Though I hate to think of myself as a “disaster tourist,” I can’t deny one of the things I was most curious about as I sailed south last fall to visit St. Martin, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico was how much hurricane damage I would see. I’m sure no one needs reminding that ...read more
We, dog owners, understand the general expectations of ourselves in public places, like picking up after Fido and keeping him on a leash. There are, however, certain places where additional unspoken rules or expectations may apply—as in harbors or marinas. If you sail with your ...read more
Are you really safer tethered to your boat? It’s something I’ve wondered about ever since I first started sailing offshore. The received wisdom is you should always wear a harness, preferably one with an inflatable life vest, and always be clipped in while underway. I’ve always ...read more
Just because some crew are crazy doesn’t mean they all are It is a big leap of faith, heading offshore on a sailboat. Even if you are experienced and well prepared, you commend yourself to the elements when setting sail and are taking a chance they will not be kind to you. You ...read more
“Jib alone is never a good idea,” our sailing guru Jerry told me. (Everyone should have a sailing guru). “Why’s that?” I asked. “It’s so much easier than putting up the main.” “You can only sail off the wind,” he said. “No upwind capability. What happens if someone falls ...read more
Is it really possible to teach someone how to steer a sailboat? Lord knows I’ve tried, but I’m still not sure I know the answer to this question. Yes, it is possible to convey certain basic concepts. You can, for example, explain how a tiller works: “Just push it in the ...read more
The kindly man who’d helped me select a new phone that morning slides me a scrap of receipt paper when I approach the Walmart electronics counter for the second time that day. “Are you Megan?” “Megan, 30’s, looking for a phone. Call Terrie. EMERGENCY” the note says. “Now don’t ...read more
Let’s be honest. Daysailing, not cruising the Caribbean or racing solo round-the-world, is what most of us sailors do. Be it on diminutive Stockton Lake in southwest Missouri, on Chesapeake Bay with its 11,000 miles of shoreline or on the chilly waters of Puget Sound, most of us ...read more
Darkness had fallen and the howling wind almost drowned out the voices coming over the VHF radio. “Lights on! Blow horns!” “Make noise to alert the crew!” “Shine the spotlight on the cat by the shore, it’s dragging dangerously near our bow.” These were calls to action, not ...read more
What does it say about bluewater sailing that its most intriguing facet in the popular imagination is the post-shipwreck survival drift? I was wondering this while watching the movie Adrift, Hollywood’s latest addition to a seemingly burgeoning genre. (Beware, spoilers ahead.) ...read more
After crossing the Atlantic in 2011 and spending two leisurely years crossing the Med, I found a homeport for my Crealock 34, Panope, in Cyprus. In 2000, we had completed a villa in Tala and the little pleasure/fishing port in Latsi was a scenic 40-minute drive away. The ...read more
I learned to sail on the Maine coast as a boy, and one of the things my elders taught me was to respect fishing gear. If you got caught up with a lobster pot, you did everything you could to get clear without cutting the pot warp. It represented a family’s livelihood and thus ...read more
If you have a paranoid personality, anchoring out can be a validating experience. On the one hand, it seems rather simple. You amble up to the bow of your boat, drop a lump of metal overboard, let out some rode and secure it somehow. Then you stroll back to your cockpit and ...read more
Whither the mast-mounted halyard winch? Just as all roads once led to Rome, many sailors now believe that all working lines should lead to the cockpit. The result, unfortunately, is often a pile of multi-colored spaghetti that is hard to manage and can actually make it harder to ...read more
On my living room wall, I have a print by Canadian maritime artist John Stobart that I inherited from my father. Stobart specializes in the Age of Sail, and the print, “Decks Awash,” is of a square-rigged ship with a full press of sail, heeled over in a hell of a blow. It’s my ...read more
One of the first stories I ever edited for publication in a boat magazine, way back in 1986, was about the dangers and general inconvenience imposed on recreational boaters by the blending of alcohol with gasoline. As I recall I arranged to illustrate it with a sensational ...read more
Is it a virtue to emerge safely from messes you should have avoided in the first place? Last summer’s sail to Bermuda from Maine gave me more than one chance to answer that question, most notably during the catastrophic failure of our forestay in the Sargasso Sea. My friend ...read more
When my wife, Mia, and I first crossed the Atlantic on our Allied Seawind 36, Arcturus, in 2011, we used the same handheld GPS that my parents had aboard their Bristol 38, Sojourner, in 1993 when we spent the winter in the Bahamas when I was only nine. We’ve never owned a fixed ...read more
It had been calm when I went to sleep, a calm that was supposed to have lasted into the next day. But by 0300 it was blowing hard from the northeast and Hope, my Seaward 22, was tugging at her anchor. I was at the western end of Lake Erie, lying uneasily behind a spit of ...read more
Here we go! The 50th anniversary of the Golden Globe, the first singlehanded nonstop round-the-world race, is upon us. On July 1 one tribute event, the Golden Globe Race 2018, will start out of Les Sables d’Olonne, France, with a fleet of 19 amateur skippers setting out in ...read more
This almost happened to me once. I was sailing singlehanded between Bermuda and St. Martin one fall, and one night happened to be on deck looking around at just the right time. The moon was out, the sky was clear and visibility was good. Still, when I thought I saw a large ...read more
Many sailors have found themselves needing on-the-water assistance from another sailor, whether it’s something as simple as borrowing a jug of fuel or as serious as a rescue from a foundering vessel or a grounding. But will (or should) that person volunteer to help you, if doing ...read more
There are some hardcore “veggie-lantes” I know who like to argue it is immoral to catch fish while sailing offshore. Theoretically, I might sympathize with this, but gastronomically it’s hard to argue with a plate of fresh-caught tuna or dorado while on passage. So I like to ...read more
This is a story of how mistakes are made and judgment is dulled to the point of catastrophe. It is also about how prudent planning, good equipment and a bit of luck can bring you back from the brink. We departed Norfolk, Virginia, on December 15 bound for Jacksonville, Florida, ...read more
