Navico Appoints Knut Frostad Executive Vice President of Digital Business and Marketing

Knut Frostad Sailing with B&G

Navico, parent company to the Lowrance®, Simrad®, B&G® and C-MAP® brands announced today Knut Frostad has joined the management team as executive vice president of digital business and marketing. Frostad brings extensive industry experience, most recently serving as chief executive officer of Volvo Ocean Race. Furthering Navico’s commitment to leading the industry in providing a fully connected and integrated vessel, which opens the boating eco-system, Frostad will be responsible for enabling a large set of new services for a full end-to-end experience and creating new business models that will drive more valuable interactions with consumers.

A former professional offshore and Olympic sailor, Frostad assumed the role of CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008 and brought a wealth of knowledge to the race. Having competed in four editions of the event, as helmsman, watch leader and skipper, as well as raising full sponsorship of all his campaigns, he is also recognized for helping the Race achieve true globalization through the use of a comprehensive digital media platform, onboard reporters and a sophisticated race control center in Spain to bring high-quality content to a worldwide audience.

Born in Harstad, Norway, Frostad has mirrored his successful sailing career in the boardroom. He has a business background in management, has held a number of director and advisor positions within international companies, and has been an active Navico board member since 2005 and a driving force in the company. He is also a renowned motivational speaker.

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Mitigation Efforts Due to Lapse in Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriations and Partial Government Shutdown

To mitigate the impact caused by the partial lapse in appropriations and shutdown of National Maritime Center (NMC) operations, the following actions are being taken:

·         Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMC) (National Endorsements only) and Medical Certificates that expired in December 2018 or expire in January 2019 are extended as valid until March 31, 2019. Print the attached letter and carry it with your credential.

·         Additional Information (AI) letters, sent to mariners that expired in December 2018 or expire in January 2019 are extended to March 31, 2019.

·         Approval to Test (ATT) letters and mariner training course certificates that expired in December 2018 or expire in January 2019 are extended until March 31, 2019.

·         For mariners whose 90-day testing cycles were interrupted by Regional Exam Center (REC) closures (starting on December 26, 2018), the days the RECs were closed will not count against the 90-day period. REC appointment calendars will be re-opened immediately once appropriations are restored.

·         E-mail any course approval extension requests to NMCCourses@uscg.mil.

The NMC understands the partial shutdown may affect our industry customers and stakeholders and we apologize for any potential inconvenience.

If you have questions, visit the NMC website, or contact the NMC Customer Service Center by using the NMC online chat system, by e-mailing IASKNMC@uscg.mil, or by calling 1-888-IASKNMC (427-5662).

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Anchoring quote of the day:

Quote of the day:

"If your anchor is not holding as well as you might like, consider your options. The insurance of having a good modern anchor may just let you sleep peacefully through the night secure in your chosen anchorage."

https://www.whiteseahorse.ie/publishing/HappyHooking.html

Be ready for boating in the spring by preparing for the winter

December is upon us and winter cold is in full effect throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Many boaters are off the water during the cold months, but safe boating in the spring and summer starts with proper winterization and preparation.

Every year when the boating season opens up, the Coast Guard conducts numerous rescues due to preventable incidents which could have been avoided if the proper steps were taken for winterization and proper inspections were done prior to departing for the first time of the season.

Waiting too long may be a costly mistake. Expanding water can crack an engine block, damage fiberglass, split hoses or destroy refrigeration systems. Since most mariners go out less in the winter, or remove their boat from the water, it is a great time to perform annual maintenance. In addition to saving money, these preventative measures could save your life. 

Through November of 2018, Coast Guard crews in the 5th District responded to 14 search and rescue cases due to dead batteries. There were 119 reported engine failures of different sorts and more than 200 cases were due to operator error.

Doing some preventative maintenance and taking a boating safety course could have prevented many of these potentially life threatening situations. The ocean can be very unforgiving and a disabled boat in the wrong conditions without the right safety gear can be fatal. Ensuring your boat is properly maintained will reduce the chance that you and your loved ones will need to be rescued.

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Anchoring Made Easy

“Anchoring Made Easy” was to have been the title of our anchoring book, had the publisher with whom we wanted to work had his way. Instead we named it “Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”, as hooking your boat to the bottom in a lovely spot should always be fun and easy. Sadly, there are still some people out there who are clearly not having fun when they try to set their hook. We suppose they have not read the book – and their boat may not necessarily always stay put either. As our cruising takes us ever further afield, and we check the cruising guide for the anchorage in the harbor we would like to visit next, we often see statements like “anchorage marked on the chart has poor holding”. I write this as we are (very securely) anchored just below a picturesque castle in a beautiful bay on the west coast of Ireland. Once again the guide notes that this spot has poor holding. It’s at this point that it occurs to us that perhaps it was not the bottom that provided questionable holding but rather the anchor being used when the observation was made that was at fault.

Turkish Bling or the Real Thing?

Rocna and Ultra side by side As anchoring is perhaps the single most important part of boating, any mention of anchoring or gear preferences in the company of sailors is always sure to stir up a storm of commentary from all sides – even from people who may only rarely leave the dock. So when word of Quickline’s introduction of the Turkish manufactured Ultra Anchor to the US marketplace trickled into our consciousness, we just had to take a closer look. Long proponents of what we term as modern generation scoop type anchors, we have several older pieces of hardware decorating our front lawn. These include a huge Luke (fisherman-type), a smaller and very elegant collapsible fisherman, a massive CQR and a well-used Delta (maybe we should start a museum of anchoring). Had we any of the other types of anchors designed to plow, claw or drag through the bottom, these too would have become ornaments. As an old saying goes, “The plow was a great invention until some eejit made an anchor out of it.”

The art of the personal signal

Our personal signal, the white sea horse, which we fly from the starboard spreader of our mizzen mast.

Our white sea horse swallowtail.

Years ago, every sailor had his or her own personal signal (pirate flags were personal signals), which they flew on whatever vessel they were sailing. Most personal signals as of some civilized date were listed in Lloyd's register so you could identify the master of each vessel. The personal signal was usually selected to represent something very meaningful to or about the individual flying it. 

Naturally, the personal signals of the pirates were not registered, although they were pretty well known and so widely recognizable that they did not have to be registered. Take Blackbeard, for example. When he hoisted his particular brand of jolly roger, boats scattered.

The personal signal translated onto a new medium...the spinnaker.

Personal signals of club members are often flown in the clubhouse. 

Today, the personal signal is still developed by proud racers, owners of significant vessels and officers of yachting organizations, although for the most part the tradition has waned in favor of the martini glass, sport fish, or babewatch flag. We, being none of the above, have nevertheless subscribed to the tradition, as we have a famous (or infamous) heritage to reflect. 

You see, we fly the flag of the famous O'Malley queen of the west of Ireland, who commanded many ships, many men, and eventually became a pirate to protect her holdings against the foreign raiders of her lands. Grace O'Malley, aka Granuaille, flew the white sea horse aboard her ship the Moytura.

So we adopted the white sea horse, redrawn and stylized by Alex himself, as our personal signal to honor our family heritage. One of our friends developed his personal signal based on his family member's choices of favorite colors - his wife, his son, and he each have a primary color that they favor and so their personal signal depicts a red circle, a blue circle, and a yellow circle on a white background. Another friend chose a stylized rose on the background of a cross to reflect his English family roots. Another uses a chess piece as an emblem for his name: Bishop. This should give you an idea of places you could look for inspiration for your personal signal.

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Cruising Destinations

Sailing at last! Photo by Chris Gill of Windcheck.

Picking a destination is as easy as it is complex. The first challenge is to answer the question, "Dock, mooring, or anchorage?" The second issue is to master the concept of "Gunkholing." And then there is offshore cruising, ocean passages, and foreign ports...

Gunkholing

"All gunkholes are anchorages, but not all anchorages are gunkholes. There is a subjective quality in the term "gunkhole" that is not present in any anchorage... A gunkhole is that ideal anchorage of which you dream, protected from stronger winds, surrounded by towering trees with seabirds swooping down to catch the jumping bait fish, and with a good bottom for holding the anchor for as long as you care to stay."

Adapted from: Tom Lenfestey, "A Gunkholer's Cruising Guide to Florida's West Coast"

Part of the allure of gunkholes is keeping them a secret to protect their allure. There aren't quite as many gunkholes on LIS as we would like, but we'll tell you about some of our favorite spots without revealing their secrets.

We'll also provide information about the many destinations that are not gunkholes, but rather cruising destinations that offer marinas, anchorages, moorings and other amenities, adding to the collection as time permits. Suggestions, corrections, additions and editorial contributions are welcome.

Just click on a destination on the following pages to view cruising information. If nothing comes up, that means we are working on it and would appreciate your input.

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