Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | A Season in Mexico Part 2 Marinas

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

The Honcho took berths in ten Marinas in Mexico and found them comparable to American marinas in many ways. Each of those marinas is listed below, along with a summary of our experiences there.

Cruiseport (Ensenada)  http://ects.enseit.com/ecpvmarina/
Located just past the Naval Base in the port of Ensenada. The entrance channel is well marked and easy to navigate.This is a modern marina with good facilities and excellent staff. Cruiseport Marina is the ideal place to officially check into Mexico. They will assist you with all the necessary paperwork and drive you to the Port Captains office at no charge. If youre not fluent in Spanish, Jonathan will translate and assist you with all the necessary forms and documents. There are many marine stores, restaurants and tiendas within walking distance, but youll want a cab to get to the local Costco or Walmart. I think this is the best marina in Ensenada because of its central location and low cost. One downside is that there is no fuel dock there, but Jonathan offered to drive me and four jerry jugs to a gas station downtown that sells diesel at no charge. Very friendly and helpful.

Marina Cabo San Lucas (Cabo San Lucas)  http://www.igy-cabosanlucas.com/
This is a very well equipped marina in the heart of the tourist area in Cabo. It is expensive (we paid $125 USD/night in November, 2010 but I think they have lowered their prices somewhat recently). The staff was friendly and the marina offers clean showers and laundry facilities and even a small swimming pool for guests. The central location was nice because nearly everything is within walking distance, but there are at least a dozen nightclubs within shouting distance, so we were serenaded every night until around 0400 by a dozen bands. The music and high prices drove us out of Cabo after only two nights.

Puerto Los Cabos (San Jose del Cabo)  http://www.puertoloscabos.com/about_the_marina.php
This is a new marina and is part of the Puerto Los Cabos Resort. As of June, 2011 the slips were completed but not all had electrical outlets. Prices were much better than at Cabo. We got a slip for $40 USD/night in a slip without electricity, which was fine with us. The same size slip with electricity was quoted to us at $80/night. Restrooms and showers were in trailers but there are plans for more permanent facilities. The harbor at San Jose del Cabo did not show on our Maxsea electronic charts nor on our GPS, but the Navionics app on our I-Pad showed it. Its a moderately long walk to downtown San Jose so youll want a taxi to get to the local (new) Walmart. There is a restaurant and gift shop at the marina. Prices are high, but the burgers were good. This marina is about 16 miles from Cabo San Lucas and is, in my opinion, a better place than Cabo to stay while waiting for a weather window for boats that are headed north along the Pacific coast of Baja.

Marina Palmira (La Paz)  http://www.marinapalmira.com/
Located just outside of downtown La Paz, Marina Palmira is our favorite place to stay in La Paz. While not a new marina, it is well maintained, with electronic gate locks on the gangways and plenty of security. It is affiliated with the Hotel Marina so we had free access to the large hotel pool, a necessity from May through October. There are a couple of good restaurants at the marina, and its a pleasant 3 mile walk to downtown La Paz from there along the beautiful malecon. We provisioned twice in La Paz, visiting the Soriano and Walmart. They are both too far to walk, but taxis are inexpensive in La Paz. Like most of the other marinas we visited, Marina Palmira offers free wifi, and like the others, it was spotty  at best. We always relied on our Telcel 3G cards in Mexico and were seldom disappointed by them.

Marina de La Paz (La Paz)  http://www.marinadelapaz.com/
This is the main marina in downtown La Paz. Older that the others, it has a character of its own that makes it hospitable to many long-time live-aboards. For us, the key attraction of this marina is its location in the heart of downtown La Paz. There are several marine stores as well as hardware stores, shopping mall, immigration office, restaurants and other services all within walking distance of this marina. Being downtown, its noisier and more crowded than Marina Palmira. This marina is also home to Club Cruceros de La Paz. This organization offers all sorts of services and information for cruisers in the Sea of Cortez http://www.clubcruceros.org/. We stayed in this marina in the month of May, and it was quite hot, with little wind during the day and the surrounding buildings and geography blocking much of the cooling Coromuel winds at night. The local year-round liveaboards assured me that you get used to the heat. Im not sure I want to do that myself, but its clear that many American and Canadian expats have found a home here.

Marina Mazatlan (Mazatlan)  http://www.marina-mazatlan.com/
Located about 10 miles north of downtown Mazatlan, most charts dont show this marina very well so I recommend using the Pacific Mexico Cruising Guide by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer for accurate navigational information. The channel entrance is narrow and sea conditions can sometimes make entering or leaving tricky. The channel entrance requires constant dredging to keep it navigable and it is occasionally closed due to ongoing dredging operations. If in doubt, hail the marina on the VHF to check on conditions.
 Mazatlan is an important commercial port and you can find almost anything you need here. There are good restaurants, a shipyard and other conveniences within walking distance of the marina, but its too far to walk downtown, which is where you need to go for provisions. You can take a bus, taxi or pulmonia for a few pesos. The pulmonia is unique to Mazatlan.  It is a small open vehicle with a canvas top. Its cheaper than a regular taxi and in Maazatlans warm climate you dont need doors and windows, so whenever possible we took a pulmonia, which was more fun than a bus or taxi.

There has been some drug related violence in Mazatlan and at the time we were there cruise ships were not calling at the port of Mazatlan, so the town was a bit quieter than normal. We enjoyed the beautiful old city of Mazatlan and could have stayed there longer if wed had time.

Marina Riviera Nayarit (La Cruz de Huanacaxtle)  http://www.marinarivieranayarit.com/
This was our favorite marina in Mexico. Nearly new and very well maintained, Marina Riviera is probably as good as it gets. It is located in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, on the north shore of Banderas Bay. La Cruz is a picturesque town with just the right combination of old Mexico charm, yatistas and an interesting mix of expats from around the world. The marina sports a yacht club with an excellent restaurant and bar, fuel dock, shipyard with 150 ton travelift, convenience store and laundry. There are plenty of good restaurants within walking distance, ranging from high end Italian to funky outdoor places with live music. We especially enjoyed Philos, Ana Bananas and Frascati. If I could visit only one marina in Mexico this would be it.

Paradise Village Marina (Nuevo Vallarta)  http://www.paradisevillagemarina.com/
Located in Nuevo Vallarta, about 10 miles from downtown Puerto Vallarta, Paradise Village marina is built on an estuary, so bring your bug screens. This marina is a bit older than the one in La Cruz, but it is well maintained, with good facilities and friendly help. It is part of the Paradise Village resort, so visitors have access to the hotel pool and beach. This place reminded me of Marina Del Rey in California. So if you like Del Rey, youll like Paradise Village Marina.

Marina Vallarta (Puerto Vallarta)  marvta@prodigy.net.mx
Located in the port of Puerto Vallarta, this marina was once a fine place to stay while you visited the city of PV, but when we visited, it was fairly rundown. Security was so-so, and the noise level was only a few decibels this side of Cabo San Lucas. It does have the benefit of close proximity to downtown PV, which is a wonderful city.

Marina Ixtapa Nautica (Ixtapa)  www.marinaixtapa.com
Like Paridise Village Marina, Marina Ixtapa Nautica is also part of a larger resort. As such it offers good facilities, access to fine restaurants and shops, and a nice beach.  It is located a short bus or taxi ride from the beautiful city of Zihuatanejo, where there an excellent anchorage for when you tire of marina life. Isla Ixtapa is less than five miles away by boat and is a perfect place to anchor for the day and snorkel or lounge on the beach. While anchored there I cleaned the bottom of our boat, which is prohibited in the marina due to the large crocodiles that occasionally swim through.

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Boat Plans Bolger | Elfsteden 11 Towns Rowing Marathon Give us a HUG!

Boat Plans Bolger

Which would you rather do on the last weekend before Christmas? Go shopping, or go rowing with a bunch of people you hardly know, in a foreign country, over the longest night of the year?

Obviously, it was a no-brainer, and so it was that I spent a freezing weekend having a tremendous time, rowing past the occasional windmill.

And as so often, but still unexpectedly happens with events like this, it was a cultural eye-opener too.

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Event: Elfsteden "Serious Request" Rowing Marathon
Where: Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Distance: 185km, 4-crew relay
Time: 15 hrs ish
Boat type: Touring coxed quads and doubles
Number of crews in the event: 12, I think
Event Organiser: ElfstedenRoeimarathon

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The Elf WHAT?
"Elfstedentocht" means 11 towns tour. The 11 towns in question are all in North-West Holland, in a region known as West Frisia, which has a lot of canals. Which, like much of the Netherlands, very flat and right next to the North Sea.So any strong winds that might be happening in the North Sea because its, say, the middle of winter, can come whistling across the area. Im sure you see where Im going with this.

So its a rowing event, right?
Yes, and no. Originally, it was a speed skating event. A Dutch competitor in the version we rowed explained that it started with the local farmers (a widespread occupation in the area) skating (because everyone could) from town to town along the many canals, to check out whether the girls in the next town were prettier than the ones in your own town, not being able to make up their minds, moving on to the next town, and so on, till they finished up back home, where they decided there wasnt so much wrong with the local lasses after all. This is probably fiction, but its a nice thought.

What with modern weather an all that, the skating event hardly ever happens any more because its very rare that the ice ever gets thick enough. But apparently when it even looks like it might take place, the whole of Holland grinds to a halt with the excitement.

Waiting for the start.

However, since this is a rare event, at some point someone realised that it was also a great course for a rowing event, which takes place on the Friday and Saturday after Ascension Day in May every year (and one of the many cultural things we learned on this trip was that, despite their reputation for being, er, liberal about some things, your average Dutch person knows exactly when Ascension Day is and finds it quite reasonable to organise events in relation to it, whilst obviously the average Brit wouldnt even have heard of it).

The race involves up to about 100 crews, all in touring coxed doubles, which are highly popular in the Netherlands - again, theyre practically unheard of here. The format is that each team comprises up to four "crews", and they swap in and out at regular intervals round the route. We did a slightly shortened version of the usual 210km course – because it was too windy to row across a lake called the Slotermeer – and coxed quads were allowed as a slightly less challenging alternative to the coxed doubles..

Why were we doing it in the bleak midwinter?
I hope my Dutch rowing buddies will forgive me if Ive got any of this wrong – sometimes the language barrier was a bit impenetrable: the normal Elfstedentoch starts and finishes in a town called Leeuwarden (pronounced Loo-wah-den). OK, park that thought.

Each year, the weekend before Christmas, the Dutch equivalent of Radio 1, does a big charity event which includes DJs being shut up in glass rooms and stared at for 48 hours, amongst other activities. This spectacle is based in a different town every year, and this year the honour fell to Leeuwarden.

So, somewhere along the line, some bright spark said "Since were all doing this in Leeuwarden, why dont we get those crazy rowers to do a special charity edition of that rowing event they always do here n the summer, when its warm, and the nights arent very long?"

The lights on the rowing boat were extremely cunning:
sterotypically, designed by the German. They were
UNDER the tape that went over the riggers, so we
didnt lose our night-sights, but could be
 seen by the land team.

Now, the Dutch are pretty keen on long-distance rowing – to the extent that they actually have a league for which individuals have rowed the most miles in long-distance races each year. Which is why there were two Dutch crews of five doing  the Tour du Léman à lAviron round Lake Geneva earlier in the year, where our crew were the sole British representatives. And because of the Dutch crews excellent English, wed got chatting, and swapped some email addresses, and so when even they couldnt quite find enough local clubmates who thought that rowing through sleet in the dark was a good idea, they got in touch, and thus it was that Team HUG for Life (Holland, UK and Germany - there was a random German too) was formed.

And despite the fact that there 17 of the rowers and all 6 or so of the land team were Dutch, they did the whole thing in English just to accommodate the two of us (me and my husband) and Stefan the German. I mean, can you imagine a bunch of Brits swapping to another language for a complicated, everyones-tired event? Even in the best-case scenario, wed all still be standing at the start asking whether someone had seen any pens, gardeners or aunts.

Attention, Go!

Dramatic steering at the start to avoid another crew
that suddenly set of ahead of us.

No. The start format was truly unique and set the tone for the wackiness of the whole thing. All of the boats were lined up along the river bank in Leeuwarden. However, the start point was in the town square (where the incarcerated DJs were) about 150m away. 

At the "go", a card was handed to the Land Team Manager, who then had to sprint to the river to hand the card to the cox, and then the crew could depart. This was a useful way of separating out the crews so that there wasnt a total pile-up at the first bridge. 

The card – "stempelkaart" in Dutch – had to be stamped at various points along the route in the manner of an orienteering event. Despite spending most of the time in a plastic canister, it had practically disintegrated by the end.

Why does Holland have so many windmills?
We rowed the first section, which soon took us out of town and through some fields. In the rain.

There were some little windmills that looked like they were sort of Wendy-windmills, although they also appeared to be functioning. And at this point (whilst still rowing along), I had a lightbulb moment. Now, this may be obvious to you, but pause for a second to ask yourself "Why does Holland have so many windmills?". The answer "Because its very windy", merely explains why having many windmills is a sensible idea there. But what are they FOR? 

In Britain,  windmills were traditionally used for grinding wheat. And so no one would build a Wendy-windmill, unless it was some kind of Petit Trianon-style indulgence for rural rich kids.

Which these werent – Dutch windmills arent used for milling flour, theyre used for pumping water. In which case, a small one can be appropriate. 

All change!
After about an hour, we reached our first changeover point, where the next crew from our team, and our land supporters (wearing high-viz vests that, in a nice touch, sported the same HUG for life we had on our rowing tops, although these were almost all buried under layers of fleeces and waterproofs).

Equipped with boat hooks, they hauled us quickly to the bank, hands reached out to pull us out of the boat, and we then helped our replacements in. Feet were not to be adjusted.

Then we piled into the two minibuses and camper van that were our support fleet, and headed off to the next swap point. Once we were there, it was time to strip everything off and put on dry kit (I had packed 5 complete sets of kit in separate bags within my kit bag, which proved a useful, and widely-used approach). It was SOOO cold, that it was essential to remove any damp item. And all items were damp (though I kept the same pair of waterproof socks on the whole way).

The camper van was a brilliant changing room, and the engines were kept running on all 3 vehicles the whole time, so that the heaters could stay on. Although we were within sight of civilisation the whole way, for the rowers, it was an exercise in good personal management or you could very easily have got hypothermic.

Dutch bridges arent like British ones
In the UK, and in much of the rest of Europe, most waterways are navigable. In the Netherlands, there are so many canals, required to drain water out of the "polder" land that has been reclaimed fro the sea, that lots of them are just there, and theyre not designed to take boats. Theyre narrow, and the road or foot bridges over them are mostly flat - theyre cheaper to build that way, and easier to walk or drive over. 

To take a rowing boat through the lowest and narrowest bridges (which was probably 90% of them), we had to lie back and put our blades parallel with the boat. We rapidly learned that this was called "liggen and slippen", which doesnt translate well (because we just dont "slippen" in the UK) so the Dutch phrase was used.

With the water levels in the canals particularly high because of recent (and present) rain, the bridges were even lower than usual – at the most northerly point, in a town called Dokkum, which had three massive windmills, the bridges carry four lanes of traffic, so once wed done liggen and slippen, the boat was almost coming to a halt before wed got out the other side. Fortunately, the bridges were also so low, that we could easily reach up and pull ourselves along on its girders.

At one point wed slightly misjudged the steering through a particularly narrow bridge, and one of my blades had got broken. After a hasty phone call to our land team, it was decided they couldnt quickly get a spare to us, and as we were quickly going to freeze if we didnt keep moving, we put the blade inside the boat, and set off. It was an interesting exercise in core stability to scull 10km with one blade!

A real team effort
After the race finished back in Leeuwarden, our crew rowed the boat back to Wetterwille Rowing Club where the trailers were parked, and where traditional Dutch pea and ham soup was being served. It was around 3.30am at this point.

The end.

The club bar was lovely, warm, and a live race tracker was being projected on the wall. Pity the poor crews in doubles still out on the course! I think we were 4th in the end (a 2nd broken blade allowed wed been holding off to get past us), and the race was won by members of the Dutch national squad, in a coxed double. They admitted it was harder than their usual training! Although they also rated a lot higher than the rest of us.

Strangely, this wasnt a major rowing endurance challenge – after all, we only rowed 4 x 10k pieces over a 15 hour period (and coxed 1). Frankly, the greatest achievement was managing the logistics of the whole thing, and the heroes of the trip were the land team, who flawlessly found each changeover point, some of which were seriously in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch dark, at the right time, and even managed to find cafes where they bought bags of chips from time to time.

And thats why it would be extremely difficult to do this event as a brand new entry form another country: you really do need local knowledge, so your best bet is to chat up any long-distance Dutch rowers you come across.

Some cultural things we learned
For a European country thats only on the other side of the North Sea from the UK, we were struck by some quite deep-seated cultural differences, as well as some fun and superficial ones:

1. Around town, people only ride "sit up and beg" bikes. 
2. They dont wear cycle helmets.
3. Handlebars are often decorated with plastic flowers.
4. One team member explained that we parked before the race in a car park that was a bit of a walk form the town center because it was free "and were Dutch people so we dont like to pay". Id heard this from a friend beforehand, but it was interesting to get it from the horses mouth!
5. Even people with well-paid jobs often dont own a car.
6. It is quite normal to mention bodily functions using language that would make even open-minded Brits raise their eyebrows.
7. Most rowing clubs have a mangle in the boathouse to wring out the boat-wiping towels.

A final note on the charity fund-raising
The event raised money for the Dutch Red Cross for a special campaign to do with stopping children dying of diarrhea in third world countries. I wont mention the campaigns slogan – see cultural point 6, above. However, apparently well over 50,000 Euros were raised – I THINK just from the rowing bit (all crews combined), which is amazing. It seems Dutch people are very happy to pay after all when its for a good cause.

The video below was made by the Dutch squad team. Near the beginning theres a great bit of the land team managers all sprinting to the boats with the stempelkaarts. Around 2.40, one of the rowers appears to throw his water bottle ashore with some vehemence: this contained their stempelkaart, which is why the land team chap runs after it, (gets it stamped), and throws it back.

)

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Yacht Boat Plans | Meander 2011 Part 1 From tadpole to opera

Yacht Boat Plans

Many, many rowers, myself included, row regularly on one of the 45 stretches of the Thames between locks. We often race on another two or three. 

But that leaves an awful lot of Britains most famous river left to explore, which was one of the best bits of this 135 mile skiffing tour from Lechlade to Teddington over an Easter weekend.

There were also chocolate eggs, history lessons and a Handel aria in an unexpected place.

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Event: Private Expedition
Where: Lechlade to Teddington, on the River Thames

Distance: 124 miles

Locks: 44 

Time: 4 days – it was a tour!

Boat type: Thames skiffs

Number of crews in the event: 6

Event Organiser: www.tvsc.co.uk (ourselves)

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Why this chunk of the Thames?
The source of the Thames is near Cricklade in Wiltshire, but its too narrow to be easily navigable at that point, and Lechlade is held to be the top of the navigable Thames. Teddington, some 135 miles, 44 locks and a drop of 225ft towards sea level.

We rowed to the Boundary stone which is about 100m below Teddington lock, marking the official start of the tidal Thames, and so our course covered the entire navigable, non-tidal Thames. Its good to have very specific challenges.

If it wasnt a race, what was it?
The tour was the 2011 edition of a regular event undertaken by most of the Thames racing skiff clubs. My club, Thames Valley Skiff Club, hadnt done one for some years, so the old hands were keen to do it again, and the six of us who hadnt done it at all were just plain keen.

The cast list
Our little flotilla comprised five coxed doubles and a crazy lady in a single. The skiffers in some of the doubles swapped round according to various schedules that best suited the personnel involved, whilst others skiffed the whole way, being steered by a rota of volunteers.

And the production team
The whole trip was only made possible by the stalwarts of the land team, who packed bags into the minibus, made sandwiches, went shopping, drove around like demons (observing the Highway Code at all times, of course), and had the beer in the fridge at the end of each day. 

They were supplemented by other Club members who appeared without warning at various points along the route, which was always a nice surprise for us and, actually, allowed them to enjoy feeling part of the whole thing too. Never underestimate the pleasure thats to be had in playing a part in an expedition, however small – people really enjoy helping, so dont be afraid to ask, if youre planning one.

Lock 1 of 44.

Up the pointy end
The River Thames in Lechlade is totally unrecognisable as the same river that may of us row on in Oxford, Reading, Henley, Walton and elsewhere. Its narrow, and its extremely bendy – in places, like a bunch of sine waves huddling together for warmth.

Another way in which the upper reaches of the Thames differs from the lower stretches is that until you get to Oxford, the locks all have to be mechanically operated. So the plan was that members of our land team would try to get to each lock before us and have the gates open so we could just row straight in. This didnt quite work, in fact the illustration above was the ONLY lock they actually got to at the same time as us. Although they were invaluable in many other ways and frankly did jolly well given one of them had only passed her driving test two weeks before and neither had much knowledge of M4-corridor geography. Or so it later became clear.

Are the wiggles in the river like a tadpoles tail?
Arguably, yes. But the tadpole of the day is Tadpole Bridge. Whence this idyllic scene of rural navigation was taken. This is just a straight forward photo – there has been no retouching of the colour of the sky or the calmness of the water. Exquisite, isnt it?

Gotcha!
The next surprise for us meander novices was the string of concrete pill boxes along the banks at frequent intervals. Wed heard of the Maginot Line but had no idea that there was a Meander Line that provided the final line of defence before invading Nazis reached the Midlands manufacturing base!

We noted 27 of these. And then lost count. They ran out before Oxford. Maybe it had other ways of defending itself? Invader (and anyone else for that matter)-repelling piles of student laundry, perhaps?

One of the pill boxes had had a piece of plastic pipe humorously inserted in the gun slits, to look like the barrel of a bazooka. Now, I realise thats not going to go viral on a social networking site as "the funniest thing you ever saw", but in the general atmosphere of bonhomie that went with unexpectedly good Spring weather, and lovely English countryside this brought smiles all round. Sorry that I omitted to take a photo - were repeating the trip with new club members in April 2014, and its top of my "must snap" list.

Wherere you walk... or row
Sometime around mid-afternoon, we approached Oxford, where the river splits in two. Half of it goes off sightseeing round town for a bit, whilst we stuck to the other bit which is consequently rather thin, and also shaded by tall trees, houses, and what I think was once a brewery. We then squeezed our six boats into Osney lock, along with a narrow boat, and a punts. 

Every lock was an opportunity to chat with the other crews about the highlights of the previous stretch of river, and to swap possibly unwanted reports on the current states of hands, knees and boomsydaisies. With all this going on, it took us a few seconds to realise that, as the lock gates were swung shut by the look-keeper (thank you, sir!), a good, old-fashioned, "his masters voice" type gramophone player was being wound up in the punt. 

And then a gentleman stood up in the said punt, and launched into the famous aria "Whereer you walk", from Handels opera Semele. Only in Oxford. With the exception of the one with the topiary (more on this in a future post), it was without doubt the most unusual lock experience of the trip, and its not easy for a 1790 lock to get noticed.

The verb "to dongol"
Whilst rowing is an efficient way of propelling a boat through water, one of the biomechanical aspects of it which makes it so efficient, is the fact that the blades are quite long, and pivoted at just the right point on the edge of the boat. Which means that rowing boats cant easily be propelled through narrow spaces.

This man is dongoling.
His girlfriend, in the foreground, is apparently
not interested in joining in.

Now, if youre in a traditional racing boat, theres previous little you can do about this. But in a skiff, which is wide, and is stable in its own right – not needing the blades sticking out the side to give stability in the manner of a tightrope walker – you have an alternative method of propulsion, when youre in a tight spot. And that is to stand up and "dongol" the boat as if it were a Canadian canoe.

As the trip went on (and this is still only day 1 of 4), our crew got very slick at dongoling out of locks like our lives depended on it – each of the 2 skiffers grabbing a blade on the opposite and pre-determined side, paddling out, and then pirouetting round, dropping the blade neatly between its thole pins, flicking the other one out, and skiffing off. Not that were competitive or anything.

At summer skiff regattas, there are sometimes "fun" races at the end of the day which often include a "dongola" race - lots of people paddling with small paddles in a wide punt, one of which invariably slews right off course, probably crashing into the other boat, and certainly getting everyone very wet as a water fight ensues. Anyway, thats just some added colour about dongoling. 

Day 1 over
After an interminable wait at Iffley lock, at the bottom of the stretch on which the Oxford College crews row (except they werent, because it was Easter weekend, and well out of term time), where our senses of humours were getting rather tired, and even the sight of a plastic heron failed to cheer us up much, we eventually reached Radley College, where we had arranged to leave the boats for the night.

The main questions in our minds at that point were, "Will the City of Oxford Rowing Club bar be able to revive our flagging spirits?", and "Whats for supper?". (By the way, the chocolate eggs and history lessons are in the next blog posting.)

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Pontoon Boat Plans | Meander 2011 Part 2 Ending with a fizz

Pontoon Boat Plans

Day 2 of our "meander" by skiff from Lechlade to Teddington (you can read the story so far here) saw our little flotilla of six boats taking to the water at 6am. Which was a bit grim, but also extremely beautiful. 

Our first lock of the day was Abingdon, and once out of that we rewarded with the iconic sight of Didcot Power Stations cooling towers looming above the reeds in the distance. 

The next site of note was a little older: Wittenham Clumps are two plump little hills that pop up incongruously from the surrounding landscape which youd struggle to call undulating with any accuracy. Grass covered, some early humorous arboriculturalist (or an arboricultral humourist) planted a small group of beech trees on the top of each. This makes them look somewhat like giant versions of these cress-grown-in-the-top-of-a-potato projects that children used to be encouraged to produce, though probably havent been since the 1970s.

Checking the facts for the next stretch.

One of my crewmates was a professional archaeologist, so she filled us in with interesting details about hill fort features of the Bronze and Iron Age, some of which the Clumps displayed.

Did you say "a pineapple"?
Two of the crews, including mine, contained members of the same family, and had been supplied with extensive notes about the various locks and the surrounding area, which the matriarch had researched. We particularly enjoyed reading how the first pineapple in Britain was allegedly grown by the gardener of Dorney Court, and was subsequently presented to King Charles II. Which probably explains, serious rowers, why the pub just before you turn right for Dorney Lake after coming off the M4, is called The Pineapple. Hope you love that little factoid as much as I do, and that it makes you smile as you head towards Wallingford, Metropolitan, or Marlow Regatta this summer.

Education is more effective when not stuck in the bushes.

One of the other crews was equipped with a guidebook, from which the person coxing read relevant extracts. This is actually quite hard to do whilst also steering, and led to some small episodes of practical forestry.

Oh go on, wave!
By mid-morning the sun had burnt off the mist, and it was a truly glorious late spring day. Members of the high-performance Wallingford Rowing Club were enjoying post-outing cups of tea outside their clubhouse in the sun as we passed, although they didnt wave, which was slightly disappointing. Maybe they were too consumed with jealousy of the fun we were having compared with their serious training?

Approaching Moulsford Bridge and its
must-see arch engineering.

A bridge about which I sigh
The Wallingford stretch is home to my favourite bridge on the whole of the Thames – Moulsford Bridge. Without a doubt its best viewed from the water, and whats clever about this Brunel masterpiece is that it crosses the river at a angle, yet the arches are parallel with the river, meaning that they are set at an angle relative to the rest of the bridge, and the brickwork inside sweeps round in the least utilitarian way imaginable. Brutalist modernism this is not. What it IS, apparently, I discovered on researching this later, is a great example of "elliptical screw arches". So now we all know. Do try to find a way to row under them!

Day 2 ended at Reading Canoe Club with nearly 68 of the 125 miles under our oars (no one was wearing a belt), and to our delight chocolate mini-eggs were served after dinner, because it was Easter-eve.

By Day 3, some of us had run out of
clean kit that was also co-ordinated.

By Day 3, we were well into the swing of things and we romped along the Shiplake stretch, imaging what it would be like to live in some of the houses we could glimpse through carefully landscaped gardens above beautifully manicured, sweeping lawns.

This ogling stepped up a gear later in the day as we rowed through Maidenhead and past whats known as Millionaires Row, although the more hyper-critical amongst us felt that while most of these buildings were all very well in themselves, and certainly had great views, they were unimpressively close to the neighbours in most cases, and the discrete and secluded mansions between Shiplake and Marsh locks had more going for them. Although a million almost certainly wouldnt get you much more than the thatched shed for the ride-on mower in one of those.

Locks: not entirely skiff-friendly
This lower part of the Thames is popular with motor cruisers, which has its plus and minus points. The Minuses include wash, and the fact that the Good Lock-Keeping Guide states that little rowing boats should go into locks BEHIND motor cruisers when going downstream, so that if one of the big cruisers managed to untie itself during the descent, it wont crush the little rowing boat into the downstream gates. Which is all very considerate (I have no idea if this envisaged scenario has ever actually happened), but the problem is that us wee rowing boats go faster than the cruisers which are bound to an 8km/hour speed limit. So, on exiting a lock behind the cruisers, we have to wallow through their wash before we can overtake and get back to having a nice time again. We then arrive at the next lock, invariably just as the lock keeper is closing the gates, wait for 20 minutes till the cruisers all catch up with us, and then watch them being loaded into the lock ahead of us again.

Locks are also an opportunity to
relieve pressure on the bottom.

However, in my attempt to offer balanced reporting, an advantage of cruiser traffic is that lock keepers get all entrepreneurial to make the most of this literally passing traffic, and this can take the form of ice-cream stands at locks. This is a Good Thing.

We pulled in for the night at Eton Excelsior Rowing Club where we admired some expedition double sculls made by Rossiter Rowing Boats for a trip down the Zambezi later that year. Which sounded very exciting, though the crocodiles and hippos would be a bit of a worry.

A gratuitous scene of fluvial charm.

Her Majesty has the pleasure of inviting...
Earlyish on Day 4, the Thames passed through the crown estates attached to Windsor Castle, and this being only a week before Wills and Kates wedding, there were numerous marquees in the ground and clearly tight security along the banks. No chance of hopping ashore and hiding in the bushes to gatecrash the bash the following weekend, then.

After that it was on to our home stretch through Walton – which was not THE home stretch for this trip, of course, but it was nice that a couple of stalwart members were standing by the boathouse to wave us past.

The real home stretch was from Hampton Court to Teddington down the Kingston stretch, which we reached in the early afternoon - along with half the cruisers in England, it seemed, and the kind of stiff headwind you often get with high pressure (aka sunny) weather.So it took ages, and was a right old slog. But no matter, we were nearly there!

And over the line!
Glossing over some misdemeanours we didnt understand at Teddington Lock, for which the Lady Lock-keeper soundly told us off, we lined up across the river (the skiff equivalent of holding hands) for the final few yards through the boundary stone. We then beached the boats, and gathered around the stone for the obligatory photo, whereupon a rowing friend of mine from Kent happened to walk by after lunching with friends. Unexpected, but a pleasure.

Our land team, who could not be praised enough for their wonderful support up to this point (including producing bacon butties at the mid-morning stopping points in various fields), surpassed themselves by producing several bottles of champagne.

Thames Valley Skiff Club Meander 2011.

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Boat Plans Aluminium Australia | A Season in Mexico Part I Security and Health Care

Boat Plans Aluminium Australia

 Now that the Honcho is back in the USA weve had time to sit back and review our experience in Mexico and pass along some information that you might find valuable for your own voyage south. In part one, Ill discuss security and health services as we found them on our travels. In later posts Ill review our route in Mexico, marinas and anchorages we visited, food and dining, and Mexican officialdom. Lastly Ill review the Honcho, how it was set up and rigged, what worked and didnt, and what we would do differently with regard to the boat. Bear in mind that this is our personal experience and yours will certainly be different in any number of ways.

Security

There is certainly no shortage of security in Mexico. We spent a lot of time in a number of harbors and marinas, some of which were in urban settings and some in resort settings. We also anchored in remote places where there were few if any people within miles. We also traveled fairly extensively ashore using various modes of transportation:  On foot, private car, rental car, taxi, bus, train and commercial airplane. Our shoreside travel took us to resort areas, big cities, towns, villages, and some places that we considered to be Mexicos outback. We traveled in the states of Baja California Norte and Sur, Jalisco, Nayarit, Guerrero, Sinaloa and Chihuahua. We visited exclusive resort destinations as well as grittier destinations where tourists are rare.

In general, security in every marina we visited was pretty good. Electronic gates and watchmen with radios were present at every marina we visited. We never lost anything to theft and usually felt comfortable leaving the boat unlocked during daylight hours. When anchored out we frequently hoisted the dinghy out of the water  as a precaution in some areas, but never heard of anyones dinghy getting stolen while we were in Mexico.

One thing I think unfortunate was that a few Americans brought their biases and prejudices with them to Mexico, and were in my opinion overly suspicious of Mexicans. I believe those people missed out on one of the greatest pleasures of cruising in Mexico, which is getting to know and understand the Mexican people, whom we came to regard as the friendliest people weve ever met.

Practically everywhere we went in Mexico there were plenty of heavily armed police and military personnel. It was not unusual to see a truckload of armed and masked police on the roads or parked next to a bank. On the water we had numerous encounters with Mexican Navy personnel. They were always heavily armed, and were also always polite, courteous and professional. For our own part, we were always friendly toward them, and were never treated with anything but respect by them. With that said, I can understand how it can be unnerving to see a boat with a squad of masked men carrying assault rifles bearing down on you at high speed. I should also point out that in the ports of L. A. and Long Beach, its not unusual to have a patrol boat with a .30 cal machine gun mounted on the foredeck bearing down on you if you happen to stray too close to a cruise ship in the harbor.

We did have one negative experience that involved Mexican traffic police in Puerto Vallarta. Four of us were driving a rental car on the highway and were pulled over and shaken down for 500 Pesos by a local cop. Its a fairly common occurrence in that area. Mexicans told me later that the government is working to get rid of corruption in local police forces, but it still happens. 500 Pesos is the equivalent of about $45 USD.

Throughout most of our travels on mainland Mexico we felt quite safe, except when we were in the state of Sinaloa, which is home to one of Mexicos most notorious drug cartels. Mazatlan is Sinaloas largest commercial port and is reputed to be a major shipping point for drugs and as a result there has been some violence there. Enough to cause the cruise lines to stop visiting there until security improves. This is unfortunate because Mazatlan turned out to be a beautiful and charming city, and once we became familiar with it, we were able to relax and enjoy it.

We traveled by bus through Culiacan and spent a couple of nights in Los Mochis, which are supposedly the nexus of the Sinaloa cartels empire. There we noticed many police checkpoints along the way. The checkpoints were sandbagged and the police were usually helmeted and masked. However, we never felt personally in any danger as we rode through them on a pretty luxurious express bus.

We used the same common sense in Mexico as in the USA: Be aware of your surroundings and keep an eye on your possessions. Leave the diamonds and Rolex at home. Dont flash wads of cash around. Be careful at ATMs, and use only those that are at banks and other reputable institutions. Stay off the streets late at night. Dont do things you wouldnt do in the States. Know where youre going and avoid high crime areas.

Here are some statistics that I took from a cursory internet search:
Homicide rate for Mexico (2009): 15 (per 100,000 population)
Homicide rate for the USA (2009): 5 (per 100.000 population)

Below is a chart of crime statistics for Mexico and the USA in 2004.  In some ways Mexico is safer than the USA, and some ways more dangerous.

Crime Rates in Mexico per 100,000 inhabitants
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	USA in 2004
Total Crimes	1433.81	1439.41	1391.54	1521.93	1503.71	4118.76
Murder	14.93	15.13	14.11	13.94	13.04	5.62
Murder with firearm	3.45	4.54	3.66	3.53	2.58	1.25
Assault	254.35	257.39	260.39	260.41	251.91	NA
Aggravated assault	171.06	172.02	185.01	187.33	186.68	310.14
Rape	11.89	11.9	13.33	13.05	14.26	32.99
Theft	148.27	108.11	100.22	116.74	112.47	2445.80
Automobile theft	161.15	161.52	162.10	150.66	139.86	432.12
Robbery	316.54	274.63	219.59	158.16	146.57	145.87
Burglary	145.72	153.58	142.58	NA	NA	746.22
Fraud	54.63	50.48	50.96	54.64	61.47	NA
Drug offenses	20.62	23.97	24.65	23.38	23.40	NA
Source: 7th[1] and 8th[2] Survey,

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Mexico

Health Care

First some statistics which I took from the CIA World Factbook:
*Infant mortality rate: Mexico 18.42 (112th), USA 6.26 (46th) of . Global average is 42.09 for the 224 countries in the list.
*Life expectancy: USA 78.4 years (50th). Mexico 76.06 (71st). Global average 66.57

Based on these statistics, it appears that Americans can expect to live a healthier, and slightly longer life than Mexicans. But the statistics do indicate that both countries could do much better. Sweden, Australia, Canada, Spain and even Britain do better than the USA with regard to infant mortality and life expectancy.

Fortunately we never got sick or suffered any injury that required medical attention. Our experience with routine medical services was that it varied from very good to rather poor. Prescription drugs cost roughly half what they would cost in the USA. We did hear of several other cruisers who did use Mexican medical services for conditions ranging from injuries due to falls to heart attack and were generally pleased with the outcomes, and usually thrilled with the low cost of care in that that country. My impression is that those near the bottom of the socio-economic scale dont dont get much health care in the USA or Mexico, those in the middle classes get fairly good care, and those in higher classes get very good care in both countries.

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Boat Plans Catamaran | J 111 Review

Boat Plans Catamaran

Now that the Honcho is up for sale, were beginning to look for another boat and another adventure. Ive always liked J Boats, so I couldnt wait to see the new J/111, which we thought might be a fun high performance cruiser that would suit our needs. Well, after checking one out, we decided to keep looking because its not quite big enough for the voyages we are contemplating. But that doesnt mean its not a great boat. In fact, I think its one of the better boats J Boats has produced.

J/111 Outboard Profile

The J/111 is, in my opinion, a continuation of the J/35 theme...A fast, seaworthy boat that is offshore capable, but is most comfortable as a racer that a couple could easily spend a week at the island aboard. This is a type that J Boats excels at, so I though it would be fun to do a review of this design. A few years ago I spent some time cruising aboard a similar boat, an Aerodyne 38  called "Matador" and really enjoyed sailing across the southern reach of the Sea of Cortez from Cabo to Mazatlan aboard her. In 2003 we won our class in the Newport - Ensenada race in the same boat. Ill add some photos of both boats for your viewing pleasure, and Ill take this opportunity to credit Yachtworld.com for all of photos of both boats. I also encourage you to visit www.rodgermartindesign.com if youre interested in learning more about the A/38.

J/111

The J/111 reflects the state of the art in boats of this genre. With its plumb bow, long waterline, near vertical transom and bulb keel, the hull looks fast and its PHRF base rating of 42 looks about right to me. Interestingly, the Aerodyne 38 rates the same.

Aerodyne 38

Both boats have a deep bulb keel with a vertical leading edge and the all-important kelp cutter. This keel shape is one I have used in my own designs and it really is more efficient than, say, the keel on the Honcho.

J/111 Keel
The Aerodynes keel has a more torpedo-shaped bulb than this.

Both the J/111 and Aerodyne 38 have deep carbon fiber rudders and wheel steering. The wide sterns of these boats demand deep rudders to keep them from stalling when the boat is heeled at speed. Rudders on boats of this type are usually large relative to the keel as they not only steer the boat but help generate lift to weather as well.

I really like the aesthetics of both boats. The 111 looks more modern but that is to be expected. The cockpits are large and incorporate seating forward and wide open space aft. This is efficient for racing, but makes for a surprisingly friendly place to be if youre cruising, provided that the seats are long enough for an occasional snooze.

J/111 accommodations

Going below, the basic layout of the J/111 looks lightweight and efficient for racing. For cruising it would be snug. Notice that the head and V-berth are in the same cabin space. Id remove the cushions and relegate the V-berth to storage only. The quarterberths might be big enough for two and the settees in the main cabin would make reasonably good sea-berths if they were fitted with lee cloths. The galley is small, but probably adequate for short cruises and fixing simple meals for a racing crew. I like the nav station. Its big and has plenty of storage space.

J/111 interior
Light and open spaces abound

Aerodyne 38 main cabin
Engine is under the sinks

The Aerodyne, by contrast is oriented more for offshore racing or cruising. The layout incorporates a head aft to port and large quarterberth to starboard. The galley has plenty of counter space, with the Yanmar engine under the double sinks. The forward cabin is spacious and has a berth big enough for two.

The sailplans of both boats are similar. Big main, non-overlapping jibs, asymmetrical spinnakers on retractable poles, carbon fiber mast. Whats not to like here?

Aerodyne 38
High speed cruising

J/111 Under sail
Sweet!

I have not yet had an opportunity to sail the J/111 so I can only speculate on how the boat handles, but it is similar enough to some of my own designs and to the Aerodyne 38, which I have sailed, to expect that it will be very quick, with a light helm and fast acceleration out of tacks. The deep, high aspect ratio keel and fine bow combined with the lightweight and efficient sailplan will make it fast upwind. The high sail area/displacement ratio means it will be quick to heel in puffs and will require close attention to sail trim in windy conditions, but it will reward you with high speeds downwind. Overall, an exciting boat to sail. I can say the same for the Aerodyne, athough it will be a slightly more comfortable ride. My guess is that the J/111 will be slightly quicker in light air buoy racing and downwind racing. The Aerodyne would likely be a better choice for the longer downwind races like the Transpac.

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Boat Plans Canada | Summit 35

Boat Plans Canada

Summit 35
Nice Profile

One of the best things about being in the market for a new boat is checking out the newest designs, going for test sails and pondering cruising to distant places or collecting trophies. When I started looking at the Summit 35, I quickly forgot about the distant coves and palm trees, and instead, thought about racing and collecting pickle dishes.

Mark Mills designed it for Summit Yachts and Edgewater Boats builds it in Florida. The Summit 35 is really a buoy racer with enough accommodations for a couple to spend a week or so cruising, or for longer coastal races. Mills describes the boat as being designed to excel under the IRC. The IRC is a handicapping rule that is in some ways like PHRF and some ways like other measurement rules such as the now defunct IOR rule. I say that because to get a rating you must have your boat measured or have the builder certify the dimensions of the boat. Then you submit all the required information to the Rating Authority, which has a secret formula that they use to calculate the boats handicap rating. The PHRF aspect comes from the fact that the Rating Authority may use subjective judgments as well as the boats measurements to give a boat a final rating. The idea behind the secrecy of the rating formula is that designers and builders aren’t supposed to know what it is and therefore can’t tweak their designs to take advantage of the rule. Some of you may recall the goofy designs that came out of the IOR rule, where speed producing factors were penalized and credit was given for speed reducing factors.

The S-35 has a displacement of 10,930 lb with 5,300 lb of ballast, most of which is in that massive bulb.

Enough of the handicapping jargon…Let’s just evaluate the Summit 35 based on common sense. I should say out front that I haven’t had an opportunity to sail one yet and all the information I have on the boat was taken from Summit-yachts.com and yachtworld.com. I like the overall proportions of this boat. The very slightly raked stem and transom make the hull more visually attractive than if they were vertical, as does the slightly sprung sheer. Below the waterline we see a fairly shallow hull with a narrow waterline beam and lots of flare in the topsides. The keel consists of a vertical fin with a slightly raked leading edge coupled to a massive lead bulb. Notice in the photo that the bulb extends a long way forward from the fin. There doesn’t appear to be a kelp cutter on the keel so that bulb could be a problem in areas with lots of kelp, like southern California. On the other hand, the bulb will keep the boat on its feet in a breeze.

Big cockpit, square corners and German mainsheet system

I like the deck on this boat. It has a beautiful cabin trunk and a nice big cockpit with seats forward and plenty of room for the crew. The options list includes twin wheels instead of the standard tiller. I would choose that option in spite of the extra weight and cost. The wheels are smallish, but allow the helmsperson to sit well outboard, and leave plenty of room for the crew. Notice that the main traveler is located well aft on the cockpit floor, with the sheet led forward along the boom, then down under the deck and back to a pair of winches just aft of the short cockpit coamings. This arrangement is known as a ‘German’ or ‘Admirals Cup’ system. With 2:1 purchase and the ability to trim the main quickly, it can be an excellent arrangement for a racer, and has some benefits for the cruising yachtsman who understands the strengths and weaknesses of this system. On the Summit 35 with tiller steering, the helmsperson sits forward of the main trimmer, on or outboard of the coaming, with the main trimmer sitting aft. It doesn’t look too comfortable for the helmsman. With wheel steering, the helmsman will be aft of the main trimmer, but it’ll be a tight fit for the trimmer. This will be fine on the upwind legs, but could get complicated on the downwind legs jibing in heavy air and at the leeward mark where the main trimmer will be ripping in the mainsheet and the helmsman is busy getting around the mark and avoiding flying elbows and mainsheet tail.  It’s not a big deal, but will take some practice for the helmsman and trimmer to work out how to do their jobs without getting in each other’s way.

In studying the cockpit, notice that everything is pretty well squared off and all the edges and corners have roughly the same radius. There is nothing wrong with this and it is quick to tool straight lines and squared edges, but this very nice looking overall deck design could have been more artfully sculpted. Of course boats have a way of getting prettier if they win a lot of races, and I have no doubt that the Summit 35 will do that.

Compact galley is suitable for sandwiches and MREs

It’s hard to fault the interior of this boat. The layout is just about perfect, with a good sized galley and nav station as well as a positively luxurious head for a boat this size. The interior drawing shows a big dropleaf table in the main cabin, but Im sure few Summit 35’s will sail with it, as it looks heavy and takes up space needed for packing chutes. The galley is fitted with a gimbaled Origo two-burner alcohol stove. This is a very good unit that eliminates the need for a gas bottle and its attendant locker, solenoid, etc. While the galley is too small for cruising, it’s quite adequate for the racing crew that expects sandwiches and MRE’s instead of ‘meals’.

I was surprised to see that the Summit 35 is equipped with an aluminum mast instead of carbon fiber. This may be due as much to the IRC rule as to economic considerations. The boat carries non-overlapping headsails and can be fitted with symmetrical or asymmetrical spinnakers. There are some advantages to symmetrical spinnakers in tactical situations, especially at the leeward mark, but these are outweighed by the simplicity and efficiency of asymmetrical kites. Unless you plan to race your boat under IRC rules, which apparently favors symmetricals, you’ll want to set your Summit 35 up with a short bowsprit and asymmetrical kites.

If I were in the market for a racer, I’d consider the Summit 35. It’s a nice looking and fast boat with reasonable accommodations and, inspired by Barry Carroll, a good pedigree. I like the fact that it’s built here in America. I think that, regardless of whether the IRC rule really gains much traction in the USA, the S-35 will be a very effective PHRF racer as well. Its interesting to compare this boat to the J-111. Its very close, but I think I like the J just a little bit more. Of course neither is well suited for the kind of cruising were planning, but it would be interesting to see these boats matched against each other in a buoy race and in a long distance race.

Inasmuch as were in the market for a used cruising boat, my next review will be the Beneteau 423. In the meantime I invite you to visit www.summit-yachts.com if youd like to learn more about the S-35.

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