By Katherine Stone
Ready to Come About (a memoir) By: Sue Williams
Sue Williams wasn’t a sailor and didn’t have an adventure bone in her body. Her idea of a thrill was doing applique! So it isn’t surprising that the cover of the book Ready to Come About is actually one of her appliques. They often say of life changing events that life seems to take on new meaning. Her husband Dave had just suffered a grand mal seizure caused by stress and sleep deprivation, and then been fired from his job after 11 years of loyal service. Sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night Sue exclaimed, “I know what the we must do. An ocean crossing’s what you’ve dreamt of doing, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Dave was an experienced sailor, and their boat named Inia, an Alberg 30, was a sturdy, ocean-going vessel. They took navigation and boat engine maintenance courses and a year to prepare themselves and the boat for the year long trip across the Atlantic. In their mid-50s, they had no blue-water experience, but they were well prepared.
Leaving Hamilton Harbour in May 2007 they were gone 373 days, had 14 offshore passages, travelled 11,000 NM and were 86 days at sea. Through all manner of catastrophes, they persevered, solved problems and accomplished things they never thought they could do. Overcoming sea sickness, sleep deprivation, losing both anchors and ground tackle, constant motion and mechanical problems it certainly lives up to the motto that “The rougher the passage the more joyful the landing”. Sue and Dave now truly understand that the mind has the ability to be tested beyond what is humanly possible and carry on.
Seriously doubting themselves, Sue wrote, “Up to this point, Inia had been in the water for a little more than a week and had travelled only about 150 NM from home, during which she had almost sunk, the head had exploded, the Zodiac had sprung a leak, we had run aground, and both the outboard and diesel motors had broken down. Yet we were heading for the Atlantic Ocean where there would be no stores, no help, and no turning back. Were we crazy? Right off our rockers?”
Although Dave may have been the captain of the boat, Sue was the captain of the voyage, as she was the one who decided that they must cross the Atlantic, and ended up steering the boat all through the Erie Canal and in and out of tricky mooring and docking situations.
Inia anchored off Ilha da Culatra, near Olhao, in the Algarve region of Portugal.
The book is available through Dundurn press for $20.99 at the Nautical Mind book store, Indigo Chapters, Amazon and has now been listed for 4-1/2 months on the best seller list. Come see them at the Toronto Boat Show in January and get your own autographed copy. I can truly attest that it is a great page turner and a MUST read for any woman who thinks that she couldn’t possibly go cruising, cross an ocean or who needs to get out of her comfort zone to grow and have an adventure – possibly learning more about herself. This isn’t to say that men won’t find the book interesting or enjoyable, as they certainly will!

By Andy Adams
Regal Boats’ new LS36 is what we call a day boat. Regal says the LS36 merges their luxury yacht series with their bowrider series and the result is the LS36. This comfortable bowrider is perfect for cruising the lake or hosting friends and family for the day on the weekend.
We feel the styling deserves mention right off the top. This is a big boat at over 37-feet on an 11’7” beam but the clean and almost traditional lines give the LS36 a timeless sporty look that we think, really sets it apart. It’s a Yacht-certified vessel. I counted approximately 21 places for people to sit! You would probably never take a crowd that big but it can certainly handle a gang.
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By Zuzana Prochazka
Every few years, boat builders update their lines with refreshed designs and new features that eventually proliferate throughout their entire offering. Dufour Yachts is in mid-process of such an evolution as the builder changes up their line of sleek sailing cruisers.
One sign of this transformation is the naming convention that is morphing from triple-digit numbers ending with a zero, to simple double-digits that one would guess designates the LOA – more on this later. The latest model in the refresh is the Dufour 37 which replaces the previous Dufour 360.
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I start every article, story or TV segment about boating out of the biggest city in Canada the same way. Citing the multiple people who told me I would “quickly get bored of Toronto harbour” or that “there’s nothing to do in Lake Ontario” and that it was only a matter of time before I moved marinas to a much more appropriate setting just north of the city.
With all due respect to my pals who boat in Georgian Bay, I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon. Next year will be my tenth in Toronto Harbour and I love it more each year.
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Introducing the next graduate in our CYOB marine career path series, Nathanial Stabenow from the East Coast of Canada.
An individual of many hats, Nathanial has had a diverse career in the marine industry taking part in commercial diving, marine navigation, rigging and boat building. He now works as a marine engineer on the LaHave ferry in Nova Scotia. Here is Nathanial’s unique career path.
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‘A chain is only as strong as its weakest link’ is a cliche that is quite applicable in boat maintenance. In a literal sense, a weakest link can apply to an anchor rode, and a weak link in this chain can spell disaster.
Transport Canada specifies the sizes of anchors required in the Canada Shipping Act, detailed more commonly in the Safe Boating Guide:
For Sail and Power boats up to 6 m (19’8”): One (1) anchor and at least 15 m (49’3”) of cable, rope or chain in any combination...
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The Samana 59 Smart Electric is a new sailing catamaran equipped with alternative energy solutions and EODev’s electro-hydrogen REXH2.
To reduce its carbon impact, the Samana 59 Smart Electric has a virtuous energy architecture composed of a REXH2 that can provide up to 70 kW of continuous power, a battery composed of LiFePO4-EVEPOWER (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells of 63kWh integrated by EVE SYSTEM and Alternatives Energies and 42 m2 of “slim” type solar panels that can provide up to 6145 W. This energy mix allows to take advantage of all the embarked renewable energies (solar, wind).
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