May 2013 Newsletter
Dear Friends
I love books, I love being on the water. Kawau Island, our home base, has no roads, no shops nor library and lots of avid readers. Once a month people from all parts of the island journey by boat to a different home and bring along books they want to share. Since each cove, each house has a different outlook and the tracks leading from the shore vary from short strolls to half mile climbs; each meeting is a bit of an adventure. The last one topped them all. Jill Hetherington one of our closer neighbors and an avid sailor, decided she wanted her own transport between the mainland and island plus a place to stay while she was visiting on the mainland. She came steaming into the cove several months ago on Tuna, a 70 year old pilot boat powered by a big old fashioned Ford Dover 4 cylinder 90 horsepower truck engine. Jill then proceeded to upgrade Tuna and paint the boat in colors to her liking. The hull is now bright red, as it was when it worked in Wellington Harbor. But the trim, in purple, yellow and green is definitely different. On book club day Tunaarrived alongside our jetty. I served as deck hand as we steamed around the island, stopping at various jetties to pick up 9 other readers.
May 2013 Cruising Tip
A simple fiddle for your galley table
I am going through The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew to update it for a new fourth edition which should be ready for September. (The third edition will remain available as an eBook until September, but the paperback third edition will be out of print by June 15th.) As I came to the chapter on building a galley table, I remembered the complaint made by one of the overseas cruisers who sailed into our cove this season. We were invited on board for dinner and when we sat down to eat, the wife complained, the fiddle on their table worked well at sea, but always got in the way in port. When we showed them on board Taleisin, they really liked the way our removable fiddle works. So thought I’d share it for this month’s tip:
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Pardey Productions – Books & Videos
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Cost Control While You Cruise (DVD) NewWhat does it actually cost to cruise? How do you keep from blowing the budget you set? Join Lin and Larry Pardey as they share the financial lessons they have learned during 45 years of voyaging and from countless interviews with cruising sailors from dozens of different countries and walks of life. Lin discusses ways to keep maintenance costs in control, the importance of an unstoppable cruising boat and how your ground tackle and dinghy can save you money. Lin also reveals the tempting choice that can double your cruising costs. Larry will show you simple tricks to double the life of your sails. Also included are provisioning tips and planning ideas. This DVD is guaranteed to save you many times its cost while inspiring you to work toward getting “out there” as soon as possible.
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Storm Tactics Video (DVD)“One of the reasons I wanted to sail east-to-west around Cape Horn was to take video shots proving that small vessels can safely weather storms if they are well outfitted and efficiently handled,” Larry Pardey stated after his record-breaking voyage. Lin and Larry completed their against-the-wind rounding of the Great Southern Capes on board their engineless 29-foot Taleisin, weathering nine days of storm-force winds to reach Puerto Montt in Chile.
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Cruising has NO LIMITS (DVD)Skimming before caressing tradewinds, savoring NO LIMITS tropical landfalls, evading stormy seas—such is the image of the cruising life under sail. It is all this, but it can be so much more. Join Lin and Larry Pardey at their New Zealand home base as they recount some of their most memorable adventures during more than 30 years of cruising.
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Get Ready to CROSS OCEANS (DVD)So you feel confident with cruising local waters and are thinking of setting off across an ocean. Before you start planning, join Lin and Larry Pardey on board Taleisin in Fremantle, Australia, as they demonstrate gear storage for offshore voyaging, dinghy choices, warping out a stern anchor, proper life-raft storage, storm trysails, sail repairs, and other valuable hints to help you prepare. Then voyage along with them on a classic trade-wind passage across the Indian Ocean. >>Read More
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Get Ready to CRUISE (DVD)Join Lin and Larry Pardey at their home base in New Zealand as they share ideas and hints to make your boat safer, easier to handle, and more enjoyable to use. On board Taleisin-the boat that has been their home for 65,000 miles of voyaging – they demonstrate galley upgrades, table design ideas, comfortable seating arrangements, and ways to improve ventilation below deck. On deck, learn how sail and ground-tackle handling can be made easier for even the smallest crew member. >>Read More
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Bull Canyon: A Boatbuilder, A Writer and Other WildlifeIn the tradition of Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence, Pardey takes readers on a voyage – landlocked, but a voyage nonetheless – of the heart, sharing candidly and with great humor the four years she and her determined husband spent in Bull Canyon. Bull Canyon is the tale story of two “dreamers and schemers” who have taken life by the horns – and bring the reader along for the wild and joyous ride. >>Read More Hardcover
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Capable Cruiser, 3rd EditionThis revised and expanded third edition of a cruising classic includes 9 completely new chapters with such advice as: sixteen ways to encourage your lover (partner) to share your dream; strategies for turning sudden engine failure into a minor incident; choosing safety equipment; repairing rigging at sea. All of the original chapters have been updated and many are expanded to ensure that the information will be helpful for everyone who dreams of cruising – whether now or soon. >>Read More
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Storm Tactics Handbook, 3rd Edition“In a storm at sea, luck is highly biased toward the sailor who has a plan.” So write Lin and Larry Pardey in this, the third edition of their highly regarded Storm Tactics Handbook. As in the first two editions of this book, they describe their concerns about the tendency of modern sailors to discard the classic methods used to bring sailing vessels of all sizes –from vast clipper ships to tiny yachts –through amazingly strong winds and heavy seas. >>Read More
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Self Sufficient SailorFull of ideas and wisdom on how to sail in comfort and safety without large cash outlays. Every sailor, whether or not they plan to sail over the horizon, should read the Pardeys. This book is what the title says. >>Read More
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Details of Classic Boat Construction: The HullUpdated and expanded to include an important new appendix on the mis-advertising of epoxy adhesives and an introduction to superior, though less expensive glues. This book is used by boatbuilding schools around the world to explain the elements of classic craftsmanship and make these skills accessible to beginning woodworkers.>>Read More Hardcover
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The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew 3rd EditionThe Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew has become the preferred resource for cruisingand racing sailors –whether they’re planning a weekend afloat or a round-the-world voyage. This unique volume covers everything from outfitting a galley to organizing meals safely in rough weather; from controlling seasickness to creating the right conditions for a well-rested crew>>Read More
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Cost Conscious CruiserThe pleasures and adventures of cruising under sail are amazingly affordable, say Lin and Larry Pardey. But to keep your dreams on budget, financially, emotionally, and time wise, you have to decide – are you a cruiser or a consumer? Topics covered include making your getaway plans to finding a truly affordable boat, keeping your outfitting costs and maintenance time in control, then learning to feel confident as you cruise farther ahead.>>Read More
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Cruising in Seraffyn 25th Anniversary Edition“Go small, go simple, go now, say the Pardey’s.” This message has inspired three generations of sailors and kept Cruising in Seraffyn consistently near the top of nautical best seller lists for over two decades. This new edition, with its exciting 16 page spread of full-color photos, new forward and two new appendices, will appeal to anyone who has an adventuresome spirit.>>Read More Hardcover
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Seraffyn’s Oriental AdventureA tale of adventures, as two young dreamers continue their voyaging on board their self-built 24′ 4″ cutter. They cross the exotic sea that spawned Homer’s tales of Ulysses’ Odyssey, then sail through the strife torn Red Sea and across the typhoon tossed waters of the Bay of Bengal. >>Read More
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Seraffyn’s Mediterranean AdventureCovers three adventurous years in the Pardey’s circumnavigation with stops in Spain, North Africa, Crete, Malta, the Adriatic, Turkey and the Greek Isles. >>Read More
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Seraffyn’s European AdventureJoin Lin and Larry while they winter in England working to pay for the next leg of their journey into the Baltic, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany. They dealt with armed guards on the Polish waterfront who watched while the people greeted them with flowers and fruit. They weathered a fierce mast-under broach in a Baltic gale. This story ends at the gateway to the Mediterranean to
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Hope to meet you both when you visit Punta Gorda! You guys have been my heros ever since I read Cruising in Seraffyn back in the 70′s
Lin,
I met you at the LA Adventurers’ Club as guest of Ed Boden, and much enjoyed your talk, bought some books, and mentioned a video I’d made of two year’s cruising, including Caribbean, Galapagos, and also a mid-Pacific whale attack, 1963-64. You said you’d wouldn’t mind a copy, which I’ll send to you if you’ll provide an address. Please let me know where to send it.
Alan Forsythe
ak4sythe@comcast.net
253-639-6706
Hi Lin and Larry,
I’m fairly new to sailing, bought an old 26ft Haida sloop in Seattle a couple of years ago and am preparing to sail her offshore down to San Francisco in August.
Have bought your Storm Tactics book and the video and have to say read it cover to cover and they’ve given me much more confidence.
To compliment the para-anchor, I’m about to make a storm trysail. I was wondering if you have any more information on making storm trysails – I will make one similar to Trysail A in your book.
However, specifically I was wondering how much draft to build in when cutting the cloth ? Maybe none at all ?
Thanks in advance for any information !
Best wishes,
Andrew
Hi Lin My wife Marta and I met you and Larry at Myron’s in Sausaulito this year. We both enjoyed Bull Canyon and The new video . Marta was intruiged by the music she is now looking at a acordian to stow on the boat. Any way, We just got a small 5ft. 8in. pram styl dink that fits perfectly on the cabin. Turns out it was made at Arthur marine and likely a Hess design. I am almost certain it is the same as the dink for Serafin. It looks identical other than it has a lee board rather than a center board. The rudder looks the same a for a Sabot. It has a mast step but nothing else. Is ther a chance you have any of the rig and sail plan info or can direct me to a source. Thank you Bill
A QUOTE FROM STERLING HAYDEN’S BOOK, WANDERER
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… “cruising” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.
“I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of “security.” And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.
What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.
The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?
Sterling Hayden
Hi, been a fan since your first book,sadly i loaned it to a person that lost it, but i have the others, had a question that been naggin me, why the flush cockpit on “Taleisin” Thanks J.R.
I believe it’s to add headroom below. The aft section is where Larry has his workshop.
Also, everyone seems to start out in the cockpit but ends up on the coamings. Since Taleisin”s coamings are very wide, they make great seats. No need for a sunken cockpit.