Sailing With Josh

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Fostering seamanship and friendship for people with an active interest in offshore cruising.  Bluewater Cruising Association Vancouver In-Person Club Night – Sailing With Josh: A Flicka 20’s Pacific Odyssey When: Wednesday, February 12, 20251900hWhere: Scottish Cultural Centre8886 Hudson StVancouver, British Columbia CanadaContact: Heather Marshallvanspeakers@bluewatercruising.org Sailing With Josh:A Flicka 20’s Pacific OdysseyWednesday February 12, 2025Britannica defines an odyssey as  – 1. literary: a long journey full of adventures. 2. : a series of experiences that give… Read More

A special thanks again to Monica and ‘Lectronic Latitude. This installment was inspired by her. When I was voyaging Monica was kind enough to take me to the grocery store and out for a beer in Sausalito. (With her partner Jay.) She stopped by Sampaguita and the first she said was something like “Hey, we had a curtain too on our boat.” Click the link below to be directed to the article…. Read More

The following Resourceful Sailor piece was meant to compliment another, previously published by ‘Lectronic Latitude on April 19, 2024, called The Resourceful Sailor Talks Whisker Poles — the Good and the Better. A question often arises about the proper way to use a whisker pole. Does it go on the sheet? Can you attach it to a soft shackle? Can you attach it directly to the clew? The Resourceful Sailor is not… Read More

“What did you call me!?” It’s another Resourceful Sailor installment brought to you by Latitude 38 and ‘Lectronic Latitude. This one covers the marlinspike craft of baggywrinkle and how The Resourceful Sailor applied it on Sampaguita. It was published on December 9th, 2024. Click here for the full article.

Thanks to Monica and Latitude 38‘s online version, ‘Lectronic Latitude, for publishing The Resourceful Sailor Says GPS Is Not Guaranteed Positioning System on October 23, 2024. It conveys an experience in the Port Townsend area regarding GPS and a new Standard Horizon VHF radio installed on Sampaguita, a 1985 Flicka 20 sailboat. Click the link below to be directed to the full article. Thanks for checking it out. https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/resourceful-sailor-gps-not-guaranteed-positioning-system/

Have you ever skyed a halyard on your sailboat? Not yet? Give it time. Here we go again…‘Lectronic Latitude, the online version of Latitude 38, was kind enough to publish another Resourceful Sailor article called The Resourceful Sailor: Skyed Halyard Retrieval Made Easy for their September 13, 2024 issue and I really appreciate it. And there’s a video to boot. It discusses how I retrieve a skyed halyard on Sampaguita, a Pacific… Read More

Thank you Latitude 38 and ‘Lectronic Latitude editor, Monica Grant, for publishing the latest installment of The Resourceful Sailor with a rare hard copy appearance in the August 2024 edition of the magazine. In this piece I give experiential insight on Sampaguita’s solar energy solution while voyaging. I wrote this while at anchor in La Paz, Mexico waiting for the season to head for Marquesas.

This is pretty much what it is, except when it isn’t. The boat goes tick-tock from side to side as the following sea rolls under it. A soundtrack to fall asleep to. A motion to hypnotize you. It just goes on and on. The grey skies make it chilly and moist. Everything salty sucks up the moisture. Foulies keep you dry and warm. And a hot cup of tea……

Beam on and reefed down, charging across the trades. Beam on is wetter, but faster. Also, I was pinned down on the starboard tack, which made the ride more comfortable. Downwind sailing in the trades is a very rolly experience which makes for less predictable motion. I spilled more things going downwind in the trades than I did beam on. Just sayin’.

This is a pretty rare occurrence: