On Board with Mark Corke

Canoe cruising

 

 

To many the idea of cruising conjurors up swanky boats with all the amenities and comforts of home but for a totally different experience it is worth considering cruising in a kayak or canoe. The best way that I can think or describing this to someone who has never tried it is to think of back packing on water. I first started kayak cruising when I was in junior high school, each summer a couple of the teachers would organize a one week trip down the river Thames in England and over the course of 5 days we would cover some 70 miles stopping each night at a rustic camp ground staying the night and then moving on down the river to the next stop. I remember thinking how magical the whole experience was, carrying everything that we needed in our kayaks, being completely self sufficient yet having a grand old time. I enjoyed every minute of it and have done at least one trip every year since.

 

The first timer is likely to have a lot of questions not least where and when to go and what will I need. The best advice I can give is to start gently and as you gain confidence, skill and experience you can progress to longer and more difficult trips. For a first trip is is best to limit the distance that you have to travel by kayak and the easiest way is to do an out and back cruise over a weekend. It is hard to give specific advice as to where exactly to go and this will depend to some extent on your local waters. The ideal is a secure place to park your vehicle and off load your kayak or canoe then paddle some three or four miles to the camp ground, stay overnight and then paddle back the next day. Study guide books and maps of your local area, ask other paddlers or the local canoe and kayak in your area for advice and plan it out. This may seem daunting at first but after a while planning out a trip will become easier and you will have a pleasant time deciding where to go next. There are some long distance trails in North America for more experienced paddlers which are only accessible by canoe or kayak; going through spectacular scenery these truly do offer a get away from it all experience that you will never forget.

 

Because you will be carrying your gear with you the sit on top style or recreational kayaks are not really suitable. The ideal is a either a decked kayak that you sit in rather than on or traditional open style canoe. I can't say one is better than the other as it depends to some extent on whether you prefer a canoe or kayak and the type waters that you will be paddling on. Here size does matter although for your first short trips you can get by with what you have. As skills progress a longer, lighter and sleeker craft will makes things more pleasurable as they slip through the water with greater ease. A short stubby boat is hard to push along and will increase your fatigue levels. In addition to the boat you will also need a tent, sleeping bag and other camping essentials for staying overnight. Because you can typically carry more in a canoe or kayak than you can in a rucksack there is a tendency take too much. Lighter is better because although you will not be carrying it on your back you will have to push it through the water and a heavier canoe will make you tired faster.

 

Safety is important and if at all possible go with a group. We have a saying in my club 'less than three there should never be'. That way if one person gets injured or incapacitated in some way one person can stay with them while the third goes for help. Don't forget to wear your PFD and take warm clothes and a lightweight but waterproof jacket even if the weather looks good. Hypothermia can be a real danger especially early and late in the season. Finally consider joining the American canoe association where you will find lots of information on their website about paddle sports, local clubs in your area and courses to improve your skills. For inspiration read any of the beautiful books by the Late Bill Mason, I especially recommend ' The Song of the Paddle' which is available from online booksellers for less than $20. Another good introduction is

 American National Red Cross. Canoeing. ISBN 0-385-08313

 Finally as a note if you are watching the embedded video at work it is over an hour and half long!

Rogue Wave Wifi

 

 

For the past 25 years I have run seminars on long distance voyaging and although I wish I had more time to do offshore passages we have covered topics on almost everything from safety at sea to entering foreign ports. When I lived back in the south coast of England we would organize a couple of trips each year where we would take a flotilla of boats across the channel to France. This for many of the participants was there first time going 'foreign' and led many of them to take longer trips or at the very least give them the confidence to go back and cross the channel by themselves at some later date. Twenty years ago few people had cell phones, WiFi, the internet, Facebook, streaming video and all the other stuff people seem unable to do without these days had not been invented and many of the questions that I was asked centered around entry requirements, where to get water and ice when you got there and other such fundamentals. Oh how times have changed and now the leading question is frequently where the nearest hot spot is and whether there is cell phone service. It seems that WiFi is an almost essential ingredient of life aboard these days. Now I admit that I do work for myself and rely on my cell phone for clients, editors and others to contact me but I do feel a sense of freedom when on those rare occasions that I am out of cell range or I just leave my phone off for the day or weekend.

 

 

Many coffee shops, boat yards and marinas now offer free WiFi to their guests but if you are tied up some way from the source the signal is often less than stellar with frequent drop outs a common problem. Some sort of WiFi extender or amplifier is thus a therefore a good idea to overcome these problems. Not knowing much about this stuff I asked around and spent a good deal of time on the internet researching what was the best way to bring WiFi signal aboard. That search bought me to the Rogue Wave WiFi which I got last year. Set up was easy and I clamped the antenna to one of the rails on the fly bridge the cable from the antenna connects to a router and within a few minutes I had the whole shebang up and working. I am the first to admit that I am far from a computer geek but following the instructions set up is easy. Power for the system comes either from a 12 volt supply or if AC power is available from a plug in cell phone type transformer power is not supplied from the computer. LED lights on the antenna itself light up to show the incoming signal strength and also give an indication that the unit is receiving power. With that done you simply log in to a 'Network Scan Page' which shows the names and signal strengths of in range WiFi signals. Other boxes indicate if these are closed private networks but I found that in many places I was able to grab a free signal from even several miles away.

 This truly is a remarkable bit of kit and for folks like me that spend a lot of time living a working aboard, a godsend.  My friend Ben Ellison also had good things to say about the Rogue Wave too so it seems I made the right choice.

Tall ship Providence

 

I've just spent two bitterly cold days surveying a large expedition yacht in Newport, RI. We were moored right next to the tall ship 'Providence'. The ship was laying on it's side after it was blown over last week in gusts that are reported to have reached 75 mph according to some reports. There can be no doubt that the ship would be susceptible to high winds as she is very tall from the keel to the rail and in addition her mast which is 75 feet tall was stepped at the time making her even more vulnerable. There have been numerous reports on the initial accident such as this one on the RI patch which gives some basic details but while I was surveying, the Newport shipyard guys were standing the boat upright in sub zero temperatures. In fact it was so cold that the slings on the travel hoist were frozen solid and it took some time before the crane was able to lift the boat enough to get the straps underneath. 

The Providence was built in 1976 from fiberglass and it would appear that as the boat toppled in the strong wind a stand punctured the port side of the hull and it is this that you can see in my pictures below. Much of the repair is to be covered by insurance according to reports with any shortfall made up , hopefully, from a crowd funding campaign which was started withing hours of the boat falling but has since been placed on hold for some strange reason.  The damage is extensive which aside from the very visible hole which I estimate to be about 4 feet in diameter includes large cracks almost extending from the keel to gunwale.  What I did notice from my admittedly cursory inspection was that the fiberglass laminates where these were exposed appeared to be a little devoid of resin and to my eye at least the laminates looked a little white but that may well have had something to do with the way the damage was sustained and shearing forces that the fiberglass was exposed to as the boat fell. In addition to the hull damage the mast and bowsprit both snapped so these will need to be replaced also and I am sure that there is internal damage which I was unable to see so repair costs are likely to be high. According to the yard manager at Newport Shipyard now that the boat is back on it's feet the damaged area is going to be tented to keep the weather out and an asessment of the damage to be undertaken.

You can learn more about the 'Providence' on the ships website which ironically makes no mention of the damage on their news page as of the time of writing.