I made a false start as a writer back in the late 1970s when I strolled into the Yachting Monthly office on my return from an extended cruise to the Americas. To my amazement, the redoubtable assembly of talent I discovered opted to encourage a tyro like me by buying a simple one-page article. A quarter-century and a good few miles later, I found myself anchored in a mangrove swamp in Martinique with time on my hands, so I wrote a jolly piece on star navigation and submitted it to the magazine. I wondered about its relevance to mainstream sailors even then, but they published that too.
Through the years, many people who have read and enjoyed our Cruising in Seraffyn books asked, “When are you going to write about your sailing adventures on board Taleisin?” As we worked building this bigger sister to our first offshore cruising boat we finished writing the four part series that told of the wondrous times we had sailing on board Seraffyn to explore the far reaches of the world. At the same time we wrote two practical books on voyaging under sail. These practical books lead to a demand from both readers and editors for ever more information on the how-to aspects of cruising. But even as Larry and I worked together on these practical volumes, I always wanted to return to the sailing narratives which spoke of the more personal aspects of our lives. Yet for some reason, every time I tried writing another book describing the adventuresome and romantic aspects of life afloat, I found myself stalled. Then I realized the genesis of the voyages we’ve had on board Taleisin lay in the story that came to be called, Bull Canyon, a Boatbuilder, a Writer and other Wildlife. This story had to be written before I could talk of going to sea. So, though the action in this book takes place on land, I hope sailors will enjoy Noah and the Roadrunner and see it as the prequel to Taleisin’s Tales.
We are excited to announce the first phase of our new Professional Licensing study guide! This guide is aimed at anyone who is trying to study for a Transport Canada license or individual exam.
To start off we have finished the guides for the 150 Ton Master and the Small Vessel Machinery Operator (SVMO), both found on the Certificates page. If you are just writing individual exams you can search them through the Exams page. More exams and licenses will follow with time, we hope to one day be able to list all exams on the site.
Please tell your friends, co-workers and fellow students about this guide, we are hoping this will become the go-to resource in Canada for everyone working towards a Transport Canada license.
We’re expecting four new, updated, or consolidated editions from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in May. Pre-order today, and we’ll ship them to you as soon as they arrive.
I recently started working at the Nautical Mind after spending five years as the Captain of TS Playfair. For those of you unfamiliar with the Playfair, she is a 72-foot brigantine operated by Toronto Brigantine to conduct youth sail training throughout the Great Lakes.
Over five years I was able to spend about 5 months all told cruising around Georgian Bay, and had a lot of time to gunkhole and explore the many locations. I would like to share some of my favourite spots, only a few though, as otherwise the list would go on for pages! There is no best to worst here, rather I went from East to West so as to keep some order to the list.
Starting off about as east as you can get in Georgian Bay, my first pick is Parry Sound, and I do mean the body of water, not the town. I think Parry Sound is very under appreciated. You can easily spend a week inside the sound at a different anchorage every night. There is great sailing with almost no swell, regardless of the wind. On top of this, the water is warm! (at least compared to the North Channel). The icing on the cake is that the sound is centrally located; you can jump down to the Midland area, up to Britt or across to the Bruce, all within a days sailing. I must add though, I do really enjoy the town of Parry Sound. [Chart 2224]
Two new Cuban chart kits have been released by surveyor specialists from NV charts. The first is Cuba Northeast which covers from Cabo Maisi to Varadaro, and the second is Cuba Northwest which covers from Varadero-Habanna to Cabo San Antonio. The package has a companion CD containing the charts in digital format. These are the first up-to-date and publicly available charts to Cuba in many years. Nigel Calder’s Cuba: A Cruising Guide is an excellent guide to accompany the charts for this area.
We forsee this area becoming a very popular destination for cruisers. Several new international marinas have been built in Varadero and there are now 1,500 new berths. Varadero and Marina Hemingway in Havana are the main ports for cruisers clearing in and out of Cuba. Many boaters have found cubacruising.net to be an excellent resource in their travels around Cuba.
Sailor, author, and Nautical Mind alumna Vicki de Kleer weighed in with the origins of her innovative and invaluable Visual Guide to the Flags of the World.
Regarding the Visual Guide to the Flags of the World
Usually the first questions regarding the book are “How did you get started with this idea?” followed by “Why do you think it is particularly useful?” In answer, I will tell you that my curiosity about flags started decades ago, when I was first taught how to sail. This was in a particularly busy sea area off the south of England, close to Portsmouth and Southampton. At that time there were many trans-Atlantic liners coming, anchoring, and going. Among them the Queen Mary, Bremen, and Normandie, as well as Naval ships, fishing boats and visiting yachts. So it was fun, and easy to learn what part of the world they came from by their national ensigns. Some of these are the same as the national flag, others are a variation of that, or even completely different. Only Great Britain goes so far as to have three! White specifically for the Navy, blue for Merchant Marine, and everybody else flies what is commonly, if informally, known as the Red Duster. (Protocol is strictly observed, however one morning at our local Sailing Club, a small tent was found flaunting an enormous White Ensign! The inhabitants claimed they ‘found it’, but incidentally at the time there was a lot of Naval activity just off shore, and no further questions were asked. )
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