Issue 137: March/April 2021 Something’s been troubling me for a few months. Late last year, US Sailing, the governing body of sailing that’s been around for over 120 years, held several online forums ...
Issue 138: May/June 2021 At the core of sound seamanship, aside from all the navigational, weather, and sailing skills required, lies a deep and thoughtful preparedness for all contingencies. At sea, ...
Issue 138: May/June 2021 I was a Southern California kid, still a bit lost in my early 20s, when I decided sailing was something I should be doing. It pains me to type these words, but my motivation s...
Some boats you just can’t live without. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 Somewhere along the line, my boat ate one of my favorite earrings. It was a small, silver-set piece of green glass, with a clasp that k...
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...
Writer Don Casey has helped and inspired countless sailors and their good old boats. Issue 139: July/Aug 2021 When Don Casey quit his job as chief operations officer for the Federal Reserve in Miami i...
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...
The world’s most famous physicist was a devoted, if unconventional, yachtsman. Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 What name would you give an amateur sailor who capsized, hit rocks, and ignored bad weather? Who...
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...
Issue 141: Nov/Dec 2021 The sailing world in late July lost a giant, and many sailors—myself included—lost a good friend, with the passing of Bruce Kirby at age 92. He is most well-known, of course, f...
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...
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...
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 ...
