Author Archives: lewisblevins

Sailing by the numbers…. 3 people on the boat 2 people with the same name (Pavel and Paul) 10 nautical miles into the ocean past the Golden Gate Bridge 345 feet the largest depth noted 25.5 knots the largest gust of wind noted 0.25 the proportion of fuel remaining in the main fuel tank atContinue reading “Sailing Pacific Ocean 05/24/2020”

My first experience with an autopilot was in the cockpit of a Piper Archer II fixed gear low wing aircraft. I didn’t really care much for it. Sure. It maintained a course. I felt more comfortable, however, with my hand on the “stick” as I was more prepared to quickly deal with updrafts and downdrafts.Continue reading “Autopilots: who’s at the helm?”

There are plenty of things on a sailboat that use energy in one way or another. That energy passes through the boat systems by way of electrical power when connected to a shore power outlet or is “drawn from” batteries that act as a source of electrons to operate boat systems dependent on electrical power.Continue reading “Powering a Sailboat”

Energy comes to a sailboat by several different paths in many forms. I will speak more of this in a future blog. That energy, a reservoir of necessity, can be expended in innumerable ways on a sailing vessel. It must be managed as a priceless commodity at all times. In many great places to sail,Continue reading “Heating a Sailboat”

I trained on vessels that were traditional in that the single headsail, oft referred to as the jib, was sheeted on either side back to winches. The load was changed to the leeward sheet after each tack as the tension on the new windward sheet was released. This arrangement usually required three sailors to successfullyContinue reading “Self-tacking Jib”

A guest blog by Pavel Sokolov People often ask me what OPM class is all about? What should you be prepared for? Is it hard? Is it worth it? I will attempt to cover some of these questions in this blog post. It has been roughly a year since I graduated from the program. SomeContinue reading “Ocean Passage Making: Five days in the open ocean with 5 random friends.”

One of the main things that I believe that we all, as sailors, are grateful for are the services of the United States Coast Guard. The Guard, a branch of our uniformed military services, has a multifaceted role ranging from coastal defense, interdiction with regards to drug trafficking over water, search and rescue, other safetyContinue reading “USCG Boarding of Skiron”

There are numerous safety devices on a sailboat. Redundancy of systems count as an important safety feature on any vessel. For example, there are electronic and manual bilge pumps. Some devices or features are part of the vessel. Others are added to prevent catastrophe while some are in place should they become necessary in theContinue reading “Safety Devices”

Whale watching. Who doesn’t wish to see the large mammals of the sea?! Who wants to be as far away from them as is possible? I used to be a member of the first group and now I’m becoming a member of the latter. I’ve been on a couple of whale watching trips out ofContinue reading “Whale Watching”

Seafarers, since the beginning of time, have used their observations of wind, waves, currents, bird migrations and more to understand how to get from one place to another over the oceans of the world. It is clear that stars and other bright objects in the sky, including the sun and the moon, have been utilizedContinue reading “Celestial Navigation….Club Nautique”