| While I have many specific suggestions, I beg your indulgence while I
pontificate a while.
First axiom: The equipment you would like to purchase for your boat
will always exceed your financial resources. The result of this is that
you will have to prioritize your list of purchases.
How to establish priorities? I would answer by suggesting that you begin
by carefully describing the kind of sailing that you are planning to do.
Next examine your personal feelings regarding how much risk you feel
comfortable with. Then determine which equipment is the most important.
(See note 64.2 for my views on safety. See especially the ORC safety
equipment list.)
The equipment needed for coastal daysailing is less than that needed for
coastal passage making. The equipment needed for coastal passage making
is less than that needed for offshore passages, and so on.
Given that you have just bought your first large boat, I would suspect
that you will in the near future be doing mostly daysailing and short
daylight coastal passages in good weather. For this I would suggest
a VHF radio with a masthead antenna
a dinghy
two anchors and two rodes
foul weather gear
MOB pole, strobe, and horseshoe
safety harnesses
charts
If you are planning a coastal offshore passage (eg, Marblehead to
Camden) you might also add
a loran
an EPIRB
a masthead tricolor light
all applicable NOAA charts
Your question about a liferaft is interesting. Why do you feel you need
one? Why do I feel I need one? Admittedly good statistical data is lacking,
but I have the impression that far more boats are lost in groundings
than are lost offshore. If you have a collision or other calamity and
sink offshore then you may need a liferaft. If you go down in good
weather and have a good rowing dinghy, you should be able to row quite a
long ways to shore (25 miles or more I would think). If you go down in a
hurricane, survival, even with a liferaft, is problematical. So the
situations in which a liferaft is useful are perhaps relatively
unlikely. Should you decide to get a liferaft, do you get a heavily
ballasted one (ie, Givens) that is likely to survive anything but will
only drift, or do you get a lightly ballasted one (ie, Avon) that is
possibly somewhat less seaworthy but which could be towed by a rowing or
sailing dinghy toward safety? How wealthy are you? A Givens (around
$5000) is at least twice as expensive as an Avon. (If you get an Avon,
get a Mark III with a double floor. Buy it from Thomas Foulkes in
London, have it sent air freight to Boston, and pay the minimal duty.
My Avon cost under $1700 freight and duty paid. US discount price was
around $2500. I received my Avon 10 days after it was manufactured and
less than a month after I ordered it. Foulkes accepts checks in US
dollars.) We didn't buy a liferaft until we went to Nova Scotia, and we
might not have bought it then except it is on our list of equipment for
our planned extended cruise. (Liferafts can be rented but it is
expensive to do so.)
To answer your question finally:
Foul weather gear: Line 7 Racing is warm, dry, durable, heavy, a bit stiff,
and expensive. I never sail without it, and I would buy it again.
Safety harnesses: Many good ones today -- just be sure they meet the ORC
strength requirements.
VHF radio: Standard (see VHF note).
Loran: Some are easy to use, some are not. Get one that is easy to use.
Anchors: CQR plow (no other plow is anywhere near as good or strong)
and Danforth Hi-Tensile.
Second axiom. Buy quality (usually expensive). Completely equipping a
boat for offshore sailing is maybe $20 000 minimum.
Have fun!
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| I'd like to reinforce Alan's suggestion to purchase Avon items directly
from England. The same goes for any other items manufactured there.
This includes: Lewmar winches, Henri Lloyd or Musto-Hyde foul weather
gear, CQR anchors, Autohelm autopilots, etc.
Practical Sailor just covered this subject in a recent issue. If anyone
would like a copy I'd be happy to make one for them.
There are three or four other mail order houses in addition to Thomas
Foulkes (Top Gear is one) and it is worth your while to comparison shop.
Besides differing prices each have unique shipping charges and it is worth
your while to calculate the bottom line price from several sources.
Last year I purchased two sets of Henri Lloyd foul weather gear from Top Gear
and paid less (including shipping and duty) than one set would have cost
from a US discount catalog.
The surprising items are CQR anchors. You would think that shipping charges
eat up the savings, but it's not so. Considerable money can be saved here.
Most of these places will also take phone orders (Mastercard, Visa, Am Express)
and will ship by air if you need something in a hurry, although you better
not use that method for something like the anchor.
John
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| One additional comment about purchasing Henri Lloyd foul weather gear
from England. The sizing is NOT the same as it is for the US distributed
versions of the same items. The English sizes are bigger. I had originally
purchased one set of medium for my son and one set size large for me
(I'm 5'11", 180lbs). They were way too big. I sold the large, kept the medium
for myself and ordered another small set for my son.
So pay attention to the size charts in the English catalogs. They are
different that what you are used to.
Funny thing is: the US distributor of Henri Lloyd told me this at the Newport
show a couple of years ago and I didn't believe him. He was not pleased when
I tried on his demo gear and then told him that I was going to purchase
overseas. I figured he was giving me a snow job so that I'd buy from him.
John
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| Here's the TopGear address. I'll append the other addresses tomorrow when I
have the Practical Sailor article.
TopGear
The Bosun's Locker
Royal Harbour, Ramsgate
Kent, England
Telephone: (0843) 588732
Telex: 965093 Eurom G
Attn: Bosuns Locker
They don't have a fancy catalog; it's just a single 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, folded
in half with a list of prices in very fine print. I don't have the most recent
prices but here's a sample of what last year's prices were for Henri Lloyd:
Ocean Racer Supreme jacket with harness 73.50
" " Floater " " " 88.65
" " Supreme Trousers with fly 44.30
Voyager Jacket 41.75
" Trousers 36.50
Portland Standard Jacket 30.50
" Trousers 21.95
Consort Quilted Jacket 37.85
" Floater " 52.50
Foremost One-piece suit 41.00
Sovereign " " " 70.50
(All prices are in British Pounds. You can get the current rate of exchange
in most any large newspaper, I think it's approximately 1.14 right now. The
conversion will be handled for you if you pay by credit card.)
I have the 1983 Henri Lloyd brochure and price list. Let me know if you'd like
me to make a copy. By way of conparison, the suggested retail price for the
Ocean Racer Floater Jacket with harness is $350.00 here in the US.
Shipping on the above varies between 10 and 12 pounds depending on weight.
These items are declared as rain clothing and I paid duty (approx $7.00) on the
first two suits because the total order exceeded $100. The next order for one
suit was less than $100 and so I paid no duty. It may make sense to break up
your order if you want several items. There are no shipping cost savings by
combining everything into one package. They charge a fixed amount for each item.
Let me know if you need any more info.
John
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| Liferafts can be shipped air freight, but they cannot be carried on
passenger planes (due to the pyrotechnics and compressed gas bottles).
If you have something shipped to you air freight, consider picking it
up at the airport since the freight forwarding (trucking) companies
charge a lot for their services. Check to be sure that the customs
officer is on duty before you go to the airport (he/she isn't always
around). Air freight on an Avon liferaft (about 90 pounds weight) was,
as I recall, about $70 and duty under $40. Paying the duty and loading
the liferaft into my van took less than half an hour.
Alan
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