I. Before Leaving Dock 1. Know and check your ground tackle 2. Anchor sized adequately for boat? 3. Owner aware of strengths and weaknesses of their anchor type? 4. Rode long enough for adequate scope in anticipated anchorages? 5. Chain leader on rope rode? 6. Anchor and rode in good shape and ready for deployment? [read more]
Coast Guard Releases Boating App
by Lu Abel The Coast Guard has just released a smartphone app aimed at recreational boaters. Here’s what it looks like on the right. It offers a pretty wide variety of features. I’ll note what they provide and my opinion of them: 1. State boating information. A pointer to state web sites. For California, at least, the state [read more]
Chartering from the First Mate’s Point of View
By Marsha Dyslin We have chartered boats 9 times since 1991 (to Grenada, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, La Paz, British Columbia, Belize and have trailered our previous boat to British Columbia and Southern Cal. , sailing to Catalina Island. Our first charter with the girls was when they were 5,8 and 10 years old, and we had 4 adults for the [read more]