In it she shares a list of things to have aboard to help you prepare as well as a [...]]]> Hurricane Irene – August 23, 2011 – 21:45 UTC – Photo Goes East

As readers prepare for hurricane Irene, we are re-printing a story that Pam Wall wrote about going through Hurricane Dennis in the Abacos.

In it she shares a list of things to have aboard to help you prepare as well as a checklist of preparations to make as a hurricane approaches. 

Several years ago we were in the Bahamas for our summer vacation. It was early July and we had not been worried about hurricanes at that time of year.

But, good old Bertha didn’t look at her calendar! We were in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, in the Abacos at that time. Our family of four plus our dog were aboard, and while we were all a bit frightened, we were proud that we had stayed aboard our boat, Kandarik, a Freya 39. Bertha did her best to ruin the islands, but thankfully there was not much damage.

And now, just two weeks ago, we were again in the Abacos, and as our luck would have it, Hurricane Dennis came out of nowhere and tested our wits again.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami predicted it would go to the East of the Abacos. When the Northeast seventy-plus knots of wind died for about fifteen minutes and the wind veered to the Southwest with a vengeance, we knew the NHC was wrong and the eye of the hurricane had come over us. And this was our vacation!

Getting prepared for a hurricane

South Pacific: S/V CARIBEE riding comfortably in 80 knots after hurricane Rene passed – Photo provided by Cheryl Baker

I feel now that we are experienced in getting our boat and ourselves prepared for the forces of a hurricane. The things we will always have aboard when cruising during the tropical storm season are essential for the safety of the boat and all aboard.

I have made a small list of essentials that may be useful for others:

Hurricane List

• Galvanized shackles of every size, your chain size and larger, and of course, seizing wire
• Extra 50 foot lengths of chain, the size you use for your anchors and larger
• Anchor swivels
• Extra heavy duty line ¾” and larger preferably Megabraid, 100 and 200 foot pieces
• Heavy duty galvanized or stainless steel thimbles
• Assorted different style anchors (at least three plus a larger storm anchor)
• Jerry cans for extra fuel and water
• Lots of lashing lines
• Hand held VHF
• Hand held depthsounder for sounding secure anchorages as well as what is ahead of and behind the boat
• Raw water strainers that are easy to clean for the unusually dirty water following a hurricane
• Sheepsfoot knife for fast cutting of lines to be kept in the cockpit
• SSB or Ham Radio and/or battery powered AM/FM radio for local forecasts
• Masks, snorkels, fins, and if possible filled SCUBA tank for setting anchors and securing moorings under the water
• Good recording barometer (really fun to see AFTER it is all over!!!)
• Lots of towels and heavy duty chafe gear
• Ventilator caps for all vents and dorades
• Dogs for all hatches and ports
• Big roll of Duck Tape
• Dacron sticky back tape for instant sail repairs
• Good sturdy dodger that can safely be left up in the strongest of winds
• Anchor weights
• Extra long anchor snubbers
• Batteries for flashlights, radios etc.
• A really good washer and big dryer for cleaning up everything after it is all over!! Ha, Ha, I wish!!!

This looks like a lot of equipment, but it really isn’t. And most of it you would have already. If you don’t have all this aboard, you could be caught short when you need it the most. Believe me! We saw so many people looking for this equipment when it was too late or unavailable. It is so easy to think ahead and make provisions. Once we knew that Dennis was going to be a threat to us, we started looking for a secure anchorage. This can sometimes be difficult when everyone else is doing the same thing.

So, start getting yourself a safe place as soon as you can.

Beat the crowds and find yourself a place with as few other boats as possible as the real danger can be others breaking free and crashing into you!

Here is another small list that makes it easy to prepare for the worst:

Safe List

• Take ALL sails down, mainsail, genoas, mizzens, ALL, flake them and stow below deck
• Take all Bimini Tops, awnings, weather cloths, etc. off the frames and lash the frame securely
• Take all downwind poles off the mast and secure as low on the deck as possible
• Tape the snap shackles with duck tape and pull to top of the mast (don’t forget to leave one to be able to retrieve the rest!)
• Lash all the halyard falls to the mast. Nothing should be able to whip in the wind (and it will if left unlashed)
• Take any undeployed anchors off the bow rollers where chafe could occur; lash the anchors on deck where they could easily be deployed if needed during the hurricane
• Cap all ventilators
• Stow EVERYTHING on deck down below. If it can get loose on deck and cause damage it will!
• Use a combination of chain at the bottom and line to the boat for anchors and mooring lines. All chain does not have enough stretch, and all line could chafe on the bottom. Mooring weights are a great help and Megabraid seems to have the best stretch and chafe resistant capabilities for these extreme conditions.
• Secure all lines through smooth chocks, to strong cleats, and use fair leads. Heavy-duty snatch blocks are great if the lead from your chock to the cleat isn’t fair.
• Do not rely on the windlass for securing anchors on chain or line
• Check every unattended boat around you for secure mooring (that will be your biggest worry!)

By the time Dennis came upon us, we had secured everything as best we could. During the 48 hours of very strong winds, we were constantly checking for chafe and adjusting the lines to the best advantage.

After the eye passed over us at about 4 am (naturally it would be in the dark!) we had only a couple of minutes to make sure we would be ready for the 180 degree windshift.

We actually had to swim out another couple of mooring lines to different mooring blocks when the shift came. It’s easier to swim under water than take a chance on a flipping dingy above the water. Two of our anchors were useless, as the eye had been predicted to pass well to the East.

Ready for the storm

As the storm approached us, we were all ready for her in the Eastern Harbor of Man-O-War Cay in the Abacos. There were about 25 unattended storage boats in the harbor on permanent moorings.

Only five boats had crews aboard. Funny how close we all became. It was like one big family in different rooms, all with the same fears and problems, and all willing to help one another should the need arise. We were continuously on the VHF radio checking on each other. Truly, we became the closest of friends during that 48 hours!

The pelting rain and gusting wind began about 12 hours before the eye passed over us.

We went for a walk to the windward side of the island to see the ocean. It was blowing about 55 to 60 knots and even though we had difficulty walking against this wind, the view we had of the raging sea was spectacular. The normally peaceful lagoon inside Man-O-War reef was a tempest of gusting wind, huge seas, no visibility, and enormous breaking surf on the coral lined beach.

And the hurricane had not even yet arrived. Our anchorage was still quite calm behind the hills with the wind very sporadic with short-lived gusts to 50 knots.

At dark the full fury of the storm came upon us.

Why does it always come at night? Cockpit watches and chafe patrols kept us awake. The anemometer registered over 70 knots and I know it was blowing more than that for some of the time. Kandarik would heel over in the stronger gusts, then shake herself back onto an even keel. The noise on deck was deafening as the wind whistled through the rigging. We could hear the shotgun sounds of a loosed roller furling genoa on the boat up the harbor from us. Below in the cabin it was difficult to talk to one another over the sound of roaring wind. While it did not rain very much, only spitting at times, the wind driven seawater poured over the boat like a wild shower. Even in the dark we could see the gusts literally lift the harbor water up and send it whirling across the surface.

We could not sleep. I was on the Ham Radio every few minutes getting updates, and giving the National Hurricane Center our barometric pressure, wind speed and direction. It was fun being part of their network.

At about 3:30 a.m. the wind stopped. It was so weird!

We rushed up on deck; there was the loom of the full moon, and no wind. I got on the radio and reported this to the Hurricane Center in Miami. I was asked to go on deck and give every detail of the conditions. Now, at last they knew exactly where the eye was. Within minutes the wind made its dramatic change that confirmed the location of the eye.

If it was blowing hard before the eye passed us, well, let me tell you, it blew even stronger on the backside of the storm!

And now the pouring pelting rain came. Sheets of rain smothered the boat. Even higher gusts of wind came more frequently and lasted longer. The barometer plummeted in its final dive, and seemed to stay at its all time low forever.

As dawn finally came we realized we needed more lines out to windward.

The only solution was for Andy to swim to where we thought there was another mooring block. There I was on the bow, holding on as the wind tried to tear my hands from the bow pulpit, watching my husband swimming in the half-light of dawn, trying to secure another line to a mooring in front of us! I remember not being able to see anything as the stinging rain bit into my skin like a million needles.

I was really worried about Andy and was so relieved when he resurfaced near the boat. It was a struggle for him to get back aboard. He laughed at my worried expression and told me how peaceful it was below the surface of the water. He was lucky to have found the mooring.

The hurricane force winds lasted another twelve hours.

We saw two boats tear loose from their moorings and smash into other boats before finally ending up on the shore. There was nothing anyone could have done to save them, as the wind was far too strong for a dingy to survive without flipping over. I have never seen such rain. Blankets, not sheets, of water were thrown over us. Dennis must have liked the Abacos, as he was so slow to move on.

Our poor barometer must have hated my eyes peering continuously at it hoping for the much-desired rise in pressure.

It was late evening of the second day that it finally calmed down to 35 or 40 knots. The rain continued, but there was a definite ease in the wind. By Sunday morning it was all over, calm and peaceful again. The seas outside the island continued to rage for several more days as Dennis insisted on churning up the ocean to the North.

But, for us, the show was over.

This article appeared on Pam Wall’s blog

Less than 10 days later, Kandarik encounters hurricane Floyd!!!! Read the story! (Pam Wall’s blog).

About Pam Wall

Pam sailed around the world in a 7-year adventure with her husband and young children before finding her important niche as West Marine‘s Outfitting Manager.

In this role Pam has done much to support cruisers, both new and experienced, as she has through the many seminars she presents at boat shows across the country (including Women and Cruising seminars) and the sailing she teaches annually at Women on the Water Week in the British Virgin Islands.

Pam’s website is www.PamWall.com.

Read also on this website

• Earthquakes & tsunamis – Part 2: lessons learned in Samoa, by Amanda Neal: Suggestions for preparing for and responding to earthquake and tsunami alerts.

Read some of Pam Wall’s contributions to Women and Cruising:

• Pam WALL Answers 12 Questions about Sailing as a Family aboard Kandarik
• Pam Wall: What I like Most about Cruising
• Pam Wall: Galley Advice from a Circumnavigator

More information (external links)

• Hurricane Floyd, by Pam Wall: “Dennis came and went with no damage to our boat Kandarik except for our frazzled nerves. We never dreamed we would encounter another hurricane in less than ten days!”
• National Hurricane Center: The National Hurricane Center website provides detailed location and forecasting of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, Mexico and the Eastern Pacific.
• Hurricanes in Baja: Fire Drills and the Real Thing, by Gwen Hamlin

Have you weathered a hurricane or tropical storm?

Share your experience.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

I dealt with the gardening issue by bringing aboard window boxes and potted plants.

I put a layer of heavy pebbles in the bottom of the boxes, then put in potted plants in their [...]]]> I have always said the two things most cruising women agree they miss most are their children/grandchildren and their gardens.

I dealt with the gardening issue by bringing aboard window boxes and potted plants.

My outside garden, always changing

I put a layer of heavy pebbles in the bottom of the boxes, then put in potted plants in their pots (if they are only going to bloom for a few months), or actually plant them (if they are long bloomers like geraniums).

The rocks are to give enough weight so the box doesn’t tip over or blow away, since the potting soil is so lightweight.

This is my “back porch garden”, and with such limited space as you have on a boat, I give away the plants that are out of bloom.

My flower basket on the galley table.

Inside the boat, I keep some potted plants that do well without sunshine, and I keep a number of them snugged together in a flat basket to eliminate the danger of tipping over. If they are single containers, I stick them down with museum putty, or put them in the sink while traveling.

This has become a suitable substitute for the large garden I had at home.

It is also easy to grow various herbs, like basil, if your preference is to grow something that’s good for dinner.

The other compensations are visiting great gardens along your path of travel, or even taking walks along nearby roads, and photographing the wild flowers you will find.

Everybody is photographing the black iris, Netanhya

As much as I loved the ancient sites we visited in the Med, it was the wildflowers in Israel, and their pictures, that gives me the most long lasting satisfaction. Following are some illustrations, of what I am talking about.

Lotus Creticus	Alkana Strigosa Borignaceae

The Rothschild garden, outside Hifa, Israel	Black Iris, Netanhya

Hope this inspires someone, and makes them realize you don’t have to leave your favorite pastimes out of your life, just because you are cruising.

It opens your doors to a world of plants you would not see if sitting in one spot ashore, and by using your camera, and even searching out the identities of what you photograph, you will have these memories for as long as you wish.

Beverly and David Feiges
Aboard Cloverleaf
Abaco, Bahamas

About Bev Feiges

After 21 years on a Cal-46-3 sailboat, Bev and her husband moved aboard Cloverleaf, their second cruising boat, a 61-foot custom Krogen motoryacht.

Self-described “coastal cruisers”, they have traveled the eastern seaboard from Canada to Florida, much of the Caribbean, and with a little help from Dockwise Yacht Transport, much of the Med, from the Balearics to Turkey, south along the coast to Egypt, through the Suez Canal, as far south as Abu Tieg.

You can read Bev’s blog, “Cruising with Cloverleaf“, at www.feiges.blogspot.com.

Bev is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column.

Read also on this website

• Handholds, handholds, handholds, by Bev Feiges
• Bev Feiges makes her case for an electric galley aboard
• Bev’s contribution to our feature article “Refitting the Galley: 12 Experiences”

More information (external links)

• Bev and Dave Feiges’s blog: “Cruising with Cloverleaf”
  With 60 years of boating experience, Bev and Dave Feiges have seen it all. From racing inland lake scows, to cruising and living aboard sailboats and trawlers for the past 30 years, they have developed opinions on almost every aspect of life on the water, especially with an eye toward the needs of older boaters

Do you have a garden aboard your boat?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Following are some illustrations of ours.

The single most important addition is what I call my Granny Rail, a simple stainless steel tube bent to mount into two stanchion bases, which gives [...]]]> There is no such thing as too many handholds, especially as you or some of your special friends and relatives get older.

Following are some illustrations of ours.

1. My “Granny Rail”

The single most important addition is what I call my Granny Rail, a simple stainless steel tube bent to mount into two stanchion bases, which gives me something to hold onto while climbing into the dinghy, whether from the side, as Dave is doing, and especially from the small step in the bow, which is the highest part of our dinghy, helpful when you are climbing onto a high dock, but too precarious for me to use without that rail to balance with.

2. Grab rails on our swim platform

Other essential grab rails were the ones mounted on either side of our swim ladder, and the bar that runs clear across the stern of the boat, so you are secure while walking on the swim platform anytime.

3. Grab rails in  our head compartment

Another essential grab rail, not usually found, is the one mounted on the door frame of our head compartment.

I can grab this, swing myself onto the head, being supported all the time, and use it to get back to my feet when ready.

Really essential when we are rolling around, or at night, when my eyes may be at half mast.

So simple, but so handy.

Dave and Bev Feiges
Aboard Cloverleaf
Abaco, Bahamas

About Bev Feiges

After 21 years on a Cal-46-3 sailboat, Bev and her husband moved aboard Cloverleaf, their second cruising boat, a 61-foot custom Krogen motoryacht.

Self-described “coastal cruisers”, they have traveled the eastern seaboard from Canada to Florida, much of the Caribbean, and with a little help from Dockwise Yacht Transport, much of the Med, from the Balearics to Turkey, south along the coast to Egypt, through the Suez Canal, as far south as Abu Tieg.

You can read Bev’s blog, “Cruising with Cloverleaf“, at www.feiges.blogspot.com.

Bev is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column.

Read also on this website

• Bev Feiges makes her case for an electric galley aboard
• Bev’s contribution to our article “Refitting the Galley: 12 Experiences”

More information (external links)

• Bev and Dave Feiges’s blog: “Cruising with Cloverleaf”
  With 60 years of boating experience, Bev and Dave Feiges have seen it all. From racing inland lake scows, to cruising and living aboard sailboats and trawlers for the past 30 years, they have developed opinions on almost every aspect of life on the water, especially with an eye toward the needs of older boaters

What little modifications have you made to YOUR boat that have made a BIG difference?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

With careful decision-making and sensible preparations – just what you need for going cruising in general – you can let your children profit from an incredible learning opportunity.

Just [...]]]> Taking your children’s education to sea is not always simple, but neither is it a deeply complicated mystery.

Once you capture a child’s interest, learning can be inspiring and fun.

With careful decision-making and sensible preparations – just what you need for going cruising in general – you can let your children profit from an incredible learning opportunity.

Just look at any of the inspiring stories of families interviewed by Women and Cruising!

Yes, it does add an extra task to the cycle of watches, meal preparation, and boat maintenance, but home schooling in such a unique situation can also be rewarding for parents and children alike.

You don’t have to be setting off on a circumnavigation to think about educating afloat. A summer cruise has endless possibilities, too! Often we think of education as something that happens in a school building, but education should be everywhere, every day.

In the words of Mark Twain: “I never let my schooling interfere with my education!”

The tips below will get you on your way. Take a breath, then take the plunge!

1. Keep it connected

The beauty of education on board is the opportunity for authentic, hands-on learning experiences. Snorkel on a reef, or study dolphins! Go to a history museum, then sail in the wake of explorers and settlers.

A field trip to tidal pools can be educational AND fun!

Even if you choose to follow a packaged home-schooling program (see below), make sure your children are connected to the world around them.

• What phase is the moon in?
• When is the next high tide?
• What causes these phenomena?

A child’s natural curiosity can be kindled with only a small hint, and you’re off on an interesting lesson!

If your line lands a fish, take the time for a biology session before cooking it up. Later, link the experience to a lesson in animal adaptations or human physiology. This might be a more traditional lesson, but the student will be much more engaged now that he or she has had the fish dissection as a lead-in.

Fish dissection

These are just a few examples.

As a parent-teacher, you will quickly learn to identify and make the most of teachable moments. Underway and at exotic landfalls, you will find endless opportunities.

It does, however, require some finesse to shape a general interest lesson into one that also develops critical skills (more on this below).

2. Choose carefully

Early on, carefully consider what type of learning program will suit your family best.

Home schooling packages such as that offered by the Calvert School are one convenient option.

The advantages of these are the learning-by-numbers security they offer parent-teachers; all the planning is done, all the materials provided, and some degree of professional support is often included.

Just by going to sea, however, you are taking yourself out of a cookie-cutter mold, so consider whether you want to use cookie-cutter learning for your kids.

Packaged programs often include irrelevant or impractical lessons, such as complicated science experiments unsuited to a rocking platform, or topics like the Industrial Revolution. Try getting your kids excited about that in, say, the Bahamas!

Other families create their own curriculum to suit their realities.

Visiting a plantation such as Marie Galante’s Chateau de Murat can be the centerpiece of an interdisciplinary unit on the Atlantic slave trade.

Colonization and slavery are chapters of history that can be covered well in the Caribbean, and physics lessons can be found all over the boat.

Learning can be completely student-centered, but you will be on your own in terms of materials, a problem that can be overcome with thorough research.

The greatest pitfall of independent design is the danger of leaving out difficult or inconvenient topics that are nevertheless critical to developing literacy and numeracy skills.

I met one sailing family whose incredibly intelligent boys could quote extensive passages from Homer but not write a full sentence at age ten. This is an extreme example, but the danger is there for well-meaning, loving parents who subtly transfer their own passions to their children while sweeping their weaknesses under the carpet.

You can avoid this trap by following the standards from your home school district and refer to them periodically: have we covered the depth and breadth of this curriculum? Did we practice all the required math and science skills?

Families with two or more children should consider what their choice of program means in practical terms.

If you use packaged programs, your children will be following unrelated strands of work. That creates quite the juggling act for the parent-teacher.

With a more independent approach, you can create a one-room schoolhouse in which everyone tackles the same topics but at different levels. While the youngest tracks his or her own water consumption and learns to make simple pictographs, the oldest can track overall water consumption on board and learn about graphic displays such as line graphs or pie charts. You will still be managing a circus, but at least all the action is in one ring!

A number of useful resources exist for those who take home schooling to sea. I have compiled many on a website, www.sailkidsed.net, including links to curriculum documents and a list of useful books and educational websites.

3. Do Your Homework

Whatever type of learning program you decide upon, you will have to prepare well, just as you must prepare your boat well for your cruise.

One important consideration will be your eventual plans:

• Will you come back home or do you plan to settle elsewhere?
• What are the curricula of those school systems?
• Will they demand to see an official transcript to place your child?

Most school districts provide full curricular documents online, and you will be able to download a list of standards, benchmarks and/or learning outcomes for every subject area and grade (these detail what your child should be able to do at the end of each unit in each grade level).

I am firm believer that parents who home school their children must conscientiously use such standards to guide their work. This requires some finesse, as the following examples demonstrate, but you will develop a knack for it.

Let’s say the kids are excited about volcanoes. In many prime sailing destinations, you will be among active, inactive, or extinct volcanoes, so conducting a basic lesson in volcanoes and geology will be easy. Approaching Martinique’s extinct volcano, Mt Pelé, under sail. This is just one of many Caribbean volcanoes with a fascinating story. Now check your list of standards for literacy and mathematics. How can you pull those in? - Take Virginia’s Grade 2 literacy standards, which include: “The student will write stories, letters, and simple explanations.” That means step two is writing an explanation of how volcanoes work, including self-editing and details like: “Use correct spelling for high-frequency sight words, including compound words and regular plurals.” - Now check the math standards, where you will find: “The student, given grid paper, will estimate and then count the number of square units needed to cover a given surface in order to determine area.”Adapt this by using a map and estimating the area your local volcano occupies. In this way, you encourage your child’s interests and keep learning real while developing subject-specific skills.

Print out complete curriculum documents and stock up on books and materials before setting off. You might be able to purchase textbooks used by the relevant school system and use them either in a traditional approach or within your own tailor-made program.

The difficulty here is in knowing what is useful and what is not before you actually set sail. Sorry, there is no easy answer here!

4. Keep it Fun

The world is your classroom! By using clear learning goals, you can ensure that field trips are valuable learning experiences that spark ongoing interest.

Learning can be fun!

If you find yourself locked below decks slaving over dull exercises on a regular basis, something is wrong.

It’s time to take a field trip – a proper field trip, armed with field guides, notebooks, and clear learning goals. Move your classroom to the foredeck or the beach occasionally. Spice up your child’s learning with fun exercises in a context your child can relate to.

If your learning program calls for writing a fictional story, great! Challenge your child to write a pirate story based on your sailing area with him or herself as one of the characters. Linking subjects is another way to make learning fun.

The pirate story could be set against the backdrop of a certain period in history, and it could sneak in a little math with a problem leading to the location of the hidden treasure chest.

Another example is to collect and identify shells, and then incorporate them in an art project. The list can go on and on.

If you treat learning as a heavy chore, your children will echo this attitude and everyone will suffer.

On the other hand, if you can establish a playful yet disciplined spirit and stimulate natural curiosity, learning will become an accepted part of your day and one of the richest points of the cruising experience.

5. Share the Load

Too often, Dad is the captain with Mom doing everything else: childcare, cooking, and, last but not least, teaching. A certain degree of division of labor is natural, but too much can put unfair strain on either partner.

With both parents sharing the teaching load to at least some degree, children can benefit from the strengths of each and from two different teaching styles. Not only that, they are more likely to accept education as a whole-family endeavor, just as the cruise should be a whole-family adventure.

6. Stop Worrying!

Another inspirational way to kick off a learning unit: the author and her son race in ancient Delphi’s stadium, Greece.

Just thinking about taking over your children’s schooling can be intimidating, much like sailing away to unfamiliar waters. Don’t get put off by doubts or by land-bound naysayers.

Countless families report that cruising with children is the best thing they have ever done, emphasizing the family time and eye-opening experiences their children benefit from.

Many also report that their children successfully streamline back into schools when the time comes, often academically ahead of their peers.

The truth is that cruising on a well-maintained boat can be safer and healthier than staying on land. Consider highway safety, or the germ breeding ground that schools can be.

Similarly, home schooling that is based on sound research and focused on clear goals can supersede what any walled classroom could ever offer.

The hardest thing is making the decision to go in the first place; after that, you will find that everything falls into place. Your children will enjoy the experience of a lifetime with the people who count most: their parents. And the lessons learned will guide them for a lifetime.

About Nadine Slavinski

Nadine Slavinski is the author of Lesson Plans Ahoy: Hands-On Learning for Sailing Children and Home Schooling Sailors.

A teacher, parent, and a lifelong sailor, she holds a Master’s of Education from Harvard University. In 2007-2008, Nadine took a year-long sabbatical on her 35-foot sloop with her husband and four-year-old son, crossing the Atlantic and cruising the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and eastern U.S. seaboard. She is the author of four books and has written for numerous publications.

Her website, www.sailkidsed.net lists many free resources for home schooling sailors.

LESSON PLANS AHOY!

Lesson Plans Ahoy! is a resource for sailors heading out on a short cruise, an ocean crossing, or a year of home schooling.

The book includes detailed instructions for six units in Science, Mathematics, the Humanities, and Physical Education; all are designed to be fun, practical, and relevant.

Lesson Plans Ahoy! is highly recommended to any parent considering cruising with school-aged children and available at major booksellers including Amazon.com.

Each unit includes information on:

- Materials required (selected for practicality on a boat)

- Age-appropriate adaptations (ages 4-12 in detail)

- Activities and assignments children will enjoy doing

- Tips for cross-curricular links and enrichment

- Suggested resources to support learning

An appendix links science and mathematics units to national and state curricula for ages 4-12 from the United States, Canada, Australia, and the UK so that home schooling students can keep pace with expectations in their home systems.

Read also on this website

• Nadine SLAVINSKI answers 12 questions on sailing as a family aboard NAMANI
• 12 questions to 12 sailing families
• What does it cost to cruise as a family? One family’s first-year expenses, by Meri Faulkner

More information (external links)

• Nadine’s book: Lesson Plans Ahoy (Second Edition): Hands-On Learning for Sailing Children and Home Schooling Sailors is available at Amazon.com
• Nadine’s educational website for sailing families: www.sailkidsed.net

How do you handle home schooling aboard your boat? Do you have advice or tips for other families?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Okay, I might be a bit obsessive about my trash and I admit it, but I come by it [...]]]> Imagine this…You are one week out on a three week trip and you realize that funky odor is coming from your trash and there is no place to toss the bag and get it off the boat.

Okay, I might be a bit obsessive about my trash and I admit it, but I come by it honestly.

We have taken three trips, each three weeks in length up the Rio Macareo, one of the outflow rivers of the Orinoco. We have also spent a month in the Venezuelan out islands, Las Tortugas, Los Roques and Las Aves without a place to get rid of our trash.

If I know that we will be without a trash deposit facility for more than a few days I start sorting and managing the trash.

Sorting the trash

In the Rio Macareo there was no trash deposit facility.

Organic trash is all food waste and it gets deposited into a closed container. I use a 5-liter Rubbermaid container. The lid fits tightly and the walls of the container are straight, so it is an easy container to rinse.

Burnable trash, such as paper towels, toilet paper and any paper wrapping get segregated into a separate container. Since this will have to get burned I try not to put wet paper in the burnables and will even try to dry paper towels. This should be mostly dry and non-smelly. I keep the toilet paper in a separate bag and do not open that until the flames are hot.

Non-burnable trash will be all the plastic, glass bottles, cans and other food wrappers.

How we get rid of our trash

I keep my organic trash until I can toss it overboard in deep water or where it will not wash up on a beach or in view of someone. The Macareo River is a large volume river and a bit of food trash will not disturb the ecology of the river, but I did not want to be seen tossing trash in the river so I waited until dark to toss the trash. If we are at anchor every few days we take a dinghy trip outside the island water flow to toss the organic at sea.

The burnable trash can be burned when you have a beach or shore nearby.

Trash burning up the Macareo was a buggy affair. (Photo by Chuck Shipley)

Getting the “burnable trash” to burn can be quite difficult.

Toilet paper does not burn well even before it is used – enough said on that.

We start a small fire with local wood and wait until it is a burning well before adding any of our trash.

My husband, Hunter, uses an accelerator fluid of approximately one part gas to five parts diesel. He mixes about a cup and we wet down the fuel before we light it. It is not safe to add the accelerator after there is fire.

If that makes you uncomfortable bring some dry newspaper and collect plenty of kindling and make a good fire before adding the trash.

Make sure you get all the stuff burned and put the fire out.

Trash burning up the Macareo was a buggy affair. On wet season trips we wore long pants, long sleeves and head nets.

The non-burnables are the most troublesome.

Drying trash

This is where I get a little obsessive. This is where you have to be meticulous.

You need to wash and dry everything before you toss it into the non-burnable bag. It will only take a few days for the tuna can to stink and then you have its company for the rest of the trip. That means plastic food containers, ziplocks that held food and even the tetra pack that held your milk.

You can use seawater for washing and then dry the trash (now, doesn’t that sound stupid?) and even after weeks at sea your trash should not be stinky.

If you are at sea or will be making passages in deep water you can sort out your bottles, cans and paper for deposit in Davey Jones’ locker, but make sure there is no plastic. The paper will float for a while, but soon will sink and disintegrate.

Here is the rule – no plastic in the sea.

About Devi Sharp

I come by my trash fetish honestly – In my misspent youth I was a river guide on the Rio Grande for week-long trips, and more recently Hunter and I have taken many long canoe and kayak trips in the Alaskan Wilderness.

On all of these trips we had to manage our trash and in Alaska the trash had to be non-smelly and bear-proof. On the Grand Canyon kayak trips we had to pack out all trash (including the porta potty).

When I am not managing trash I hike on the islands, teach yoga, watch birds, write and chase green flashes.

We have been living aboard our Island Packet 45, Arctic Tern, since December 2005 and never looked back.

Read also on this website

• Katharine Lowrie sets sail to protect wildlife

More information (external links)

• Recent articles by Devi Sharp in All at Sea
• Devi’s blog: Artic Tern

How do you handle your trash when you are sailing in remote areas without disposal facilities?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.