Collision Avoidance Using AIS
As AIS becomes ubiquitous amongst boats of various sizes, it's important to know how to use it to avoid a collision. David Burch of Starpath Navigation offers a good tutorial here. Most navigation programs (electronic…
Destinations: Cozying up to Waiatt Bay
Enjoy our latest installment from Lynne Picard of SalishSeaPilot.com about a favorite anchorage on British Columbia's Quadra Island. With unsettled weather in our late-season forecast, we wanted a sheltered place to drop the…
What’s life like on passage?
From Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska, all the way south to Mexico and Central America, one of the things I've always enjoyed about writing this blog (going on 7 years!) is that I get to share our family's…
Happily Home on the Sea
Last week I wrote a sailing story for the blog, but it felt a bit rushed to jump back in after so many months off and I didn't hit publish. We'd recently returned home to Yahtzee in southern Mexico, cleaned her up, gotten…
A few days at Oro Bay
Oro Bay on the south end of Anderson Island in the Salish Sea is a beautiful anchorage with a nearby park, quiet privacy, and wonderful views. Having grown up in the South Salish Sea, I spent a lot of time at various…
Spotted on the Sound: MarkSetBot
Sailboat racing is a popular pastime on the waters around Seattle and Western Washington. Especially during summer, fleets of sailboats congregate on weeknights and weekends for organized races, often using inflatable buoys…
Working Remotely from the Boat
Having a reliable internet setup is key to staying connected while on the water, but being able to work from the boat adds some additional challenges. I've done it for years, and have found a number of things that help make…
Barbecued Salmon, West Coast Style
This recipe comes from a well-used cookbook in our family: The Easy Gourmet – Summer Salads and Barbecue Cookouts was put out by the Safeway grocery chain in 1989 to celebrate their 60th anniversary in Canada. Thirty years…
Sailing with Josh: The Stern-Tie Setup
“How do you run a stern-tie setup when you have limited working and storage space on board?” This is one of the questions I asked myself in fitting out my Flicka 20, Sampaguita, for Pacific Northwest expeditions.…
NOAA Discontinues Tide and Current Books — What Do We Do Now?
The short answer for many mariners is: nothing changes — but that takes some explaining. The official NOAA tide and current books of 1995 to 2020 looked something like these below from one particular printer—but there were…