A voyage to a new home in North Carolina offers something fresh around every bend. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 I’ve spent 40-plus years sailing—mostly singlehanding—New Jersey’s Raritan Bay. It’s been gr...
A near-dismasting on a Pacific passage calls for teamwork and trust. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 It’s 0800 and I am snug in my bunk, still half asleep, contemplating greeting the day aboard Galapagos, ou...
Trailer getting in the way of your boat work? Here’s a no-crane solution. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 Trailers are great for moving modest-sized sailboats from one place to another. They’re also a good p...
Thanks to devoted designers and an Ontario museum, C&C’s legacy is preserved. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 Soon after George Cuthbertson parted ways with C&C Yachts in 1981, he donated the majorit...
Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 Back in February, I decided it was time to step away from my role as this magazine’s editor. Being Good Old Boat’s editor has been a dream job, a fantastic opportunity, and on...
Our fleeting imprint on the water reminds us that now is what matters most. Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 Paul’s wet shoes left a trail on the wooden dock, but it wouldn’t last long. Water trails never do....
A series of misjudgments leads to a nearly catastrophic bridge encounter. Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 My wife, Terri, and I, aboard our 2006 Beneteau 423, departed our home port of Clear Lake, Texas, to ...
Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 In 2011, a sophomore at State University of New York’s Maritime College in the Bronx jumped into his car and drove 300 miles north to the Adirondacks to join a landscaping cre...
Wherein loose lips end up sailing ships, that is, a venerable fishing schooner. Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 Decades into my successful marriage, I know that compromise is requisite to happiness. Which ex...
Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 A few summers ago, my buddy Travis and I were powerboating on the Connecticut River when mechanical issues forced us into the nearest marina. While Travis looked for help, I w...
A masked intruder triggers an emergency trip ashore and a call to animal control. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 The plan was to sail our 1975 Bristol 24, Pegu Club, to Block Island, Rhode Island, for the Me...
Wherein the lack of a head door threatens a happy marriage and worse yet, a cruise. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 One thing I learned about long-distance cruising under sail—especially aboard boats on the s...
Often it’s the little things that make a boat feel like home. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 A small sailing craft is not only beautiful…if it happens to be an auxiliary cruising boat, it is without qu...
A sailboat’s precarious final voyage takes teamwork, tools, and a 10-foot tide. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 Stretched out on my side amid tangled clumps of bittersweet and knotweed, my head resting on a r...
A boisterous sail and a new boat make for a day full of lessons learned. Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 “If you never make mistakes, you never learn anything.” The first time I said this to my kid, I thought...
Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 In 2018, I was part of a delivery crew charged with returning a Newport- Bermuda race boat to Rhode Island. It was a C&C 115 that had been stripped for racing, but one of t...
A boat’s small spaces and singular scents are alluring and memorable. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 I must have been a stowaway rat in a former life. Why else would I have a nose for the dim, fragrant (usua...
Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 I spend a lot of time navigating shoal waters, and my dedicated (and expensive) chart plotter only gets fresh information about such places when I install an updated SD card, y...
Mending a father’s grievous losses seemed impossible until another boat came along. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 Every year, countless sailors venture south. I never thought I’d be one of them but apparent...
After Baranof Island, an Alaskan voyage brings more beauty, a few bears, and stories to tell. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 As we walk down the main pier in Craig Harbor, our family’s dock cart is heavily l...
For these Lake Ontario sailors, the off-season is full on. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 It is February in Bluffers Park Marina in Toronto, and Lake Ontario is frozen solid. Winter in these parts can be pre...
A luff tape cleaner makes mast groove maintenance easy and sail hoisting smoother. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 The most basic part of sailing—hoisting your sails—should be easy and straightforward. While ...
A pleasant amble up the ICW is rudely interrupted by a near-sinking. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 It’s a hot August day, Mile Marker Somewhere, along a meandering stretch of well-marked rivers down in Sout...
Two friends’ seasonal ritual in a frozen boatyard sweetens the long Canadian winter. Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 It is mid-January, Quebec winter at its best. The day is sunny, the air crisp, and the sky ...
Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022 When I was in my mid-20s, I instructed cruising and sailing classes on monohulls and catamarans in the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, and basically anywhere else I was asked to g...
A sailor is grateful for her fellow bold sailing women. Issue 143: March/April 2022 It was mid-March in Rock Hall, Maryland, and boaters were emerging from hibernation to prep for the upcoming season....
The most memorable physical education class in college had nothing to do with the gym. Issue 143: March/April 2022 “I’m sorry!” I shouted as a massive wave hurled itself across the bow, soaking my cre...
A first-time passage to Catalina Island serves up wildlife, outboard hijinks, starry nights, and happiness. Issue 143: March/April 2022 I was getting pretty good at the marina thing. Nine months after...
Do you really need to splice a thimble into that line? Maybe not so much. Issue 143: March/April 2022 Traditional wire or metal thimbles are common gear on boats, usually spliced into a line where a r...
An unpredicted nighttime wind shift created a dangerous situation that demanded quick action. Issue 143: March/April 2022 After months of boat work, my partner, Chris, and I sat back to enjoy the frui...
