V1 is the speed at which a pilot must make the decision, during the take-off roll, to continue the take-off or abort and stop on the remaining runway. Similarly, when making a long passage aboard Gratitude, we have to decide at which point we will reverse course or continue to the destination if an emergency develops. Having these points in mind prevents languishing for too long or holding too tightly to any one plan. In this case, seconds won’t change the outcome, but days spent waiting for the original plan to pan out can subvert the potential opportunities right in front of you.
Never has it been more important for cruisers to be flexible. This was an opportunity to re-arrange the plan, and in doing so, we would likely be the only Americans in Italy this summer.
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Upgrading batteries
Treating batteries as a system works best
Jolie Brise rescues Adriana
Jolie Brise, which is roughly translated as “nice breeze,” is perhaps one of the most famous yachts of the 20th century; more than 100 years after her launch, the vessel is still plying the waters of the Atlantic.
Tuna 101: A Primer for Voyaging Sailors
Catching, cleaning and eating tuna at sea
Very Helpful Feature - VHF radio
With all of the savvy technology that exists on boats today, it is easy to overlook that the most reliable communication tool on your vessel is your VHF radio.
Solo rower breaks ocean record
Power voyagers have engines, sailors have the wind and ocean rowers have … muscles.
Battery survey
We asked a group of voyagers about their vessel’s batteries and their future battery plans
Into the Denmark Strait
A bristlingly cold gale whipped across the silvery North Atlantic and up the narrow fjord.
Instrumentless circumnavigator passes
MARVIN CREAMER, A sailor who PerforMed a seemingly miraculous circumnavigation in the mid-1980s, has crossed the bar for the last time.
During a pandemic, flexibility is key
The wheelhouse was scattered with guidebooks extolling the virtues and sites to behold in and around the Baltic — fjords in Sweden and Norway, Danish in Denmark, history-laden Poland, and enough lager to sink a barge in Germany.
Alarms, getting to know them better
Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared in the Ocean Cruising Club’s monthly bulletin (oceancruisingclub.org).
CALLS TO REOPEN CLASSROOMS GROW AS TEACHERS GET VACCINATED
State leaders around the U.S. are increasingly pushing for schools to reopen this winter — pressuring them, even — as teachers begin to gain access to the vaccine against the raging pandemic.
Liz “Snorkel” Thomas HIKING ICON
Thomas has thru-hiked more than 20 long trails, including the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails (the Triple Crown). On top of that, she set a fastest known time on the AT for an unsupported woman and has completed dozens of urban thru-hikes as well. This issue, she joins Backpacker as a contributing editor. Here’s some of Thomas’s best advice and insight fed by more than 20,000 trail miles.
love conquers all
AMBER CLAIRE HUDDLESTON & GRIFFIN LOUIS BROWN MAY 9, 2020 • WEST POINT
SAVING LITTLE ITALY
THE ICONIC ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOOD HAS OUTLASTED ALL OF BALTIMORE’S OLD-WORLD ENCLAVES. NOW IT FACES ITS GREATEST CHALLENGE IN MORE THAN A CENTURY.
BULLETS, BEANS, AND BINKIES
A Recon Marine’s Assessment of One Family’s COVID Bugout
A NOSE FOR COVID-19
Central Florida Company Trains Canines to Detect Virus
A DIAGNOSIS OF CHARLOTTE'S COVID ECONOMY
Business Alliance digests data that illustrates how virus has swamped commerce
DISCONNECTION
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have increasingly segregated along racial and class lines since a federal judge’s 1999 ruling ended a successful, 28-year desegregation program. The COVID lockdown of schools has hurt everybody in the system—and widened the gap between its haves and have-nots
Goodbye 2020 Hello 2021!
A writing “round robin” by Cat Talk staffers Teresa Keiger, Jean Aldrich, Lucy Drury, and Iris Zinck
REMOTE WORKING: VIRUS ENCOURAGES BUSINESSES TO THINK DIFFERENTLY
With the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak forcing governments to close schools, sporting events, communal spaces and more, businesses are taking the situation into their own hands, encouraging their staff to work from home.