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First-Time Cruiser Preparations

If you’re a first-time cruiser who is about to head to Mexico and/or the South Pacific, it’s likely that you’ve purchased an HF radio with SSB and Ham capability. In fact, it probably will have been an Icom M802, widely considered to be the best and easest for mariners to use.

Most cruisers use an Icom IC-M802 radio, or an earlier version.

© ICOM

If you’ve tried to install or use your HF radio, you’ve no doubt come to the realization that it’s a lot more difficult than installing or using a VHF radio, particularly if you don’t have the frequencies pre-installed as channels. Then there is the matter of using a Pactor modem with which to use your radio to send and receive emails — and GRIB weather files — via SailMail or Winlink.

If you tried to find help along the West Coast, you may have discovered that marine radio techs with SailMail experience are anything but ubiquitous. In fact, when it comes to installation and instruction on such radios, San Diego’s Shea Weston of Offshore Outfitters is one of the major players. A veteran cruiser and nice guy, Shea sells and installs the radios, modems and antennas.

To help this year’s cruising fleet become comfortable with their SSB radios, Pactor modems, and SailMail, Shea and circumnavigator/electronic wizard Jim Corenman, formerly of San Francisco and the Schumacher 50 Heart of Gold, will be putting on a seminar just prior to the start of the Ha-Ha. You might consider Jim to be an expert on SailMail because he created and operates the system with the even more well-known electronics wizard Stan Honey.

Shea and Jim will be presenting their Intermediate and Advanced Email Seminar on October 18 from 8:30 a.m at the Pt. Loma Assembly Hall in San Diego, which is near Shelter Island. The cost is $50/person or $75/couple, cash or check at the door. Reservations via email are highly recommended.

Shea Weston (left) and Gordon ‘Gordo’ West will be speaking on SSBs later this month in San Diego.

Shea Weston/Gordon West
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

The following day Shea and Gordon ‘Gordo’ West, who has taught more West Coast sailors how to use Ham radio than anyone, will be presenting their Using Your SSB Seminar on Friday, October 19, at Downwind Marine in San Diego, a short distance from Shelter Island. It will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., and is $25/person or $30/couple. Reservations are again recommended via email. The class will cover SSB radio operation and troubleshooting, with a focus on using Icom’s iconic M802 SSB.

For those migrating down to San Diego for the HF radio seminars — and to join the 145-boat Ha-Ha fleet on October 28 — a stop at Oceanside and the Oceanside YC October 12 -14 might be in order. While it’s not an official Ha-Ha event, the super hospitable folks at the Oceanside YC are putting on a Baja Bound Cruisers Rendezvous for all southbound sailors for the second year in a row. Included in the $95 fee are three nights of berthing at the yacht club, free dinner for the skipper and first mate on Saturday night, free rides to West Marine and Smart & Final, plus a Boarding Pass good for discounts at most harbor businesses, including hotels, restaurants and even the boatyard. There will also be seminars, including one on PFDs and offshore safety given by Harbor Patrolman Jonathan Hoover and Captain Les George, and another by Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails, who will be talking about storm sails and reefing systems. Folks who attended last year said it was great fun.

Water safety expert Jonathan Hoover is seen here honing his big wave boat-handling skills during the huge swell that hit Oceanside two years ago.

latitude/Richard
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

For more details, contact Oceanside YC’s friendly port captain Dave Albert at at (760) 822-7403 or (760) 722-5751.

Harbor Patrolman Hoover stood by while Profligate exited Oceanside the day of the huge swell two years ago. Don’t worry, it’s rarely like this, and if there’s a big swell, there will be plenty of warning.

© Jonathan Hoover

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