Destinations

Italian Lessons

by Amy Ullrich, Posted August 7, 2008

A charter in italy means seven days of feasts, for the eyes and the palate.C’ un parcheggio qui vicino?Is there a parking lot nearby?The hazards of being a tourist in the Naples area and along the Amalfi Coast are well known and mostly have to do with the narrow roads, testosterone-saturated drivers, too few places to park, and too many people. We

Where in the World

by Amy Ullrich, Posted August 7, 2008

If I knew whether this winter’s distinctly peculiar weather in much of North America is predictive of a peculiar summer to come, by now I’d be rich, or famous, or both. What I can predict without consulting an oracle is that the extension of daylight savings time in North America (March 11 through November 4, 2007) may well extend the sailing/chartering season—at least in places where short

Spain Calling

by Amy Ullrich, Posted August 7, 2008

The upcoming America’s Cup events in Valencia (semifinals June 1–11, finals June 23–July 4) have drawn attention to Spain, with its long coastline, maritime history, and many attractions, as a charter venue. If you are among the many sailors worldwide thinking about combining a charter with a trip to the Cup matches—or just thinking about sailing in Spain this summer—you’d best pick up the

Whaling, Whaling

by Sail Staff, Posted August 6, 2008

It doesn’t take much to lure me out of the Northeast in February—just a little warm salt water and a sailboat will always do it. But it was pure East Coast envy that brought me to Magdalena Bay, on the Pacific Coast of the Baja peninsula, for a whale-watching/sea-kayaking/camping adventure run by Sea Kayak Adventures. Mag Bay is the northernmost of the three bays on that coast to which

Go With The Flow

by David W. Shaw, Posted August 6, 2008

It isn’t always possible to sail to a plan; you need to look at the big picture.When I started cruising, in 1992, I jumped in with both feet, literally. I’d just bought a 1976 Bristol 24, and in early September I left my home in New Jersey, bound for the Great Lakes, where I’d leave the boat for the winter. I planned to head west the following spring, then south to the Gulf

Race Charters in the Caribbean

by Amy Ullrich, Posted June 25, 2008

Amy UllrichCaribbean regattas aren't the sole province of locals and sailing journalists. Three big ones—the St. Martin Heineken Regatta (early March), BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (early April), and Antigua Sailing Week (late April)—have non-spinnaker charter divisions, and several charter companies allow their boats to enter.

Once Around Tortola

by Sail Staff, Posted October 29, 2007

We get our first glimpse of delights to come as our plane makes a wide circle on its approach to Tortola’s Beef Island airport. Spread out below us are turquoise seas and a flotilla of boats sailing up and down the Sir Francis Drake Channel. We land, and the warm tropical breezes of February greet us as we walk across the tarmac. Clearly, nothing important has changed in the British Virgin

Antigua and Barbuda

by Sail Staff, Posted October 20, 2007

I'd not been back to Antigua since I left in 1994. After graduating from college and spending three years skiing and surfing, I set off to see the world as a paid deck hand. My first gig was a delivery from subfreezing Newport, Rhode Island, to balmy English Harbour aboard a Swan 65. I had no money, nor a place to stay once we arrived, but how hard could it be, I thought, to find a job on one of

Superior Sailing

by Sail Staff, Posted September 22, 2006

Just as we were about to ease into a quiet evening at anchor in Presque Isle Bay, on the south side of Wisconsin’s Stockton Island, the crowd rushed in. The procession of cruising sailboats resembled a busy airport with planes lined up miles to leeward of the main runway. We watched as the cruisers came from all over the Apostle Islands and dropped into formation, motoring one by one into the

Texas: Coast of Eternal June

by Sail Staff, Posted June 11, 2003

Cruising Guides to the Texas CoastThe Boater's Directory, 11th edition, American Gulf Publishing, is "the Texas Gulf Coast's complete information guide for both the fresh and saltwater boater." This not only lists all the water-oriented businesses in coastal area, it provides reduced maps "borrowed" from the coastal chart series of the Corps of