Pacific Northwest Fishing Fleet

Many of the worlds oceans were colonized by European explorers as long as five centuries ago but the rugged, storm infested shores of the northeastern Pacific remained the domain of mostly land-based indigenous people until the introduction of the internal combustion engine. Most of the harbors on the Oregon coast, on the northwestern seaboard of the...

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Cruising Aboard a Beneteau 423

Finisterra at anchor in Bahia de ConcepcionAs of today, weve owned Finisterra for a little over two years. During that time weve lived aboard for 10 months and sailed her about 6,000 miles including a six month cruise to Mexico and back.  We are preparing to depart again on another voyage and I thought now would be a good time to review my list...

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Americas Cup The Plot Thickens

Just when we thought the Kiwis owned this regatta, the Yanks stepped up. As I mentioned previously, team Oracle is still on the steep part of the learning curve. They apparently took a giant stride forward over the last few days and the race results show it. Of course they still have a very steep hill to climb if they want to keep the Cup, but they are definitely improving their boatspeed, tactics...

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More about Flint

Ive recently received an email from a fellow who is interested in putting a sailing rig on Flint and I thought that my reply may be of interest to others. Here it is (with some illustrations added) -Dear Martin,Thanks a lot for your email, and please accept my sincere apologies for the late reply. For some reason or other, I forgot to highlight your...

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Bahia de Concepcion to La Paz

Bahia de Concepcion is dotted with rocks like this. On our way north, we were headed directly into the wind for nearly all of the distance between San Juanico and Concepcion, so I had hoped that wed have a fair wind for the southbound passage back to San Juanico. But it was not to be. We rounded Punta Concepcion and headed southeast toward our...

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XOD X One Design

Every time I go past the local fleet of XODs I cant help but admire these handsome keel boats, which are (I believe) the only fleet of wooden keel boats on the Hamble River. Although Im not a dedicated racer, one of these would be just the thing for a summer afternoon sail and picnic.Hamble division racing is run principally under the Hamble River...

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Tai Mo Shan

Thanks to Patrick for providing details of what might be one of the most recognisable yachts around.The oldest star in the Hollywood film version of “Mamma Mia!” was a beautiful yacht, already in her 70s at the time of filming. And it has to be said that, unlike Pierce Brosnan whose singing was questionable, she never put a foot wrong in the part.Tai...

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In the buyer beware department

Some hardcore Dazzle, cleaning up trash in Patagonia, and its funny how when I read this I found myself thinking of current trends in yacht design, boat building, and the cruising community...Yesterday I came across someone who was selling a mounting bracket for a self-steering gear and asking $1000 for it as it was "new" and if you were to buy it from the company who made it youd be out of pocket...

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Website Being filled with More Content At Last!

Have been working too hard in the workshop, and blog entries have suffered. However, paid building jobs are almost finished, and the website is being populated with several design page entries, and an increasing number of items on the "Shop" page.After mid-September, I will be working predominantly on designs, website content, small video production,...

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Los Cabos to Ensenada

We waited patiently for that weather window and it finally materialized on June 19th. We departed San Jose del Cabo at 0830, motoring into a 3 or 4 knot headwind under a gloriously sunny sky. Its about 17 miles from San Jose to San Lucas, and during that time the wind increased to about 17 knots and the sea temperature plummeted from 82 to 70 degrees.We...

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