Equipment Outfitters

Plotting

Having marked the courses between buoys, the “legs” of your intended trip, you will want to measure them. And, having measured them and added them up for total mileage, you will want to figure out how long it will take to make the trip. Since distance divided by speed equals time, you will first have to learn how to tell boat speed. If you know your speed and distance on a leg, you can compute time in hours. Read the rest of this entry »

Coastal piloting, or piloting, is basically the art of getting from here to there without going aground or getting lost. It requires a few basic tools—a compass, a chart, parallel rules, dividers, a sharp pencil— and a few simple, easy to learn skills. This kind of basic way finding allows you to range far a field, venturing out of familiar home waters and into new cruising grounds with a sense of confidence. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the important skills to master if you plan to cruise from one area to another is anchoring. While there is no one anchor or method that will cover all situations, the basics of anchoring so that your boat doesn’t drag or endanger other boats are fairly straightforward. Anchoring requires some practice. Do anchoring exercises so that you are proficient enough to anchor in the dark if you ever need to. Read the rest of this entry »

While storms generally affect large portions of an area and are usually forecast in advance, the powerboat skipper should be aware of two conditions that can affect his well-being and safety on a more local scale: fog and squalls. Since these weather conditions can be isolated and very localized, they may be unannounced on VHF weather forecasts. The best way to cope with them is to anticipate their arrival. Read the rest of this entry »

A radio lets you communicate with others and it provides a way to broadcast in an emergency. The most common type of radio is the VHF/FM, monitored by the U.S. Coast Guard and used to communicate with other boats, marinas and bridges. In addition, the VHF radio can be linked to land-based telephones for calling friends and businesses. Its range is limited to about 15 miles between boats. Read the rest of this entry »

A program of preventive maintenance for your engine can help ensure trouble-free boating. Inboard engines and sterndrives have similar maintenance programs. Regular pre-start checklists, like those used by airline pilots, serve as useful reminders. In addition, you should plan to give your engine a thorough once-over examination every few weeks to check items that aren’t part of the pre-start list. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the engines of inboards and sterndrives are generally similar to those found in automobiles, most skippers will be familiar with basic maintenance tasks. The underwater drive units for sterndrives and outboards require a separate program of lubrication and maintenance. These are best performed while doing other routine tasks. Lubrication, however, must be done when the boat is out of the water. Read the rest of this entry »

In many cases, if a member of your crew falls overboard it is not a life-threatening situation since the boat is maneuverable and it is relatively easy to get the person back on board. But the energy-sapping effects of cold water, the difficulty of swimming with soggy clothing or the possibility of injury could turn the situation serious. The swimmer should be retrieved as quickly as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

A fundamental custom of the sea has been for seamen to help each other out of scrapes. Today’s skippers still offer assistance to those having problems. This may be as simple as a tow back to the fuel dock or launching ramp, or helping free a boat that’s run aground. But both skippers should understand the procedures involved in giving and accepting a tow in order to make the operation go smoothly. Read the rest of this entry »

Specialized Travelling Tents

If you intend travelling in a large vehicle such as a Kombi, you may wish to try a tent that fits snugly over the vehicle, extending its interior by several square metres. It works somewhat like a carport, and you can still drive the Kombi away — the inside door of the tent matches that of the vehicle, which allows access between the two without them being attached.

For school groups or sports tours of 20 people or more, look in the army surplus stores. The tents you’ll find there are very big, and although they are sometimes used by campers they’re more suited to caterers who hold large functions. They are sturdy but also very heavy, and require many strong hands to put them up and take them down. Such tents are usually associated with school outings, outer-fringe religious group gatherings and soldier-of-fortune reunion weekends. Read the rest of this entry »

The ground broken by skateboarders over the past three decades has been invaded by a new group of urban athletes. Aggressive inline skaters have co- opted much of the style and culture of skateboarding into their sport. Aggressive skaters have taken what were initially just fitness and training devices and transformed them into urban assault vehicles that have been embraced by pop culture.

Inline skates can trace their roots back to the Chicago Skate Company, and perhaps further, as evidence of wheeled boots dates back to the early days of bicycling. But it wasn’t until brothers Scott and Brennan Olsen created the first Rollerblades in their Minneapolis basement that the sport took off. The brothers stumbled on a pair of Chicago Skate

Company’s inline skates in the bargain bin of a used equipmentstore while looking for a way to trainfor hockey in the off season. Theskates offered minimal support and awful wheels. The Olsens added greater support and urethane wheels, and the rest is history. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Sailing began hundreds of years ago in China when it was discovered that the power of the wind could be harnessed to make tasks like plowing and moving objects easier. Many historians believe the Chinese were the first to attempt to harness the wind for purposes of transportation, though there is reportedly evidence that the ancient Egyptians may have beaten them to it.

Modern land yachts are capable of attaining speeds approaching 100mph (160 kph)—the world record is 95.5 mph. Many modern land yachts are designed to swap out their wheels in the winter for ice blades. Ice yachts, with less friction to inhibit their speed, are now exceeding 150 mph (240 kph). Land and ice sailing designs are generally limited to modern three-wheel machines. There are some other approaches to land and ice sailing, such as skateboard-like systems employing either wheels or blades mounted to windsurfer rigs. These systems do not reach the velocities of their larger counterparts, but are none-the-less exciting and challenging to sail. Read the rest of this entry »

Skateboarding Stunt and Cruiser

Mounted to every deck is a set of “trucks.” Trucks are the steering and axle assemblies on which two wheels are mounted. Trucks are available in a variety of widths. Skateboards all have four wheels, two on the front trucks, two on the rear trucks. Wheels are available in a wide array of widths and diameters, and also in different compounds. Compounds vary by their hardness and traction. Generally, harder wheels offer less traction than softer wheels. Each skater has their own preference when it comes to wheel size and compound.

There are two basic types of skateboards: stunt boards and cruiser boards. Stunt boards are designed to be agile and easy to throw around when performing tricks. Stunt boards are either “old school” or “new school” designs and are used to skate street and vert. Old school boards are wide with longer, wider tails than tips. New school boards are narrower and with symmetrically shaped tips and tails, however their tips are longer than their tails. Old school boards generally use wider trucks than new school boards. Cruiser boards are a lot longer than stunt boards, and tend to use wide trucks for added stability and tracking at speed. Read the rest of this entry »

Skiing in its own right is a pretty extreme sport, and has been for years. One skiing discipline that is as amazing as it is extreme is speed skiing. Imagine screaming down a mountain at 150 mph (240 kph) on skis. That is exactly what current world Record holder and 1992 Olympic Bronze medalist Jeff Hamilton of Truckee, California did in 1995 at Vars, France, becoming the first skier to break the 150 mph barrier, and the fastest non-motorized human on the planet.

Consider the forces at play when traveling at 150 mph. The skier is literally skiing faster a sky diver in freefall. The skis are no r even touching the ground at that. Instead they are riding on a cushion of Even the slightest error in judgment or at that speed can be deadly. Read the rest of this entry »

Swimming into the deepest reaches of the ocean is a feat that many divers have experienced to a degree. Some may go below 200 feet (60m), others deeper. All would be lost without the air they bring with them. There is a special breed of diver who can go deeper than most, without air tanks. These freedivers have pushed the limits of unassisted breathing dives to below 400 feet.

Tofreedive to depths of even 50 feet (15m) is an unsettling prospect for all but the strongest swimmers. To dive much deeper requires holding a breath for minutes. In fact, the world’s best freedivers hold their breath for periods that rival many marine mammals. Read the rest of this entry »

Sports are about competition, but also about contact. Sports which involve the thrill of speed invariably require specialized equipment to undertake them, but for the sportsman, the nearer to the elements you can get, the greater the sense of accomplishment. So for water skiiers, what could make more sense than dispensing with the skis?

Barefoot Water Skiing began in Winter Haven, Florida in 1947. Water skiing pioneer Chuck Sligh theorized that water skiing without skis might be possible if the ski boat went fast enough. A 17-year-old boy named AG Hancock proved him right, becoming the first water skier to drop a ski and continue barefoot successfully. Hancock left on a family vacation before he could show the trick to Cypress Garden’s Dick Pope Sr.. A few days later, Pope’s son Dick Jr. successfully dropped a ski and got all the glory— photographs, newspaper stories, newsreels, the works. Barefoot skiers soon adapted many of the freestyle moves of traditional waterskiers. Spins, backward maneuvers, body drags, and other tricks made barefooting an exciting new discipline. Due to the speeds required to barefoot, the tricks are especially difficult, and dangerous, since the water becomes very hard in a high-speed impact. Read the rest of this entry »

Swimming long distances for sport is a challenge that only the most fit and determined extreme athletes pursue. Its roots can be traced back to1875 when Captain Matthew Webb became the first swimmer to cross the English Channel. Since then, crossing the channel has been one of the more defining feats of long distance, or open water, swimming. Open water is the appropriate term, since races and crossings are never held in a pool that would be too easy and lacking danger.

Open Water Swimming races are held globally, and were included in many of the early Olympic Games. Course lengths are usually 5, 10, 15, or 25 kilometers (3-15.5 miles) and require several hours to complete. The courses are set between two points on any large body of water. Some races require athletes to do several laps to complete a given distance, while others may consist of one very long lap. Read the rest of this entry »

Motorcycles have always attracted people with a yearning for speed and an appetite for adrenaline. For years, the closest thing anyone could get to that sensation on the water was in a small boat with a big motor. These were fast, but could hardly be called maneuverable. Then in 1965 a Californian banker with a passion for motorcycles conceived of an aquatic version which would become known worldwide as the Jet Ski.

Clayton JACOBSON enjoyed building racing motorcycles in his spare time. He loved going fast on motorcycles— but crashing on hard pavement was not what he considered to be their appeal. The concept of the Jet Ski was born from Jacobson’s theory that a motorcycle for the water would be just as fun to ride as the ones he enjoyed building, but without the pain of a hard landing if you fell off. Mr. Jacobson would be correct. Read the rest of this entry »

Singlehanded racing is the aquatic version of marathon running, where the skipper has to draw from resources deep within himself for the endurance and stamina necessary to sail 30 days or more alone at sea. Unlike the marathon runner, whose most important equipment is his shoes, a singlehanded sailor’s equipment is a sailboat often as large as 60 feet (18m) and its accompanying systems—and it all has to be maintained continuously.

JOSHUA SLOCUM is considered the grandfather of singlehanded sailors. Between 1895 and 1898, Slocum singlehandedly circumnavigated the globe in a wooden boat, making several stops along the way. Another 69 years elapsed before Francis Chichester completed a one-stop, singlehanded circumnavigation. Then, in 1969, Robin Knox- Johnston completed the first non-stop, singlehanded circumnavigation to win the Golden Globe Challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

The mysteries of the sea have driven many to brave the ocean depths to experience first-hand what it feels like to live beneath the water’s surface. Those who pioneered modern scuba did so at great risk—our bodies were not meant to breathe under water, nor were they meant to breathe under the pressure of millions of pounds of liquid. As you go deeper into the sea, your body is no longer able to use the air you breathe as effectively as above the surface. As a result, hundreds of diving fatalities occur each year.

MAN’S SEARCH for a means to breathe underwater can be traced back to the ancient Romans, when early divers used a floatation device to support airhoses attached to leather helmets to provide oxygen. It was not until 1819 that deep-sea diving became a practical reality, when German inventor Augustus Siebein developed the bulky brass dive helmet linked to an air compressor back on the ship. Read the rest of this entry »