SAIL.SailMagazine

If you’re like many boatowners, you’ll only learn that the hoses connecting your cockpit drains to the transom through-hulls have failed when you see your floorboards afloat.

Typically, by the time November rolls around, I’m well clear of the Northeast and headed south for the winter. This year, though, various factors delayed me, so that when Hurricane Sandy swept through in late October, I was still in Lake Erie.

When I asked Dr. Wayne Andersen why he has sailed his tricked-out Moody 54 Habits of Health in the Caribbean 1500 rally four years in a row, his answer made me smile.

On May 20, 2009, we were in St. Marys, Georgia, and it had been raining as hard as it could for 10 straight days. The wind was blowing a steady 30 knots with gusts over 40. Everything was soaked.

D.C. may be a city on a swamp, but the Potomac River offers a surprising variety of sailing options that beats the hour-long trip to nearby Annapolis.