BINOCULARS

Binoculars are essential boating and camping equipment. On the water you need them to identify aids to navigation (bouys), other boats, obstructions in the water, lighthouses, towers, etc. Camping and hiking you need them to identify landmarks, flora and fauna. Binoculars are indispensable for bird watchers; without them you would not be able to see a tiny bird some distance away or identify it. There are two types of binoculars, roof and porro prism types. The lens in roof binoculars are in line whereas they are offset in porro prism binoculars; generally porro prism binoculars are optically superior to roof binoculars. The quality of the lens and their coating (s?) is very important. BaK-4 prisms are made of the best optical glass. The glass needs to be coated to reduce reduce reflections. All of the binoculars on www.mountains-and-seas.com use BaK-4 prisms and have multi-coated lenses and all but the Pentax 7X50 marine binoculars with a built-in compass are porro prism type. Numbers are associated with binoculars, e.g., 7X50, 8X42, etc. The first number indicates the degree of magnification, e.g., in 7X50 binoculars the object appears seven times closer than it does to the naked eye. The second refers to the diameter of the forward looking lens in millimeters, in this example 50 millimeters. Increasing the magnification would seem desirable; however, higher magnification limits the field of vision and tends to make it dimmer. Also it is hard to hold binoculars with higher magnification steady enough to avoid a blurred image. A 7X50 binocular is ideal on the water and is standard in navies & militaries.

Challenge, Adventure and Fun on Land and Sea

ANCHORS Everyone knows about anchors; they are used to fasten things to something else. Anchors are particularly important on boats to attach the boat to the bottom of the sea, lake or river. To stop for lunch, overnight or to moor your boat you need an anchor. You also need an anchor in emergency situations like the time I and a friend were caught in a tropical storm on the Little Bahama Bank. The wind was so strong that the dinghy that we were pulling was lifted out of the water and was twirling like a propellor. Fortunately we had a storm (large) anchor on board and after untangling the line, being careful not to be caught up in it, safely anchored. There are a number of types of anchors useful in different situations. Desirable features include good holding power in all bottom conditions and not breaking out in shifting winds and tides. Fluke style anchors are good in sand and mud, but not good in weeds, rocks or hard sand or clay. They are light in weight and very popular, but tend to break out in shifting winds and tides. The aluminum Fortress anchor (www.mountains-and-seas.com) with its excellent holding power, life-time warranty and adjustable fluke angle is the best performing example of its kind. Plow style anchors are heavier than fluke style anchors and are shaped as the name implies and hold well on most bottoms except deep mud and tend not to break out with changes in wind and tides. Grapnel anchors are good for such small boats as canoes, dinghies, etc. The folding type is very compact and easy to store. In choosing an anchor consider the size of your boat and the bottom conditions where you will be boating. Also it is wise to carry an extra anchor or two on board. Anchors are attached first to a chain which because of its weight tends to pull horizontally on the anchor helping to set it and then to a line, called a rode. A ratio of 7 to 1 between length of rode and water depth is usually sufficient; however, in extreme conditions the ratio should be increased. In the situation mentioned above we let out all the available line. In anchoring many boaters throw their anchor; however, the recommended procedure is to drop it vertically and then to back down on it with the motor, wind or tide to set it. Be careful not to get your feet entangled in the rode as it plays out.

Challenge, Adventure and Fun on Land and Sea

Challenge, Adventure and Fun on Land and Sea Bob the Boater’s Blog I am a retired clinical psychologist who has spent his professional life treating adults, particularly male veterans, supervising graduate psychology students and doing some formal teaching. Sailing has been my primary recreation and so in my retirement, needing additional income, I developed a website and webstore, www.mountains-and-seas.com, selling boating and camping equipment. In this blog I propose to recount my sailing adventures , reporting on the challenges, the joys and also on the mistakes I’ve made and describing the products in my webstore and their uses. Also I will occasionally report on my few camping experiences. I have been a boater, primarily a sailor, for over thirty years. I have taught sailing and been a leader in local boating groups. Most of my boating has been done on lakes and along the coast, but I have also done a moderate amount of blue water sailing. Sailing has been a challenge, a source alternatively of relaxation, excitement and pleasure. In the late 1960’s I first went sailing in Maine’s Penobscot Bay and I can tell you that the water is cold. Jumping in is a good way to test your heart. If you don’t die of shock, you’re in good shape. While it was not a consideration in our move to Gainesville, Florida, the sailing season there is much longer than it is in Maine. My next sailing experience was on a local lake noted for its shallow water, muck-filled bottom and its alligators and snakes. Staying in the boat on that lake is very important! I was hooked and I’ve subsequently come to believe that sailing can become an addiction, albeit a healthy one. Addiction or not in any case I’ve frequently felt the “need” to go sailing.