Destinations

Safety, Friendship, and the Handling of Messages

by Dawn Dupree, Posted March 2, 2010

When the five of us— Dana, Bird, Pip, Laura and I—left Boston, Massachusetts, last April for a week’s charter in the Abacos, we thought we were in for a week of easy sailing and stress-free sunbathing. We certainly didn’t expect to become part of a sailing community. That hadn’t happened on any of our previous “girls' trip” charters together in St. Martin and the British Virgin Islands. Why would

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

Sailing Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay

by Adam Cort, Posted March 14, 2012

I’ve sailed past Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay many times, first as a deckhand on various ore boats making their way between Minnesota and Indiana Harbor, Indiana, then during the course of a number of Chicago-Mackinac races.

Chartering Mount Desert Island

by Meredith Laitos, Posted November 2, 2012

From my vantage point aboard a Cal 31 sloop sailing out of Southwest Harbor, the cottages look more like castles, with immaculate grounds atop pink granite cliffs that drop into the chilly Maine waters below. The day couldn’t be more perfect for sailing

Dreamcatcher

by Rebecca Waters, Posted August 7, 2008

Myth, mystery, and Midnight Magic evoke childhood adventures on a Lake Michigan charterWe were lost in the woods on Garden Island. The trail we followed from the Native American graveyard had melted into a woodland clearing, leaving us guessing at the path ahead. My brother Xander had even stopped pointing out peculiar vegetation and was instead studying the trail map

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

Sail Your Telltales!

by Ryan Jolley, Posted March 3, 2010

I know how to sail, right? At least I thought I did. I mean, I have a copy of Sailing for Dummies in my office, and I have worked at SAIL for 3 years, for Pete’s sake, so I know how to sail, right? That, at least, was my thinking going into a 10-day sailing course with my dad at the Offshore Sailing School. I couldn’t have been more wrong.We arrived at the Mansion House bed-and-breakfast

A Down East Idyll, with Hurricanes!

by Adam Cort, Posted March 7, 2011

We were ghosting toward the mainland, gybing back and forth to make the most of a faint morning breeze. The sun was out and it was hot. To the north I could see swells breaking over Horseshoe Ledge and a rock formation called The Drums. I was also keeping an eye out for lobster buoys. The tide was ebbing, setting up a wicked crosscurrent in spots, and I’d already been forced to alter course

Chartering with a Crew in the BVIs

by Amy Ullrich, Posted March 15, 2012

Most sailors I know—and there are many sailors where I live in coastal Massachusetts—are unmitigated do-it-yourselfers who like to do their own trip planning, boat prepping, provisioning, cooking and cleaning.

Chilling in St. Lucia

by Charles J. Doane, Posted December 6, 2012

Ironically, many who sail to St. Lucia do so by default, as it has long been the final destination for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. Every year the ARC brings well over 200 yachts en masse from the Canary Islands off Africa straight to Rodney Bay.