Cruising Grounds

Cat Love

by Christine Nguyen, Posted June 19, 2012

Sailing started out for me with a simple dream. I always wanted to have my own little boat where I could take her out on the ocean. I grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where my family spent many summers at the beach. At the pier, I would gaze longingly at the sailboats as they launched.

A Long Honeymoon to Europe

by Andy Schell, Posted June 13, 2012

The three of us were still in foulies. We settled into the cockpit, the first time we could truly sit down and relax together in 23 days. Somehow we made the anchorage before dark, but only just. Since we had first sighted land some 50 miles off, at exactly noon, we had been racing the sunset.

Sailing South Africa's Wild Coast

by Duncan Gould, Posted May 9, 2012

My wife, Irene, and I had spent a very happy year in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. We had no security issues, and we saw incredible game. We got to watch a leopard groom himself in the early light of New Year’s Day and almost drove our 4x4 into a wallow with two startled rhinos.

Vanishing Sail

by Lindsey Silken, Posted May 4, 2012

Of the hundreds of sailing vessels that were introduced by Scottish settlers in the 19th century and launched in the West Indies, very few remain. Filmmaker Alexis Andrews is documenting the boatbuilders of Carriacou in the Grenadines, who are trying to keep this dying skill alive.

Animal Encounters Under Sail

by Fred Bagley, Posted April 1, 2012

Cruising the Great Lakes has one drawback: you don’t see many whales or dolphins, or frigatebirds or puffins, for that matter. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have plenty of equally meaningful brushes with nature.

A Pit Stop at Refuge Cove

by Meredith Laitos, Posted February 1, 2012

From June to September, the Cove is open to the public, and twenty families live and work there together. In the off-season, the number decreases to 12 residents and fuel and water are only available three days a week. In the words of another local, “Refuge Cove is for the sort of people who max out after three months of socializing.

A Cruise to Treasure

by Bob Burgess, Posted December 20, 2011

Small-boat sailors strike it rich in the Marquesas

From Summit to Sea Level

by Stuart Belbas, Posted October 31, 2011

When it comes to my passions, I’d be hard-pressed to choose between sailing and skiing. That’s how I found myself standing on the snow-covered runway of Troms airport, the northernmost city in the world, ski gear in one bag, sailing gear in the other.

Sailing Superior

by Charles Scott, Posted October 31, 2011

Sailors on the lower Great Lakes regard Lake Superior with a mixture of awe, respect and—frankly—fear. Tales of cold and fog, shipwrecks and wind keep most of us from exploring Superior’s shores. But there is another side to this greatest of the Great Lakes, and I found it on a summer cruise aboard my Westsail 32, Antares.

Port of Call: Penn Cove, Washington

by David Schmidt, Posted October 31, 2011

While Pacific Northwesteners are a laid-back lot, some things are sacrosanct. Take seafood. Sure, we might roll into the marina in an aging Subaru wearing worn-out Birkenstocks, battle-scarred jeans and an old regatta T-shirt, but you can bet your last roll of duct tape we don’t tolerate inferior seafood. Why should we?