SIGHTINGS for sailors

tall ship — cont’d

there are too many good ones to not share. We haven’t read all of these books, but they’ve at least piqued our interest. First we’ll start with the more hands-on selections: • Cornell’s Ocean Atlas: Pilot Charts for All Oceans of the World, Jimmy Cornell, $99.95 — Sailing icon Jimmy Cornell released this new atlas of 129 pilot charts based on the most recent weather data. It features sixty monthly charts with wind continued in middle column of next sightings page

Socrates could receive all the verbal assistance she needed, but she had to do all the work herself and with her own tools.

“Put your back into it, Jeanne!”

hybrid design, in which her auxiliary propulsion and onboard energy needs will be met by ‘regenerative power’. That is, instead of diesel engines, ETS will be propelled by DC electric motors (connected directly to the prop shafts) which will draw their energy from large battery banks. Here’s where the ‘regeneration’ concept comes in: While under sail, the free-wheeling rotation of the propellers caused by water flowing across them will make the motors function as generators, thus recharging the battery banks. Although it may sound farfetched, such systems have proven amazingly ef fective elsewhere. The goal, in keeping with the vessel’s This Turner-inspired design will be fast and graceful, environmentally focused with a narrow bow and displacement well aft. educational programs, is for ETS to operate carbon free. (Dockside charging from solar panels and wind generators will help in that effort.) The ETS project is the brainchild of widely respected schoonerman Alan Olson, who launched the Call of the Sea educational program in recent years, with the schooner Seaward as its flagship. To ensure a world-class design and build plan, Olson and his associates contracted naval architect Andy Davis of Tri-Coastal Marine, considered one of the world’s preeminent design firms for historic vessels. Construction will start next month, and we can hardly wait. — andy

socrates makes pit stop in the bay It’s unusual for someone who’s attempting to set a nonstop solo circumnavigation record to make a pit stop along the way, but that’s just what Brit Jeanne Socrates did in early November. Socrates, who set off from Victoria, BC, on October 22 on her third attempt at a nonstop trip around, was off the Oregon coast just a few days after her departure when she noticed that her speed had gone from a solid six knots to three. She popped her head up to find that her liferaft had slid right out of its mount and into the sea, instantly inflating and acting as a very efficient drogue for her Najad 380 Nereida. She had little choice but to cut it free. After notifying the Coast Guard of the unmanned liferaft, she contacted the World Speed Sailing Record Council — the organization that will ratify her record — for advice. She had no interest in continuing such an arduous journey without a such an important piece of emergency equipment but she didn’t want to abandon her attempt, especially so soon after the start. Thankfully the WSSRC agreed and gave her explicit instructions on how she could and could not effect the replacement of the raft. A boat could tie up to her and pass her the equipment but no tools could be offered and no one could come aboard. In the wee hours of November 1, Socrates took advantage of a flood current to take a buoy generously offered by Sausalito YC. Sausalito diver Tim Sell had set up a can’t-miss retrieval system so she could not only spot it in the dark, but could easily pull it aboard. Then this writer, her husband, Sal Sanchez of Sal’s Inflatables and Sell converged on Nereida the following afternoon to hand off her new raft. It’s difficult enough mounting a raft on a stern rail while at continued on outside column of next sightings page December, 2012 •

Latitude 38

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