YachtWatchers.com, Kemah, TX (2026)

09/18/2026

Can you hand steer your boat and hold a course by just using your compass? Most of us can. At first glance, it is not that hard. A few minutes of learning how to quickly read the compass (if it is new to you) and you check this skill of the list.

Here is the problem though.

You think you are using the compass, but your brain is helping you out a whole lot. Sure if I am steering course 207 degrees I keep an eye and reconcile that with the compass occasionally and adjust as necessary. In between the "occasionally" your brain is using all the context clues it has to orient you like lights or objects on shore to tell you when to adjust the helm to hold that course. ...but what if it is dark... and your offshore, ...and there is cloud cover, ..and no moon, ....and the waves are steep and quartering causing the boats course to change constantly.

The only thing you have to provide this rapid feedback your brain needs to adjust the helm is the compass.

Let's walk through a crazy common scenario for boaters. The first time they take a longer passage where the potential for stronger winds and waves at night are exponentially higher than the typical inland or coastal cruising they have done in the past. This story is a very common tale for new cruisers on their way to warmer waters.

You are not the only thing being tested when you go offshore, the parts and systems on your boat are being tested too. I have been on more than one boat in which the autopilot simply could not hold a course once the waves reached a certain height especially in a quartering situation. Autopilots are also very complex and present a very common failure point in longer passages. Most sailors do not realize how much they depend on them until they are no longer available.

So now you are at the helm, it is dark, and the boat is rolling and pitching constantly can you keep the boats orientation? Less in a powerboat, but on a sailboat this is critical. Your sails are set for a certain point of sail and why some deviation from this point of sail is OK and accidental tack or gybe in heavy wind and seas can be scary at best and catastrophic at worst. These are conditions where sheets magically grab and tangle, sails rip, and stuff breaks. Now you are still in the same scenario as earlier while simultaneously trying to navigate the chaos on deck.

In these situations the compass is the most responsive tool you have on deck. Chartplotters can be slow to update and can fail as well.

This is a skill you can practice in the daylight. Stare only at your compass and hold that heading. Take turns to Port and then Starboard and get comfortable with which way the compass swings when you do this. (Most people get this backwards at first). Have a partner tell you random course adjustments and make them using only the compass. Once your comfortable try this at night or in heavier seas... or both.

This post is not intended to scare or intimidate you as a new boater It is to encourage you practice a skill you may not even realize you need until you need it.

In our scenario above there are other options you could take to further improve your situation like change to a more forgiving course or further reef the sails. We can discuss these in future posts.

These are a new series of posts aimed at new boaters both Sail and Power to help your journey into this amazing lifestyle be smooth, safe, and scare free.

Give us your feedback? Can you hold your boats orientation by compass? Have you needed this skill before? Did we miss anything?

08/28/2026

We’ll it’s not every day the Marina gets a bottom job. Portofino Marina has the equipment staged to dredge! Finally giving us back some depth to our fairways and channels!!!

This should mean getting in and out of the marina on those “low” low tide days more reliable!!

Note: If your in Portofino keep a good eye on your AC strainers they are going to pumping some dirty water as everything gets stirred up from the dredging!

08/12/2026

We have arrived safe and sound in Trinidad just in time to hear a local warning of a tropical disturbance that had formed quickly and will be coming through the island in the next 24 hours. We are checked into the country and the boat is safe and sound “on the hard” for off-season repairs and upgrades.

The sail was very uneventful and to be honest quite boring as overnight sails go. The wind was light and mostly on the nose forcing a complete motor sail to time the channel this morning.

I will say, the equatorial current South of Grenada is no joke and we spent a large part of the night going mostly east so we could finally sail South without being pushed west of our destination. The wind coming from the east exacerbated the problem. (If you look at the picture of the chart you can see as we were entering the current the triangle direction is our boats heading but the track behind the triangle shows the actual course over ground.)

That being said the sea state was pretty calm and the night was mostly clear giving views of the night sky you just can’t get on land!

We hit our timing target and entered the Bocas de Monas at 8:15 this morning providing a simple entrance to Chagauramas Bay with some stunning views. I was able to get that pic of Venezuela, it is the one below with the cloud over the peninsula as we passed it.

I will be here for a couple of more days helping out where I can….but mostly drinking rum and eating Roti!!!🫓

Thanks for following along this will probably be the last post of the trip unless we run into something really cool!

If you have a boat that needs delivering or your boat monitored in the Houston, Galveston area please check out YachtWatchers.com and give us a call.

08/11/2026

Everything is ship shape and we are heading out of Prickly Bay right at 1600 this evening.

We spent the day grabbing a lunch, picking up some provisions, and checking out of the country at the Customs, Immigration, and Health Service Office.

Finally took a we quick dip in the bay….otherwise know as down island air conditioning before getting the boat ready to go.

Next stop Trinidad sometime tomorrow.

08/11/2026

I arrived safe and sound in Grenada around 3:00 yesterday afternoon and made my way to Prickly Bay where my buddy Shawn Loudin picked me up and took me to the boat for a well deserved Caribe b**r!

We had a great dinner on the island but went to bed pretty early as the plan is to head out around 4PM this afternoon.

The goal is to make the Bocas de Monas Channel around sunrise when the ebbing tide is slacking before switching to an assisting current helping us make way through to Chaguaramas Bay in Trinidad where the boat will be pulled out and put on the hard. We may be close enough to even get some pictures of Venezuela as we enter this relative narrow channel between the countries.

As most of the passage will be overnight there may not be many picture opportunities until sunrise, but I will try to get some of the departure before the sun sets.

Fun fact- We are anchored near and walked over to the St. George’s University medical school yesterday for dinner. This is the medical school that was the center of the 1983 invasion of Grenada by the United States after a coup on the island

08/10/2026

Had a 2:30 AM wake up call this morning to catch a flight to Grenada in the Southern Caribbean as YachtWatchers is helping to deliver a boat to Trinidad this week. I left my favorite YachtWatcher Aubrey Harbin behind and am solo this week meeting my friend and owner of the boat we are moving in Grenada.

It will be a fun old fashioned adventure as it is at the very Southern end of the Caribbean and just a few miles from Venezuela.

This has been a very interesting area of the world in 2026 and should make for an exciting but hopefully uneventful trip.

I will try to post some pics and updates as the journey unfolds.

07/25/2026

YachtWatchers is out on a little personal / business adventure this weekend.

We needed to take care of some things in Galveston and also have a good friend playing a show (Todd Weatherill) on the strand tonight so we are taking the boat and meeting some friends for a Galveston weekend!!!

Not much sailing today as the winds are right on the nose. The huge cargo ships (and the coast guard) are not big fans of sailboats tacking back and forth across the channel so we are enjoying a peaceful motor south.

Have a great weekend! We will update if we see something cool!! 😎

07/23/2026

With a very strong windstorm hitting the area last night and the upcoming arrival of Bertha, Yacthwatchers will be hitting the docks today checking on boats.

A quick external check involves:
- verifying boat is centered in the slip
- ensuring appropriately fixed dock lines and that those lines are in good shape
- checking fenders are in place and firmly fixed in place
- inspecting that no visible wind or hullside damage from previous storm
- pictures of everything taken
- report with pictures sent to customer.

If you would like a more detailed check with power, bilges, and interior systems we can do that as well.

Details on our services can be found at www.yachtwatchers.com

If you need your boat checked on give us a call at (409) 977-0738.
(Photo via ABC13/Elizabeth Kelly)

07/09/2026

The YachtWatchers Difference: We Don’t Just Check Boats. We Track What’s Changing.

(Real images from boats we monitor and snapshot of a report - Can you guess which FLIR images exposed a problem?)

A single temperature reading can tell you something.

A temperature trend can tell you much more.

Using FLIR thermal imaging, YachtWatchers can help identify abnormal heat patterns around critical onboard systems, including electrical panels, shore power connections, battery chargers, inverters, engines, pumps, exhaust components, and other mechanical equipment.

But the real value is not just seeing heat one time.

The real value is documenting it consistently.

Many developing problems do not fail all at once. A connection may slowly begin running warmer. A pump motor may show more heat than it did during the last check. A charger, inverter, or breaker may start showing an unusual temperature pattern before there is visible damage, smoke, odor, or system failure.

That is why trend data matters.

At YachtWatchers, our standard reporting is built around consistent documentation. We are not simply walking the dock and saying, “Everything looks okay.” We are building a record of the vessel over time so changes are easier to recognize, explain, and address.

That record may include photos, notes, system observations, and thermal images when appropriate. Over time, those reports help create a clearer picture of what is normal for your boat — and what may deserve closer attention.

This matters for safety.

Abnormal heat can be an early warning sign around electrical and mechanical systems. Catching that warning early can help reduce the risk of fire, equipment damage, loss of power, or an unexpected failure while the boat is unattended or underway.

It also matters financially.

A hot connection, failing pump, overloaded component, or cooling issue is usually less expensive to address early than after it damages surrounding equipment or causes a larger failure. Early recognition gives owners the opportunity to make smarter maintenance decisions before a small issue becomes a costly repair.

That is the YachtWatchers Difference.

We do more than provide a basic boat check. We monitor, document, compare, and report. Our goal is to give owners better visibility into their vessel’s condition, especially when they cannot be there themselves.

Because protecting a boat is not just about what you see today.

It is about recognizing what is changing over time.

YachtWatchers
Professional vessel monitoring, detailed reporting, and peace of mind for owners who expect more than a basic boat check.

*Note: The damaged cutoff electrical connector in the image is from the panel in the FLIR images. How much longer do you think it had before things got worse? Don't ignore breakers my friends.

07/02/2026

I was leaving the marina last week and saw another boat had sank in its slip. Unfortunately, this owner was out of state and had been away from the boat for awhile.

Once again the statistic’s hold up with boats slowly sinking in the slip being the majority of all losses.

This followed a week of very heavy rain and my guess would be this boat had a bilge pump that was barely keeping up.

Topside leaks combined with power loss from the storms cutting charge to weak batteries probably allowed the boat to get low enough in the water to compromise other thru-hulls and down she went. A sad occurence that happens way too often!

Situations like this are what made us realize a need for a reliable, professional boat monitoring service and why we created YachtWatchers.com. Literally for less than a dollar a day we could have known the boats bilge pump/ batteries were struggling and water ingress was a problem.

If you have a boat you can not visit regularly, please consider YachtWatchers to help prevent this kind of situation.

Share with any absentee boat owners you may know.

If anyone knows this owner please let him know that should he recover and repair the boat YachtWatchers would be happy to provide three months of our “Basic Check” monitoring service at no charge.

YachtWatchers.com

09/18/2026

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08/12/2026

08/11/2026

08/11/2026

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07/25/2026

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07/02/2026

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