There are lots of races run throughout the year. Some ‘round the buoys, others ‘round the world; some fully crewed, some double-handed or solo. Aside from the Volvo Ocean Race, there is only one that combines both offshore and inshore racing, and The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is also the only race that I know of that mixes offshore, inshore and short-handed sailing together, creating a rather unique event. Add the green initiatives undertaken by the race organizers and competitors, and The Atlantic Cup is truly something different.

OK, how many “hurry-canes” can we get (60mph winds and driving rain that last 20 gut-wrenching minutes) before we start paying better attention to the weather? And if you had drilled down a little, maybe there was more information that you could have used to your benefit – and an appreciation of the forecaster.

Weather on the Web

Clearly, the world is awash in web sites that can tell you the weather. Here is just a partial list:

weather.com The Weather Channel

accuweather.com AccuWeather

weatherbug.com The Weather Bug

wunderground.com Weather Underground

forecast.weather.gov NOAA

And the information providers (AOL, Yahoo, etc.) all have a weather channel. Each portrays pretty much the same information that you can get by opening the newspaper over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. And you may be surprised to know that they all likely get their weather data from the same source – the US’s NOAA – the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. NOAA (noaa.gov) is part of the Commerce Department, which says a lot about what government thinks affects business the most! If NOAA’s website has any fault at all, it is how much information you can get from it! But, as NOAA says, “NOAA’s weather programs touch the lives of every American. Every day, decisions are made based on NOAA weather information – from the mundane “should I pack an umbrella today?” to the most critical and potentially life-saving.” So, “more” is putting safety first. And that is where safety must be.

So…If all the services get their basic data from NOAA, why don’t you just go there and get the info? An example of what you can get directly from NOAA would be:

This probably looks amazingly similar to any of the weather reports you see in the paper or on your Internet provider. So, maybe we all just should go to NOAA. It is free, too!

But the real answer, going back to the intro of this column, is that you want to be able to drill down, and not every weather service gives you that ability.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

On any given day, you can get a weather report what tells you that the chance of rain is 80%, such as March 19, 2009 did. So, if you are planning to do anything outside, you might cancel or move it to another venue. But the 80% covers the whole day, i.e., there is an 80% chance that it will rain sometime today…When?

Here is what you can find at weather.com, as an example:

But there are two ‘buttons’ of interest. In the upper left corner it says “Details,” and along the bottom it says “Hour-By-Hour.” Hmm…If we try Details, we get:

Better, but what I really want to know is when the rain is likely to arrive and this still looks like all day! What happens if I drill down on hour-by-hour?

Bingo! If you look at the chances of precipitation (just above the graph of temperatures),

My Journey Out of the Wheelchair Using Neurotechnology

By Jennifer French

Published by Neurotech Press 155 pages paperback $19.95

Jennifer French won the US Disabled Sailing Championship in 2009, and last year she and her US Sailing Team Sperry-Top-Sider teammate JP Creignou won the silver medal in the doublehanded SKUD-18 class at the Paralympic Games in England. Jen is US Sailing’s 2012 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year – the first woman to receive this honor for achievements in disabled sailing. Not bad for someone who was told by doctors that she’d be confined to a wheelchair for life after being paralyzed in a snowboarding accident. 

Gregor Tarjan is one of the most passionate people we’ve ever met. The founder and owner of Aeroyacht Ltd. in East Setauket, NY, Gregor has unbridled enthusiasm for designing and sailing fast multihull yachts and restoring and driving vintage race cars.

“I was obsessed with boats as a kid, and I started drawing them when I was five years old,” says Gregor. “I was born and raised in Vienna, Austria, and started sailing with my brother Michael on the Danube when I was six. I read a lot about Magellan and Sir Francis Drake, and built lots of ship models. I became interested in multihulls at age 14, and was the first MULTIHULLS magazine subscriber in Austria. Even before he became my friend, Charles Chiodi, the Publisher and Editor of MULTIHULLS, got me excited about multihulls.” 

When I teach seamanship classes, inevitably somebody raises their hand and asks about how “flat” the boat should be. I ask, “By ‘flat,’ I am guessing that you mean relative to her waterline. But do you mean when she is sitting at the dock, going slowly forward but only at a ‘slow bell*’ or making all deliberate speed?” As their eyes glaze over, I know that we will have to take it by the numbers. This column is about that.

Boat Trim

Understanding boat trim and boat squat is all about control and avoiding running aground. For a ‘planing boat,’ (i.e., those boats we’re most familiar with that buzz around the bays and creeks, usually with an outboard engine on the stern, that ‘climb up’ onto the water as they go faster), trim is synonymous with every aspect of the boat. Whether it be at the dock, barely making way or operating ‘at speed,’ how ‘flat’ she is largely under the control of the skipper, and he or she should be constantly aware of what trim they are assuming. This trim is best controlled by what angle you place the outboard engine relative to the transom. Huh?

Usually in the throttle, there is a thumb control that when you press it “down,” brings the propeller in closer to the transom.

See figure 1.

By bringing the propeller in closer to the transom, you force the bow down from its manufactured waterline. When you would want to do that?

Figure 1 – courtesy of the USCG Auxiliary

How about if you are heading into strong wave action? If your bow is trimmed ‘up,’ the force of the waves would accentuate that, possibly making it more difficult to see – and to control the boat.

Figure 2 - courtesy of the USCG Auxiliary

Commensurately, if you press the thumb control to bring the engine ‘up,’ it moves the propeller away from the transom, forcing the bow up from its manufactured waterline. Why would you do that? Well, there are a number of reasons. One is that a powered vessel’s fuel consumption improves as you reduce its wetted surface. So, as you are cruising down the bay, you can trim the engine up and save fuel at a given rate of speed. Second, if you’re willing to throw fuel efficiency to the wind, sort to speak, a powered vessel simply goes faster with less wetted surface. And, as you bring the bow up, you reduce the wetted (in the water) surface. Compare how much more of figure 1 is below the waterline, versus figure 2.

Unless you are driving one of those “battlewagons” out there, or are involved in commercial navigation, you’ve probably never heard of “boat squat.” Even if you are in those situations, you still may not have heard of it – and it is critical to understanding why a boat with four feet of draft hits the bottom in five feet of water.

When any boat is making way, she starts by pushing a large amount of water ahead of her. If she’s a planing vessel, she’ll climb up on that wave as she picks up sufficient speed. But if she’s a ‘big ‘un,’ she won’t be planing anytime in this lifetime. She is a displacement vessel. So, this water that is getting pushed ahead returns to the side and under the boat’s bottom. As she starts to put on some way (speed), imagine this cycle of water building up speed under the ship. This causes a drop in water pressure under the boat. This causes the ship to vertically drop in the water. This is “boat squat” and how a boat with a four-foot draft grounds in five feet of water. (Hint: go slow in shallow water, Big ‘Un.)

Now, for a displacement vessel, trim is different from squat. Trim is the difference of the forward and aft draft while the boat is stationary. As she gets underway and her aspect to her waterline changes, she is affecting “squat.” Naval architects justifiably worry about whether she has forward or aft “squat” (leans forward or aft as she builds speed.) This is largely determined by her center of gravity and her “block coefficient,” which is the volume of the hull (V) divided by the Length of her Water Line (LWL) times the (maximum) Beam of her Water Line (BWL) times her Draft. If you draw a box around the submerged part of the ship, it is the ratio of the box volume occupied by the ship.

So, now, you can say that you do know squat! * a “slow bell” means making way at the minimum speed at which the boat can maintain steerage. Larger boats, with exposure to the wind, need more speed to maintain steerage than a smaller, low profile boat. If you are interested in being part of USCG Forces, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or go direct to the D1SR Human Resources department, who are in charge of new members matters, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will help you “get in this thing.”

The following excerpt is from Chapter 7 of The Sinking of the Bounty: The True Story of a Tragic Shipwreck and its Aftermath, by Matthew Shaer. The Sinking of the Bounty was released in March by The Atavist, a Brooklyn, NY-based digital publisher. Multimedia versions of the e-book – along with Kindle, Kobo and Nook editions – are available at atavist.com/stories/the-sinking-of-the-bounty/

MONDAY, OCTOBER 29
2:00 A.M.
Around two in the morning, the crew of Bounty donned their bright-orange survival suits. For hours, water had poured into the boat much faster than it could be pumped out, and belowdecks, the twin John Deere engines were submerged. Bounty was now adrift—completely at the mercy of Superstorm Sandy.

By Lisa Saunders 123 pages paperback

Shortly after she and her husband Jim moved to Mystic, CT, Lisa Saunders was inspired to create the “Mystic Seafarer’s Trail,” a not-too-difficult hike through the historic seaport and neighboring villages of Noank and Stonington. While exploring with her faithful beagle/basset hound mix, Bailey, she decided that the trail would visit a yet-tobe-determined “Seven Wonders of Mystic.”