Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sandy. Boats. Videos

A brief look at just a small portion of the damage done to boats and marinas by Superstorm Sandy...

We found a few videos on YouTube featuring boats, marinas and more in the aftermath of Sandy. If you were in the path of this destructive storm, we hope you and your family are safe, and of course our thoughts are with those of you still struggling through this. If you need help, one of the best places to start is http://www.redcross.org. If you feel moved to help people affected by the storm, please donate money to the Red Cross right now.

Warning: whether you are a boater in the Northeast, or anywhere else in the country, these videos may be difficult to watch.

First up is aerial footage from above the devastated New Jersey coastline, uploaded today by ... 




More videos after the jump...


Monday, October 29, 2012

Google on Sandy

The Google Crisis Response team has created what it modestly calls a "map" with the storm's location, forecast, shelters and more info about Hurricane Sandy. We thought it would be helpful for our readers whether you boat or not...

View the full page here: http://google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy
 

Boat Galley: Give them the Slip

This week's Boat Galley includes tips for keeping things from slipping around on your boat...

Tips From The Boat Galley
By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available at Amazon and other retailers.

It’s happy hour, and your snacks just keep sliding back and forth across the table. GRRR! How do you make them stay put? (continue after the picture to find out!)

Non-slip bowl


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Port Condition Zulu

Sandy affecting the East Coast. Coast Guard sets port condition Zulu for the coastal waters of Virginia and Maryland...

USCG Sector Hampton Roads
At about 10:00 am this morning we received the following announcement from the public affairs office of Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The Coast Guard captain of the port has set Port Condition Zulu for the coastal waters of the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia Saturday due to the approach of Hurricane Sandy.

Condition Zulu means gale force winds are possible within 12 hours.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fort Lauderdale Boat Show Is Here

Eyes are on Hurricane Sandy as she brushes by the only boat show in the US this weekend...

This is the weekend that boat show enthusiasts (is that a thing?) have been waiting for all year long. It's finally here. Fort Lauderdale. FLIBS starts now.

Read on after the photo for this week's boat show round-up to see which other boat show in the world is brave enough to go up against the 800-pound gorilla in South Florida this weekend; or jump right to the FirstBoat.com boat show calendar...

Yachts and boats at FLIBS 2012

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Vin Pica: What's With All The Rules!?

Vin Pica runs down the list of some of The Rules that don't require too much explanation...
Guest blog by Vincent Pica
Chief of Staff and District Commodore-elect, First District, Southern Region (D1SR)
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
The Rules for Prevention of Collision at Sea - Rules, Rules, Rules!?

As we continue to build a body of work on the Rules of Navigation, many of the Rules don't deserve a full article but do deserve to be noted.  This week's column looks to get those Rules behind us and into your sea log…

Boat breaking the rules

Monday, October 22, 2012

Four Yachts Burned in Michigan

D-I-Y winterization effort goes terribly wrong for one boater (and for owners of the boats next to his)... 

Are you a Do-It-Yourselfer? Trying to save a little money and winterize your 30-something foot boat all by yourself?

Anchor Bay Marina, Chesterfield, Michigan
Here's some advice... leave it to the professionals if you can.

Article sources we found today, which included the Detroit Free Press:
and The Voice, reported that a man started a fire on his own boat that quickly spread to three other boats - all between 30 and 40 feet long - destroying all of them and causing at least $250,000 in damages.
It seems the guy was shrinking the shrink wrap on his boat using a propane powered torch, and pointed the torch at one area a bit too long, igniting a blaze on his own boat, and spreading to three nearby boats at a marina in Chesterfield, Michigan.

May we suggest a hair dryer next time? Luckily nobody was hurt, and hopefully insurance will cover all the damage.

This just goes to show you, boating safety doesn't stop at the end of the season!


The Boat Galley: No-Fridge Veggies

This week's Boat Galley includes tips for keeping vegetables fresh on the boat without refrigeration...

Tips From The Boat Galley
By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available at Amazon and other retailers.

Even if your boat has refrigeration, storing some of your vegetables outside the refrigerator helps considerably with the problem of "my refrigerator's not large enough!"  And if you don't have a refrigerator, well, you have to store them otherwise. So how do you do it? (continue after the picture to find out!)

No fridge veggies on board


Thursday, October 18, 2012

Strictly Sail Long Beach Boat Show

There is only one boat show this weekend, and it's a good one - especially if you sail...

If this weekend's boat show round-up appears to be a bit abbreviated, that's because it is. It seems that a certain, big boat show in south Florida scheduled for the following weekend has everybody running around like chickens without their captain's license. Perhaps most folks are too busy to think about doing a boat show the weekend before Fort Lauderdale. But not Long Beach, California...

Read on after the photo for this week's boat show round-up (hint - it's all about Long Beach), or jump right to the FirstBoat.com boat show calendar...

Long Beach Boat Show
This photo from last year's Long Beach boat show was provided to us by the NMMA.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

SOS, MAYDAY, and other distress signals

Vin Pica looks at The Rules for distress signals that all boaters should be familiar with...
Guest blog by Vincent Pica
Chief of Staff and District Commodore-elect, First District, Southern Region (D1SR)
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
The Rules for Prevention of Collision at Sea – Hey You, Over There! Help!

Rules 36 (Signals to Attract Attention) and 37 (Distress Signals) are rather straight forward and don’t take up a lot of pages in the COLREGs. But, upon reflection, can there be anything more important than to be able to send signals that the receiver actually understands, especially if you are in distress…?

This column is about that...

Boat distress signals
A USCG photo of a vessel examiner examining the visual distress signals as part of a safety check.

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Boat Galley: English Muffin Bread

This week's Boat Galley is a simple and delicious recipe that is perfect for the season and can be enjoyed on or off the boat ...

Tips From The Boat Galley
By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The print edition of The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available at Amazon.

Delicious homemade bread with no kneading and ready in just an hour and a half?  Even better, it tastes just like English muffins but is so much easier to make!

English Muffin Bread from The Boat Galley
Recipe: English Muffin Bread

Friday, October 12, 2012

Back to Boat Shows

Last weekend we had Fleet Week, the America's Cup and more for Columbus Day Weekend, but now it's back to the boat shows...

Yachts in Annapolis

Last weekend's boat show round-up was marked by Columbus Day Weekend and big non-boat-show nautical events such as Fleet Week the America's Cup World Series. This weekend is different. This weekend is all boat shows, and they're all over the place.

Read on for this week's boat show round-up, or jump right to the FirstBoat.com boat show calendar...

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Runaway Boat

We just received an email from Soundings magazine, featuring a video of a boat going in circles with the throttle wide open. Unfortunately, nobody was on the boat to keep it under control, slow it down, or stop it from hitting anything. 

The video was uploaded to YouTube a few days ago by the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) near Cornwall in England.



Besides the dramatic headline and content of the video, it really jumped out at us because it is a perfect example of why boaters should use an automatic killswitch such as those available from one of our advertisers, Autotether. If the fisherman who was knocked off the runaway boat in this video had an Autotether, his engine would have been cut off the moment he fell out of the boat, and the RNLI wouldn't have had to risk their lives to stop the boat from potentially hurting others.

While Autotether is generous enough to advertise on our network of boating sites with banner ads, this post is not part of their package and they did not ask us to write this. We are just proud that one of our partners makes an awesome product that save lives, as well as the resources of organizations like the RNLI. More about Autotether at www.autotether.com.

Hat tip to Soundings for alerting us to this video; the Soundings article also has more details on the story.

You can also visit the website for the RNLI to learn more about that truly life saving organization, and if you think they are as amazing as we do in this video, consider making a donation.  


Rescue Service Celebrates 30 Years

Cospas-SARSAT is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first life-saving rescue in the United States...

Today we wanted to share a piece from our regional sister publication, Northeast Boater, about a satellite system that has been saving the lives of boaters since the early 1980's. The story has a New England connection, but affects boaters everywhere...

First Cospas-SARSAT rescue
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard
Thirty years ago this month, about 300 miles off of the coast of Maine, a barrage of towering, 25-foot waves battered a catamaran sailboat, causing it to begin sinking. A satellite, orbiting in space, detected the signal from an emergency beacon onboard the boat. A short while later, the US Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, the Oil Tanker California Gerry, and the freighter Altlantic Ace were all on the scene, and the three passengers of the cat were pulled to safety.

The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system, or Cospas-SARSAT, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of this first life-saving rescue in the United States, which occurred October 10, 1982. NOAA operates several satellites and the U.S. Mission Control Center as part of the international program that has been responsible for the rescue of more than 30,000 people worldwide and nearly 7,000 in the United States since its inception in 1982.

(This story continues on NortheastBoater.com)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Vanished off Virginia

Boaters missing since departing Maryland on Saturday...

This past Saturday, brothers Mike and Donald Bramlett, both in their early 50's, set off from Ocean City en route to Chincoteague, Virginia, aboard their 38 foot cruiser. They should have arrived by Saturday evening.





Unfortunately, they never made it to their destination, and have not yet been located. The wife of one of the men contacted the Coast Guard on Sunday morning and a massive search was initiated...

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Boating Deaths Down in FLA

Congratulations Florida. Only 41 people died boating in your state so far this year... 
 
BUI boating safety
Photo Courtesy of The U.S. Coast Guard.


Come'on boaters, we can do better than this. And not just in Florida, but all over the country.

A recent article from firstcoastnews.com points out that in 2012, "41 people have died in boating accidents across Florida. That's down from 49 deaths through the same period last year."

Not a bad improvement, but as the article points out, Florida is still the perennial leader in boating deaths.


Monday, October 08, 2012

The Boat Galley: Limp Veggies

This week's Boat Galley article shares ideas for reviving vegetables so they are crisp and fresh while cruising...

Tips From The Boat Galley
Limp veggies
Do your veggies look like this?
By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The print edition of The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Do you have droopy celery? Rubbery carrots? Squishy potatoes? Think you need to throw them out? Don't!

Reviving Limp Veggies

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Columbus Day Weekend Boat Shows

Fleet Week, America's Cup, Annapolis, and other boat shows around the world on this nautical-holiday weekend...

fleet week san francisco
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Terry L. Feeney

Columbus Day Weekend is upon us, marking an historical event that was both critical to the founding of our nation and has a nautical theme. However, as a country, we seem to be celebrating Columbus less and less each year as layers of the onion of history are peeled back. Schools and federal offices are closed on Monday across the US, but most private employers are open for business as usual. And with Fleet Week, the America's Cup World Series and the sailboat show in Annapolis all happening, no matter what your opinion is of Columbus, it is a great weekend for boating.

Read on for this week's boat show round-up, or jump right to the FirstBoat.com boat show calendar...

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Pica: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Vin Pica continues a look at the sound signals of The Rules of Navigation...
Guest blog by Vincent Pica
Chief of Staff and District Commodore-elect, First District, Southern Region (D1SR)
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

Last week, the column was all about what to do in restricted visibility when you couldn’t see the other vessel but you could hear her. But what did you hear and what is it broadcasting – and do you know how to broadcast your status as well…?

Horns on a boat
Photo © 2012 Nautical Sites Media / Andrew Canepari

Toot-Toot, Beep-Beep, Oh how I wish I knew what they were telling me.  

Stay alive with Rule 35!


Monday, October 01, 2012

The Boat Galley: Stinky Dishrags

This week's Boat Galley article shares another alternative to paper towels and smelly dish rags on your boat...

Tips From The Boat Galley
Carolyn Shearlock
By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The print edition of The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Would you do this with the dishrag you've been using for over a week?

I didn't think so. Nasty smelling dish rags have always been a problem on boats. A reader finally clued me in on...

A Dishrag That Doesn’t Get Stinky!