Bottom Paint

One of the mysteries of boats is how they float on their bottoms. That's only part of it. They move through the water and get struck by waves and and the occasional rock. It turns out bottoms also attract organisms that grow there, slow the boat, and eat away at the surface. To prevent organisms from growing on boat bottoms, normally economic and ecological sailors resort to painting boat bottoms with expensive copper paint. The paint is at least $100 per gallon and the copper is not good for local harbor organisms. I can't wait for someone to invent a boat bottom that needs no paint, is smooth as silk, and can hits from waves and rocks.

Splice of Life

Last night I attended a line splicing clinic at the local boating
store conducted by Steve, who has been splicing for a quarter century.
You could tell right away that Steve loved rope of all sorts. He was
wistful about hemp and sparkling about new high-tech fiber. He showed
us a bit of steel cable next to some high-tech line and claimed the
line was stronger. His eyes twinkled when he told us.

The group of men (one woman appeared later) were eager to learn more
about line and, especially, how to weave line together to form strong
loops for attaching shackles, messengers, and dock cleats. A good
splice is nearly as strong as the line itself whereas a knot degrades
the lines strength by as much as half.

While working with our own lines, the table began to look like the
gimp table at scout camp with bits of tape, fids, knives, loops,
whipping, and sheets of instructions strewn about. It occurred to me
that this was the future as well as the past. Old and older men
sitting around a table asking each other what the leader had just said
or which instruction number we were on. Except for the three cops, who
came to learn about new high-tech line in their department, we were a
pretty tentative crew. The man on my left shook a bit. The one on my
right had trouble marking his line. Another man had difficulty paying
attention. Once we were finished, regardless of how much help we
needed from Steve, there were a dozen proud men with a spliced line to
take home.

Speakeasy goes in the water May 1.

--
Mark Gillingham
In 1828, Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary.

Next to Impossible

For 2 years running we have changed the name of our boat to Speakeasy.
One would have thought that a lesson would have been learned the first
time. It's not the superstition that Neptune will strike us for
changing a boat's name. Rather it is peeling off the decal of the
previous name. In the case of our current Speakeasy the decal reads
"Next to Neptune" and has a large image of the watery god himself.
That's the real Neptune I fear. Even worse is that there are decals on
starboard and port.

"Just give it a little heat and it will pull right off" we've been
told. Our friends could ad that the ambient temperature must be above
40 degrees--maybe 50. Chicago has not been above 40 much this -spring
so I haven't been able to test this temperature theory.

ActiveCaptian Mobile Routes

Routes are easy to create with ActiveCaptain.com Mobile and my Treo 650. Simply tap and hold at the routes beginning location and then create waypoints along the way to the end of the route. At the last point, choose to end the route. Once that is done, the waypoints can be altered or new onces can be entered between the start and end. It's very intuitive.

ActiveCaptain Mobile for my Treo 650

When I broke my T-Mobile cell phone, I went to eBay to get a Palm Treo 650 to replace it. The Treo was unlocked, which means that I could continue using my T-Mobile plan where I discovered that for less than $10 per month, I could have internet access for Web surfing and email. Since then, I've been looking for navigation software for my Treo. The best I could do was PathAway, which has flexible maps so that hikers, drivers, and sailors could upload their favorite maps, but it never really worked for me.

ActiveCaptain.com has been promising a Palm version of its online service that describes 1000s of harbors and inlets around the world. I signed up to be a beta tester, but never got the non-disclosure agreement worked out. Now, the Palm version of ActiveCaptain is available--ActiveCaptain Mobile. My next posts will be about my use of ActiveCaptain Mobile.

I downloaded the trial version (20 uses) and two regional maps, which are NOAA maps in RGN format. This was so easy to do! The software loaded onto my Treo when I synced and the maps could be dragged directly to my SD memory card. I have a card that has a built-in USB connection. In minutes I was browsing Lake Michigan and the Virgin Islands.

Next, I wanted to test my GPS receiving, a Holum 1000, which is about the size of a bar of hotel soap. My Treo was already associated with the GPS receiver and the software was able to find it right away. It had a check box to connect automatically, if I wanted. Based on my previous experience with PathAway, I thought getting charts and PGS in a few minutes was amazingly simple.

Mac Mini Onboard

Our new boat, Speakeasy, a Catalina 320 does not have integrated GPS or chartplotter onboard. Last fall, I was introduced to MacENC, which is a very sophisticated GPS plotter and chart display that uses freely available NOAA bitmap or vector charts. We can easily bring a PowerBook on board, but it is no good at the helm because it is slippery. I can visualize it sliding off a lazarette or flying overboard. I was browsing in a sailing magazine and noticed that someone had cabled a Mac Mini installed below to a weather-protected LCD screen at the helm. It even had a metal track pad. Of course, none of this gear is inexpensive. A Mac Mini ($800), software ($150), display ($1000), cables ($100), and installation (?) can add up fast. Perhaps the handheld GPS and a paper chart are the best way for a while longer.

The new Speakeasy

The winter hunt for a new boat can be all encompassing, taking all of your time and thought. Boats are dreams with physical form and weight. One can fall in love with the form, but not like certain details. Then, there is the cost of a boat. A new boat was out of the question from the start, but even decade-old boats seemed too expensive. I did see boats in various price ranges that could fit my dream for both form and weight.

The goal of this particular boat was to be safe and comfortable for a month-long sail from harbor-to-harbor in Lake Michigan. My partner and I decided it must be at least 30 feet, have solid electronics, able to be sailed by a single person, and be safe. We looked at Pearsons, Tartans, and Catalinas. Eventually, we bought a Catalina 320. It was in great condition and was priced fairly. It didn't have some of the form I saw in the Tartans, but it had better weight. That is, it was in better condition and would require less maintenance. We thought we'd have more time to enjoy sailing the boat rather than keeping it up. The old boat named Speakeasy is now named Maria after the owner's grandmother. Welcome, the new Speakeasy.