Cruising Gear: Dinghy

Aside from the basic requirements to cruise (which are Rudder, Steering, Sails, and Good Rigging) there are plenty of other accessories which are good to have, but not required to keep the yacht sailing along.

First and foremost is a good dinghy. A dinghy is more than a small boat that rides along on your yacht, for it is your connection to the world around your yacht. If you pull into a harbor and wish to go to dinner, how will you get to shore? Water near the shores edge might be too shallow for your keel. Do you really want to swim and arrive soaking wet? Nonsense! Your dinghy will get you there in a safe and dry manner. 

A dinghy should be viewed as an extension of your yacht. It can ferry cargo and crew to and from your yacht, as well as run or recover ground tackle into strategic locations which can be used to position your yacht or get it off a shoal. 

Just as yacht designs vary, so do dinghy designs. There are some that look quaint but are fragile, and others that are practically a barge. The seaworthiness of your dinghy should be equally matched to that of your yacht, as you may find yourself working from your dinghy in less than ideal conditions.

If you run aground in a blow and need to run a kedge anchor out, you will have to brave the current conditions to get the job done. Another situation is if you are anchored and row into shore, then the weather changes for the worse and you have to get back to your yacht; now you have to navigate in sloppy seas. If you have a weak dinghy, this journey could be very challenging, but with a stout dinghy, you will truck right along until you reach your yacht.

On a much lighter side, a dinghy allows you the ability explore more areas for less money. If you arrive in a new town you wish to explore, your options to are anchor and dinghy in or pay for space on a pier. The cost to take a berth is charged by the foot, and the larger your yacht, the more you will pay for each day you spend there. On the flip side, it is usually free to anchor and dinghy in!

A dinghy is not crucial for cruising, but it will open up a whole new world to you.

Cruising Gear: Paper Charts

Paper charts will show you a wealth of knowledge, all condensed onto a single page. While paper charts will show you everything you could wish to know about depths, bottom conditions, and restricted areas; they are not absolutely necessary on a cruising sailboat.

Paper charts are rarely found on cruising boats because electronic charts seem so much easier to use. A paper chart shows you a big picture as well as a detailed view of the world you are sailing in, where an electronic chart plotter shows you the world you are sailing in as well as your position at that very moment. Electronic chart plotters are very convenient, but the screen alters your view of the world. 

On a paper chart you can view everything in your area at a glance. An electronic chart plotter is restricted to the size of the screen. Zooming out to view the big picture takes away all the details. Worse yet, some charted markings do not show up at certain zoom scales. This means you could run into a charted obstruction simply because you had the screen on the wrong zoom setting. This occurred during the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race, when Team Vestas Wind collided with a reef because it didn't show up on their electronic chart at the zoom scale it was set to. This collision could have been avoided if they were using paper charts, as it would have been a visible obstruction on any scale.

Lastly, if your electronic chart plotter were to fail, having paper charts would still provide you the navigational data you need to safely sail to your destination. Paper charts do not require electricity or connectivity to an antenna, they simply show you the information and keep you informed while you cruise. While paper charts are not mandatory to carry on a cruising sailboat, they are a valuable resource and accessory.

Cruising Gear: GPS

GPS stand for Global Positioning System, and it is amazing. At a moments glance, your position can be triangulated to a few feet of your actual position on the surface of the Earth. Even better is when GPS is tied in with an electronic chart plotter, showing you where you are in relation to other navigational hazards. 

You can sail into unknown waters and keep your boat in a safe waters while expertly avoiding wrecks and shoals! Marvelous! 

While it is important to still plot your position on paper charts and know how to find your position on the water, GPS makes it so convenient and easy! You are the little boat on the map and you know where you are in relation to hazards, channels, and markers in real time as you maneuver through the waters. 

Less fancy GPS systems will simply provide you with your coordinates which you can then use to plot your position on a chart. These GPS systems are available in hand held units, built in units, and even as part of modern radios. These readouts are not as fancy as the chart plotter that locate you and displays it on an interactive chart, but they work great as a backup or as an aid to make sure your sextant sighting is accurate. 

As with all electronic accessories, they can die from a life in the harsh marine environment. This is why back-up systems are crucial, allowing you to plot your position on a map and keep your vessel navigating in safe waters.

On Wisdom, we have a chart plotter mounted to the binnacle, a GPS readout on our radio in the nav station, a GPS readout on our sat phone, paper charts, and a sextant. I take sights with the sextant to keep practiced, but I verify my calculations with the GPS readout on the radio. This is all well and good when out in open waters, where I can take the time to figure out where I am and plot my position; but when I'm entering a new creek with a narrow inlet, I'm watching our position on the chart plotter and verifying the depths with the depth sounder.

While there are other methods of finding your position, such as triangulation based on compass bearings to shore side structures and sextant sightings, GPS is just so easy and convenient that I highly recommend it for any cruising vessel.

Cruising Gear: Life Raft

If your yacht sinks, you can try to await rescue in your dinghy; but if the conditions are so bad that your yacht sank, how long do you think your dinghy will last? This is where a good life raft comes into play. They are purpose built to keep you afloat while you await your rescue. I do feel they are misused though, where people abandon ship and climb into the life raft which is being towed behind their still-floating yacht. 

This makes me think of kids camping in the back yard of their house. The yacht hasn't sunken, yet everyone is piled into the small life raft! What's worse is rescue crews typically find the abandoned boat still floating! The real tragedy is when people abandon ship and die in the life raft while their sailboat washes up onto an island, still floating.

Never abandon ship until it has actually sunk. If your boat is taking on water, stay in it and work to stop the ingress of water and also work on removing the water that has come inside. Your yacht has all your provisions and water available and ready for you, the life raft has a very limited "survival" supply. People fear that if they are in a sinking boat, that they will be drawn down to the bottom with their boat. The truth is, most boats sink very slowly, and if you stay aboard and work to keep it afloat, this slow process can be prolonged even further; hopefully long enough for the rescue crews to reach you and recover you.

Cruising Gear: What do you need?

When you set off cruising, you may be tempted to purchase every accessory that you think will make your life easier. The truth is, all these accessories will become a monstrous headache!

The gear that you do need to go cruising is a good rudder, steering, sails, and good rigging. This will make your boat move forward toward your destination. All other accessories are just that, accessories and not necessities. As long as you remember that these are accessories and not necessities, you will be much happier as you sail along and these accessories fail and break down along the way.

A sturdy rudder and steering system is crucial as it will give your yacht directional control. If you lose your rudder, you lose the ability to steer the vessel and reaching your destination will become a lot more complicated!

Be sure to inspect the rudder blade and the attachment of the rudder to the rudder post. Should the connection to the rudder post fail, the rudder will simply flow in the water behind the keel and not steer you along.

The next point of failure is the steering system. The simplest method to steer would be to use a tiller connected directly to the rudder. A tiller provides a direct and secure method to steer the boat that is as non-complex as possible. The other option for steering is to use a wheel which is connected to the rudder post via a system of linkages or cables. Wheels are considered more comfortable by some, but they do provide a place where failure could occur.

Sails are what give a sailboat its name. If you didn't have sails, your yacht would be called a powerboat! Sails will power you through the water indefinitely. There are no fuel levels or concerns with sails as they are powered by the wind, and wind exists everywhere on the water. Carrying the right sails and flying the appropriate sails will allow your yacht to sail through the seas to anywhere your hear desires. 

The final ingredient in the required gear to carry is the most important in my opinion: Good rigging. Rigging will hold the sails up so that they can power your vessel and move you along. If your rigging is bad, it will not be able to safely fly your sails, meaning that you won't be able to move along towards your destination.

This may sound overly simplistic when it is broken down to these four essential items, but the truth is that it is this simple! A sailboat only needs a rudder, steering, sails, and good rigging to sail. Everything else on the boat is an accessory and should never take priority over these four on the repair list. If you arrive somewhere with a torn sail and a dirty fuel filter, the sail repair should be addressed before the fuel filter. 

Keeping your priorities straight will allow you to keep sailing for longer and happier. If your refrigerator dies while sailing or your water heater stops working, you will still be able to sail as long as you have a sound rudder, steering, sails, and rigging.