ARE YOU A GREEN BOATER?

Written by Katie Bloxham

Cruisers like us see firsthand many of the issues that our oceans face, from pollution which fouls our playground, to overfishing and habitat destruction, which threaten marine life and the source of food for billions of people around the world.  Green boaters promote sustainable boating practices and protection of marine environments through their personal actions, community involvement and advocacy.

Salty Dawg sailors already do many things to support Green Boating.  Some of these are out of respect for the waters we live on and around, and others are just plain common sense.  So here’s a celebration of Salty Dawgs being Green Boaters!

First, however, a few facts:

Plastics:  Plastics never go away.  Instead they break into smaller and smaller pieces.  Recycling is often presented as a solution to our plastics crisis, but it falls short.  Only 9% of all the plastic waste ever created has been recycled. 

WHEN TO REPLACE YOUR SAILBOAT RIGGING

Written by Steve Madden, M Yachts

The standing rigging is what keeps the mast in place, and thus requires particular attention. How do you know when it’s time to re-rig? There are some obvious answers to this one — for instance, if your wire rigging has broken strands or if it’s suffering from “candy-striping,” i.e., rust-colored streaks swirling down the wire. The latter may indicate two things: one, that it’s simply surface rust, which you should be able to polish off, or two, that as the wire was being manufactured, a strand might have picked up some contamination during the process and is compromised, which is cause for concern. A third visual indicator is cracks in swaged fittings, some of the most common end fittings for wire. Cracks are hard to see (use a magnifying glass), and sometimes marks that look like cracks can be left by the machine used to create the swage. Then there’s just age, and this factor as a reason to re-rig is more subject to a boat’s history than anything else.

THIS MONTH IN PICTURES

Great times had by all at Puerto Bahia Marina! 

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT:  ALEX HELFAND

Boat Name and Type:  Compass Rose, Nautich Open 40 

Home Port:  Annapolis MD

Years volunteering for the Salty Dawgs:  Since September 2020

I became a member of Salty Dawgs in 2020 as a result of my search for information on Bluewater sailing.  This was in preparation for taking delivery of a new catamaran in 2021.