This Crustless Spinach Pie is similar to a frittata, a quick savory egg dish. If served with toast, this crustless spinach pie could also do double duty as a tasty breakfast or lunch item. Opa! Leftover potatoes could be repurposed into breakfast potatoes or home fries.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. oil
1 cup onion, diced
10 oz. spinach (fresh or frozen/canned, drained)
6 eggs
2 cups crumbled feta cheese
½ tsp. each salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in a skillet and sauté onion until translucent. Add spinach to the pan for 5-6 minutes to wilt and evaporate the liquid. Remove spinach from heat to cool. Whisk eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper and add to spinach. Pour into a 9-inch greased pie plate and bake for 25-30 minutes until center is set. Serve warm.
Recipe from Lori Ross, Southern Boating, April 2019
Don’t let the name intimidate you. Lamb is actually quite easy to make aboard. It’s best served rare, so anticipate a quick cook time, and it can be prepared outside. There are only five ingredients and cook time is five minutes or less.
These Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops will have your guests asking for more!
Ingredients:
1 tsp. each dried oregano and thyme
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. garlic salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
8 loin lamb chops (1-1½” thick)
Directions:
Preheat grill. Mix herbs, pepper, and garlic salt. Spread oil on both sides of chops and press into herb mixture, coating both sides. Place on grill and cook 4-5 minutes per side or as desired. Serve with Lemon Potatoes recipe below.
Garlic Lemon Potatoes
These zesty potatoes make the perfect accompaniment to the Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops.
Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp. dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
(or ½ tsp. garlic powder)
2-3 Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ cup chicken broth
1 tsp. each salt and pepper
4 cups new potatoes cut bite-sized
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine oil, herbs, garlic, lemon juice, and broth in a large bowl. Add potatoes and toss them gently until they’re well coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a sheet pan. Drizzle remaining marinade over the top. Bake for 1 hour, turning
the potatoes halfway through to prevent them from sticking and to brown evenly. Once cooked, season with more salt, pepper, and lemon juice, if desired.
Recipe from Lori Ross, Southern Boating, April 2019
Why isn’t hummus just called yummus? Not sure, but I do know that this Greek Salad Hummus dip is like Greek Salad but much improved over the standard romaine lettuce fare you’d get at a restaurant. Why? Because it’s mostly just hummus on a platter.
Plus, it’s easy to make while cruising with standard pantry items. Get your Greek on with this tasty appetizer.
Ingredients:
2 cups hummus (store-bought or homemade)
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. each salt and pepper
½ cup each diced tomato, cucumber,
sweet pepper, onion
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
½ tsp. dried dill, oregano or basil
Pita bread or crackers
Directions:
Spread hummus evenly on a large platter. Whisk oil, lemon, salt, and pepper to make the dressing, and drizzle half over the hummus. Scatter vegetables and feta over hummus,
then drizzle with remaining dressing and herbs. Serve with warm pita bread or crackers.
Recipe from Lori Ross, Southern Boating, April 2019
We’re totally Greekin’ over this tasty Mykonos Lemonade! Tastes like easy summer days from your childhood lemonade stand. Or, if you’re anything like me, it tastes like the odd concoctions of various alcohol pilfered from your parent’s liquor cabinet that you brought to the beach to mix with frozen lemonade. Just me? Oh.
Anyway, this cocktail either serves as a memory of happier times or time you got in trouble with your parents. Either way, it’s dang tasty. Enjoy this Mykonos Lemonade!
Ingredients:
1 lemon wedge (or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice)
2 Tbsp. sugar
8 oz. brandy
6 oz. Cointreau
6 oz. lemon juice
8 oz. lemonade (bottled or made from frozen)
Directions:
Moisten the rims of four glasses with lemon, then dip them in the sugar. Place glasses in the refrigerator to chill. Mix remaining ingredients and chill. Serve over ice in the sugared glasses.
Recipe from Lori Ross, Southern Boating, April 2019
Antigua Sailing Week Launches into Second Half-Century
Big is the word for the 52nd Antigua Sailing Week (ASW).
This granddaddy of Caribbean regattas set for April 28th to May 3rd will be notable for both the quantity and quality of entries.
For one, more than 100 yachts are expected to compete in everything from racing to cruising, spinnaker to non-spinnaker, monohull to multihull, and privately owned to chartered bareboat classes.
Second, this year’s event features some spectacularly large yachts. One of these is the Dovell 100 SHK Scallywag with Australian Volvo Ocean Race skipper, David Witt, at the helm. Scallywag will be flying the
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club burgee. A second is another super maxi, Great Britain’s Sir Peter Harrison’s Farr 115 Sojana. Harrison, a regular entrant, has hoisted the overall winner’s Lord Nelson’s Trophy twice before, including in 2018, proving his Farr and its crew are as capable as they are attractive.
If you’re not racing, the best way to enjoy ASW is via a big view from Shirley Heights, an 18th-century military lookout that sits on a nearby hill at a nearly 500-foot elevation. The vantage point from here spans from English Harbor south and east to the Caribbean Sea. Armchair sailors can also follow the racing with real-tim scoring online at yachtscoring.com.
The Grandaddy of Caribbean Regattas kicks off its next half-century of competition and camaraderie. The 51st Antigua Sailing Week (ASW) sets sail April 24-May 4.
On the water, the Club Class returns after its successful debut last year. This class is open to sailors who want to compete in the regatta, but not take their racing too seriously. Correspondingly, there’s a reduced entry fee for this class and scoring is based on a progressive handicap system. More competitive racers can enter Racing, Cruising, Bareboat, and Multihull classes. More than 100 entries are expected with everything from a Volvo Ocean 70 and Melges 24 to a Gunboat 60.
There are also several sleek yachts available for race charter with or without skippers, including Dream Yacht Charter’s Antigua fleet: Sun Odyssey 379s and 519s, a Dufour 405 and a couple of Oceanis 41.1s.
On land, spectators get in on the Antigua Sailing Week fun, says ASW’s commercial director Alison Sly-Adams. “This includes watching the action from the Shirley Heights lookout, where on Sunday, April 29th, the restaurant serves its famous local-style breakfast. It’s also possible to head out on a catamaran to literally ‘Chase the Race’ and see the action up close for a couple of hours followed by a leisurely lunch and snorkel. Events like the nightly parties, lay day beach party and final awards ceremony are free and open to the public.”
Waterfront towns around Corpus Christi Bay welcome spring on the Texas Gulf with live music, good food, boat shows, sand sculptures, and lots of fun.
Mariners at Corpus Christi Municipal Marina hear the music. As the sun fades, the adjacent Marina Arts District comes alive with street musicians, artists, vendors, and food trucks on the first Friday of April. Be there on the first Friday in May, too.
The little beach town of Port Aransas on Mustang Island draws families from all around to its annual Wooden Boat Festival at Roberts Point Park April 12-13 for wooden boats in and out of the water rigged with power, sail or oars. You can even bring your own at no charge. Admission is free for this hands-on, family-fun event that includes a class on how to build and treasure your own wooden boat. Kids get to row boats in the harbor and can also build a model boat.
Port Aransas also hosts the Texas Sand Fest April 26-28 said to be the largest Native-Sand Sculpture Competition in the U.S., and it brings in the best sand sculptors from around the world. Thousands drive or cruise over from the mainland to watch pros and
amateurs shape their sandy creations. You can even try it yourself.
Back on the mainland, the town of Aransas Pass will host the popular Rock the Dock
Boat Show at the Redfish Bay Boat House and Aransas Pass Civic Center May 2-5.
The mayor walks the plank during Buc Days.
The 10-day Buc Days Carnival kicks off on May 2nd at Water’s Edge Park with
carnival rides, tasty food, parades, pirate shows, movie nights, and bands performing
on Buc Stage. But before that, the mayor of Corpus Christi officially opens the
carnival when pirates make him walk the plank and splash into Corpus Christi Bay.
Spring has sprung.
The myths and realities of whirlpools and maelstroms
Violent maelstroms capable of pulling large ships under with all on board lost have been described in literature written by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne and Gore Verbinski, who directed Pirates of the Caribbean.
But do such monstrous whirlpools really exist?
Well, yes and no.
In previous articles, I’ve discussed vortices in the ocean from huge gyres that cover an entire ocean basin to smaller, but still significant, eddies that break off from major ocean
currents and are hundreds of miles across. Just like the atmosphere has smaller vortices such as tornadoes and waterspouts, so do bodies of water. Wherever water is moving,
you will see vortices. Some are very small, only inches or a few feet across, and dissipate quickly. But larger ones can persist for some time and have significant water flows involved.
A whirlpool is a spinning, circular mass of water. Besides moving either clockwise or counterclockwise, the water flow tends to move inward toward the center of circulation.
Objects within the circulation are pulled toward the center of the whirlpool where there is often a depression in the water level. For stronger vortices, this can extend downward some distance below the water surface and is capable of pulling objects under water. The largest and strongest whirlpools are called maelstroms, derived from the early modern Dutch words maalen (whirl) and stroom (stream).
How do they form?
Whirlpools can form when two currents of water moving from different directions meet. At times, whirlpools can form along the edges of a single, straight flow simply due to fluid dynamics. With the strongest flow being in the middle of the channel, whirlpools can form along the edges due to frictional effects. They can also form from a single current that encounters an obstacle to the flow. Shallow whirlpools form when the obstruction is near or at the surface. Underwater features can produce larger and more dynamic whirlpools.
Underwater topography is a major factor in many of the world’s largest whirlpools. Even rip currents can occasionally form whirlpools just offshore. Whirlpools are often caused by tidal flows. These flows can become quite strong during the peak of tidal reversals.
Riptides are strong currents formed when rising or falling tidal flows are constricted typically by jetties, sea walls or the natural topography of an inlet, and strong whirlpools
can develop. On a larger scale, tidal flow constricted by topography has produced the world’s strongest maelstroms.
Whirpools of the World
Around the world, there are a number of extremely strong whirlpools or maelstroms that have gained recognition. Off the northwest coast of Norway, between the islands of Moskenesy and Mosken in the Lofoten Islands, is a particularly dangerous stretch of water where tides produce a strong whirlpool that was christened the Maelström many years ago. This was the whirlpool that Poe, Verne and Melville referred to and is probably the first maelstrom written about with references dating back to 1550.
The title “strongest maelstrom in the world” goes to the Maelstrom of Saltstraumen, which is also off the north coast of Norway. The strongest tidal current in the world,
measured at 25 mph, occurs here. Even larger ships have to wait until the tidal surges abate before they traverse this dangerous passage. The largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere is called the Old Sow and is found in Passamaquoddy Bay between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada. A tremendous tidal flow between Passamaquoddy Bay and the Bay of Fundy is funneled through the Western Passage at great speeds. The underwater topography creates a huge whirlpool off the southwest coast of Deer Island.
The Old Sow Maelstrom
The Old Sow has a diameter of 250 feet, a vertical drop of 12 feet into its center and produces swells up to 20 feet high. Its name was derived from the “sucking” noise generated by the eddy, which apparently reminded some of a sough, a type of underground drain in the mining industry. Over time, its spelling was changed to sow because of the numerous “piglets” or smaller whirlpools surrounding it.
These maelstroms and some others are so famous that they have become tourist attractions. Visitors can board a boat and view these natural wonders from a safe distance. On a more transient basis, maelstrom-size whirlpools often occur with significant tsunamis. The disastrous tsunami that occurred in Japan after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 produced an enormous whirlpool in a harbor off the east coast of that country. Similar occurrences have been documented with other major tsunami events. The rapid flow of water interacting with the ocean bottom is the likely cause.
Danger, Stranger
How dangerous are whirlpools and maelstroms? They are certainly not as potent as described in the literature works by the authors mentioned above and they can’t suck large ships down under the sea, but even large ships try to avoid the stronger maelstroms when the tidal flows produce the worst turbulence. Certainly, smaller boats are more affected; loss of control is possible, grounding and capsizing can happen, and anyone in the water is certainly at risk. Drownings have occurred.
The best thing to do is to avoid whirlpools. Nautical charts have a specific symbol for eddies (a small swirl), and you’ll see them in areas where they are common. You can mark these on your navigation chart or even set up a warning alarm on your GPS if you get close. If your boat is trapped in a whirlpool, maneuver to the outer edge of the vortex in the flow’s direction and thrust your way out.
A Southern Boating Magazine Supplement: Annual Haul Out Guide
Our annual haul out guide has everything you need to know about planning your boat’s maintenance. From new system installation to surprise costs and product reviews, Southern Boating is your number one resource for planning a trip to the yard.
Our annual Haul Out Guide is a reader favorite and now we’re sharing the valuable info.
The 2019 guide covers fire suppression systems, potable water, windlass advice and much more. Read the 2019 articles here, or download the entire guide below.
Below is our archive of printable/downloadable Haul Out Guides. Take it with you to the boatyard, your backyard or wherever you work on your boat.
Questions? Comments? What are your tips and comments about getting work done? Let us know and you could be featured on our website! Tell us your best with your best haul out stories in the comments.
It’s Palm Beach, baby! We came, we saw, and we awed at the 34th Annual Show.
The Palm International Beach Boat Show ran for four days (March 28th – March 31st) and featured more than $1.2 billion worth of yachts and accessories. There were hundreds of boats ranging from 8-foot inflatables to superyachts nearly 300 feet in length.
In addition to the large selection of boats and exhibits, the show offered free youth fishing clinics by Hook The Future and IGFA School of Sportfishing seminars to attendees.
If you couldn’t make the show, here’s what you missed: pbboatshow.com
Not just for boats. We found nautical art from local artist Steve Diossy.
Cobia brought their lineup a center consoles, ready to fish.
There were pletny of large brokerage boats, including SILVANA from out friends at Yacht Connexion.
It wouldn’t be Palm Beach without extravagant displays.
Coming in for a landing.
A classic twist on a modern boat from Grady White.
Tiara brought along their popular SPORT line to the show.
Formula, busy and as popular as ever.
The belle of the ball– HCB and their famed line of center consoles.
A classic cruiser from Grand Banks.
Modern is as Modern does.
I spy with my little eye…
The Coastal Queen brought a classic moment to a show filled with modern amenities.
Vicem had a great day on the docks.
A stunning swim platform is so large it can double as a beach club.
Hard to describe this sailing yacht, so take a look for yourself.
Our pals at Pathfinder Boats found themselves busy at the show.
Is it even worth going on a boat if it doesn’t have a SeaKeeper?
Invincible brought their best and shiniest center consoles.
Robalo Boats had a large display out on the docks.
So many yachts, so little time.
The official Nap Zone of the show.
Greenline brought along a few in their eco-friendly line.
Wealthy would-be-festival-goers who were duped by the infamous Fyre Festival—a botched music festival that was planned for a private island paradise in the Exumas—found little sympathy outside their peer group when the Fyre fraud was finally revealed.
Simply put, the thought of 10,000 people flying into Exuma International Airport on an air caravan of Cessna planes over the course of one weekend is laughable. This airport only accommodates an average of 5,000 visitors each month. The waiting area is so small that on a normal busy day, visitors opt to wait across the road at Kermit’s Airport Lounge, a small bar and restaurant with picnic-style outdoor seating and an air-conditioned restaurant interior.
Lessons Learned
In their misfortune, however, are important lessons to learn about traveling to the Out Islands of The Bahamas. With a little insider’s knowledge about the Out Islands, travelers will know what to expect.
The term “Out Islands” refers to the group of islands in The Bahamas located outside of the largest cities: Nassau on New Providence and Freeport on Grand Bahama, known as the second city. The Out Islands are more remote, less developed and less densely populated. Bahamians refer to the Out Islands as the Family Islands, which is based on the premise that while the center of politics and government is in Nassau, The Bahamas is a family of islands.
The Exumas, a small archipelago known for its plethora of islands and secluded beaches, turquoise sandbanks and aquamarine seas, is the most popular Out Island in terms of
tourist arrivals. Some 60,000 visitors travel to its shores by air and sea annually. They enjoy marine attractions, such as underwater caves, shark encounters and floating beaches that emerge at low tide as sandbars suspended in the middle of the sea.
Boaters Love the Out Islands
For most boaters, the primary appeal of The Bahamas is the Out Islands. The ten major seaports in the Out Islands welcomed over 91,000 visitors in 2018. This compares to just
12,635 sea arrivals in Nassau for the same year. Bimini and the Abacos are the top two Out Islands in terms of visitor arrivals by sea: Bimini, unsurprisingly, as it is the closest
Bahamian island to the U.S. with a convenient first port of entry. The Abacos, of course, is considered the boating capital of The Bahamas.
The Abacos has a number of barrier islands that protect mainland Great Abaco from the ferocious Atlantic. The protected marine highway between the barrier islands and Great Abaco, the Sea of Abaco, is a central hub for boating. Virtually every exit survey in The Bahamas, sites visiting beaches as the number one activity. Abaco is no exception; however, fishing and island-hopping are two dominant activities also enjoyed by boaters in the Abacos, where there are vibrant boating communities on Treasure Cay, Marsh Harbour, Green Turtle Cay, and other neighboring islands.
You’re not in the city
Traffic in the Out Islands is a slow-driving car that you can’t immediately overtake. In other words, there is no traffic in the Out Islands. Basically, every Out Island has a main artery road, usually named the Queens Highway, that runs north to south across the length of the island. The cars are sparse and it’s difficult to get lost.
You’ll know when you’ve reached a settlement because virgin land gives way to roadside communities. Compare to Nassau’s primetime, bumper-to-bumper traffic. Without GPS, you are likely to get lost in Nassau. Nassau has a distinct city character. The Out Islands are remote enclaves where you can retreat from crowds, busyness, city lights, and noise.
Nassau has an international airport with amenities travelers expect: restaurants, bars, private lounges, shopping, and other creature comforts. Airports in the Out Islands, even the international ones, are little dives. But they are clean, safe and their technical aviation systems are top notch. However, consumer infrastructure is very limited. If you are delayed in an Out Island airport, it is likely to be frustrating because the facilities are not designed for comfort.
Most of the Out Islands are not a single island
The Bahamas is one nation, but it is a country with 700 islands and more than 2,000 rocks and cays. The sheer number of islands is overwhelming. That’s why only 16 main islands, including Andros, Cat Island, Long Island, and Inagua, are marketed as tourist destinations. The 16 islands are main population centers with infrastructure like airports and seaports.
While the island names and groupings create simplicity, it’s important to remember that there is always more than what meets the eye. Eleuthera, for example, is one island. However, it also refers to a trio of islands including Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. The water taxi between the Three Islands Ferry Dock in North Eleuthera and Harbour Island takes only 10 minutes; however, the run from Valentine’s Marina in Harbour Island to Cape Santa Maria Marina in South Eleuthera is more than 100 miles on the ocean side and 80 miles on the banks.
Exuma (singular) usually refers to mainland Great Exuma, the largest island in the Exuma chain, but the Exumas (plural), more correctly identifies the 365 islands located in the chain. Some of them are private islands with private airstrips and many are uninhabited. All of them are comparatively rural and have light-touch development. They are charming because of their safe, close-knit communities with people living a more independent, carefree lifestyle than in the capital.
Almost all of the Out Islands, even when their names suggest one island, are themselves a cluster of islands, including Bimini, the Berry Islands, Andros, Inagua, and Acklins and Crooked Island.
There’s special anticipation that accompanies the first few boating trips each spring. After all, who knows what the winter has brought in terms of unexpected shoaling, shifting channels, missing buoys, ruptured bulkheads, and the like. The combination of heavy ice flows, stiff winds and high tides can do some strange things, especially in shallow, inshore waters.
Once you’ve carefully scoped out your home grounds and noted any obvious spring shoaling, dock damage or other gifts from Old Man Winter for which you’ll need to make notations on your charts, it’s time to dig a little deeper and investigate any man-made changes since the end of last season. The good thing is that some of these are repairable and not problems.
Massachusetts
In fact, one of the nicest things about early season boating is discovering improvements. Those are brought about by dredging, marina upgrades, spring shoaling, and increased accessibility. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), for example, is installing an additional 118 transient moorings for boats up to 40 feet LOA at various locations within the Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park, including Spectacle Island, Georges Island and Peddocks Island. The project is expected for completion by the start of summer.
Once installed, reservations for day and overnight use will be available online for a fee. Designated temporary pickup and drop-off areas on the Spectacle, Georges and Peddocks piers will also be available to boaters. The additional moorings will allow boaters to easily explore the natural, cultural and historical resources of the area. The park, located just minutes away from the City of Boston by boat, comprises 34 islands and peninsulas. At least six of the islands are publicly accessible and offer activities such as swimming, hiking, camping, and fishing. The park also includes six listings on the National Register of Historic Places, three of which are also National Historic Landmarks. bostonharborislands.org
Long Island
Those who challenge the rough and tumble waters of Moriches Inlet on Long Island’s south shore will be happy to know that the Army Corps of Engineers addressed the
shoaling over the winter, removing approximately 120,000 cubic yards of sand to create a 200-foot-wide, 10-foot deep passage through the inlet. Four severe winter storms during the harsh winter of 2017 had created a build-up of over 300,000 cubic yards of sand, clogging the inlet, which nourishes Moriches Bay with refreshing ocean water while
offering boaters and anglers an outlet to the open sea.
Conditions continued to deteriorate through last fall until the project got underway in October. The inlet seems considerably tamer now, but caution is always advised while
traversing this cut.
Long Island, New York, Congressman Lee Zeldin, who was instrumental in procuring the funds to get the inlet dredged, also managed to procure more than $3 million to dredge
the ICW in Moriches Bay to a uniform depth of six feet in a nearly three-mile stretch just inside the inlet. Work was completed in late February, so boating prospects are really
looking up on this shallow bay.
Your Backyard
Not all marine improvements come with a big splash. Look around your own boating waters with a little focus, and you’ll find plenty of habitat restoration projects. Seeding
clams and oysters that help filter and clean our waters, for one. You may spot dune replenishment projects designed to rebuild and protect exposed beaches from serious erosion. Both bring more birds, fish and marine creatures within sight. They all add up to a better boating experience in the long run, so help out, keep an eye open and don’t overlook the small stuff.
Flexible screens open a new world for electronic displays.
New technology doesn’t just appear. It takes years of research, testing, and development to bring ideas and inventions to the real world and even longer to the maritime market. A perfect example is the evolution of battery power. Electric propulsion has been around for a long time, but it took years of research and development to feasibly power electric automobiles and now, larger boats.
After years of testing, a new technological advancement makes its debut this year: flexible displays and sensors.
Like batteries making advancements on land-based products before taking hold in the maritime market, flexible displays and sensors are reaching consumers through cell phones and tablets, and the technology will undoubtedly make its way to the maritime industry.
Flexible Screens
A few companies have been developing flexible displays over the years, which use the Active-Matrix Organic Light- Emitting Diode (AMOLED) technology. In October 2018, Royole Corporation introduced the world’s first commercial foldable smartphone, FlexPai, which gives users a tablet-size screen that can fold to the size of a smartphone. The high-definition, ultra-thin screen can display as one image or as a split-screen that supports separate, simultaneous operations.
Samsung has been developing flexible display technology for about eight years and is set to release its Infinity Flex Display in 2019. It, too, allows a tablet-size screen to fold into the size of a smartphone, but with the use of two separate displays, a large display that unfolds on the inside and a smaller “cover display.” The Infinity Flex Display along with its new interface design, One UI, allows users to have a compact smartphone that unfolds to a larger, immersive display.
Whatever you’re doing on the smaller screen isn’t lost when opening to the larger screen as three active apps can work simultaneously. Technology group Heraeus in Germany also is working on foldable displays. They’ve created a hybrid material, Clevios HY E, that consists of conductive polymers and silver nanowires that can fold again and again without losing conductivity.
LG has its own flexible displays and plans to unveil their foldable phone this year as well, but the technology really showed when they introduced a 65-inch “rollable” ultra-high definition OLED display. And their latest 77-inch can “roll” into a circle about three feet in diameter. Imagine the room you’d save onboard in the side cabinet without a full, flatscreen TV to hide.
Speaking of which, how does this fit in with boating?
As mentioned, LG’s flexible TV, expected for release in the second half of this year, not only saves space but also offers a thin, ultra-high definition display that provides incredible picture quality and requires less power. For the helm, flexible displays can bend around the console as one screen. Finding its way to some automobiles, a transparent, augmented reality display could mold with the helm windows to show potential hazards and markers, such as Raymarine’s ClearCruise AR technology.
Rollable and foldable displays could unroll into an electronic chart for planning voyages and have routes and navigation warnings superimposed. For cruisers, foldable, portable displays can stay with the helmsman as they move around the yacht for a hands-on connection with navigation and automation controls, alarms, etc.
At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show held January 8-11, Samsung showed its 6.1-inch AMOLED flexible display with a “hole punch camera” embedded into the screen that is expected to launch this spring, and Royole featured its 7.8-inch AMOLED screen that folds in half. LG’s 65-inch rollable TV was introduced and measures slightly longer than 60 inches within a stand that’s half that size, which also includes the sound system. Then there’s the smart mirror that not only reflects but also shows Google Assistant and streams YouTube videos right on the mirror.
Obviously, the flexible display technology will go through growing pains as consumers put the products through real-world testing, and it’ll probably take a couple of years to go through a few versions before the technology proves itself and the market embraces it. But with companies like Sony, Huawei, ZTE, and Lenovo also working with flexible displays, the technology is unfolding at a quick pace. For now, costs are high. Royole’s tablet phone is expected to retail at $1,300 and Samsung could be in the $1,700 range, but both will have 5G network capability and use the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
Stay tuned, because the latest concepts are well on their way to reality, and 2019 looks to be an exciting year for new electronics.
Summertime, lookin’ fine. Here’s all the must-have beach gear you’ll need this season.
Hitting the beach usually ensures that it’s a good day. But you can make it even better. When you load up your tender and head to shore, make sure you have this must-have beach gear.
CGear’s Beach Towel
It’s the perfect towel to keep aboard for beach excursions. A patented SandLite weave makes CGear’s Beach Towel the perfect choice for a day on the sand and around the water. Not only is the towel quick-drying, but sand falls through the weave and doesn’t come back, even when the towel’s wet. Which leads me to wonder, why aren’t all beach towels like this? Soft and lightweight, it measures 31×63 inches.
The only two instances that a beach day can go awry is if it rains OR if you forget sunglasses. The Bimini by Costa Sunglasses is named after one of the most iconic islands in The Bahamas, and are just too pretty to forget before you hit the beach. The large, female frame is available in four, sea-inspired colors: Shiny Abalone, Shiny Vintage Tortoise, Shiny Deep Teal Crystal, and Shiny Ocean Current. The Bimini is a large cat-eye frame style perfect for soaking up the sun and the island life.
Soft Science Tradewind Shoes provide stability and comfort on board and on the beach. Available as a bungee-style speed lace for men and a slip-on for women, the athleisure shoe has a knitted textile upper with a touch of elastic for a sock-like fit. The low-profile, non-marking Trileon outsole and insole ensure slip resistance. The shoe is fast-drying, breathable and stylish. You could swim, paddle, or take a stroll to the bar in these. Just remember to take them off before tanning.
It’s the perfect gift for dads and grads alike. Ulysse Nardin introduces their new Diver Chronometer. The UN-118 movement and silicium technology sports an inverted, concave bezel with domed sapphire glass, blue rubber guards to protect the crown, and Superluminova to illuminate markings at great depths. The timepiece can dive up to 300 meters, which makes it perfect for beachside bathing. Just don’t lose it in the sand.
Protect yourself from the sun, have something to throw on when stepping into the restaurant or just make a fashion statement with Koy Resort’s Oversized Shirt Dress.
It’s an easy piece that works as a coverup, tunic, or a casual dress. Be sure to toss this in your beach bag next time you’re ready for some sun.
Carefully crafted to be light and airy, the 100-percent crinkle rayon cover has a lace panel trim to break up the bodice for a boho-chic look.
The ultimate beach item. Complete your beachside wardrobe with Chuchka’s Mexican Handwoven Beach Bag. Made from recycled plastic, this bag fits your boating lifestyle whether going to the beach or shopping.
The eco-friendly bag is sturdy, has comfortable double handles and is waterproof. Choose from a variety of designs.
Dudes like the beach too! Men who like to explore and enjoy nature, especially on the beach or with a boat, will appreciate these lightweight and breathable Shoes From Oceania.
The shoe has a slip-resistant, shock-absorbing rubber and phylon outsole with a removable and washable molded EVA orthotic insole and a fast-drying upper mesh.
In keeping with reducing plastics, Uncommon Green introduces its map-engraved, reusable water bottles and tumblers. Powder-coated for durability and grip, the triple-walled drinkware is vacuum-insulated, BPA-free, made with industrial-grade 18/8 stainless steel, and comes with a city, college town or topography map of your choice.
Spring has sprung! Or at least it has sprung in most locales. Some are still fighting through that last bit of winter slog (it’s almost over, Rhode Island! You can make it!). Here are five must items for spring you’ll want to have aboard.
Alchemi Labs Bucket Hat
We’ll take two. Daylight Savings and the summer sun is inching its way here. So don’t neglect the sunscreen and certainly don’t forget to protect your head. Alchemi Labs adds the Bucket Hat to their line of hats that blocks 99.8 percent of UV rays and reflects up to 80 percent of the sun’s heat waves. Moisture-wicking sweatband and ventilation keep you cool and dry. Plus: CAMO. We love camo.
Duh-nuh. Duh-nuh. Duhnuhdunnahnahah! Say bye-bye to Jaws theme songs and hello to a sense of security. To take away the worry of a shark lurking about while in the ocean, wear Sharkbanz, an easy-to-wear band that alerts a shark that you’re not food. Scientifically proven to deter sharks, using patented magnetic technology, Sharkbanz takes advantage of a shark’s unique and powerful electrical sense (electroreception) to cause a highly unpleasant sensation that turns them away. Poor shark?
Albin Pump Marine’s Premium Electric Square Water Heater
Let’s get practical for a minute. Hot water on board is a treat on board, especially when it’s a warm shower. That’s even truer in the spring boating season when the ocean is colder than in July. Usually found on larger boats, Albin Pump Marine’s Premium Electric Square Water Heater heats 5.8 gallons in 45 minutes and measures 19x12x12 inches. A toxic-free interior ceramic coating ensures freshness keeps water hot for more than 10 hours when disconnected from shore power.
Who did the heck says that bigger is better? We disagree based solely on this teeny pocket cam that backs a punch. Document your boating adventures this spring. Get three-axis stability in DJI’S OSMO Pocket Camera. The 4.7-inch handheld camera is lightweight and compact and shoots 12MP photos and 4K video. DJI includes its ActiveTrack function that follows a subject as well as Motionlapse, 3×3 Panorama, and NightShot. The DJI Mimo app includes editing tools, templates, content sharing, and camera controls. Plus, it kinda looks like R2D2’s cousin?
Whether soaking in the sun, cuddled in the pilothouse, or relaxing at anchor, read Sailing to the Edge of Time: The Promise, The Challenges, and The Freedom of Ocean Voyaging. Author and voyager John Kretschmer gives his personal account of the challenging, yet amusing and inspirational life at sea. Filled with practical tips and advice.
Sprays, drips, drops, splishes or splashes are no match for Seattle Sports’ LocoDry bags. All you gear will stay bonedry, even if the weather turns. The rugged waterproof and splashproof duffel and backpack designs are ideal for on-water adventures and provide the ultimate protection. The LocoDry Andale Roll Duff 35L Navigator duffel features the patented Locomodiv UniLoop shoulder strap, welded seams, three-roll closure, plenty of room, and classifies as a carry-on bag.
Most modern marine equipment has evolved to require much less power. When you’re in the boatyard this spring, do more with less and cut down on amp usage.
Radar
Arguably, you use radar under way when your engines are running, so who really cares how much power it’s using?
On the other hand, if your electronics suite is due for an upgrade, consider a more efficient unit. In standby mode, radar doesn’t draw much, but when it’s transmitting, the power needs are quite high. Consider one of the new units like the Simrad Halo that comes with either open or closed array antennas. This solid-state, pulse compression radar delivers a mix of close-in and long-range detection and excellent target definition with low clutter.
It has five modes to help process a variety of targets and a range from 48 to 72 nautical miles. The Halo is available for both 24- and 12-volt applications and an added bonus is its ultra-low electromagnetic and radiation emissions.
That means you can put one on the flybridge with you and not worry too much about scrambling your brain when the radar is running.
Climate Control
Air conditioners create the greatest energy loads aboard, and chances are the older your system, the more power it takes. New units from companies like Dometic are smaller,
self-contained and quieter with vibration-isolation mounts. Their high-efficiency rotary and scroll blowers use fewer amps and notably reduce fatiguing sound. Italian company Termodinamica (TMD) offers 24-volt DC units that don’t even need a genset. Made with titanium heat exchangers, the TMD units touts a power consumption rate that’s 50 percent lower than other comparably sized units on the market. Many air conditioners today also have an ECO mode where they ramp down if they are running off of batteries, via an inverter, and the battery voltage starts to fall. Adding window shades and tinted glass will also relieve the pressure on air conditioners and may even help refresh your interior design.
Refrigeration
The fridge also is a major power hog. Refrigerator efficiency has to do with the type
of unit (air, water or keel-cooled) and the quality of insulation around the box.
Frigoboat has highly efficient fridges in both 12- and 24-volt applications with refrigerator, freezer or combo solutions.
Their unique keel-cooled system is reliable, efficient and quiet with no pump or fan to create noise, and it doesn’t need winterizing. Check the age and condition of your insulation, too, or just tear out the old stuff and install some stainless steel drawers that will also upgrade the boat’s aesthetics.
Isotherm offers plug-and-play solutions with their cabinet refrigerators powered by 12/24-volt Danfoss compressors. These units feature extra thick, but still compact, insulation so the boxes stay cold with less power. They even have stand-alone, plug-in coolers for use on deck so you can keep your beverages nearby and not have to open the galley refrigerator as much.
These Travel Boxes also have ECO modes to slow the compressor once the food and drinks are already chilled.
Lighting
Most new boats now come standard with interior and exterior LED lighting, but if your vessel is of an older vintage, it would be worth swapping out your deck, salon and galley lights for new ones that draw less power. Imtra offers a variety of fixtures to help you upgrade the look of your interior including courtesy lights that create an impressive ambiance. As design trends move from direct to indirect lighting, options migrate from
down and spotlights to strip and rope lighting hidden behind valences and under furniture.
Evolved whites in LED options are now available, so it’s not hard to create a warm glow.
Efficient lights include navigation or running lights like those by Attwood, Perko, LopoLight, and Aqua Signal. You’ll save a few amps with an LED anchor light that you forget to turn off.
Finally, don’t forget those power-hogging heat generators below the waterline. Underwater lights are known as large consumers of power. New developments in optical design, thermal management, and marinized electrical components have created lights that are brighter and use less power.
Lumishore’s thru-hull and surface mount, full-color cycling lights can replace older lights and provide better color while they use less power, and they can even be paired with
sound to “dance” to music. That’s worth the price of admission alone.
Battery Efficiency
Finally, efficiency comes down to the size, quality, and type of your battery bank. Charging with a genset is more efficient than charging with the engines and alternators, but a good battery bank is also important to your onboard power equation. The better the efficiency of a battery, the higher its charge acceptance rate, which is the amount of energy that can be pumped into a battery in a given period. Wet cells are about 60 percent efficient, gel cells 75 percent and AGMs 85 percent.
AGMs, especially any of the thin plate, pure lead (TPPL) variants, also have the highest charge acceptance rate, so they will optimize system performance. How you charge is also important. Charging cool batteries quickly is most efficient. For banks that are especially depleted, it may be best to charge with engines and the genset simultaneously. As batteries heat up during charging, it takes longer to get that last percent of charge pushed in despite the genset running just as hard as in the beginning.
These are just a few ideas on how you can save power and thereby burn less fuel and shrink your carbon footprint. Some of these are bigger projects, while others are a matter of just upgrading aging equipment. Chances are that some of these systems will pay for themselves down the road in operation costs, fuel and wear and tear on your engines or genset.
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