CRUISING TIPS

A HELPING HAND  This is a real-world solution that accepts less than perfection, but anyone whose seacocks are far from new may care to read on. The seacock ball valves on my Mason 44 are top quality and not showing signs of serious deterioration. Unfortunately, some are awkward to reach; I don’t work them every day as I should, so they end up stiff towards the end of the season. This year I was rooting through an old toolbox in my workshop when I came across some redundant box wrenches. One looked like a perfect fit for those nasty, sharp seacock handles. I took it down to the boat, offered it up to my worst example and gave it a careful heave. The valve moved as smoothly as my electric outboard. The tubular wrench offers a little additional leverage—not so much as to risk damage—but above all it is kind to suffering hands in awkward places. NON-FLEMISH EYE This isn’t a photo of a classic sailmaker’s Flemish Eye, but it’s what you need when you have to “mouse” a halyard through the mast and find it has no professional eye on the end. Don’t mess about with rolling hitches and tape. Get out the palm and needle. No special skills needed. Load the needle with whipping twine and shove it three or four times through the rope half an inch from a burned end to make loops. For total security, finish off by whipping it round, then bury the end deeply into the rope and cut it off at the exit point. It’s five minutes work, that’s all. Losing the halyard inside the mast through a botched connection can leave you with hours of tears. THANKS A BUNCH

This calm, seamanlike scene is exemplary. No frantic ropethrowing or shouting. As the boat’s crew passes his line to the gent on the dock, he says quietly and clearly, “Would you lead it around that cleat, then let me have it back please.” Perfect. The guy handing the rope across isn’t assuming his shoreside helper can read his mind, because he can’t. This crewman knows that if he gives someone a line and doesn’t say anything, the other guy will probably pull it. In a case like this, with everything under sweet control, that’ll be the last thing the skipper wants. Some helpers go so far to show how smart they are that they snub the bow in and ruin a nice maneuver. It doesn’t matter what the plan is. The important thing is to communicate it to whoever has volunteered to assist. TRAIN YOUR EYES

AIS makes collision avoidance with ships a lot easier than it used to be, but not all of us have receivers on board. Besides, in U.S. waters only commercial vessels over 65ft are obliged to broadcast AIS data, so it can’t be assumed that every commercial vessel is transmitting. Bridge officers on small or mediumsized ships generally only take an interest when a steadybearing yacht comes within two miles, at which point it’s high time for us to initiate avoiding action. Here are a couple of handy ways to train our eyes to judge the range of a ship. 1) Radar gives an instant range to go up on deck and check by eyeball. 2) It’s also a good practice to start looking critically at vessels alongside distant wharves where you know how far off they are. Doing one or both of these as a matter of habit can help a lot when you meet a ship in deep water. s