FROM THE HELM
STEVE MORRELL,
EDITOR
Highlights of this Issue Hurricane Harvey and Irma In the “Short Tacks” section, BoatUS reported that an estimated 63,000 recreational boats were destroyed or damaged from these two hurricanes, estimated at approximately $655 million. More details on page 26. On page 31, is a report by the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission that says, as a result of Hurricane Irma, as of Oct. 31, 1,492 displaced vessels were removed from Florida waters by private owners or the response Unified Command team. Read more details and information on what a boat owner can do if they have a boat displaced by the hurricane. St. Petersburg Boat Show Seminars Interested in a sailing seminar? More than 40 different seminars are at the show on various subjects, including: “Drones on a Boat” (that’s not a movie); “Purchasing Hurricane Damaged Boats”; “Cuba Cruising”; “Beginners Guide to Cruising”; and “Do-it-yourself Diesel Engine Survey” (by Nigel Calder) — just to name a few. See the entire list with scheduled times on page 41, along with information about the St. Pete Boat Show. Bahamas by MailBoat When Fred Braman told me he was going to cruise the Bahamas on a MailBoat, I was immediately intrigued. And when he asked if I was interested in an article about it, I answered, “Absolutely.” My first thought was that it was the sort of trip I would like to take. Maybe someday. But for now, I’ll have to settle for reading about it, as will many others. It’s inexpensive for traveling the Bahamas, but there’s still food and lodging, although sleeping on the MailBoat is part of the trip. Read about this unusual way to see the Bahamas on page 52.
Further back in this issue, Fred has another article about a sailboat crossing to the Bahamas he had planned with his grandson and his grandson’s father that had to be canceled due to circumstances. Fred is a very experienced sailor, besides being a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy, and making a decision to cancel is one many of us have had to make due to a variety of reasons. Canceling is often the wisest course, and if someone has never had to cancel a sailing trip, then they haven’t been sailing for very long. Read about Fred’s trip on page 62. Rescue in the Western Pacific On page 50, I write about a very unusual rescue at sea by the U.S. Navy of two women who had been drifting onboard their 50-foot sailboat for five months. It is so unusual that I highly recommend that everyone see the video online about the rescue, which is an interview with the two women onboard the Navy ship. Their attitudes and moods are so surprising that I was mesmerized watching it. Go to the home page on our new website to see the U.S. Navy video. ____________________________________________________ Correction Thanks to Cristina Figueira Cristina let us know that in the October issue, in the article on the 13th Volvo Ocean Race, Lisbon, Portugal, is the base for the refit of the vessels, not Alicante, Spain, as stated in the article. Another error found is that Gothenburg is in Sweden, not in Germany, as was stated in the article. Even though a company in China now owns Volvo, the company is still based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Chinese company bought Volvo from Ford in 2010, who acquired it in 1999.
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editor@southwindsmagazine.com or editor@swindsmag.com 12
December 2017
SOUTHWINDS
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