Cruising Grounds

Paradise Found

by Cheetah Haysom, Posted January 25, 2011

In an age of instant knowledge, it’s rare to hear of places that are still “undiscovered.” This past summer, however, I had the opportunity to explore a cruising ground that, at least to the Western world, is still undiscovered: Montenegro’s Gulf of Kotor.For years, Montenegro was considered out of bounds for Western sailors. With a population of 650,000—roughly the size of Baltimore—the

A Photographic Journey of Star Flyer

by Meredith Laitos, Posted February 7, 2011

At 360 feet long and 220 feet tall, the barquentine clipper ship Star Flyer is a sight to behold under sail.It takes three officers and over two dozen crew to manage the sixteen sails aboard Star Flyer, one of the three clipper ships in the Star Clippers family. Here, the crew poses from the bowsprit while

Cruising Croatia

by Fred Bagley, Posted March 10, 2011

I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but here I am sampling octopus salad. When I grab it's usually a Bud, but today I'm enjoying a Karlovacko. I usually anchor in monosyllabic places like Gore Bay, but tonight the hook is dropping in Starogradski Zaljev. My chartplotter has always read longitude west of Greenwich, but this screen says 16 degrees east. Where am I?Croatia,

One Fine Bay

by Meredith Laitos, Posted March 11, 2011

The great thing about sailing in a new location for the first time is that you have no idea what to expect. Without a laundry list of hot-spots-we-always-visit, your itinerary is a blank canvas, ready to be painted and repainted as you see fit.This was the case last April when a crew of comrades and I chartered a boat from Annapolis Bay Charters in Annapolis, Maryland, for a week of

Great Lakes Solo

by Charles Scott, Posted April 25, 2011

I have always been drawn to solo sailing. I’m not sure if it’s the challenge, the peace and solitude, or just the difficulty of finding good crew. Singlehanding has its risks, but I’ve also found sailing alone very rewarding.Aboard my Westsail 32, Antares, I cruised from Detroit up Lake Huron and into Lake Michigan. The first leg, from Port Huron to Mackinac

Sailing the Arctic

by Nicolas Peissel, Posted May 5, 2011

Since my partner, Edvin Buregren, and I started planning to sail the Northwest Passage this summer aboard our 31-foot fiberglass sloop Belzebub II—on a shoestring budget, no less—we have realized that a polar voyage is unlike any other.Route Planning: Picking a route through the Northwest Passage requires methodical planning. The majority of charted Arctic waters were surveyed with

Cruising the Panhandle

by Adam Cort, Posted May 9, 2011

Walking down the dock to the Beneteau 393 Splendid Adventure I felt like I was arriving at the scene of a crime. It was late October, and the overcast night sky was pitch black. The air was sweltering hot, absolutely still. To the right I could see the lights of the port of Pensacola, Florida, to the left the lights of the city’s historic Seville Square district. What I was really looking for,

Cruisers' Havens

by Ray Jason, Posted June 23, 2011

This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issueSweet little Bocas del Toro, Panama, was slipping astern of me. It is an obscure but superb cruising stop where life and laughter flow as easily as a mid-moon tide. The hub of the scene there is the Bocas Marina and a delightful bar called the Calypso Cantina.This is a classic example of what I call a “cruisers'

Bundaberg, Australia

by Duncan Gould, Posted June 24, 2011

This article originally appeared in the October 2009 issue The Burnett River is a big, slow-moving river, muddy from eons of moving silt. Where Moose, our 39-foot cutter, is moored at “Bundy,” eight miles up from the sea, the current direction changes twice a day as the tide floods and then ebbs. But Moose doesn’t clock around with tide cycle because she’s tied,

Why I Skip Bermuda

by Don Street, Posted July 1, 2011

This article originally appeared in the October 2009 issueMany sailors think the best way to reach the Caribbean from the northeast U.S. is to head for Bermuda, spend a few days there, and then take an easy ride down to the islands. In my experience this is neither the quickest or safest route for boats under 55 feet. Many American insurance companies, and almost all Lloyds