Excessive bow-up trim increases slamming in a chop and reduces your forward visibility. A…

Boat Reviews
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Put the Right Gas in Your Tank: BoatUS

Here’s a timely warning from BoatUS about the need to make sure you’re putting the right gas in your boat at the pump: SPRINGFIELD, Va., May 22, 2023 – Today’s gas station pumps no longer provide clear and transparent information to help consumers make the right fuel choice. Dispensing pumps have become a marketer’s dream, chock full of attention-grabbing video screens blasting amplified sound that visually plaster a captive audience with a mishmash of eye-catching advertisements from two-for-one coffee to $1 hot dogs. With all that distraction and summer boating season kicking off this Memorial Day weekend, Boat Owners Association…

Cruising Life
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How To Use Prop Walk To Dock Your Boat

Understanding prop walk, or how to use the direction the propeller is turning, will help you control your single-screw boat in low-speed and docking situations. Here’s a great primer from iNavX that tells how to do it: When your propeller spins in gear, it produces thrust that drives your boat forward. Indeed, most of the force of the propeller contributes to the direction of motion. But not all of it. A propeller is far from 100% efficient, and a simple unidirectional propeller pushes water in multiple directions. The primary direction of thrust is aft when the transmission is in forward…

Cruising Life
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5 Ways To Summon Help: BoatUS

National Safe Boating Week is coming up (starting May 21), and BoatUS is taking the occasion to remind everyone about how they can be seen, and heard, if they run into trouble this summer. Here are their five tips that can help you summon help if you need it: VHF Radio – A VHF (Very High Frequency) radio is the most reliable way to communicate with other boats and emergency responders on most waterways. New Digital Selective Calling (DSC) radios with a red distress button can even send an emergency call and other important information such as your location to…

Cruising Life
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How To Use AIS Symbols on Charts

Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to use AIS symbols on charts to help you cruise safely: Imagine cruising into a new channel, scanning the chart, and finding some buoys have a magenta circle around the buoy symbol. What does this mean, and how can you use these navigation markers to boost cruising safety? Most cruisers already know the value of the Automated Identification System, or AIS, and how it helps prevent collisions at sea. Some buoys and beacons are also equipped with AIS transmitters which give the position, description, and purpose of the aid. Three types…

Cruising Life
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65-Foot Yacht Stuck in Florida Back Yard

Ever since Hurricane Ian hit Florida last September, a 65-foot yacht has been stuck in a Cape Coral yard. Here’s the story from NBC-2: CAPE CORAL, Fla. — More than six months after Hurricane Ian, a mega yacht is still stuck on dry land in a southwest Cape Coral backyard. And it’s become a spectacle for boaters. “I’d say hundreds of people see it if not thousands,” said Melanie Long, who lives in the Tarpon Point neighborhood. The big boat is 65 feet long and weighs a whopping 50 tons. Jens Geotz is the owner. “Until the last 30 minutes…

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…

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