Decided to rebuild my 6 old Lewmar two-speed self tailing winches on Stops. The starboard winch on the coachroof used to pull up the main halyard was also making some grinding noises.. not good.. Having done this a few times now, here are some tips to make this easier: Dismantle one winch a time so…
Almost as exciting as the Italian Job: the bottom paint job on Stops! It involved a stealthy delivery to Alameda under thick fog, life threatening situations (using toxic paints) and a female character who get's saved..(Stops and her bottom). No Mini cars, Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie but apart from that it was exactly the…
Summary: RYA Yachtmaster Skipper. Completed half circumnavigation in 2012 sailing my 38ft sailboat “Sudden Stops Necessary” shorthanded from San Francisco to Australia crossing the Pacific. Over 15,000 blue water miles as skipper. Sailing blog: http://www.sailingnavasana.com Sailing Qualifications:RYA Yachtmaster Offshore with Commercial Endorsement (Awarded in 2001). RYA Small Craft Sea Survival Certificate, RYA First Aid…
The BVI route I typically take involves circumnavigating Tortola in a anticlockwise manner. This way you sail downwind to Jost van Dyke, which is much preferable to a long upwind slog.
When I bought Stops it hardly had any electronics.. not surprising since the boat was hardly used. The GPS had been removed and the radar, a 15yr old CRT system was not working. Since my other instruments were Raymarine I decide go down this path for a replacement Chartplotter/GPS/Radar. I actually bought all these items…
The dreaded appearance of water in the engine sump started the investigation of the leak. Found the water pump was leaking. In the beginning it was only when the engine ran which was able to live with for a bit until it started leaking all the time.. now I had to do something about it….
Costa esmerelda (the emerald coast) is one of the most famous sailing areas in the world, mainly because of the grand prix yacht racing that takes place there. It good consistent winds, so we decided to a charter there. We chartered a beneteau oceanis 41 from sailitalia, an affiliate of moorings. The boat was in…
The caribbean windwards are some of the most wonderful and varied islands in the caribbean. In fact I would this is the best place to do a bareboat in the caribbean handsdown. You have islands like theTobago Keys, Mustique, Bequia, St Lucia, just to name a few. In 2004 I organized a one way charter…
This was my first bareboat charter and I was a little ambitious. I chartered the boat from Stardust yacht charters, it was a 5 year + old beneteau First 42s7 which was a little beaten round the edges but definitely cheap! It was a 2 week trip, and my plan was pretty aggressive. We managed…