Issue 29 : Mar/Apr 2003 The Slate Islands are a place of beginnings. The concept for Good Old Boat magazine was born there. Five years later, we were back looking for more inspiration. Once the hooks ...
Your boat takes you to places you can’t reach any other way Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 How far is it to somewhere else? It’s a relative thing. It’s straightforward to lay a tape measur...
Two very different aids to navigation Issue 32 : Sept/Oct 2003 Back in 1968 when I was a navigating officer on the USS Newport News, we had a chart table that would hold a full-sized chart without fol...
This is something you don’t see on the Great Prairie Issue 33 : Nov/Dec 2003 We were working our way back home from a wonderful excursion down the middle of the country. We had traveled from near the ...
Lake Huron or bust Issue 44: Sept/Oct 2005 DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DISPOSED TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS. When I met my editor and wife, I was happily sailing around triangular race courses on a large lake in ...
Bluewater or coastal, weather controls all Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004 Weather cells move through our cruising grounds in about three days in summer and closer to two days in fall and spring. If you sail ...
Issue 37 : Jul/Aug 2004 I’ve singlehanded for a couple of weeks at a time, and I’ve cruised with an all-male crew as well. Both are OK, but not my preference. Joshua Slocum and other singlehande...
A tale of human fallibility and 500-hour alternator brackets Issue 38 : Sept/Oct 2004 The brackets connecting the bottom of the alternator to our engine failed in benign conditions miles from the near...
Sometimes you get lucky. But not this time Issue 39 : Nov/Dec 2004 At some point in the restoration of our (new to us) old C&C Mega 30 — in fact not too long after I started — I knew I would have ...
Whether you use it or not, you’ll be judged by your speed Issue 40 : Jan/Feb 2005 A few years ago, I set out to write a “trilogy of editorials” dealing with time, speed, and distance. The time editori...
Good kayak, but is it a dinghy? Issue 40 : Jan/Feb 2005 Our C&C 30 didn’t come with a dinghy when we purchased her. On a hunch, we bought a 17-foot rotomolded two-person kayak that we manage...
We’ve finally made the dreaded eye-splice Issue 42 : May/Jun 2005 When I was a very young boy, my father told me a story about two snakes. They formed a circle, heads to tails, with each snake eating ...
A strong invisible force dulls the brain, grabs the heart Issue 43 : Jul/Aug 2005 The first time I saw her she took my breath away. She was in the end slip by the sea wall at the Oakland Boat Show. I ...
Boaters need free VHF weather forecasts at sea Issue 45 : Nov/Dec 2005 Now and then our fearless political leaders have a really bad idea. The federal luxury tax on boats, which went into effect in 19...
Wintertime on the Great Prairie Issue 46 : Jan/Feb 2006 Parade rest! The voice shouted at me from long ago and far away. Haulout on the northern prairie is a melancholy time. There was a light frost o...
Here’s a handier way to keep it in place Issue 47 : Mar/Apr 2006 Our boat has halyard winches to port and starboard near the base of the mast and another winch on the boom for the outhaul and reefs. I...
After 29 years, a new genoa Issue 47 : Mar/Apr 2006 Mystic’s 150-percent genoa was made in 1976, as near as I can tell. We’ve made repairs to it in most of the 14 years we’ve owned the boat. I even se...
Learn the only real essentials for success Issue 48 : May/Jun 2006 I recently read a prediction that it only a matter of time before anyone who is so brave and presumptuous as to command a sailboat wi...
Perhaps how NOT to do this Issue 49 : Jul/Aug 2006 The first time I saw a Mega 30 was at a boat chow. She was a new idea, a new design, and newly built . . . all untried and unproven. I wanted one. I ...
Home is where the heart (and the boat) is Issue 51 : Nov/Dec 2006 Our boat had wintered over in Blind River, Ontario. WE had been cruising in the North Channel of Lake Huron off and on for about a yea...
A new concept for “sail training” Issue 51 : Nov/Dec 2006 Our 20-foot Flying Scot had a longer boom than does our C&C 30. With such a short boom, our high-aspect mainsail can’t get into very much ...
Avoiding engine failures in rough seas Issue 52: Jan/Feb 2007 IT USUALLY TAKES A COMBINATION OF failures, poor decisions, and bad luck to narrow down your options. We had been learning that our new cr...
Working, working, and waiting for the lulls Issue 53 : Mar/Apr 2007 My friend George will occasionally point out that when you work for yourself you only have to work about half-time. He explains that...
Sailing is mostly not done for money anymore Issue 52: Jan/Feb 2007 IN THE FALL OF 2006 WE DROVE THE GOOD OLD PICKUP, “YETI,” TO the Annapolis Sailboat Show, where we had a booth for the first time. W...
Get to know your boat’s capabilities Issue 53 : Mar/Apr 2007 We motored out of the little anchorage in the North Channel of Lake Huron into a stiffening afternoon breeze. We were beginning to learn ou...
Advice for avoiding problems with your roller headsail Issue 54 : May/Jun 2007 It was 3 A.M. The wind had reached the forecasted gale force, and somewhere in the marina I could hear the sound of a jib...
Compulsory testing and licensing send the wrong message Issue 54 : May/Jun 2007 The Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxiliary have recently thrown their weight behind the idea of mandatory testing and...
If you change the boat, the boat changes you Issue 55 : Jul/Aug 2007 In the old days when quality was truly more important than price, those of us who were charged with designing things that would be ...
It’s helpful — but there’s no absolute certainty Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007 We were following the channel behind the breakwater from Prince Arthur’s Landing Marina, heading toward the entrance to Thunde...