The first launch of a Catalina 22 after bottom painting didn’t go as planned. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 I bought my first boat, a well-used 1981 Catalina 22, after moving from Alaska to the East Coast....
A small-craft sailor finds a second chance with the perfect boat that got away. Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 Most of us have been there—fallen for an early love who for one reason or another became the on...
Trailer-sailing depends on finding a good launch ramp. Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 One advantage of owning a trailerable boat is being able to explore distant and unfamiliar waters on a tight timeline an...
The boat was small, but the crush was huge. Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 At the age when girls often dream of riding horses, I was falling in love with a sleek, white, fiberglass hull. And though I’ve com...
During a seven-day rally, the Salish 100 celebrates the vivacity of small boats. Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 Usually, I’m better prepared. Self-recrimination rarely does any good, but as I fumbled to stu...
Here’s a cook’s tour of seaworthy recipes suitable for a good old boat’s chef. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 Pity the poor cook. Think of the limited space for a galley on most good old b...
Through a long friendship of sailing and writing, a particular boat weaves a steady thread. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 I wasn’t in the market for a sailboat. I already had one, a Pearson Ensign, to be e...
When life gives long-held racing plans lemons, you make cruising lemonade. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 In late 2017, I decided that it would be really neat to enter the Marion-Bermuda Race and navigate m...
New to sailing, a young couple is making the adventure happen one step at a time. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 In November 2020, Nathan and Kirra Davison-Lamb were aboard their newly acquired Cape Dory 31...
An afternoon raft-up ends in disaster when the weather turns fierce. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 It was the first day of “The Voyage to the End of the World”—the North Flathead Yacht Club’s 13th annual e...
After thousands of ocean miles, a Nor’Sea 27 finds more waters to explore via highway. Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 The burgundy-colored jug, bearing the logo of a winery somewhere on France’s Canal du Mi...
Taken from its mooring, a boat sails into a hurricane and a mystery. Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 My wife, son, and I had sailed our C&C 35-3, Secret Plans, around Nova Scotia for 11 years and made co...
Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022 Poking and picking at a corner of worn teak on the port seat behind Yahtzee’s helm, I slowly test the wood’s integrity. Unexpectedly, a slightly upturned slat breaks free in a...
Issue 145: July/Aug 2022 I don’t know what most 14-year-old boys want for their birthdays—I could speculate, though it’s a slippery slope—but when my son, Kaeo, turned 14, his birthday request was abs...
A raven-winged friend helps a sailor count his blessings. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 During the decade we sailed our 38-foot Cabo Rico, Triana, a sizeable black crow marked the days from season to season...
When a fellow sailor is in trouble, you help—no questions asked. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 It has been more than 10 years since that warm summer day when I first saw a new boat at our yacht club, moored...
A mystery leak kept filling the bilge. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 “Steve!” “What?” “There’s water in the cabin!” “There’s…what? “Water in the cabin! Lots of it!” My new girlfriend, Susan, and I were out ...
For Canadian sailor and artist Christopher Pratt, the yacht was the art. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 Many artists have rendered the elegance of yachts under sail, but few have captured the essence and bea...
An overnight race, a 12 Metre sail, and new friends and places round out an unexpected adventure. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 To make lemonade one must start with lemons; in our case, it was the last-minu...
Oxford’s Downes Curtis was one of Maryland’s most enduring sailmakers. Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 Maryland’s deep maritime heritage is inextricably linked to the stories and experiences of Black people o...
Issue 147: Nov/Dec 2022 Sticking a sailmaker’s needle into your hand hurts. Ask me how I know. Fortunately, after the first time, I didn’t do it again…that weekend, anyway. It was the first day of a s...
A drifter evokes pioneering explorers and the eternal quest for meaning. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 We hoist the drifter instead of the genoa, hoping the diaphanous sail will conjure a breeze. I pad forw...
Rest and relaxation on a Chesapeake Bay cruise. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 I noticed the colorful accent pillow on a side shelf at the marine thrift shop last spring. For only five bucks, it would perk u...
Delayed engine maintenance leads to a white-knuckled sail through a slice of New York history. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 “Whatever you do, retorque the head at 500 hours,” I was told by the previous own...
A fun night sail after a dinner out with friends turns harrowing for a father and son. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 In the moment before disaster struck, I distinctly remember working on the foredeck of my...
For a new sailor, a fateful trip sparked a seemingly impossible goal. Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 When the sailing bug bites, it bites hard. It got me while spending 21 days aboard Selkie, a custom alumin...
Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 Twenty years ago, I couldn’t have imagined myself as a sailor, much less an editor at Good Old Boat magazine. I grew up near Vancouver, British Columbia, one of the world’s gre...
Quiet morning moments on a boat bestow a tranquil richness Issue 149: March/April 2023 Is there any doubt that the best place to be in the world is on a boat first thing in the morning? Listen: For a ...
When a plethora of boat problems bedevil a two-week cruise, fellow boaters come to the rescue Issue 149: March/April 2023 On a brisk Saturday morning in August, my husband, Larry, and I set off on our...
A 600-mile trip on the Saint Lawrence proves an enjoyable test for a smaller new boat Issue 149: March/April 2023 Big voyages in small sailboats have inspired me for as long as I can remember, being d...
