Blogs

Grey skies have opened their arms to this latter segment of January. I don’t like to complain as we are much more comfortable in our current house on rainy days compared to our comrades on the Yeti farm…but I am a sucker for some sunshine.

Banging out deadline after deadline I find myself craving for Ben Harper’s voice to kiss my ears, singing “she’s only happy in the sun…”

I’ve always found it amusing the way humans communicate with each other about the weather. Conversation starts, mood breakers, silence stoppers….

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When you live a life on land, your day follows a certain routine. You get up at a certain time, have breakfast, commute to work, return home late afternoon or early evening, have dinner, watch some TV or entertain yourself another way and it’s bed time again. The weekends are something to look forward to and thoroughly enjoyed. Most things go the way you expect them to go.

 The weather forecast predicts wind, but if there is none, you have to motor...            © Liesbet Collaert

Living on a sailboat is a tad more adventurous and less straightforward. Part of the reason you choose to go cruising, is to get away from the familiar environments and the daily routines. Although sailing might sound exotic, things aren’t easy most of the time and definitely not predictable. After four years on the water, my mind wanders many a time to how life on shore would be. It sounds so easy, so comfortable, so much less tiring. I think about a comfy couch, vegging in front of a TV, reclining with a good book in the yard, anticipating and looking forward to a fun-filled weekend, filling a grocery cart full of enjoyable and affordable foods and a hot shower with water pressure… I think about the fact that you can actually plan something and follow a routine that rarely changes.

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When cruisers and sailors are asked why they choose this lifestyle, many answer with the standard and cliché “Because it gives us so much freedom”. True, your sailboat is your floating home and you can drop and pick up anchor in many places worldwide, giving you an immense area to explore or settle for a while. You have your belongings with you wherever you go and to “just be out there”, sailing on a massive ocean or smaller sea, gives you a tremendous feeling of freedom. Wherever you are, once the anchor is down, there are restrictions and rules you have to abide by. You can read up or learn about these places ahead of time and, because you are free, you decide whether to skip them or pay them a visit. Most things you do are entirely up to you, except when (boat) problems arise.

  A grey day for a sail on the ocean                                                                           © Liesbet Collaert

The sense of freedom disappears, however, when you take that one, all important thing into account; the thing that really decides when you leave and how the trip and the schedule turns out. It is called the weather and it is ever-present and not always very predictable. Every prudent sailor checks the weather forecast, via different sources at that, before heading out, especially on a longer trip. We base many decisions on how “it is looking” and pick days that promise to be comfortable enough, wind and swell taken into consideration. These periods are called “weather windows”. The amount of rain is less important, unless they are part of forecasted periods of heavy squalls.

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It arose out of nowhere. All of a sudden. No weather predictions mentioned it coming. Nobody was really prepared for it. As a matter of fact, most cruisers were not even on their boat, that Thursday evening, with all the different activities being organized in the different Grenadian bays. There was a cooking class in True Blue Bay, there were happy hours in Prickly Bay, there was a BBQ in Woburn and Harry Potter movies in Clarke’s Court Bay, there was dominoes and volleyball in Mt. Hartman Bay. Everybody ashore was having a good time, until the storm came and the peaceful anchorages turned into a giant mess of churning seas and turmoil…

 A peaceful anchorage can turn into a "wild" scene when a squall comes through            © Liesbet Collaert

During hurricane season, cruisers more than ever keep an eye on the weather. There are many websites, SSB nets, grip files and VHF channels that display the wind, wave and precipitation predictions for the present and the near future. We pick our anchorages and make sailing decisions based on the weather and when a nasty wave or tropical low is predicted, most of us decide to stay on the boat to make sure the hatches (windows) are closed, the anchor is not dragging and neighbors stay at a safe distance. If necessary, the engines run in idle and the dinghy is ready to be launched, to help somebody else in trouble or to use for own safety measures. That is if you know “something” is coming your way and you happen to be on your boat…

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A lot can be told and written up about safety and security while living on a sailboat. The previous weeks, I touched the subjects of safety gear, safety and security nets, anchoring technique, dinghy security, robberies, and piracy with a focus on the Eastern Caribbean, since that is the area I am most familiar with at the moment. This week, I will conclude this “series” with a few more odds and ends that have to do with taking care of your and your boat’s safety while sailing the world and the Caribbean. Feel free to leave any comments, suggestions or thoughts at any time!

Remoteness might interrupt the "peace of mind"           © Liesbet Collaert

Boat Boys

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You made it through winter, spring is moving in and kiting is on your mind. All those great times on the water are coming back soon!  Here are some ideas to try to get the most out of your time back on the water. 

First, check your gear

The goal is to avoid breakage or loss of control while you are out kiting.  Kite gear can be under tremendous loads and will wear out over time. We can have the tendency to ignore or put off repairs, this can result in accelerated wear, lost gear and injured kiters. If your gear needs fixing, do it without delay.  People considering buying used gear should particularly look things over.

Inflate your kite and see if all the bladders hold air. Kite leaks can cause problems, sometimes serious ones. If you have bladder leaks repair or replace them if not readily patchable. Pulling and replacing bladders can be pain but your speed improves with practice! Make sure none of the bladders are twisted within the kite pockets.

Check your bridle lines, pulleys and pigtails. This stuff doesn't last forever and needs to be periodically replaced. It is important to remember that breakage of components can not only impact control but it also may limit or remove critical depowering.   Emergencies can come with heavy loading of your gear and loss of depowering in such a case is not what you want to happen.  If there is discoloration or visible abrasion wear on pigtails or bridles look to replace them. It can be surprising how they can break much more easily with some visible wear. Make sure your bridles move well through the pulleys which should be free from corrosion or grit. They shouldn't be bent or otherwise deformed, if so, change them out with appropriate replacements.  Not all pulleys are the same so use the right ones.   

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Everybody likes to make plans. It puts some structure in your life and it actually makes you look forward to (or dread) certain situations. You think, research, anticipate, talk and plan. When you live ashore, you have the means and certitudes to come up with a plan and more than likely stick to it. Life on the water offers no securities or certainties about anything and many a plan has to be reconsidered. In the sailing and cruising world, when we talk about “a plan”, it is always put into quotes by lifting our hands and wiggling the appropriate fingers…

One of the main reasons plans rarely work out for us is the weather. If you think life on a sailboat means freedom, think again. It is one of those romantic notions about sailing that is mostly wrong. Wherever you go and whenever you go totally depends on the wind and sea state. Even sailing downwind can be a challenge when the waves are high or chaotic due to a weather system or when there is no wind at all. Being on top of the weather predictions is what sets a travel plan in motion. Of course you also have to take the season into account. In the Eastern Caribbean, the trade winds have an eastern tendency, ideally 10-15 knots. During the summer months, southeast winds are predominant. Too bad you are just then heading south(east) to be out of the hurricane belt. During the winter months, the winds have a northern component, but then is the time to go north again and explore the island chain. Many days and weeks are spent waiting in a harbor for a break in the trend to sail to the next destination.

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Wind moves us, literally in kitesurfing ... or not, if there isn't enough.  If there is too much it might just move us to the hospital ward.  Then comes time off the water, perhaps work, painful lengthy rehab, or worse.  It happens and more than it should too.  People ignore weather at times, may be more concerned about kite pants than understanding winds that can make a stellar session or a real painful one.

Last year there was a video of a dozen or more guys riding all around a funnel cloud in Italy (see the photo above).  They seemed to ignore it as if it wasn’t a threat at all.  Two riders were lofted with one thrown into a car totaling the front end and another was hurled into a house.  Tragically he didn’t survive the experience.  Then earlier this year there were dozens of guys riding in the UK in front of a shelf cloud straight out of Hollywood movie special effects, this cloud looked EVIL (see first photo).  Despite that these guys just rode around until the winds boosted to 50 kts. or more, sent kites & kiters flying all over.  No one was killed, that time.  Then in the last year, there was a young guy riding in Spain, hazardous weather was forecast and another black cloud from hell moved in.  The resulting winds lofted him at speed inland to an impact he failed to live through.  There was the man several years ago who was lofted and blown over 100 m high and 500 m downwind into a mountain in Portugal.  He didn’t make it either.  There have been many dozens of others worldwide over the years. Virtually every one avoidable to varying degrees.  More to come too sad to say. 

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