Circumnavigating Vancouver Island provides stiff sailing, natural wonders, and kind locals. Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Years ago, after decades of sailing the Salish Sea, my wife, Carey, and I decided we...
Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 At Highland Yacht Club in Toronto, two of the last three years’ sailing seasons were cut short by months due to high water levels. It was the same for all Lake Ontario sailors....
Even a small boat can teach big lessons when it comes to abrupt, discontinuous change. Issue 135: Nov/Dec 2020 Ellen and I have owned our 12-foot catboat, Finn, for 16 years. We love how the working c...
“There you are! Are you out for a sail, or out for a swim?” With these thoughtful words, a fellow club member sailed by us in his Laser. We were indeed swimming, next to my swamped open-hulled ...
Maybe you’ve found the exact boat you want and have the money to pay for it, but you don’t have the free time to bring it home. Maybe you dream of cruising far from your home port, but you have only a...
Sam rushed on deck to meet us as we rowed across the still starlit patch of water between our two boats. “Hey, good to see you two. When’d you get back? How was your delivery job? Climb on board and m...
I guess we could sense trouble even before it started. The 35-foot sloop was making a downwind approach into the crowded mooring area, its engine running, a spray dodger in place so the helmsman had a...
Refined to its elements, a day of sailing becomes miraculous. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 Wind and physics create the lift, sucking me along, the same dynamics as flight. One man, two sails, three sheets...
Georgia’s Cumberland Island is a land of strange beauty and rich history. Issue 134: Sept/Oct 2020 It may be the world’s largest Thanksgiving potluck. Six miles up St. Marys River, the dividing ...
We’re among the lucky ones, we made it. After years of dreaming and prepping, we’re living aboard our boat in the Tropics. It’s everything we hoped it would be and we miss none of the creature comfort...
Secrets of a cheese lover revealed at last Whether you decide on cocktail nibbles, late-night snacks, a sandwich filler, or a main course spice, cheese is one of the most versatile ingredients in a cru...
We’ve known for a long time that dark colored plastic water jugs far outlast clear or white ones. Seems the color gives UV protection. We noted colored dacron sails seem to outlast white ones unless t...
For this couple, one time around with a special boat just wasn’t quite enough. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 It had been a rather sad Christmas; my husband and I had not yet hit on a way to resolve s...
Battered old boats deserve our love. Let us count the reason why. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 We try to keep her in good shape, but our Catalina 30 is over 40 years old, and as the number of cracks in he...
In 1950, a friend of mine paid $7.00 for one half of a surplus aircraft wingtip fuel tank, made of aluminum. He added a keel to it, lost interest in the project, and sold the fuel tank boat to me for ...
A problematic first passage provides abundant lessons learned. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 People often transition from smaller boats to bigger boats, but our jump from a 21-foot trailer-sailer to Roam, ...
Wanting to be more self-sufficient and increase my knowledge of the diesel engine aboard my Beneteau 311, I signed up for Boater University’s online course Marine Diesel Maintenance and Troubleshootin...
A trip through Florida’s Okeechobee Waterway is a study in small towns and solitude. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 I untie Sonas, our Catalina 320, from her mooring as the sun brightens the morning s...
At the 20th annual Good Old Boat Regatta in Annapolis, three Pearson Vanguards shine on. Issue 133: July/Aug 2020 There is an inside joke that some members of my husband’s family will race raindrops d...
I am the wife of an old salt who breathes a sea-misted life. He sails year-round, shoving our Catalina 320 from the dock behind our Florida condo whenever the sun shines and the wind is fair. He is ha...
Writing a cruising guide provides a new perspective on home waters. Issue 131: March/April 2020 “Just turn right at the lights,” an experienced cruising sailor told me when I first arrived in Santa Ba...
An evolving passion for sailing helps define a path forward. Issue 131: March/April 2020 The day my younger brother, Mitch, suggested that we charter a sailboat for a week on Traverse Bay, it seemed l...
Shooting stills and video for cruising articles To get photos with a difference, take your boat away from marina situations and find surroundings that are out of the ordinary. Magazines need photograp...
Ensconced in the cocoon-like security and comfort of our home, a Freedom 38 sailboat named Her Diamond, I turn my attention away from the 24-hour coronavirus news cycle and I reflect. I am saddened by...
I sail a MacGregor 26D. It does not have a chart table. We don’t even carry much in the way of charts, because using charts in the cockpit takes a lot of room and just when we need to look at de...
For me, there are few experiences as satisfying as finding a quiet, secluded anchorage where I can enjoy the freedom of a peaceful sunset and lazy morning. You’ll recognize my boat because there’s an ...
A night passage in familiar waters nearly ends in disaster. Issue 132: May/June 2020 I’m not a great sailor, not even a very good one. But I enjoy moving from one place to another in that way, and I’v...
A lifetime’s love of sailing was inspired by a most inauspicious early voyage. Issue 132: May/June 2020 The curious thing is the way it creeps up on you. One day you’re asking the old salts at the clu...
A singular voyage leads to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence’s stunning Mingan Archipelago Issue 131: March/April 2020 It was on the way back from a trip to Tadoussac—a fun adventure from Montreal on E...
Fill your water tanks the natural way Larry Pardey secures hoses to the small through- hull fittings he and Lin have inserted into the four low points of their sun cover. He leads these to their water ...
