Clipper Snips The magazine of the Trailer/Sailors Association Trailer/Sailors Association www.trailersailors.org Fall 2012 2 We Need to Communicate Laurence Wright 7 Better to say NO John Richards 10 First Time on the North Channel Jeff and Ruth Ann Zerby 11 Ramp Report: Charlotte Harbor, Florida John Ulmer 13 Cruising Canada Via the Trent-Severn Waterway Howard Staley 19 Fear and Loathing on the North Channel Anonymous 22 Reminiscing Anne Lyons 23 Bahamas Trip April 1—May 8, 2012 Jerry Hardin 25 The Great Summer Cruise 2012 Robert Sparks 30 Sailor’s Quiz Margery Whites 31 Our First North Channel Experience Dale Counihan Photo by Jeff Zerby Covered Portage Cove—North Channel we found ourselves the owners of Tranquility, a We Need To Communicate! (not-quite-trailerable) Tartan 33. This past winter, after three and a half months spent fixing her up, By: Laurence Wright we took the new boat for a two-month shake-down in the Abacos, in the northern Bahamas. Next year The Prologue: we’re planning on crossing the Gulf Stream once I believe it was Andrew Simpson, writing in Brit- more, though this time we may not return. If all’s ain’s Yachting Monthly, who recounted how he well, we’ll just keep on going. had recently sailed into a Mediterranean anchor- Between our two trips in 2008/9 and 2012 quite a age. The bay was well protected all round and the few things changed (not least, our knowledge of holding was good throughout, yet the half-dozen what we were doing). What follows are some or so anchored boats were grouped together in a thoughts on the kinds of communications that are tight knot over to one side. After he had dropped available in the Bahamas right now (who knows his anchor at a respectable distance from the other where they’ll be in a couple of years?) and on what boats, he dinghied over to chat. He was intrigued kinds of technology Joan and I are probably going why the boats had chosen to be using when we de- to anchor in such close part in the Fall. I suspect proximity to each other our basic needs are simi- when vast spaces of lar to most other cruisers. equally desirable anchor- While Facebook and net age were empty. The surfing are fun to do reason, it turned out, was when we have a Wi-Fi perfectly straightforward: connection, we don’t there was a restaurant on need to do these when the shore that had an un- we’re out in the middle secured wireless network, of nowhere. Then, all we and the cruisers wanted need is the ability to get a to get as close to it as weather forecast and, possible to access the maybe, the ability to con- internet! tact home (either by Information gathering is becoming an ever more voice or email). important aspect of the cruising lifestyle. A cou- That said, many of the anchorages that we have ple of months ago, there was a discussion on the T/ stayed in in the Bahamas (especially the Abacos) SA chat page regarding communication technol- do have Wi-Fi connectivity. So let’s deal with Wi- ogy in the Bahamas. I submitted my two cents Fi first. worth, but as I did so, I realised there was more to say than could be condensed into a few para- graphs. Aha, I thought, a Clipper Snips article. Wi-Fi So, here goes…. Basically there are two kinds of Wi-Fi network: ones you pay for and ones you don’t. One differ- The Article: ence we noticed on our second trip was that, while Joan and I have been to the Bahamas twice. In late the number of both kinds of networks seemed to 2008, we trailered Better Than Working, our 24 have increased, the number of open-access free foot Vivacity, to South Dade Marina, at the south- networks had fallen substantially. Nowadays, if ern tip of mainland Florida. From there we you want to access a network supplied by a local popped across to the Bahamas and spent four restaurant, for example, you almost always need a months cruising in the Berries and the Exumas password; in 2009 you didn’t. Often this just (see Clipper Snips Fall 2010). Four months in a means having a beer in the restaurant and asking 24 footer was a bit crowded, so in February 2011 for the password while you’re there (no great hard- 2 ship, really). Once you’ve got the password, you Which segues neatly to the subject of Wi-Fi boost- can then use it to hook up on your boat whenever ers. I had never heard of these when we left in you want (the passwords tend not to change very 2008. It didn’t take us long to meet cruisers who frequently). Marinas generally expect you to take had them and to realiZe the benefits of having one. a slip or a mooring before they’ll give you their So on returning home, I asked around and found password, though if they have a restaurant or bar that several people liked the Bad Boy Express attached you’ll be able to get it there. Of course from Bitstorm, a Toronto company. We bought there’s always the option of dinghying around one for about $150. Ironically, for wireless tech- other boats in the anchorage and finding a cruiser nology it sure comes with a lot of wire! There’s who already knows the password. about twenty-five feet of cable from the antenna to In terms of networks that require payment, there the booster and a further ten feet to the computer, now are two regional ones in the Abacos: Out Is- where it plugs into the Ethernet (RJ45) port. (I land Internet and Bahamas WiMax. O.I.I., for ex- have an RJ45/USB adaptor that enables me to plug into the XO, which doesn’t have an Ethernet port.) ample, has sixteen hot spots. Sample charges are $6 for two hours, $10 for 12 hours, $35 per week, There’s also a five-foot power cable which plugs $99 per month. Bahamas WiMax is very slightly into a regular 12 volt outlet. (I think these lengths more expensive. In the Exumas, three years ago, are correct: our unit is on Tranquility, down in we paid $10 for a 24 hour hook up in Staniel Cay Florida, wrapped up for the summer.) We perma- and we found an internet café in George Town for nently installed our Bad Boy in the nav. station $5 a day (though now, apparently, Exumas Market with the antenna outside, mounted on the stern rail. in George Town offers free Wi-Fi as well as free It served us well throughout the Abacos and made R/O water and a free dinghy dock: they know how a real difference in the number of networks avail- to attract cruisers). able to us. Once you have a Wi-Fi hookup you’ll then be able After we returned to Florida we were chatting to a couple of cruisers who happened to be computer to use Skype for voice calls to telephones any- where in the world for just a few cents per minute. consultants. They pointed us in the direction of I remember walking into the lounge of the Green another booster, the Alfa, which is available on Parrot restaurant in Nassau harbour and seeing Amazon for around $38. The Alfa’s antenna fixes four or five cruisers sitting at tables, talking loudly directly to the booster which plugs into a USB port at their computers in several different languages. on the computer from where it also draws its power. The Alfa is small and totally portable. We A real twenty-first century Babel. ordered one online and took delivery just before A quick word here about hardware. We’ve found we left Florida. We didn’t get a chance to do a that the smaller the computer, the easier it is to head-to-head comparison with the Bad Boy, but carry around and the less power it takes to re- subsequent experience indicates that the Alfa can charge. Four years ago we had an Asus Eee net- also pull in distant hotspots very well. book with an 8 inch screen, now we’re using an HP Pavilion with an 11.5 inch screen. Our backup Other than portability and price, the main differ- computer, then and now, is an XO from the One ences between the two are that the Bad Boy has a Laptop Per Child project. It’s designed for kids in systems page which gives a very useful graphic third world countries so it’s water-proof, dust- display of signal strength, which the Alfa doesn’t. proof and virtually unbreakable. The XO is slow Also the Bad Boy doesn’t require any additional starting up and its Linux operating system takes a software to be installed on the computer: the Alfa bit of getting used to. But it has two major advan- needs a driver installed from CD. tages. Unlike regular computers, the XO’s screen Incidentally, windfinder.com is my favourite is superb in bright sunlight. It can be viewed easily weather forecasting site. It gives a graphic display in tropical sunshine both on the street and in the of projected wind speed and wind direction (as cockpit. And the XO’s Wi-Fi reception is noticea- well as other factors such as temperature and pre- bly better than other laptops we’ve used.