Cruising Grounds

Bocas del Toro: A Cruising Hideaway

by Ray Jason, Posted May 28, 2013

If you promise not to tell too many people, I’ll let you in on a little cruising secret: Bocas del Toro. Located on the Caribbean coast of Panama near the Costa Rican border, this unspoiled archipelago of nine big islands and many smaller ones creates an inland sea where the breezes are so tranquil the waves rarely exceed knee height. And because Panama is south of the hurricane zone, there is no “season.” You can safely cruise here all year round.

Chesapeake Bay: A love story

by Wendy Costa, Posted June 8, 2009

Is it a love story when a widow and a widower fall in love—not with each other, but with the Chesapeake Bay? Two years ago, at the age of 55, I became a widow and got my U.S. Coast Guard license to operate a 50-ton vessel. Herb, 81, recently widowed, and once an expert sailor on Canada’s Georgian Bay, moved aboard Ticketoo II, a 34-foot Catalina, on the Chesapeake

It's Not All Cocktails in the Cockpit

by Nan Scrimgeour Weston, Posted January 24, 2011

Ten days gone, five things wrong…forget it!” How often have these words been uttered by a captain in a state of complete frustration?We’d said our goodbyes at Georgia’s Brunswick Landing Marina and cast our lines. All was bright until we headed across St. Andrew’s Sound. The sunny weather changed quickly, and we were surrounded by patchy fog for the half hour we had to point our bow into

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.

Stories from the South Pacific: Whitsunday Magic

by Adam Cort, Posted October 30, 2012

Australia’s Whitsunday Islands, on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef just off the Queensland coast, are one of those “bucket list” destinations, known far and wide for great snorkeling, great sailing and some of the best beaches in the world.

Favorite Weekend Cruise: Great Salt Lake

by Lance Fairbanks, Posted June 18, 2013

Imagine sailing 4,198 feet above sea level on a lake that’s saltier than the ocean and larger than the state of Rhode Island—a lake where sudden storms erupt from nearby mountains and conditions shift from glassy to gale-force in an instant.

Too Much Fog, Too Damn Cold

by Fred Bagley, Posted August 13, 2008

Every once in a while, lake Superior fails to live up to its fearsome reputationStory and Photos by Fred BagleyMy wife’s father was 98 years old when I asked him why, having sailed Lake Michigan and Lake Huron’s North Channel for 65 years, he had never taken any of his boats to lake Superior. George replied without hesitation, “Too much fog, too damn cold.”Superior’s

The Gold Coast

by David W. Shaw, Posted June 15, 2009

The Throgs Neck Bridge cast a shadow over the East River off the bow of StewardShip, my friend Dave Steward’s C&C 29 MK II, a fast-yet-comfortable cruiser. A stiff southerly breeze bearing funky scents of the Big Apple filled the sails, speeding us along.Standing at the wheel, I glanced up at the underside of the span, experiencing the usual trick of the eye

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

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.