Difficult Re-entry

One of the comments: "I don't know that boat stays afloat given the collective weight of those guy's balls."

A special place in hell...

I enjoyed this article written by RLW:

A special place in hell...: "

Off hand, I'm not a guy who believes in hell or heaven, but there are times I wish there was a special hell for those idiots who don't know how to use a dinghy dock...

I've lost track of the number of times coming into a dinghy dock where we'd find some doofus had tied up in such a way as to make it impossible for others to dock. While other times ill-placed dinghies have made it impossible to leave because they were locked in such a way that blocked anyone from getting out...

Then there are those folk who put their outboard legs up, oblivious to the fact that their prop would be eating through someone's dinghy tube while they are doing their shopping.

While I don't believe in a heaven or hell, I certainly do believe in Karma and while some may be more instant than others it most certainly does come around!

Some years back, I returned to a crowded dinghy dock in St Thomas while the '1500' was everywhere with their pink flags a-flying and as I unlocked my dinghy noticed that the half dozen dinghies with their outboards up were all missing their props. Further investigation revealed that the props had simply been removed and dropped overboard... A rather benign and instant karma wake-up call if you will!

On the other hand, I have also seen dinghies slashed and trashed as a reaction to some nitwit's dinghy blocking the exit from an enclosed dinghy dock in such a way that no one was able to leave until they came back. Face it some cruisers and live-aboard locals could use some anger management counseling but until that happens, best not to make them angry as boat folk as a rule carry knives and multitools.

When all is said and done, it is simply easier to do the right thing...

So it goes...

"

Wreck On Wednesday.

Wreck On Wednesday.: "

What happens when you try to enter a harbor during a storm?



Since you're lucky, you end up on the beach as a local tourist attraction.

Via Conjuminando and handbreit.

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/501282/london-boat-show-coming

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/501282/london-boat-show-coming

Insurance Firms Plan Private Navy to Take on Pirates

[The Independent 9-28-10] Insurers have drawn up plans for the world’s first private navy to try to turn the tide against Somali pirates who continue to plague the global shipping industry by hijacking vessels for ransoms of more than £100 million (US$1.579 million) a year, The Independent has learned.

Baltimore Boating Time Lapse

What NOT to do!

Steven Robert's Technomadic Micro-trimaran

Steven Robert's Technomadic Micro-trimaran: "

Visit - Steven Robert's Technomadic Micro-trimaran

This is a neat looking 'technology demonstration' type craft that is now up for sale, at least to the right person. Probably need to be of a 'high-tech' bent.

Pedal, solar and/or sail-powered, there are some interesting ideas to check out, even if you're not shopping for just this boat.
"

RAPC Nautilus, toughest marine PC yet?

RAPC Nautilus, toughest marine PC yet?: "

This is my favorite sort of show and tell. The guy doing the showing, Bob Hilliard, is the chief engineer involved, and the location was the nav station of the 105-foot ketch Apache, which will be a beta site for Bob's creation, the RAPC Nautilus marine PC on the chart table. I admit to being a bit dazzled by the boat, which you can gander in this old charter listing, and the Pinot Noir, but I'm thinking that's the most bullet-proof boat computer I've ever seen...
"

Wichard MX Shackles: a block alternative for static, high-load applications

Wichard MX Shackles: a block alternative for static, high-load applications: "
This is pretty clever! Sometimes, you need a bit of purchase for a line you don’t adjust often, and sometimes you would prefer not to incur the weight or maintenance penalties a block demands.



If only somebody were to manufacture a fitting with a really smooth dished surface of moderate radius that smooth synthetic line could slide over…

Hey, they did it!

Obviously, this is not an all-purpose block replacement. Far from it. But once in a while, this might be just the right fitting.

Let’s see what Wichard says about it:

The MX is a High Resistance halyard shackle fully forged in 17/4 PH stainless steel to take on the high loads. MX has been specifically designed for static load operations and can be used to replace the terminals on flying sail furlers (i.e halyard block) or as a 2:1 purchase for your mainsail.

Outstanding strength/weight ratio:
Fully forged in High Resistance stainless steel, the MX offers one of the best strength/weight ratios on the market. Compared to standard blocks and for the same line diameter, the MX offers much higher working and breaking loads as well as optimised dimensions and weight.

A unique design:
Thanks to its unique design, the MX can excellently distribute the stresses. Its particular shape enables the MX to perfectly position the line to avoid undue and excessive wear on the line.

Easy to install:


The MX requires no specific lashing knowledge. Its installation is as easy as installing a shackle, thanks to its Wichard self-locking pin.

Reliable and maintenance free:


The MX does not include any mechanical parts (i.e sheave) which can potentially break. Moreover, it does not require any particular maintenance.

APPLICATIONS

As terminal for flying sail furlers:
The MX can effectively replace the terminal of your flying sail furlers, especially the halyard block, by providing an outstanding strength/weight ratio. When luff tension is needed, it can be used:

• to replace the halyard block on top swivel
• to replace the lower terminal on spool (snap shackle etc.)

As a halyard shackle for mainsail halyards (2:1 purchase):

The MX has been specifically designed to adapt itself to the heads of most mainsails. Thus it can be used in place of a 2:1 purchase on a mainsail halyard making it easier to tension the halyard and hoist the mainsail.
"

How Not to Sell a Boat Case Study: "Sailing Yacht" on ebay

The title says "Pt 1" as I know that I'll be doing more of these:

How Not to Sell a Boat Case Study on this boat being sold on ebay.

First things first - I really liked this little boat, which is why I nominated it for my "Boat for Sale of the Week". What I didn't like was some basic schoolboy errors on the part of the vendor.

Let the Search Engines Work For You
What is sad is that this is yet another person selling a boat who has limited his audience - Why not list the boat as "Jaguar 21 Yacht- Great Condition" rather than "Sailing Yacht"... Let the search engines work for you! Nobody who wants to buy one of these is going to search for "Sailing Yacht". Put what it is in the title and Google will pick it up and rank it. If you search for "Sweden yachts 54 for sale", my blog posting from last week comes up as number 5:

What's even more interesting is when you look at the other 4 above me, none of them actually have an SY54 for sale, so you could kind of argue I'm the first relevant result. That was after only 1 week - free advertising.

So what else can be done? Stating what it is similar to in the listing is useful as that too will also be picked up by the search engines. 

Presentation, Spelling & Grammar

There's so much wrong with this, it's just not funny. Let's start with the obvious: Block capitals are just plain annoying. They make text harder to read and are commonly interpreted as shouting at best or just plain rude or ignorant at worst. Don't do it. Ever. 

Secondly the use of spaces, commas and full stops are really sporadic. These are not ever optional. It just makes the whole message painfully difficult to extract. If you struggle with grammar and structure (and a lot of people do), just use bullet points where possible and short sentences where not.

Get the Pitch Right
Make no mistake - this is a sales pitch. The text starts out listing rig dimensions. Who cares? Then there's a jumbled explanation of the good bits, bad bits and description of the model.Here's my standard format for selling stuff on ebay:

1. First things first: Identify the defining characteristic. It might be price, performance, history, condition or whatever and state that:
   "Beautiful Jaguar 21 Sailing Yacht - Fantastic Condition"
2. Personal Statement about what the item is, why you bought it and why you're selling it. Be positive and try to sound like you value the item you're selling:
   "I bought this yacht 5 years ago as my first boat. We've had fantastic summers sailing with my family in the Solent. I've worked hard to keep her in first class condition over my time with her, so I think her new owner will be really happy with their new boat. I've decided to sell because we're saving for a bigger house".
3. Explanation of the type thing that you're selling. In this case talk through what makes the Jaguar 21 such a fantastic yacht. Also mention comparable yachts, link to reviews or forum postings that mention it in a positive light.I just Googled for "jaguar 21" and found the owner's association with a perfect description to borrow:

It's even got those reviews neatly listed on the downloads page
4. Description of the specific thing that your selling. This is the place to mention (succinctly) all the positive points along with the negative ones that have to be mentioned. Bullet point lists work well for this.
5. What's the next step? See below

Think Carefully About the Negatives

Often we perceive negative things differently to others seeing something for the first time. The vendor clearly uses this boat on a trailer and would have liked to have one of his own rather than borrowing one. He sees this as a negative factor.

"THE BAD BITS ARE SHE HAS NO TRAILER  SHE IS ON A BORROWED TRAILER THAT I CAN USE TO TRANSPORT TO YOUR Location ."

Now when I read the advert, It had never occured to me that it had to have a trailer. I was maybe imagining keeping the boat on a cheap swinging mooring in Chichester harbour or similar. Then I read the trailer comment and it makes me reconsider. "Should I worry about the lack of a trailer? How difficult will it be to get one if I need one? My car doesn't have a tow ball". 

In reality this should have been stated as: 

"I am happy to deliver this boat to it's new home using my friend's trailer"

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I refuse to believe that there are a total of four pictures available for this boat. When selling a boat, then there should be at least twenty pictures showing it from all angles. I'd suggest that the first image be one of the boat on the water if one is available. Alternatively a nice on of it ashore, which is what he went for. Secondly let's see everything inside and out. He's mentioned all of these things in good condition - let's see them. 

Ask for the Sale

All too often, sales people are scared to ask the customer to take the next step. Has the vendor thought about what the sale will look like? I imagine nobody is going to click "Buy it now" without having looked at it (especially without more pictures). 

I imagine that when this boat is sold someone will mail him and ask a few question (and probably more pictures). There'll be a few interchanges and then they'll arrange a viewing. That guy will either buy it with cash on the spot or go away and make an offer by phone or email if they're shy. 

Clearly there will be a lot of time wasting along the way. Only a fraction of queries will turn into viewings and only a fraction will turn into offers and one of those might turn into a sale, but we've identified the process. Now we want to guide the prospective buyer down the process. 

The vendor has invited calls at the end of his posting, but not in a very inviting way: 

"FOR MORE INFO CALL GARY ON 0XXXXXXXXX"

Sounds intimidating doesn't it? I think this could have been better wrapped up with:

"If you're looking for a small yacht and think this might be the sort of thing that would suit you, then please send me a quick mail and I'll get back to you. Alternatively give me a call and I can tell you a bit more about her. If you're serious and would like to take a look at her - again - give me a call and let's have a chat"

Geoff

Boat For Sale of the Week #2 - Jaguar 21

I started last week with the Sweden Yachts 54 for sale, but I thought I'd continue. So each week, I'm going to find one interesting boat for sale and blog it here.

This week's boat was found on eBay. It's a Jaguar 21 in what appears to be in really nice condition. Seems like a lot of boat for £2800, which let's face it is probably more like £2500 after a bit of negotiation.

So why did I chose it? Basically it's a cheap boat, which will be fun to sail, cheap to own and appears to be very tidy.

I've got a few issues with the way it's being sold, but I'll blog about that later.

I'm going to duplicate the posting here as they tend to fall off eBay after a while:

JAGUAR21 BASIC MEASUREMENTS AND SAIL AREAS MAINSAIL=9.75 GENOE 150%ofJ=12.07 WORKINGJIB =8.94 IOR SPINNAKER=30.10 DISPLACEMENT=2,700lbs L.O.A 6.50 BEAM=2.5 DRAFT=1.2 THE BOAT  IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION FOR HER AGE WITH ALL ORIGINAL GELCOAT. THE ANTIFOUL WAS NEW THIS SUMMER.THE MAST AND BOOM ARE ALL IN VERY GOOD ORDER AND ROPE RUNNING RIGGING IS IN GOOD CONDITION. INSIDE THE BOAT THERE ARE 2 SETTEE BERTHS WITH A DROP LEAF TABLE IN THE CENTER. THE V BERTH IS CURRENTLY IN USE BY A CHEMICAL LOO AND STORAGE AREA .THE HEADLINING AND UPHOLSTERY IS ALL IN VERY GOOD CONDITION .THE BOAT HAS 12 VOLT BATTERY WITH GOOD LIGHTING AND A VHF 7000 NAVMAN ALL WORKING GOOD.
THE BAD BITS ARE SHE HAS NO TRAILER  SHE IS ON A BORROWED TRAILER THAT I CAN USE TO TRANSPORT TO YOUR Location . THE SAIL COVER IS A BIT DRITY AND A LITTLE RIPED BUT WITH A BIT OF CARE THIS SHOULD BE A QUICK FIX APART FROM THAT SHE IS ALL GOOD TO GO
FOR MORE INFO CALL GARY ON 07975768631.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/sailing-yacht-/170520974383?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item27b3d7942f#ht_500wt_1154

Beautiful Boat

We were moored in Mariehamn in June and saw this boat next to us. In terms of lines, she looks a lot like our Sweden Yachts 36, but she looked absolutely brand new. The hull was gleaming and beautiful, but the design is clearly old. I'm intrigued to know is it a new builder making classic styled boats, a one off or an old boat that has been lovingly restored.

Anyone out there know what it is?

Sweden Yachts 54 for sale

Got a mail in my inbox from a fellow Sweden Yacht owner. He's selling his beautiful absolutely stunning SY54. I think this would have to be way up there on my list of lottery-win boats. My wife and I often talk about a Discovery 55 as being our ideal (dream) long term cruiser, but I think this trumps it any-day. That being said - a new one of these is about 75% more than a Discovery 55. This boat just reminds me why I love the Sweden Yachts marque so much. 


Here's the mail:
=========================================

Hi all SWY owners.

I am a lucky owner of a new SWY 54, building no 03, delivered from the yard July 2008. The boat is now for sale due to other plans. The boat has been very little in use.

It is one of a kind with a special interior design of Cuban Mahogany, it has all equipment such as watermaker, air conditioning, generator, Icemaker,freezer, TV, bow and aft thruster and many more,

The contract price for this boat was  SEK 16 million ex vat. It is now for sale for EUR 1.5 million incl Norwegian VAT.

If of interest please contact for further details.

Bjørn Erik Bjørnsen

be@westcap.no

=============================================

Click to enlarge:

Excellent article on Spinnaker Cloth

Excellent article on Spinnaker Cloth

Can't even remember why I was looking this up, but highly interesting.

Installation of Linear Drive Autopilot

After writing about the Edson tiller arm last week, I decided to see if there was much out there on other people's attempts at the task. I thought this was an excellent write up:

Installation of Raymarine 6001 Linear Drive Autopilot

Lilla Nassa

Delayed write up from May this year:

The first sail of the year saw Jendor sailing to Lilla Nassa, with a crew of friends from work. Lilla Nassa is a group of small island towards the outer edge of the Stockholm central archipelago. The main island has a small natural harbour with metal pins driven into the rock to tie up to. We moored up with the bow into the uncharacteristic northerly wind.

After a beer or two we explored the island while the chilli cooked. It is bald of vegitation, which sounds like it would be cold and barren, but in reality it's strikingly beautiful. There's a number of small huts which we assume are used for short visits in the summer.

Click to view album

The evening saw heavy rain on deck, copious quantities of wine consumed down below and everyone retiring to their bunks at midnight, drunk and tired after long day. I was roused two hours later by Sophie who had heard a thud in the forepeak cabin. I pulled on my foulies and headed up on deck into the cold driving rain. On the plus side, even a 2am the sun was beginning to rise and the problem was easily visible. The weather front had brought a textbook windshift with it and we were now lying at 90 degrees to our previous position with the bow bumping against the rocky shore. Hauling on the anchor, it became obvious that it was dragging. The first plan was to reverse off the rock and hang back on the bow lines which were still tied to the shore. Sadly this had no effect, so I got our two largest crew to push against the rock with the spinnaker pole and we came free.

A plan was formed, given the following conditions: The wind was likely to shift again in a few hours; the harbour is really tiny giving limited manoeuvrability to drop the anchor again; light conditions were still dusky meaning that underwater rocks would be harder to spot; I was no longer sure of the holding power of the seabed and most importantly the harbour was empty besides us. The plan was to put someone ashore and tie a warp to one of the metal pins that we previously had our bow to and attach this to one of the stern cleats. We'd then join as many lines together as was required to get to the southern side of the bay and tie the bows up to the metal pins over there.

Everything went flawlessly except Sophie, who had the shore-bound job of handling the stern-line and walking round the island to the new mooring spot, came back on board complaining of being afraid of zombies and seeing lots of mating frogs.

In hindsight, judging from the satellite photo, it may have been possible to go alongside the pontoon just to the right of where we were (in the above image), but I think a grounding in the pitch black would have been much more irritating.

So all this sounds a little hairy... do I regret going? Would I go back? in terms of damage to the boat, there was just a very minor scratch to the gelcoat on the stern, so nothing too serious. I think that if you just stay risk free and go to the places that you know, there's no point owning a boat and may as well just buy a holiday home. We've since replaced our 5kg stern anchor with the 15kg one which will give me a little more faith in it's holding power. I'd consider going back again, the only hesitation there being that I've done that one now and there are thousands more to explore. If you're reading this and are considering checking it out, It's certainly worth it.

Out There: A Film about the 2009 OSTAR

I bought this DVD recently and sat and watched it last Sunday evening. The OSTAR is the Original Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race. It runs every four years from Pymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

The documentary mainly focusses on the preparations and musings of about a dozen of the competitors prior to the race. What was really interesting was the variation of their backgrounds and motivation. One of them was a pub land lord who wanted to get away from it all and another had never raced before and felt "If you only climb one mountain in your life... may as well make it Everest". There were several youngish aspiring pro sailors, several older, more weathered solo sailors.

There wasn't a huge amount of during the race footage of conditions, sail changes, problems, etc. There were a few interesting encounters like fishing boats and grumpy cargo ship captains. I also would have liked more information about the wind strength and general conditions during the race. When I was following it in 2009 via various blogs, I really got a sense of how tough it was, but this didn't really come across in the DVD, so again more time exploring the struggle would have been good.



Overall I really (,really) enjoyed this DVD, but would have liked it to be a bit longer rather than a brief 45 minutes. The production values were excellent considering the semi-professional basis on which it was made. You could argue that £15 is a lot for a short documentary, but considering the niche appeal and therefore limited distribution - I think this is really pretty good value.

http://www.offshoresolo.com/sorc/out-there-trailer

Malö Yachts announces 54 foot flagship

For me Malö have always been the a little more exclusive version of Hallberg-Rassy. They only make around 30 boats per year, so are similar to Sweden Yachts' capacity before the closed their doors.

They've just announced their new flagship - the Malö 54. It looks stunning from the picture, but I'll be really interested to see the layout. Malö have always put the owner's stateroom in the bow because aft cockpit boats can't have those huge luxurious staterooms found in centre cockpit designs such as the larger Hallbergs and the superb Discovery 55.

One of the big reasons to chose Malö is their willingness to customize. Indeed their recent marketing in the Yachting press has focussed on this aspect. Check out their custom build page.

Review: Edson Autopilot Tiller Arm

Edson sell a range of Auto Pilot Tiller arms. I'd never heard of these before, but they appear to be a solution to a potential problem which is up there in the top two or three worst things that could happen offshore - steering failure. The principle is that rather than attaching the drive mechanism of the autopilot to the steering quadrant, the tiller arm is attached to the rudder stock and the autopilot mounted to this instead. So in the instance of failure of the wheel steering, it is possible to steer the boat home using the electronic autopilot.

They are available in a variety of sizes and a choice of Bronze or an Aluminium. Bronze for cruising boats with Stainless or Bronze fittings and Aluminium for Composite or Aluminium rudder posts. They cost around $400 - $550 depending on size and material, which doesn't feel extortionate.

In principle I think this is a great idea - reducing the single points of failure on a boat is always a worthy goal. My main question however is of all the incidents of recorded steering failure, what percentage are upstream of the quadrant? What I mean by that is that redundancy is great if the majority of problems occur on the quadrant itself or in the steering wire connecting the wheel to the quadrant. If however a significant portion of the faults occur in say the rudder bearings or as a result of hitting a submerged object, then this backup option is unlikely to be of any help.

On balance: When I come to fit a new linear drive autopilot to my boat next year, then I'll strongly consider getting one of these. As well as providing some king of additional safety factor, I have a strong suspicion that it'll many the job significantly more straightforward.

YBW.com Boats for Sale

YBW have asked me to link to their Boats for sale site. They have around 2500 boats for sale in the UK and usefully link to their back issue reviews for sale. 


http://www.ybw-boatsforsale.com

Hallberg-Rassy announces 64 Foot Flagship

Just wow. Need to figure out where I can get 2.2 million Euros from.

http://www.hallberg-rassy.com/HR64/HR64.shtml

Useful website for checking out prevailing wind at different times of the year

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_map_europe_4.htm

I've been looking at this to see what the wind might be doing when we sail from Sweden to the UK in a couple of months.

Excellent Article on the Raymarine AIS500

Just discovered this great article on the AIS500, which is Raymarine's AIS Class B transciever. One of these little boxes will help you see big ships at night and in fog, and possibly more importantly be seen by those vessels.

http://doublereef.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/raymarine-ais500-reboot/

Race Crew

This is an excellent article on who does what on a yacht in racing mode:

http://www.sea-dreamer.com/page.asp?pagename=racing