The ever-narrowing gap twixt cup and lip Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 A search on the Internet would have you believe that the term “slippery slope” has been in use since 1951. In the grimmest of definiti...
Familiar waters feel like a fond hug Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 We had just seen a favorite kid play the role of a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz when we untied our docklines in late June for a 75-nautic...
Lettuce and cold drinks — the frosting on the cruising cake Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 This past summer, for the first time in 15 years or more, we had ice in Mystic’s icebox. In years past, we cruised ...
How we sail is related to how far we are from the water Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 During the summer sailing season I experienced another one of those revelations that occur from time to time. What I fi...
Two-boat-itis arouses ambivalence Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 It is possible to have too much of a good thing. We discovered this in the summer of 2015, the year we had two boats in the water. At once. I...
Take one tabloid six times a year Issue 108: May/June 2016 When we hang out in our booth at boat shows, subscribers stop to resubscribe, of course, but we’re amazed by the number of times they tell us...
The talent on Good Old Boat’s masthead Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 Back in 1997, Jerry Powlas and I had no idea what we would be creating with this magazine. In nearly 20 years, a community has formed ar...
Sailing with the heirs to our pastime Issue 110: Sept/Oct 2016 This was the summer that will be remembered fondly aboard Mystic for the times we took kids sailing with us. We didn’t go far. In one cas...
Dreams fulfilled, sailors return to an unsteady terra firma Issue 111: Nov/Dec 2016 Odysseus, I was recently reminded, eventually got so fed up with his sea travels that he wanted to walk inland carry...
A latecomer to rowing dips in her oar Issue 113: March/April 2017 The title of Richard Bode’s wildly popular little book says it all: First You Have to Row a Little Boat. I don’t know how many copies ...
Mystic sometimes hosts very special guests Issue 114: May/June 2017 Our Mystic is no ordinary C&C 30. Not only has she been featured in this magazine uncountable times, she’s had two sailing lumin...
. . . to a fresh crew of familiar old hands Issue 115: July/Aug 2017 In early April, Jerry and I experienced “the first day of the rest of our lives.” This followed my waking one morning in late Febru...
A midlife course change has left a legacy in its wake Issue 121: July/Aug 2018 Short of getting married to begin with, starting a sailing magazine 20 years ago was one of the most risky and rewarding ...
Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 From the day back in 1998 that Ted Brewer mistook me for an old friend, my husband, Jerry Powlas, and I have had a warm and special relationship with him. At the time there was...
Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 Even though the sailors in our lives might think they have it all, we know there is always something they need. Their preferences can vary as much as their boats. Read on for s...
The magazine’s co-founder reflects on the early days and what boaters and farmers have in common Issue 151: July/Aug 2023 Like many Good Old Boat readers, Jerry and I have been accumulating boats for ...
Don Moyer didn’t start out to become the Atomic 4 guru, he just loved ‘messing about with engines,’ and an Atomic 4 was the engine he had … the rest, as they say, is history In...
Sailor and writer Webb Chiles is credited with saying something to the effect that when the engine in his boat died he was set free – no maintenance chores, no need to get fuel, no more worries ...
When winter impounds the keelboat, the trailer-boat heads south toward spring The voice of Elvis Presley is running through my brain once more as I write. It’s the same refrain that played often durin...
Jasna Tuta and her partner, Rick Page, are self-described sea gypsies, members of the water tribe who cruise the world’s oceans. Their first book, Get Real, Get Gone: How to Become a Modern Sea Gypsy ...
Great Lakes sailor James Barry was inspired to write his first historical fiction novel by a true story he discovered while sailing among the islands of Lake Huron’s North Channel. The short ve...
You already know Ed and Ellen Zacko. Ed writes award-winning articles for Good Old Boat. Ellen is the smiling co-sailor occasionally pictured in those articles. Also occasionally pictured in those art...
Some sailors know Yves Gelinas as the nice guy behind the counter at boat shows selling Cape Horn windvanes, modeled on the windvane he built in 1981 for a world circumnavigation. Alberg 30 sailors kn...
By Karen Larson This summer the confluence of two things made a strong impression on me. The first was the opportunity to appreciate once again in its entirety The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graha...
Not in all the years that hundreds of sailing books have landed on my desk for review have I thought that a novel was destined for the leap from boating literature to mainstream reading and popularity...
Vern Hobbs’ third novel is his best one yet, and the other two are very good. An artist and contributor to several sailing magazines, including Good Old Boat, Vern began his journey as an author in 20...
Is it every sailor’s dream to rescue a mermaid, a topless lady in distress? What could be better? How about a somewhat modern slant on the mermaid theme…say, a mermaid who can get around on two good l...
Lin and Larry Pardey have had a lifetime of adventure and they have willingly invited the rest of us along for most of those grand experiences through their books and published articles. Lin did most ...
James Baldwin has once again pulled out his logs, sharpened his memory, and shared the incredible tale of one of his circumnavigations aboard Atom, his 28-foot Pearson Triton. The first circumnavigati...
Historical novelist James Haley has entered the crowded field of nautical fiction occupied by the likes of Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey-Maturin series), C. S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower), Richard Woodman...