Beth sailing on Lake Champlain
Beth has given her final presentation for this year, and is now enjoying being back out cruising.
Beth shares our excitement for the cruising life in two different presentations:
FOLLOWING SEAS: Sailing the globe, sounding a life
When Beth A. Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger, headed off to sea in 1992 aboard a 37-foot Shannon ketch named Silk they had very little idea of what they were getting into. They had owned the boat for less than six months and sailed her a half a dozen times before they set off for Bermuda and found themselves in a Force 10 storm in the Gulf Stream. But against all the odds, they continued, and over the course of the next three years and 35,000 miles, they completed a voyage around the world that changed their values, strengthened their relationship, and taught them to tread much more lightly on the planet. Join Beth and find out what it feels like to open the hatch and look out on a storm-scoured sea, to sight the red-roofed houses and terraced slopes of Faial in the Azores after a 16-day passage, to transit the Panama Canal while marveling at the engineering that built it, to follow in the wakes of early explorers and ancient mariners wondering at their skill and courage, and to round a Great Cape and complete a circumnavigation.
NORTHERN (HIGH) LIGHTS: Exploring the North Atlantic’s legendary islands
Beth Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger, have spent most of the last dozen years living aboard, cruising full time and writing for the sailing magazines. After completing a three-year tropical circumnavigation aboard a 37-foot ketch, she and Evans have sailed another 55,000 nautical miles aboard their 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt sloop, Hawk, which they designed and built for high latitude sailing. Join Beth for a voyage of the North Atlantic’s high latitudes, from 45°N to the Arctic Circle, past rockbound coasts, through stormy seas. Discover the bonds of history, tradition, culture and livelihood that bind its communities and the challenges and rewards of sailing its stormy seas. You’ll experience the warmth and friendliness of Newfoundland’s people while navigating its sunkers and tickles; attend a musical soiree in a Scottish castle, thrill at the raw, untamed beauty of Ireland’s west coast during a late winter cruise; listen to the beautiful and haunting “cave music” in the remote Faroes Islands; and sail along the Arctic Circle north of Iceland on midsummer’s eve.
Plus Beth does detailed 'how-to' seminars on:
All seminars run 1 hour and 30 minutes with a 15 minute Q&A period. A full-day seminar includes any four of the five topics listed below.
TALLYING THE BOTTOM LINE: Cruising budgets for three offshore voyagers
How much you will spend on cruising depends upon the size and complexity of your boat and your liveaboard “lifestyle.” I will use three boats – Simplicity, Moderation and High Life - to illustrate the range of cruising budgets from buying and fitting out a boat through annual living expenses. The information is based on detailed interviews with more than a dozen cruisers and will help you to determine how much your cruising dream will cost you.
DANCING IN THE SHEETS: Sails and sailhandling for short-handed passagemaking
Our 47-foot Van de Stadt Samoa fractional sloop, Hawk, has a 750 square foot mainsail; her light air sails both exceed 1,000 square feet in area. To manage these large sails and the loads they generate short-handed, we have had to make use of a range of new sail and line materials and adopt a variety of sailhandling techniques pioneered by the singlehanded offshore racers. I will discuss and illustrate the sail inventory and sailhandling techniques we have come to over the course of 50,000 nautical miles, and share the logic of our choices so that you can figure out how best to set up your boat for short-handed passagemaking.
STAYING CONNECTED: Onboard communications options compared
Today there are a range of communications options for use aboard boats that will allow you to be connected to the rest of the world without leaving the comfort of your navigation station. However, these vary a great deal in capability and cost, and, offshore, none of them will deliver the kind of connectivity you have been used to at home. I will discuss the capabilities and pros and cons for coastal and offshore communications systems including high-frequency radio, satellite communications systems, cell phones, and wi-fi. I will also look at shore-based communications options to help you put together a total communications plan that suits your budget and your connectivity requirements.
KNOWING WHAT’S COMING NEXT: Onboard weather forecasting for the rest of us
We are not meteorologists, nor are we interested in spending our entire day downloading weather charts. We want to use weather forecasts for three things: to pick a departure weather window, to make major routing decisions at sea, and to determine what sails to carry for the next 12 to 24 hours. I will describe and illustrate exactly how we do each of these things, and the specific weather sources we use for each. Voice broadcasts, weather faxes, GRIB files, and weather routers will be compared and their pros and cons considered.
HEAVY WEATHER MANAGEMENT: Techniques and tools for two different boats
One of the best things about heavy weather is how seldom cruisers encounter it. But that means that very few people ever compare the heavy weather performance of different boats or evaluate different tactics and techniques. Over the course of more than 90,000 nautical miles aboard two very different boats, we have used a variety of tactics. I will show how boat size and design impacted the choice of tactics in gale and storm conditions and describe in detail the equipment and techniques for the weather tactics we have employed most often including heaving-to, forereaching and towing a drogue. I will share what we think we know about ultimate storm conditions, and what techniques we would try if ever faced with those conditions. All of this will help you to determine what techniques and equipment are most likely to be of value on your boat, and help you prepare by setting up your boat before the fact.
Once by the Pacific
The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the Light was spoken.