Electric Motor Regeneration

Electric motors have one key advantage over a diesel when it comes to blue water cruising: regeneration.

It is common practice to run your diesel motor once or twice a day to "charge up the batteries" while crossing an ocean. The winds are consistent offshore, so you don't need the motor for propulsion, but you do need the motor for power. 

Imagine being out on a gorgeous day of sailing and then have to crank on your motor for a few hours. All the peace and tranquility is ruined as your diesel clanks and clunks away, shaking the boat and your eardrums for hours!​

Electric motors can not be "run" to make power. Running them actually consumes power! The only way an electric motor will produce power is if you are sailing fast enough that the water passing over the propeller actually causes the propeller to spin. This in turn spins the electric motor and causes the motor to act more as a generator, producing power that is then fed back into your battery bank.​

There is no need to tarnish your perfect sailing day with a noisy diesel motor. The propeller is spinning all the time and producing power that keeps all your batteries topped off! In this particular moment, we were sailing along at around 7 to 8 knots and the motor was constantly producing between 6.0 amps and 6.9 amps. That might not sound like much until you recognize the fact that this in in 48V. When this is stepped down to 12V, the amps are multiplied by a factor of 4. This means that 6.0 amps @ 48V becomes 24 amps @ 12V and 6.9 amps @ 48V becomes 27.6 amps @ 12V!​

Imagine having a quiet source of power that cranks out 24 amps continuously, day and night! Needless to say, we had no issues with power demands while we crossed the Atlantic in the summer of 2018, all without the need for a noisy diesel motor.​

Bait for Fishing

If you plan on fishing while out at sea, you don't need to worry about taking bait along for the voyage. Flying fish live a sad life, as everyone wants to eat them. When they are in the water, predatory fish will pick them off and eat them. To escape this fate of certain death, flying fish will take to the sky and fly above the water where they are safe from predatory fish, but fall prey to birds that also love to eat them. 

By day, these little fish will take flight and skim over the surface of the ocean as they escape their inevitable fate. By night, these little fish won't see your yacht and will smack right into it. The force of the impact will knock them out and stun them as they lay on your deck to dry out and die. Every morning, we would find multiple flying fish scattered around the deck which we would then use as bait. 

Preparing the flying fish with hooks turns the flying fish into a "real fish" lure. Unlike plastic lures that merely look like a real fish, you have something that looks like a real fish and smells like a real fish as well! Best of all, you won't have bait smelling up your fridge.

Catching Fish

Let's face it, sailors and fishermen are two different breeds of people; but we both wish we could be each other. Fishermen get places quickly while catching many fish along the way while the wish they could get further out to sea. Sailors wish they could get places quicker and wish they could catch many fish while far out to sea.

Catching fish is a great way to add fresh meat to your diet while on a long voyage. The problem is, if you are not good at fishing, it is not safe to count on caught fish as food source. We voyaged over a thousand miles, trolling the fishing line for most of the journey before we caught this little fish. I have no idea what kind of fish it was, but it was delicious!  

This did make for a very fresh meal, as it was caught, filleted, and on the grill in under an hour! This fish was rather odd as it looks like a reef fish, but we caught it in water that was 15,000 feet deep (3 miles deep). It had no teeth, and was rather small. 

When we sailed from Bermuda to the Azores, we caught this exact same type of fish again, this time in water that was 16,000 feet deep! This was the only fish we caught in a 2,200 nautical mile voyage while our friends were catching large mahi mahi every other day.  

Your skill as a fisherman will pay off when out in the ocean as you will have plenty of time to troll a line behind your yacht. Fishing will also give you a way to pass the time as you wait and see what is biting from deep down in the sea. 

Atmospheric Pressure and Wind Speed

Weather routing relies on one key factor, the accuracy of the forecast. Forecasts have improved greatly, but they are not always perfect. This is why it is important that you learn how to interpret the weather maps yourself and furthermore, know how to apply this knowledge to the real world to choose a safe route that will avoid deleterious weather.

These two maps are of the same region and the same time. They also show some important concepts that will play into your interpretation of the maps.

First, in the Northern Hemisphere, wind rotates clockwise around a high pressure system and anti-clockwise around a low pressure system. Second, the closer the pressure gradient (isobars) are to each other, the more powerful the winds will be. 

A simple way to think about it all is to imagine the earth as a sandbox where an evil kid is tormenting the landscape. The kid has two tools of destruction at his disposal: a vacuum and a fan. The vacuum pulls air up, and the fan pushes air down. He can't use both in the same place, so he is forced to use them next to each other. Air from the fan smashes down onto the sand while the vacuum draws air up from the sandy floor.  You are an unlucky ant who is trying to get across this epic sandbox of doom, all while avoiding the menacing child.

The fan is a high pressure system and the vacuum is low pressure, if you are close to either, the conditions are brutal, but if you keep a safe distance from either, you find that you can survive the torture. 

Just as the ant can see the fan and vacuum from the surface of the sandbox, you too can see the fan and vacuum from the surface of the sea, as they are told to you in the form of clouds. Reading clouds is a very valuable skill to have and one that will be discussed in much greater detail.

A barometer can let you know what your current air pressure is, which then would give you an idea about where you are in relation to the fan and vacuum and understanding how the pressures work will let you stay at a safe and comfortable distance from either centers. 

Knowing that winds blow clockwise around the center of a high pressure, if you are going downwind you can then easily tailor your position on the ocean for the most comfort by simply turning to starboard (towards the high pressure) for less wind or to port (towards the low pressure) for more wind. Riding the pressure gradients over the ocean will get you there safely and calmly without the need for fancy weather routing software. 

Now, why not use the fancy and expensive electronic gizmos that will tell you exactly where to go? Because they don't always work as well as touted.  

Routing software depends on an accurate forecast, and that is the weak point in this story. The software will tell you how to sail the best in the world they are presented with, the sad thing is this is rarely the same world you live in. By looking at the sky you can see what the weather is right where you are and looking at the barometer tells you what the atmospheric pressure is in your column of air.  

Weather forecasts are great for deciding when to go out to sea, but once you are out there, their utility quickly diminishes as they are no match for the accuracy of the visible sky around you. 

How To Cross an Ocean: "Nice to Have's"

Crossing an ocean is supposed to be a life goal that will be remembered with fondness, not a horrible torture test of existence. No one wants to hand steer their way across an ocean subsisting only on water and with no sleep! This is where "Nice to Have's" come into play.

Some basic things that are nice to have are electronic charts, a refrigerator, and self steering. This lets you sit back, enjoy fresh food that has been in cold storage while you quickly glance at your phone or tablet and sit back while the self steering holds you on course. 

Pretty much, everything that you think you "Need to Have" actually falls onto this list, while the true "Need to Have's" are only five items. With "Nice to Have's" you can head out to sea with them missing or not functioning, because they make your voyage nicer while not being actually critical to the success of the journey.

Ocean crossing is very relaxing. You can look to the sky to figure out your weather and plan your course accordingly, then you can sit back and enjoy a good book! Fishing is another fun pass time on an ocean voyage, as well as baking and cooking. Be sure to surround yourself with people you want to be with, as you will be with them for the entire trip and there is no chance of escape. 

Plan your voyage as an extended "stay-cation" on the boat. Everyday will feel like you haven't moved because the world around you will always look the same (clouds and waves in all directions) until weeks pass by and you suddenly see land again. Be happy and comfortable on your yacht, for this will be your floating world until you make it to the next port. 

Along the way, stuff will break and you will have to fix it or not use it anymore until you make landfall. Carrying the materials to carry out the repairs is imperative as you will not be able to visit a hardware store to buy parts to fix the broken item.  

Cruising is a lifestyle and ocean crossing is a dream. It's time to live your dreams and enjoy your memories instead of imagining your future!