2 days ago
Topic:
Chesapeake to UK Spring 2026
DickPosts: 421
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Hi Chris and Phillip,
A few words on the Northern route below;
The route you are contemplating has a wealth of suggestions as it is so commonly done: I believe I used Jimmy Cornell’s World Passage book along with articles on the subject. There is a lot out there. The big question is how early to leave and still ensure (or make least likely) having a hurricane join you.
The best advice we received was not to treat the Azores as just a “fuel depot” mid-ocean. So, we spent the season crossing and spent 6 weeks in Bermuda, almost 3 months in the Azores visiting 8 of the 9 islands (just fabulous) before fetching up in Portugal in late September or so.
Feel free to come back with questions.
My best, Dick Stevenson. s/v Alchemy
The Atlantic Canadian Maritimes are, indeed, wonderful cruising.
An alternative: a west>east Northern route to Europe (CA, Greenland, Iceland, Faroes, Scotland/Europe) is covered in the new “CCA Essential Passage Guide to the Viking Route” (as is the more commonly accomplished east>west Viking route) along with a wealth of guidance on sailing northern waters.
There is also a new edition of the CCA’s cruising guide to Newfoundland as well as updates/new editions in the works or accomplished to CCA guides to the Canadian Maritime waters (Nova Scotia, Labrador, the Gulf of St. Lawrence).
Over 3-4 years, I spent 4+ months each season cruising this area and did the Viking route on a return to North America in 2017.
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3 days ago
Topic:
Chesapeake to UK Spring 2026
Chris.LobelPosts: 1
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Hi Philip,
Have you thought about taking northern route back - Nova Scotia - Newfie - Azores . The passage from Newfie to Azores is only 1200nm and Canada is an awesome cruising area.
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3 days ago
Topic:
Sailing to Scoresbysund, Greenland
Henrik JohnsenPosts: 1
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We sailed 2400Nm from our home port on the west coast of Norway to Scoresbysund on the east coast of Greenland this summer. Feel free to check it out here<
edited by Moon on 25/10/2025
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10 days ago
Topic:
Pacific crossing
navegante1105Posts: 2
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Hi, I am Agustin, Gran Canaria Port Officer. I am pleased to offer my help as crew for anyone crossing the Atlantic this year, or crossing the Pacific.next year. I have done an atlantic crossing, and I did Panama channel crossing and sailing to Galápagos islands early this year. My desire is to do the Pacific crossing to French Polinesia. As I said, I have experience on Panama canal crossing and sailing on Galápagos islands. I speak spanish( helpful when staying in Panama and Galápagos),and speak english too.
Cheers, Agustin.
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14 days ago
Topic:
Social Media for nostalgics (SSB)
DickPosts: 421
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Hi Simon,
A wonderfully written appreciation: thanks for sharing.
Alchemy’s passage -making has often been made to feel less isolated by our SSB skeds with other vessels going a similar direction.
It should be noted that some of the nets, particularly some of the weather nets, are done on SSB Amateur (Ham) radio frequencies (at least the last time I paid attention) the license for which is very much easier to obtain now that Morse Code proficiency is greatly reduced.
My best, Dick Stevenson, KC2HKW, WCZ7717
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15 days ago
Topic:
Social Media for nostalgics (SSB)
Simon CurrinAdministrator Posts: 829
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Social Media for nostalgics
I love being connected to all things digital 24/7 and freely admit that I have a nerdy part of my brain that can be dismissive of analogue evangelists.
But this year something changed. The imminence of a significant birthday sparked a nostalgia for the early days of our ocean passage making. This coincided with our buddy boats all having rubbish vhf aerials, a crossing of paths with a passionate radio HAM and the existence of some terrific SSB nets a thousand miles away.
Single Sideband Radio, or SSB for short, is a high frequency, decades old, radio communication technology that’s powerful enough to span a hemisphere. Until the millennium it was the only way boats communicated when crossing oceans. Those that had it used SSB to get weather forecasts, report their positions and summon assistance when sinking. It worked most of the time but it had its quirks and propagation of radio waves could be a bit too hit and miss for my liking. Nevertheless, we used it loads in the 90’s.
When we built Shimshal 2 we installed our old SSB radio from her predecessor but it sat at our chart table both unloved and unused for two decades as satellite technology extinguished the need for old fashioned radio. Many, including me, have said that SSB is dead and cannot be resuscitated.
Then, on a lovely afternoon in Tonga, Mike called by in his dinghy and offered to test our SSB set in the hope that we might tune into an impromptu group of friendly cruisers all heading in the same direction. Mike is, perhaps, more nerdy than me but embraces old technologies as well as the new. He measured the power our SSB sent to our backstay aerial and smiled at his findings. He then spent 90 minutes re-programming our set to make it almost analogue-idiot proof. How could we say no to joining his fledgling ‘Impromptu Net’?
My first problem was that the net was to be run at 0700z and I hadn’t a clue when that was but it did sound awfully early for a notoriously late riser. Google helped by explaining that HAM radioists call UTC ‘Z’ for reasons that remain unknown. So 0700Z translated into a much more acceptable 2000 local time.
I was so amazed that anyone heard me at all when I made my first, faltering SSB call in 20 years. Indeed, I was so shocked that I lost my powers of ‘radio-speech’. All that I had learned on a long range radio course in 2003 deserted me and I fluffed and jumbled my lines. For that transmission I was given the ‘dog’s breakfast’ award by the silky smooth net operator and took my rightful place at the bottom of the class.
Luckily, there was some stiff competition for the bottom of the class and soon I was joined by those who reported their position in decimals of a degree and those that mixed their SOG’s with their COG’s. The harder we tried the harder it became to string radio-fluent words together.
It didn’t matter. The background noise from radio waves bouncing off the ionosphere blurs the message and, in the days when analogue was all we had, clarity counted. But now a quick WhatsApp clears up a mis-spoken word and the muddled messages can easily be unscrambled by a glance at our digital gizmos that broadcast SOG and COG to giant public databases every minute of every day.
What did matter is that we were communicating by voice in a time-honoured fashion across hundreds of miles of ocean. It was,unexpectedly, rather lovely. Human voices, wrapped in crackles and punctuated by weird, otherworldly, noises were bouncing from boat to boat with a little help from the the upper atmosphere and a mysterious thing called propagation. Magical. We had our own, old-style, social network,
As with all social media I quickly became re-addicted and, within a few days, I was reaching out for more with growing enthusiasm. I hooked into Gulf Harbour Radio in New Zealand and had nighty chats with Patricia and David who we hope to meet up with when we make it to Auckland. Patricia even complemented me on the strength of my signal!
Most enjoyable of them all was the ‘Broken VHF Net’ between us and our buddy boats with the wonky aerials. Being just over the horizon their signals came booming in and we all enjoyed the nightly chatter that is part of being human. We were proud that our own mini-net may not always have been in perfect radio-English!
So SSB is not dead. It’s a wonderful social media for the nostalgics amongst us who value friendly voices mixed with a little static and a smattering of ionospheric distortion. We will be reaching out to our SSB equipped friends when we next cross an ocean.
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16 days ago
Topic:
12V panel replacement
DickPosts: 421
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Hi Tim,
Are you planning to do the works yourself?
Putting in a 12v panel with breakers can be pretty straightforward, but I wonder whether your concern is undoing what sounds like an unusual electrical design that causes regular problems.
It is not easy, and probably unwise, to work on a boat’s electrical system without schematics. I would start by developing a schematic for your present DC system and then move on to designing your new 12v system with breakers. Schematics allow you to do the bulk of the thinking work ahead of time and will save many hours in the long run.
While doing so read a couple of the excellent books on marine electrical design and work practices. Both are excellent winter projects.
But, in particular, get a copy of ABYC’s standards (they have a reduced rate for boat owners) or the EU equivalent.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Come back with any specific questions.
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26 days ago
Topic:
12V panel replacement
Tim.LanePosts: 1
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Hello, we have a privilege 37 and looking to replace the current electrical set up to a traditional 12v panel with breakers. The current system is unduly complicated and repairs are difficult. HAs anyone done this on a privilege or similar French boat? Love to hear of your experience!
edited by Tim.Lane on 03/10/2025
edited by Tim.Lane on 03/10/2025
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27 days ago
Topic:
Crew opportunity- Australia to New Zealand
Tim.SanderPosts: 1
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Looking for 1-2 crew to join Always, a Seawind 1260 with a crew of 2, for a passage trip from Brisbane to Opua New Zealand in November. Exact route and dates will be weather dependant, requiring crew flexibility. For more info, check sv-always.com for info about us, or contact Tim via WhatsApp at +17086426129
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29/08/2025
Topic:
Western Caribbean / Columbia / Cuba cruise 2026
neilmPosts: 29
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We have done that route, so here are a few suggestions
We loved Bonaire and Providencia. Curaco was good (summered boat there) practical and enjoyable I would skip Aruba if going again. It is just a cruise ship terminal. I would skip San andreas too
Enter Panama at the extreme East end, Porto Obaldia. Town is a dump, but people friendly. Cruise the Eastern Islands slowly. Water is not great due to plenty rivers bringing silt, but the islands are undeveloped As you go West water is much better and numbers of boats grow
Buy Bauhaus guide and get his electronic charts. MUCH better than the government charts. I will send you mine, no charge, but postage from Canada would cost you about $25 If you email your address I can check actual rate Neil@McCubbin.ca
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29/08/2025
Topic:
Need to clear out??
neilmPosts: 29
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We finally did clear out of French Polynesia.
US authorities in Hawaii had no interest. We filled in the on-line form and received email clearance in a few minutes. It seemed too good to be true, so I phoned to check, and the officer advised that he had determined that there was no need to visit our boat.
Of course, you never know what they can do, since action is at the local officer's discretion.
I do not regret having been conservative and clearing out
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29/08/2025
Topic:
Thoughts on lifelines
neilmPosts: 29
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Agreed 100% on the danger of the catalog vinyl covered lines.
My son had an unwanted swim due to one breaking on a racing boat her used to crew on
One way to get big lines cheaply is to use old rigging. It comes with a swage at one end, and we used Stay-Loks on the end cut to length.
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29/08/2025
Topic:
A hack for surge protectors
neilmPosts: 29
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Great and simple idea. Makes more sense to me than rubber ormetal ones
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29/08/2025
Topic:
Replacing Solar Panels?
neilmPosts: 29
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We installed a 150Watt, supposedly top quality, panel in Scotland in 2015. It worked OK
In 2022 we replaced it with a relatively cheap 500 Watt panel.
We find that in bright sun, the output is pretty much what I expected, 500/175 (=2.8 times as much)
However I think the more modern panel does much better in cloudy weather than the old one
The 500 Watt panel gives us about 130 Ah in a 12 volt system, very close to the equator in June, and about 120 Ah in British Columbia in August Of course that will drop when winter, short days and cloudy weather arrives.
Both panels are rigid
I would be inclined to replace you old panels
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29/08/2025
Topic:
Falmouth 24h Emergency Telephone Number.
neilmPosts: 29
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Curiously, the site https://sarcontacts.info/ lists different numbers. I emailed them and am awaiting a response.
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28/08/2025
Topic:
Impressive video of a boat in a breaking wave
DickPosts: 421
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Hi all,
This video is not taken in the open ocean, but is an excellent illustration (https://www.surfer.com/news/boat-slammed-rocks-maine-big-waves?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=other) of getting caught by a breaking wave and a superb argument for a Jordan Series Drogue if conditions approach breaking waves.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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24/08/2025
Topic:
Replacing Solar Panels?
Simon CurrinAdministrator Posts: 829
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Are you noticing that your solar generation is significantly reduced over the years? Difficult to assess as you have shifted location many times in 20 years!
We put 750watt of new solar on Shimshal in January 2024 and have been shocked to find that we now have several dead panels (no volts) and our peak generating power is just 200watts at mid day. Our panels are flexible Sun Power Panels and I understand that they don’t last as long as rigid but 18 months does seem pretty hopeless. Your 20 years seems incredible by comparison!
In fairness I think Shimshal suffered some kind of minor lightning event while on the hard in French Polynesia as many electrical items were either damaged or fused despite all being disconnected. That may have taken out some of our panels.
As an aside, the rigid solar we have on our house have shown negligible decline in output over the 15 years they have installed.
Simon
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24/08/2025
Topic:
Replacing Solar Panels?
Simon CurrinAdministrator Posts: 829
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Are you noticing that your solar generation is significantly reduced over the years? Difficult to assess as you have shifted location many times in 20 years!
We put 750watt of new solar on Shimshal in January 2024 and have been shocked to find that we now have several dead panels (no volts) and our peak generating power is just 200watts at mid day. Our panels are flexible Sun Power Panels and I understand that they don’t last as long as rigid but 18 months does seem pretty hopeless. Your 20 years seems incredible by comparison!
In fairness I think Shimshal suffered some kind of minor lightning event while on the hard in French Polynesia as many electrical items were either damaged or fused despite all being disconnected. That may have taken out some of our panels.
As an aside, the rigid solar we have on our house have shown negligible decline in output over the 15 years they have installed.
Simon
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23/08/2025
Topic:
Replacing Solar Panels?
Philip HeatonPosts: 36
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I have 5 framed panels totalling 330watts. Two are twenty years old and three are 15 years old. I had a new Victron Smart Solar MPPT installed this year, but I am wondering if it might be time to replace these 15 and 20 yewars old panels. Any thoughts?
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18/08/2025
Topic:
Guide books for New Zealand?
Mike.StirratPosts: 2
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We are going to cross the ditch from Sydney to Nelson in November and spend cyclone season in New Zealand (pondering a south island circumnavigation after our Tassie circumnavigation this year) and then sailing back to Fiji in May 2026. I've done some searching for guide books for New Zealand and most of them seem to focus on the northeast bit of the north island.
Are there any that are recommended for the south island?
What is/are the best guide book(s) for New Zealand in general?
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