Fast cruising boats are all the rage these days. Pod drives, planing hulls, powerful twin turbo diesels, and even giant supercharged outboards deliver copious quantities of cruising knots to boaters with deep pockets and a need to Get There Now. Modern cruisers don’t have time to wait around, apparently. They’ve got people to see and places to be – and if a few hundred horsepower can lop several hours off … Read more
Kevin and I had a handful of boat projects to take care of on Airship last week, but as soon as we finished the projects that required we be at a dock (and near the hardware store and West Marine) we took off for a few days of winter cruising in the islands. We are seriously enjoying the extra space and livability this Nordic Tug 42 has over our NT34. … Read more
Windy.com is our single favorite weather resource for cruising the Pacific Northwest. We never ignore the official NOAA or Environment Canada marine forecasts, but Windy offers a much more granular look at the weather. Environment Canada and NOAA forecasts cover large areas over many hours with wind speeds expressed in big ranges (10 knots or more). Windy allows you to pan and zoom to the area you’ll be traveling, and to … Read more
January 25 – February 2, 2019 It’s that time of year again! The Slowboat team will be presenting six different free seminars at the 2019 Seattle Boat Show. We are excited to share our knowledge with the boat show crowd to help people have a richer, safer, more satisfying cruising experience. Hope to see you in Seattle! WiFi in the Wilderness – Connected Cruising Kevin Morris, Sam Landsman, Laura Domela Saturday, January 26, … Read more
Johnstone Strait has a reputation as a difficult body of water. Current can run to four or five knots. Surrounding terrain funnels wind through. The challenges for a boater are to avoid beating into the current (which can greatly prolong your time in Johnstone Strait), avoid wind-against-current situations, and avoid traveling in the dark (too much debris in the water). On a northbound trip, we want to ride the ebb … Read more
The day we left Victoria also happened to be the day of the 2018 Victoria Dragon Boat Festival in Victoria Harbour. The dragon boats began racing at 8:00 a.m. and would continue all day until about 4:30 p.m., so getting out of Causeway Floats between a race (every 11 minutes) took a little bit of planning with harbour security. We got instructions and an escort for part of the way … Read more
We left Ucluelet and cruised the short distance (11nm) over to Joe’s Bay, just north of Turtle Island in the Broken Group. Unfortunately, we had one boat fewer than normal. Throughout the trip, Mana Kai (a Kadey Krogen 44), has been experiencing intermittent engine problems related to the suction control valve on the common rail system. No amount of fiddling with filters or resetting computers has fixed the issue, and … Read more
We left Tofino in the morning and headed for Ucluelet. The sky was mostly gray but not foggy. Wind was light, with a low, lazy westerly swell and light chop on top, making for a very pleasant cruise. The biggest challenge was avoiding crab traps—hundreds of them, and several crab boats actively fishing! We arrived in Ucluelet by about 11:00 a.m. and got space in the Ucluelet Small Craft Harbour. … Read more