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Watch out for boat pheromones 26 Aug 2013 | 10:41 pm
I WAS WATCHING a question-and-answer show on Canadian TV the other day when the question of pheromones came up. Apparently, living things emit pheromones in an invisible stream as a form of automatic ...
Look at the back of your hands 23 Aug 2013 | 09:22 am
IF YOU HAVE a tiller-steered boat, take a look at the back of your hands. If you see any small patches of dry, scaly skin, you could have actinic keratosis, the precursor of skin cancer. It took me a...
Narrow boats are safer boats 21 Aug 2013 | 07:47 am
EVERY NOW AND THEN, someone who has become imbued with the idea of going cruising asks me: “Isn’t a wide boat safer than a narrow one?” The answer is “Not necessarily,” but it’s difficult to explain ...
Chinese puzzle that's hard to swallow 19 Aug 2013 | 07:17 am
DID A FLEET of Chinese junks discover America in 1421, long before dear old Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue? Did those junks complete a circumnavigation of the world in 1423, almost 100 ye...
They're not all perfect 16 Aug 2013 | 09:37 pm
THERE IS SOMETHING in common between a woman who knowingly marries an imperfect man and a sailor who knowingly buys a boat with bad weather helm. Both are under the impression that they can change thi...
An arrangement too good to last 14 Aug 2013 | 08:20 am
A FEW YEARS BACK, when I was visiting the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, I came across two men working on a small fishing boat down at the town wharf. Dougie was in his mid-30s, friendly...
The metrication complication 12 Aug 2013 | 09:05 am
PEOPLE KEEP ASKING ME to explain the metric system to them, especially as it relates to boats. Well, actually, that’s not quite true. Only one person has asked me to explain the metric system, and th...
Beware of barrier coats 9 Aug 2013 | 08:05 am
IS A BARRIER COAT a good idea to keep your boat’s hull free of blisters? The advertisements say it is . . . but beware. It may be a complete waste of time and money. It may even make things worse. A ...
Mildew in the overhead 7 Aug 2013 | 07:37 am
A FRIEND OF MINE who keeps his boat in a sub-tropical climate recently removed the overhead in his thirty-footer. It was a disgusting mess, he said, full of old dead cockroaches and mildew. Cockroach...
Are you a drunken operator? 5 Aug 2013 | 08:03 am
NOW THAT WASHINGTON STATE has introduced new laws about drunken boating, I’m wondering if you can be arrested and carted off to jail for excessive drinking on your boat while she’s safely at anchor so...
