How to get aid when you really need it Issue 64 : Jan/Feb 2009 There are many ways a sailor can signal for help: body movements, sound signals, pyrotechnics, terrestrial radio, and via the search-and-...
While we deliberated, our boat chose her own name Issue 64 : Jan/Feb 2009 It’s time to buy the champagne. The name of the Mega 30, our project boat, has been determined. Fate stepped in while we were ...
If there’s a hole in the hull, be sure to peek before it leaks Issue 65 : Mar/Apr 2009 Every inboard-powered boat has a number of holes through its bottom. The cooling-water intake, the rudder, and th...
Size evokes no envy when sailing is its own reward Issue 65 : Mar/Apr 2009 My wife, Jen, and I were settling down in one of our favorite anchorages after a hard but rewarding day of sailing. We’d brok...
Life aboard is measured by aural stimuli Issue 65 : Mar/Apr 2009 A gull’s cry pierces the morning quiet of the marina as I open the hatch and emerge into the mist with my coffee. That sound bridges ti...
Banish those not-so-good old-boat odors Issue 65 : Mar/Apr 2009 When our good friends Jeff and Dawn told us they had just purchased a liveaboard sailboat, I knew what would make the perfect “boat warm...
His magnum opus inspires anew Issue 65 : Mar/Apr 2009 Jerry and I were in awe of Don Casey in 1997 when we started our new magazine named with a nod of appreciation to Don’s popular book, This Old Boa...
Filled with boat love, her heart sang loud Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 The smell, if I didn’t love it, would have made me sick. Diesel fuel, tar, salt water . . . and dreams. I couldn’t get enough. I stop...
Use your own observations to refine the local forecast Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 A big part of guessing what the weather will do is knowing what it has just done. Reading Gord May’s excellent article, “...
The rise and fall of a famous nautical cover girl Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 Some consider it absurd to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, but those of us who mess about in boats know differently. After...
Advice from one of America’s best-known cruising authors Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 When I’m way out on the water in a small boat and a storm swoops down and the yacht starts hopping around, all sorts of...
A father and son bond deeply playing pirate Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 In 1995, my son and I towed our daysailer from Birmingham, Alabama, to Bahia Honda State Park, Florida, for a week of cruising in th...
They are shipmates of a higher order Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 Father-and-son relationships come in as many variations as there are fathers and sons. Looking back at my own father, I remember him as som...
Lessons learned by a would-be circumnavigator Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 Choosing and equipping your voyaging boat is all about compromise. Among other considerations, you have to balance initial costs, ...
A large family has big adventures in a small boat Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 A two-day passage into bright blue sub-tropical water inspired pleasant reflections on how the journey with our good old boat ...
An informal survey for our readers Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009 As the national and world economies started heading south, Good Old Boat magazine made some rigging changes to help us weather the storm. Mos...
Reviewing those occasional moments of chaos — and bliss Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 In a frustrating moment during a mechanical refit on Pleiades, I sat wondering, “Why do I even own a boat?” My lack of ...
Marina auctions offer good old bargains aplenty . . . but caveat sailor! Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 Auctions of abandoned boats are potentially an excellent source for sailors looking for smaller and ine...
Ten things you could take off the “must-have” list Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 In today’s economic climate, many of us are looking for ways to scale back our budgets without giving up our dreams. For anyo...
The equipment you hope you never have to use Issue 67: July/Aug 2009 Among the most important pieces of equipment on board our boats are some we’ve spent good money for but hope we never have to use. ...
A good old author recalls the fun of the good old days Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 Everything about sailing was very different then. The America’s Cup was challenged for and defended by syndicates of pri...
Docking in a storm brings near-calamity Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 The deal was done. I handed the check to the yacht broker, and she was mine: a classic New England sloop, designed by a famous marine a...
Singlehanded to Grenada in a Tartan 33 Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 “Two ladies in the prime of their lives.” That’s how Mina L’Ecuyer (pronounced MY-na Lek-WEE-a) describes herself and her 1982 Tartan 33...
A much admired designer steps aboard Issue 68 : Sept/Oct 2009 Please join me in welcoming Robert Perry as a regular contributor to our pages. Bob is no stranger to Good Old Boat. He’s been a regular r...
That first storm builds a bond, even on the hard Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 Ominous clouds spread across the horizon. I hoped they might miss me. But the flags crackling stiffly straight off the pole tol...
Building a boat was an education that paid for itself Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 We hear a lot these days about student loans and young people working for years in humdrum jobs to clear the heavy persona...
Two classic beauties capture a sailor’s heart Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 When I open a sailing magazine, I always start flipping through from the back, where all the brokerage listings are. So, on one pa...
Don’t bet your life on questionable lifelines Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 The following is an excerpt from the second edition of Don Casey’s This Old Boat, published in April of this year by International...
A personal checklist from a 7-year liveaboard Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 When my wife, Jan, and I decided we wanted to live aboard a sailboat and cruise the East Coast, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean for...
Factors and choices that may make the difference Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 “You may not have enough insured value to save this boat.” The surveyor’s words left me stunned. He had finished his first task...
