CYOB Inbox: March 25, 2021

Mar 25, 2021

Electric boats?

Hi John,

Great issue.  I’ve got Spring Fever too, going over to pat my 1968 Shark24 every week.

I am writing to say how I like the electric piece. (What You Need to Know Before Buying an Electric Sailboat March 11 CYOB)

 I chartered a Dufour 42 out of Comox, BC two summers ago.  We had another type of calamity due to electric battery.  When winding up our anchor a bad splice jammed the windlass and blew the main fuse.  We were in a remote isolation Sound area and all our nav gear was out.  Luckily a “sparky” in a marina diagnosed our problem.  We called the charterer and told him to bring a new fuse, pronto.  He wanted us to cross the circuit with a coat hanger!!  Not a chance since if we blew out the sophisticated nav then we get stung for the replacement.

I’ll stick with my 8 HP Yamaha (which I rarely use, being old school).

Stay safe and happy

Cheers

Barrie

Barrie Gilbert, PhD
Conservation Ecologist and Author of One of Us: A Biologist’s Walk Among Bears
Wolfe Island, Ontario

We Miss You Canada: 

Sailing on and around Canadian waters is a normal benefit of the region we live in.  We have many Canadian sailing friends who are integral to our competition and enjoyment of the sport.  We long for the time when the border will reopen and we can reconnect with our northern neighbors. 

This is especially true for us here in WNY since our weekly racing activities involve boats from both sides.  Personally, we can’t wait to take our grandchildren over to Toronto by boat, as we enjoyed doing ourselves when we were kids and then with our sons.  Nobody can predict the future of the border situation but we are keeping fingers crossed that sometime this year we will have some sort of opening at least.  

Don Finkle
RCR Yachts Racers’ newsletter
Youngstown, NY

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