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by David Schmidt

David Schmidt, a SAIL editor-at-large, is a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest from SAIL's Boston offices

The Liveaboard: Gus Hancock aboard his aluminum sloop

by David Schmidt, Posted May 20, 2013
Gus Hancock, 73, of Chicago, began sailing with his father in an Old Town canoe in 1950. A deserted beach, a tarp and a campfire were their accommodations during early cruises on Barnegat Bay before they garage-built a 16-foot wooden daysailer. Offshore adventures followed, including Newport-Bermuda races and cruises to the Bay of Fundy in the 1960s. In 1970, Gus crewed on a Cal 37 in the Los Angeles to Tahiti Transpac Race and spent the summer cruising Tahiti, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas and Hawaii.

McConaghy 38's Clever New Hatch

by David Schmidt, Posted May 16, 2013
Although flush-deck sliding foredeck hatches are great for quickly launching and retrieving kites, they have typically been prone to leak because of the difficulty in creating proper seals around them—until now. Among the many innovative features aboard the new McConaghy 38 one-design sloop is a pneumatic seal for the offset (port side) sliding hatch that has an inflatable “bladder” encircling the hatch aperture to keep the wet out. 

A Conversation with Roger Swanson

by David Schmidt, Posted March 28, 2013
Rare is the sailing resume that boasts 217,928 miles, three circumnavigations, multiple voyages through the Arctic and Antarctic and the first east-west crossing of the Northwest Passage by an American-flagged sailboat.

Tricky Waters: Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake

by David Schmidt, Posted January 3, 2013
When I was 11, my Dad, his buddies and I sailed Wind Dancer, his C&C 37, from Long Island Sound to Chesapeake Bay. It was my second offshore passage.

Tricky Waters: West Side of the Florida Keys

by David Schmidt, Posted January 2, 2013
“I always put the fear of God into people that this is the world’s third-largest barrier reef,” says Capt. Joe Dyll of the western Florida Keys, which have long been one of his favorite cruising grounds.

Tricky Waters: Vancouver Island

by David Schmidt, Posted December 19, 2012
When Dr. Seuss wrote these words, he must have had cruisers on his mind. Rare is the cruiser who doesn’t dream of sailing over the horizon, of exploring remote areas.

The Self-Taught: Distance Cruiser David Tunick

by David Schmidt, Posted November 29, 2012
Rather than junior sailing lessons, David Tunick, 68, of New York City, learned sailing by “on-the-job” experience. While his family drove powerboats, he and a friend bought a Lightning in 1966 and started “sleeping-bag cruising.”

Alaska Dreamer: A Conversation with Elsie Hulsizer

by David Schmidt, Posted October 26, 2012
Sailing has always been a priority for Elsie Hulsizer, 66, of Seattle, Washington. Her love affair with Northwest sailing was launched when she was 12 and her father built an 18-foot Robert’s Knockabout.

America’s Dismal 2012 Olympic Regatta

by David Schmidt, Posted October 5, 2012
"We ran full-speed into something we weren’t expecting,” admitted Dean Brenner, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program, about the team’s performance at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth, England.

Catching Up with Wendy Hinman

by David Schmidt, Posted September 12, 2012
Some cruisers wait for the perfect boat; others simply go. Wendy Hinman (48) and her husband, Garth Wilcox (52), of Seattle, Washington, paid off their mortgage early and just went.
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