Operating a boat takes teamwork. It also takes knowledge. Having that knowledge will add to your sense of security, which will add to your enjoyment of your cruise.

As a first mate, you’ll want enough knowledge about anchoring to be a good second opinion for the captain when s/he is:

• choosing a good spot to anchor
• dropping and securing the anchor
• watching the anchor
• weighing or lifting the anchor

    We just installed a Charles Marine isolation transformer in L'Esprit.
    Honestly I'd never even heard of the thing until we arrived in Petersburg, Alaska, and had to move from the preferred North Dock to South Dock, which was farther from town.
    Our crime? Every time we connected our shore power, we kicked on the dock's circuit breaker. Maybe a ground wire came loose. Maybe a current decided to change paths. Whatever. I'm not an electrical genius. All I know is we had to pull up stakes and move to the far end of town, and that we were in danger of electrifying the surrounding water and divers within.
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   One of the really fun aspects to cruising the Pacific Northwest is anchoring in secluded bays and coves, where you are the only boat for miles. But that's also kind of scary because, if you're like many boaters, you worry about the trustworthiness of your anchor and chain.
   Capt. Dave, as he is wont to do, read an article about some survivors of a Caribbean hurricane. One thing they attributed to their survival was a Wasi Powerball, a well-made German stainless steel anchor-to-chain connection swivel.

This is a big shout-out to Julie Cefalu of The Crafty Quilter. She made a beautiful iron caddy/ heat-resistant pad similar to the one I made.
​    I'm not one to do much ironing on board L'Esprit, but every once in a while I want to have nicely pressed cloth napkins. Or sometimes I need to be neatly pressed when visiting a nice restaurant.
​    For those times, I have stashed tidily away one of these iron caddies, which also serves as a portable ironing board. It works great for my boating needs because it's handy, compact, and easily carried. How to make it?