Last April, my wife, Marjorie, and I decided to take our Tartan 4100, Meri, north to Maryland from her winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida. This, in turn, meant deciding whether to stay in the “Ditch” for the duration or go offshore part of the way. Although we had both been ...read more
2018 ICW Southern GA, STM 684 to STM 640 Note: We use Navionics Sonar Charts in parallel with our chart plotter for navigating the ICW. They are another tool to have at your navigation station, they are pretty accurate, and much more detailed and accurate bathymetry than NOAA or ...read more
After hurricane Irma bashed through Florida and the southeastern coast of Georgia and South Carolina, significant damage to infrastructure has been reported. Damage to marinas and other facilities is relatively easy to see and report. There are several resources to track the ...read more
Captain’s log, Different Drummer, Swansboro, N.C., 6-10-2011: “Well, well, well…limped back into Swansboro, tied up at Casper’s Marina. Sam’s alive, but sick. Heading back to River Dunes.”Sam’s our port engine, Dave’s our starboard engine; twin Yanmar three-cylinder diesels. Sam ...read more
It’s funny how the bug bites. In January 2010, my husband, Kirk, and I were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when we signed up for an excursion on an old America’s Cup boat from Australia. Kirk grew up sailing around the Great Lakes; I had never been on a sailboat. The ...read more
A decade ago, here in the pages of SAIL, I wrote of my experiences with the inaugural Classic Boat Rally fleet as it sailed along the Intracoastal Waterway from Savannah, Georgia, to Charleston, South Carolina. It was a six-day cruise that led the boats through some of the ...read more
Paradise lies just west of ICW mile marker 173 on the Neuse River in North Carolina, about a mile up Broad Creek. It’s not hard to find, but you do have to look for it. Once you get there, you’ll agree. River Dunes is paradise. Grace Harbor, River Dunes’s manmade 26-acre basin ...read more
It’s on for 2015! Click on SAIL's ICW website here SAIL’s 2014 Snowbird Rally down the Intracoastal Waterway was such a success that we’ve decided to do it again The 2015 Snowbird Rally departs Hampton, Virginia on Saturday, October 24, and ends in St. Augustine, Florida, on ...read more
Reading the water is an important skill you should practice often to ensure there’s always water under your keel Sailing through the tea-colored water of the ICW, it’s hard to imagine ever being able to read water depth visually. If you’ve never actually experienced being able ...read more
