Med Mooring

The thought of squeezing in between two boats with nothing but your fenders to protect the topsides of all boats involved is rather painful. What makes it worse is the thought that you are backing up to a stone wall that will destroy your boat if you get too close!

No finger piers, no leeway, and no help from anyone until you are securely in your slip.

Sounds wonderful! No wonder they haven’t changed how they tie up in marinas in the Mediterranean for thousands of years!

Thankfully, this is the only place I have encountered this method of docking and just outside the Mediterranean, they don’t do it this way.

My first encounter with the procedure was in a marina in Spain, just inside the Mediterranean. I was given a slip that was 8cm (3.1 inches) wider than my boat (literally 8cm of leeway). Maddie, my wife, wanted us to tie up stern too so it would be easier to get on and off the boat, but this meant I had to reverse in a straight line with a full keel boat that has impressive prop walk; oh, and no bow thruster!

Our electric motor had the power to safely maneuver us into the slip but it was tricky! This is how I did it.

First: I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to do this. There is no way I can back up in a straight line, so I made preparations for docking in a different way.

Second: I waited for the wind to be completely calm (thankfully this marina is in a place with no tide and no current).

As we approached, I jumped off our boat and climbed onto our neighbor with the spring line. Maddie stood on the stern and as soon as we were close enough she tossed the stern line to someone on shore. They pulled us in while I fended off and pulled us in at the same time to the boat next to us. Once in position, we then attached the bow mooring line which runs into the water ahead of the slip to tie us up and keep us from sliding back into the wall.

When we go to leave, we will simply untie and motor out of there with our little electric motor, but until then we are safely tucked away Med Moor Style!

When you encounter this type of docking, just remember to wait for calm conditions and take it slow. Know which way you walk and plan ahead for that so that you don’t end up walking your boat into someone else’s topsides!

Compass Light

A compass is a wonderful tool that revolutionized travel across water. Out at sea in the middle of the ocean, there are no landmarks to guide you. Steering a straight line is remarkably difficult to do, and maintaining a course is practically impossible! A compass works on the simple principle that the Earth has a magnetosphere and the compass is merely a magnet suspended in an oil bath and allowed to orient itself with the magnetic field of the Earth itself. The pretty card that tells you North, South, East, and West is just a cheap card stuck to the magnet to make it look more impressive! The truth relies on the fact that magnetism guides us across the oceans of the world!

While we are talking about magnetism, I find it important to say that we do not have a light in our compass for use at night and this was a conscious decision that we made before we left to go cruising.

Magnetism is a phenomenon that can be created with permanent magnets and also by electromagnets. The mere act of running an electrical current down a wire will produce a, albeit very small, electromagnetic field. Why would you wan’t to put a magnet next to your compass?

Yes, compasses that have lights are shielded to protect them from this influence, making it safe to have a light in your compass so that you can read it while on watch at night.

By day, we can see the compass clearly and we look at it from time to time. The sun illuminates everything and we are sailing along without any issues. This doesn’t mean that we are glued to the compass. When the sun is shining and we can see the compass, we only look at it every few hours to make sure we are still on course.

Being a sailboat, the sails are powering the boat at all times. This means that our direction of travel is not our ideal course but instead the angle to the wind that our sails are set to. We rarely steer the boat by hand as our wind steering does all of this for us. If the wind shifts, the wind steering will alter course to keep the sails to the prescribed wind angle and this means that the sails are always perfectly trimmed, even if the wind shifts.

Wind shifts are why we check the compass. If the wind shifts, we are going to start sailing on a new course and therefore need to adjust our angle to the wind to sail to the desired course. This doesn’t happen every few minutes, instead it happens every few hours, and that is when we look at the compass.

By night, the compass is dark and hard to see (but if there is a full moon, you can see the compass with ease), but this doesn’t matter because the few times on night watch that we need to check the compass, we simply turn on a flashlight and take a look! Once that is over, we turn off the flashlight and let our eyes adjust back so we can continue to enjoy the stars.

Why is the compass of little importance while on night watch? Because the stars are out. On night watch, we simply look up at the sky and locate the North Star. If the boat is maintaining its course, all night long the North Star will stay in the same area of the sky relative to the boat. For example, if the North Star is on the port side just forward of the bimini (when viewed from the helm) then all night it should stay there since the North Star doesn’t move in the night sky. If you look up and notice that it has moved to a different part of the sky (relative to the boat) then you need had a wind shift and need to adjust the sails and windvane accordingly to bring the yacht back on course.

When setting a course, the compass is necessary. I can look into the sky and see where the North Star is but I can’t set a course by it. The compass lets you set a precise course that will get you towards your desired waypoint. Since we are at the mercy of the winds, our acceptable course is +/-20 degrees of our desired course. This means that if our desired course is 80, but the winds only allow us to sail at 74, then 74 is great! If the winds shift a bit and suddenly we find ourselves down to 65, this is still fine and we keep sailing along content with our heading. If we start veering even further and start sailing along at 58, we would consider tacking to bring us somewhere between 80 and 100. We find that we sail with the best VMG (Velocity Made Good) when we are about 70* off the wind. This means that pinching just isn’t worth it for us when we are crossing an ocean. We will sail on an undesirable course for days if it sets us up for a more favorable and more comfortable tack in the future.

All the while, we rarely look at the compass and therefore do not have a light in our compass as the very slight risk that the light might throw off the compass isn’t worthwhile for an instrument that we infrequently use!

Why Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer Before Sailing to Los Angeles?

California is one of the highest states in the country for boating incidents, according to the California Department of Boating and Waterways. In a recent survey on California waterways, the drowning incidents recorded were about 74 percent of deaths. Many general rules surrounding boating safety are not followed in such situations. The waterways in Los Angeles can be dangerous and that is why you must be prepared for unforeseen events before you even start sailing. In case you get involved in an incident, you will need an experienced personal injury lawyer to defend you. 

Boat Accidents

There are several ways someone can get hurt or killed while on the water. Boat accidents can occur for a variety of reasons but most of them are due to the owner's negligence. This is alarming when families with children come on a holiday and one member of the family gets hurt due to a boat mechanical failure or some other unfortunate accident. Boat accidents may occur on a simple boat cruise along several rivers or beaches in Los Angeles and often can be due to the boat operator's inadequate qualifications. 

Injuries

A boat and other personal watercraft such as jet skis and wave runners are considered vehicles under California law and have unique operating regulations. While certain activities particularly those involving more hazardous water sports, may require the tourist's consent before participating in any activity, in other instances the fault may be attributable to the person who rented the vehicle. If you're on a boat and are hurt as a result of carelessness or lack of responsibility from someone else you will need experienced personal injury attorneys to assist you. 

Death 

To be seriously injured or to lose a loved one is never an easy thing to cope with. To have to deal with this is a stressful and challenging experience and there is no amount of financial gain that can replace a human being's life. Sorting out legal responsibility and monitoring insurance coverage in Los Angeles for boating accidents is something that can be accomplished with the help of an experienced accident lawyer who is familiar with boating and personal injury laws.  

Before you close the door behind you and make your way to the boat, make sure that you have considered everything on this list to ensure security for you and your family. It is important to note that you should have basic needs when sailing including food supply, drinking water, hygiene kit, medicines, and first aid kit. Likewise, Los Angeles has many rivers and water sports enthusiasts know how to enjoy all that nature has to bring.

Still in Lockdown

Our trip to Europe found us sailing into the Mediterranean and embarking on a fun winter excursion through the hills of the European continent…in a van!

Van life was the goal as we found ways to entertain ourselves away from the rough winter Mediterranean. We started our journey in early February, through Spain, France, and up to Belgium by March. We then visited The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Austria!

Then the lockdown came and we found ourselves trapped in Austria for a few weeks while Corona Virus raged in the European Continent. That was mid March!

We are doing well and waiting for it to finally be safe to drive back to our boat in Spain but enjoying all the sights that Austria has to offer while we wait! The people are friendly and the food is delicious, so no complaints about where we got stuck from us here.

Boats and Money

We all know that boats use a lot of money. They cost money to buy them, the cost money to store them, and they cost money to repair them.

These costs are not very negotiable. You can take steps to reduce these costs, but they will still cost in the end. The only cost you can take full control of is the cost of upgrading your boat. The boat show is the best example of an adult candy store! All the booths are pretty with shiny gizmos that dazzle and draw you deep into their snare!

The best way to avoid wasting money is to avoid buying stuff that won’t actually work! After three years of cruising full time and an ocean crossing, we have a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Watch as we discuss our biggest money wasting purchases for gear that we have made so that you can learn to avoid these traps.