Safety & Seamanship

The lines on the carbon-fiber Wing Dinghy date back to Nat Herreshoffs Frost Fish, a dinghy with a reputation for performance under sail and when being rowed. Diana Russells Wing Dinghy hull weighs only 55 pounds. Built by Savage River Works using conventional fiberglass FRP skin, carbon outer skin, and Kevlar inner hull skin, the 9-foot dinghy tests well against the popular Bruce Bingham-designed Trinka 10. The Wing Dinghy also scored well in the sailing, hoisting, towing, and rowing tests.

After testing the 12-inch Garmin 5212 touchscreen and the Raymarine E120 multi-function displays in August 2008, Practical Sailor pitted the newest big-screen chartplotter, the Simrad NX45, against its well-used Garmin, the subject of a long-term test on one of Practical Sailors test boats. For this head-to-head test, we looked at day and night viewability, functionality, user-interface, and price. We also looked closely at the software that each uses: Garmin uses Bluechart g2 software, Simrad C-Map MAX, and Raymarine Navionics.

The fixed-mount marine VHF radios tested for this review go beyond the basic capabilities of moderately priced VHFs. The waterproof VHFs include features such as integral high-wattage hailers, multiple remote microphone connections, and the capability to store MMSI numbers. They also meet Class D standards for DSC functions, with two separate receivers-one for voice communications and a second to continuously monitor channel 70 for DSC calls. The five VHF radios tested were the Icom M504, Icom M604, Standard Horizon GX5000S, Standard Horizon GX5500S, and the Raymarine 218.

For 11 years, Ive resisted the urge to write about teenage circumnavigators. The last time I did, the protagonist was a young man named Brian Caldwell, the son of cruising sailors who, in 1998 at age 19, briefly held the title of youngest singlehanded circumnavigator. I probably wouldnt have had the pleasure of knowing Brian, except that he happened to stop for repairs in Port Vila, Vanuatu, while my wife and I were there. His 26-foot Contessa was anchored a stones throw away from our Atkin ketch, and the story was too compelling to pass up. I filed a few more stories as Brians voyage unfolded, and then it was over. A few months later, a young Australian bumped Brian from the record books. Brian turned toward his next goal of ocean racing singlehanded (www.liquidflight.net), and I decided never again to write about "youngest" quests. The current wave of young circumnavigators-whose names I purposely wont mention here-drove me to break that promise.

Tenders come in all shapes and sizes-from 6-foot inflatable kayaks to RIBs capable of towing skiers-and they serve a variety of transportation needs. Where the live-aboard couple will need a dinghy suitable for grocery and laundry runs, the small-boat daysailor usually needs only a fuss-free, easy ride to a moored or anchored boat. A few accessories that we checked out recently can add to such tender experiences.

Theres a reason why we recommend safety tethers-the umbilical cords that connect the jacklines on our boats to the harnesses on our bodies-be 6 feet long or shorter. Getting dragged behind a boat, even at the sedate speed of 4 knots, can easily drown a person. Unless someone is on hand to haul you on board, survival relies on a superhuman burst of adrenaline. Though rare, there have been some highly publicized deaths involving harnesses. The story of Harvey Shalsky, a sailor in the 1999 Double-handed Farallones Race, is familiar to most racers. Shalsky, racing with longtime partner Mark Van Selst, drowned while tethered to his J/29 White Lightning. Van Selst was unable to slow the boat or haul his partner in, and eventually cut loose Shalsky (who was by then unconscious) so that following boats could recover him. The hazards associated with a tether that cannot be easily released under load prompted the International Sailing Federation (ISAF, the council responsible for regulating offshore sailing races) to recommend this feature in tether designs. It is not a requirement, only a recommendation, and ISAF does not stipulate what method should be used for the release.

Never mind what your experience tells you. Children do not go to sea. At least that is the only logical conclusion we can reach as we deal with the lack of adequate offshore safety equipment for kids. In October 2006, we ran down more than a dozen life jackets for infants and toddlers. There were only a few worth writing about, and none met our full expectations. Of the lot, we pegged the MTI Adventurewear Bay Bee 201-1, the Mustang Survival MV-3150 and MV-3155, and the Sospenders 12ACH as standouts, and all of these products are still available today. In the December 2006 and January 2007 issues, we dug into the topic of safety harnesses and tethers, and the outcome was worse. One product in that test, a safety tether designed for children more than 50 pounds, snapped under the load of a 35-pound weight being dropped from six feet. The tether, from Jim Buoy, underwent an upgrade immediately after our report.

Practical Sailor last looked at Automatic Identification Systems, or AIS, in November 2008, reviewing the Raymarine AIS250, a receive-only device. Since that report, the pool of AIS products has grown to include several affordable transceiver options for recreational sailors. In this head-to-head test, we review two AIS-Class B devices capable of sending and receiving AIS data: the Navico NAIS-300 and the West Marine AIS1000. AIS transceivers are split into Class A (commercial) and Class B (recreational). AIS devices improve safety at sea by receiving and broadcasting a wide variety of information about a ship, including its name, latitude and longitude, course over ground, speed over ground, heading, status, and Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number.

Practical Sailor editors pored over the dozens of products reviewed in the previous months to find the best of the best sailing gear, products that are worthy of the designation Gear of the Year. This years editors choice list includes a rugged rope clutch (Spinlock), a grippy ratchet block (Ronstan), feature-filled VHF handheld radios (Standard Horizon and Cobra), high-quality nesting cookware (Magma), a proven paste wax (Collinite), an ocean-ready first-aid kit (Adventure Medical Kits), a reliable LED bulb for cabin lighting (Imtra), an economical ice box conversion kit (Frigoboat), an innovative ultrasonic tank sensor (BEP Marine), cold-weather gloves (Gill), and an easy-to-install Wi-Fi booster (5mileWiFi).

With the increased demand to have all the electrically powered comforts of home onboard, it should come as no surprise to boaters that the majority of AC-related electrical fires involve overheated shore-power plugs and receptacles. Prime Technology, aims to change all that with the introduction of its Shore Power Inlet Protector (ShIP for short), a monitoring and alarm device that automatically disconnects AC shore power when excessive heat is detected at the power inlet connector. We reviewed the ShIP 110 designed for use with a 110-volt, 30-amp system. The company also offers a similar unit (the ShIP 220) for use with 220-volt, 50-amp service. Charred plugs and receptacles are the result of resistance build-up (due to loose or corroded connections), which generates heat and the potential for fire, a problem especially prevalent among vessels that continually run high energy loads such as water heaters and air-conditioning units. In addition to monitoring the temperature of your vessels shore-power inlet plug and its wiring, the ShIP system automatically disconnects AC shore power when an unsafe temperature is detected, providing visual and audible alarms. (The audible alarm shuts down after five minutes to avoid prolonged disturbance to surrounding boats.)