Posts

Sailing Injuries

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My winter is being spent investigating topics for new articles.  One that is often overlooked is what are the main medical emergencies that sailors face.  Being prepared means knowing what you might have to deal with. I had written before about the different medical emergencies faced by racers and cruisers. In that case I was concerned with coastal cruisers more than distance and blue water sailors. A new survey has documented the types of injuries faced by extreme sailors. Although it mostly covers distance racing, the results can be extrapolated to distance cruising. The excellent summary presentation by Dr. Andrew Nathanson of Brown University concludes that sailing is one of the safest sports with far fewer injuries than five major sports including baseball. And the number of deaths is less than the number in football. Shouldn't these statistics be propagated among the non-sailing critics? Contusions and lacerations are the most common injuries. (I would love to know w

Winter planning

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Jenny in Lofoten (OCC Jan Isaksen) I spend the winter thinking about where to go and what to do the next summer. Living here in the west of Ireland makes it difficult because that's the best time at home as well. Do we really want to leave our flower gardens, berry patches, orchard, vineyard and vegetables to someone else to tend while we go off on adventures via sea?  That's always a hard question to answer.

Starting the New Year Off Right

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After a two week plus hiatus, during which I ate too much, talked too much and probably imbibed too much, I'm back in the mode of writing about sailing. There are several things driving our activities through the winter.

Season's Greetings

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Wishing everyone a peaceful yet exciting New Year!

Christmas Lunch in Kinvara with ICC West

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What Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara might look like in the sun. (Wikimedia) (Cinn Mhara) During winter in Ireland we take the opportunity to explore places we might not get to otherwise by boat.  The exception is when the western contingent of Irish Cruising Club, of which Alex is a member,  hosts a Christmas luncheon in some lovely seaside location that gives us a chance to scout it out by land before coming by boat.

Top ten gifts for boaters in 2015

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By Daria Blackwell Stuck for a last minute gift idea? There’s still time to order these items and have them delivered in time for Christmas. Of course you can always order a copy of Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring by yours truly.   But as so many people already have it, we thought we’d give you a few more ideas.    10. Dry Bag ($14.95-209) Every sailor needs a dry bag for those dinghy rides to shore with laptop in tow. SealLine Dry Bags are the best, but I have to say that the ones we bought at Lidl for €10 have lasted for years.   They come in different colours, sizes and purposes so everyone aboard can choose a different one to keep them straight.  

Sailing and mental health in children

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Lack of unsupervised play is hurting our children An article in Psychology Today caught my attention. Dr. Peter Gray, commenting on a study which showed that anxiety and depression have been steadily increasing among our youth, suggested that the absence of play in childhood is at the root. This thought resonated with me. It took me back to an article I wrote a few months ago about the sailing programs driving kids out of sailing. 

Killybegs in Donegal -- a boater's haven

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On approach to Killybegs Lighthouse on Rotten Island We needed to haul Aleria this year for several maintenance chores and bottom paint. The best option was to sail north to Killybegs in Donegal, one of the most important fishing ports in all of Europe.   The quote we received for haul out and storage from the boatyard there was quite reasonable. Our only concern was that we had heard that Killybegs might not be yacht friendly.  We had stopped in Teelin along the way then set sail for the short passage to Killybegs. It's only about 18 km or 10 nautical miles between the two. The approach is straightforward. The coastline is very interesting. The weather was cooperating. We noted the marine farm in Bruckless Harbour on the approach. The lighthouse on Rotten Island was where expected and we turned to port to enter the harbour surrounded by hills.

Fall Cruise from Mayo to Donegal. Part 2: Inishkeas to Teelin

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Crossing Donegal Bay in shades of grey again. (Click on photos to enlarge.) We left the anchorage in the Inishkeas rather late, thinking we would stop in Broadhaven or Killala for the night. But then we came up with the brilliant idea of pushing to get to Teelin and having a another day off to visit Slieve League while we were there. The seas had calmed but there wasn't enough wind to propel Aleria , so we motor sailed up the Mayo coast. 

Fall cruise from Mayo to Donegal. Part 1: Clew Bay to the Inishkeas

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Departing Clew Bay on the morning tide. (Click on photos to enlarge.) Confused seas off Achill Head. On a beautiful Thursday morning in mid-October, we departed from Clew Bay on the outgoing tide. High tide was at 8 am and we needed to get out early to make the 50-mile trip to the Inishkeas. The sky turned an amazing purple, with the morning sunrise breaking through heavily overcast skies. The weather in Ireland had been miserable all summer, but October proved spectacular. Very little rain, not too windy, and not too cold. This morning, the forecast was for clearing skies and light winds in the morning, with wind dying out in the afternoon.

I lost my sole in the Inishkeas

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Flopping along made it hard to sneak up on wildlife.   You might have read the title and thought, “How could she allow such a major typographical error, and in the title no less?” Indeed, it is probable that I lost my soul among those enchanted deserted islands as well. But, no, this time it was indeed my sole and before it was all over, both soles were given over to the islands, though only figuratively as I did not leave them behind.

Aleria spends winter with the big boys in Killybegs

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Overwintering in Galway. Aleria, at 57 feet long, is often one of the larger yachts in a marina. For the last few years, she spent the winters in the water in Galway Harbour. Not a bad place to be as the marina is smack in the middle of the old city. It’s great to have an apartment right in the heart of town. Unfortunately Galway does not yet have the facilities to haul vessels of Aleria ’s size, but when the new marina comes in, hopefully it will. 

Apps for sailing

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Navigating the old fashioned way.     Navionics app on Samsung mobile. What on earth did we do with ourselves in the days before apps came into our lives?  Can I even remember?  Let's see. We read books. We navigated by dead reckoning. We waited until landfall to call people. Now it's all immediate. I once joked with a reported who was interviewing me that I learned to scuba dive so I could go on holiday where clients couldn't reach me -- underwater.  Yet, it's a bit too true that today we are forever accessible. This cannot be good. However, even I find myself caught up in the app collection craze. When one considers that more than half of responders to a survey of blue water sailors say they have 4 or more devices with GPS on board, you can reckon that dead reckoning is indeed dead. I don’t have an iPad.   I have a Samsung android smartphone. They all have GPS now.  Even our camera has GPS. Take a picture and you'll know your exact location. My new

The social side of sailing

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There is a camaraderie in sailing that I have not found in many other pursuits. For example, it is rare to strike up a conversation with other skiers who are unknown to you on the mountain, even during lunch at large communal tables. Yet put two sailors in a room together and before you know they have become the best of friends.

Voices of the Past in Ireland's Abandoned Islands

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Achillbeg house. There are places where humans once roamed and lived and worked that have been abandoned and are on their way back to natural states. As these places transition between times, walking where people long forgotten once walked can be a rather eerie experience. Voices carry on the wind, children's laughter echoes off the crumbling walls, and shadows pass over the hills playing with your mind's eye. And so it is on many of the deserted islands off the west coast of Ireland.

Achillbeg - the small island next to Ireland's largest island, Achill

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Rainbow between Clare and Achillbeg It was a strange summer that never happened, with chill winds and rain nonstop. So when the forecast was for moderate winds in the range of 15 knots out of the North, we decided to head off to the Inishkeas. It would be cool but we can handle that. But, as often happens, the forecast was not true to its word and the squalls that blew through with occasional heavy rain, arctic cold, and blasts of wind in the range of 25 knots caused us to divert to Achillbeg to see if the conditions might abate. They did not, which meant we had a lovely day at anchor off Achillbeg.

An annual pilgrimage to Clare Island

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Clare Island at the mouth of Clew Bay Every year, we visit Clare Island primarily because it's an easy sail from our anchorage but also because there is so much to see there.  The Saw Doctors have immortalized the experienced in their song about the place: Will you meet me on Clare Island Summer stars are in the sky We'll get the ferry out from Roonagh And wave all our cares goodbye And we'll go dancing at the ceili We'll go kissing on the strand Take our clothes off in the moonlight Skinny-dipping hand in hand And we'll start drinking in the twilight Keep it up until the dawn In both the bars Because there's no guards To take our names and send us home.

Lessons in leadership from the sea

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The author as President of the HBA addressing an audience of more than 2000 healthcare executives. Being in charge of your universe by Daria Blackwell Many people in leadership positions, myself included, assumed their roles by chance. Not thinking of themselves as leaders, they got things done that needed doing. Someone had to step up to keep the ship from foundering. They may not have had all the skills they needed to fulfill their roles effectively at the time, but they had the right attitude. They knew it could be done.

Voyaging with Kids. A guide to family life afloat.

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So you made the decision to go cruising with your family to expose them to a richer life at the edge of nature and replete with cultural experience. You just buy a boat, pack up your kids, and shove off, right?  Oh no. How will you provide for their education, feed them in exotic places where the foods are all different, wash diapers and ensure their safety.  Until now, there has been no resource available for families afloat. Thanks to these authors, everything is now about to change.  

Lightning strikes...twice!

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Dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning by Daria Blackwell A boat we once owned had the unlikely misfortune of having been struck by lightning twice. She had a dissipator on her mast, her rig was not unusually tall, and she was always moored in a crowded mooring field.  Yet, somehow, the lightning liked her best. A study published last year in Science ( Science 14 November 2014: Vol. 346 no. 6211 pp. 851-854 DOI: 10.1126/science.125910 ) concluded that lightning strikes are predicted to increase 12 ± 5% per degree Celsius of global warming and about 50% over this century.  With the increase in likelihood of a strike, what do we need to know to protect ourselves and our vessels? Here are a