Storm-Petrel Takes Flight

 

For liveaboard cruisers, a dinghy is an essential item.  It’s like a car for land-dwellers, only more important.  If you are out on your boat, swinging on an anchor, you can’t just walk to the store.  Sure, you might be able to swim to shore, but do you really want to tread water while holding your groceries in the air?  Having a good, reliable dinghy is a must, especially if one of your fellow crew members is a dog who has a fondness for bushes.  This summer, our dinghy had a spontaneous meltdown.  We bought it a year ago, when it was next to impossible to get a new one in a reasonable amount of time, for a reasonable amount of money.  It was a used FRIB or Foldable Rigid Bottom inflatable boat.  Having a folding hull was a good idea in theory, making it easier to fit on deck.  But it just didn’t last. The tubes were made of PVC, which doesn't hold up well to the sun's UV rays. We kept it under a cover and Janet made a beautiful pair of chaps for it, but it still broke down. The seams all started to let go and then even the handles, hardware, and rubrails all started coming off. By the time we'd identify a leak and patch it, there would be several new one. It quickly became clear that this was a lost cause; it was time for a new dinghy. 

The FRIB in its sorry state of deflation.

A dinghy has to be large enough to comfortably fit your entire crew and a bunch of provisions (water jugs, fuel jugs, groceries, etc…it all has to come via dinghy when you are at anchor).  It should handle choppy seas, while keeping the occupants relatively dry and safe.  But it has to be small enough to be lifted and carried easily.  In our case, the dinghy is stored on our foredeck, so it has to  be light enough to be hoisted aboard by one person and it has to fit on the deck.  It also has to be light so that a small outboard will get it up onto a plane and push it at a decent speed.  We feel that we found the perfect boat to meet all these needs: our new Zar Mini RIB9 Lite.  It is a 9-foot inflatable RIB with Hypalon tubes (tougher than PVC) and an aluminum hull.  It is really well-built and only weighs 85 pounds. Its 17-inch diameter tubes keep the spray out of the boat and are very comfortable to sit on.  The three of us can ride quite comfortably and our mighty 6 horsepower Suzuki outboard gets it up onto a plane pretty easily with 2 of us aboard.  It is much more comfortable than our previous dinghy.  

Our new 9-foot Zar Mini RIB, "Storm-Petrel."  Italian-designed, German-built. We think of it as our little European sports car. 

In addition to ferrying us back and forth to shore, we have used our dinghies to snorkel from and to explore saltmarsh creeks, rivers, bays, and mangrove tunnels. In an emergency, the dinghy can be used to tow Fulmar for a short distance in relatively calm conditions.

Storm-Petrel takes flight!  It's surprisingly easy to hoist it out of the water using a halyard.  We attach a 4-part tackle to the halyard to make the job even easier.

Once swung aboard, we stand it up at the base of the mast and gently lower the bow by easing the halyard. 

Storm-Petrel fits nicely on deck, between the mast and inner forestay, leaving plenty of room to walk around it.  Janet made this nice canvas cover for the FRIB, which was more than two feet longer than Storm-Petrel.  Although not a perfect fit, it will keep the sun off of it. 

We're also really pleased with our 6 horsepower Suzuki 4-stroke engine.  Four-stroke engines are more challenging to start with a pull cord than are 2-strokers.  But it runs clean and quietly, sips fuel, and it only weighs about 50 pounds.  With our new outboard davit, it's easy to transfer the motor between Storm-Petrel and where it is stored on Fulmar's stern rail.  

You are probably wondering about the name, "Storm-Petrel."  Storm-petrels are small seabirds, related to fulmars and albatrosses.  They are the smallest members of the order Procellariiformes, or tube bills, weighing about 50 grams (1.75 ounces).  These tiny birds nest in underground burrows on offshore islands in the North Atlantic and North Pacific and disperse into the southern hemisphere during their annual migrations.  We spent many years directing a biological research station in the outer Bay of Fundy, where one of the main research projects was a long-term study on the nesting colony of Leach's storm-petrels, Hydrobates leucorhous.  Oh, yeah, and like fulmars, storm-petrels also protect themselves by vomiting an oily substance on their attackers. 

 

Leach's storm-petrel.

Leach's storm-petrel at the breeding colony on Kent Island, New Brunswick.

And look at how stinkin' cute they are in their first few days of life...little puff balls. 

These tiny, yet mighty explorers of the ocean are the perfect mascot for our new little dinghy.  We love the new dinghy.  And even Loki approves!