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The Sailing Weekly Roundup brings you the latest in sailing news, trends, gear, events, and training. Every week we’ll send a curated list and analysis by Teresa and Ben Carey. Instead of sifting through a ton of articles and videos each day – let us do the work for you. This is the Free Version. For the full version with 20+ more items, subscribe!
Sailing out to pot-free, deep water this week, as the sun sets.
Analysis:
The annual dusty, sticky, smelly spring boat preparations have ended. We’ve launched Rocinante and completed our first Morse Alpha Expedition for 2021 – our first May expedition in Maine.
It’s typically pretty chilly on the water this time of year, and boat traffic is minimal. We saw very few lobster boats and only one or two sailboats. The wide-open anchorages made me feel like we had traveled back in time to a place where lobstering was a new, undiscovered industry. It was a unique treat. The experience reminded me of Teresa’s and my expedition to Newfoundland ten years ago.
Wait, what? Ten years already?
It was 2011 when we set off searching for an iceberg aboard Elizabeth, our Bristol Channel Cutter. Newfoundland is a beautiful place to sail. Remote, chilly, rugged, with welcoming locals. We couldn’t get to the island this year because of COVID restrictions but are planning a Newfoundland expedition for our 2022 schedule.
Back to the noticeable lack of lobster pots this week – pot buoys are a big concern for boaters in Maine. A priority skill is learning to dodge them, so the rope doesn't get caught in the prop. The buoy stick points downwind, so “stick to the stick side” because the rope is on the upwind side. Leeway when sailing upwind adds an extra challenge. But learning to navigate the pots can train a sailor to understand set and drift and use ferry angles to stay on course in a strong current. (Everything is a teachable moment on a Morse Alpha expedition).
A few years ago was a record-setting year for catching lobster pots on the prop. We caught about four that season. It might not seem like a lot, but if the boat is near rocks, dragging a lobster trap, and drifting out of control in a current – it becomes an urgent situation. We have to clear the prop asap, and sometimes that means getting into the frigid water.
We carry a wet suit and hose for breathing, but this setup looks like a great idea. One time we caught a trap at dusk on the windward side of a ledge. It was not our vision of a good time. Our new protocol is that we must be clear of the lobster traps by sunset. That means getting into water at least 350ft deep.
Sailing Penobscot Bay this time of year makes the notion of lineless lobster traps very enticing and provides a glimpse into what sailing in those conditions might be like. I’d never considered such a possibility. But this week’s article in Soundings Magazine shares new technologies that modernize a tool – called a Pop-Up – that has been around since the 1950s and ’60s. Although I think there’s still a lot of work left to make these lineless traps work, it is encouraging.
~ Ben
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Don’t forget to check out our sail-training expeditions at MorseAlpha.com.
From Morse Alpha:
2 Bunks available on our July 18-23 Expedition
We have 2 spots left for this challenging course. Our expeditions are jam packed with lessons, drills, scenarios, planning, navigation and overnight sailing! The trip starts and ends in Rockland ME.
Now for the best of the web...
News:
Update: Tall Ship Zebu Declared a Wreck
Attempts to salvage the historic tall ship Zebu have failed. Last week, the 100′ long brigantine, built in Sweden in 1938, broke from its moorings and drifted onto the Holyhead New Harbour breakwater in Wales, where she became hard aground.Egyptian Court Rules Suez Canal Can Keep Holding Ever Given
An Egyptian court on Sunday rejected a complaint by the Japanese owner of a container ship that blocked traffic in the Suez Canal for six days in...Why Dodge Pots?
Lawmakers discuss the idea of lobster and crab fisheries with fewer vertical lines. For Kim Sawicki, the issue of props being fouled in crab and lobster pot lines has been personal for years. She grew up sailing in Connecticut, where her job was to spend endless hours sitting on the bow as the lookout.
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