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...
Counting blessings at the season’s close Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 Yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner is still sticking with me as I contemplate breakfast. My morning ritual of checking the marine weather ...
Deflecting the dreaded midlife malaise Issue 69 : Nov/Dec 2009 In this issue, Graham Watt puts forth a convincing argument that a wonderful education is available to the young person who invests his o...
A cruising dream ends on a Caribbean reef Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 We were at the eastern end of the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the Virgin Islands and dusk was descending quickly. Ahead of the boat r...
Maneuvering with the help of a current Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 Maneuvering a boat in a marina with a strong current running through it often seems fraught with difficulty. A vessel heading across the ...
Their third boat met their elusive ideal Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 Sitting in the oyster bar in Key West, four wannabes and an old salt debated the merits of sailboats for cruising: “You must have a hea...
Cruisers learn to race — Bahamas style Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 We were with cruising friends, enjoying a lazy morning of harbor-watching in Nassau, where the parade always included a number of native ...
A successful circumnavigator passes on lessons learned Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 My wife, Carol, and I have been bumbling ever westward for the last 20 years in our good old boat, Mary T, an Offshore 40...
Reappraising cruising possibilities led to a radical change in platform Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 In this, the first of two articles, Dave Martin examines the reasoning behind his choosing a multihull a...
How racing cured one woman’s fear of sailing Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 Ever since I was 11, my goal has been to sail around the world. A few years ago, when I was 29, my husband, James, and I bought our...
It’s time to step to the dock Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010 As I head rapidly toward my 60th birthday (and Jerry sees his 70th arriving in a few years), I have noticed that our attitudes about sailing are e...
February awakens nostalgia and a yen for the scend of the sea Issue 71 : Mar/Apr 2010 There was a time — perhaps a half century ago last Tuesday morning — when all seemed right with the world, even th...
Stay safe and sane when sailing singlehanded Issue 71 : Mar/Apr 2010 My friend Dorothy’s brother was visiting from Ohio. She said he was a fellow sailor and invited me over for dinner. Her brother tur...
Learn to make safer, faster passages Issue 71 : Mar/Apr 2010 After spending a few days in Jacksonville, Florida, we planned to head out the St. Johns River and then turn south into the Intracoastal Wa...
High winds and freak waves trap lake cruisers in a river Issue 71 : Mar/Apr 2010 Two artist friends and I spent more than a week in June 2003 sailing my traditional 27-foot cutter along Lake Superior’...
Fun comes first in the St. Petersburg GOB Regatta Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 Steve Lang started something big in St. Petersburg, Florida. As a Good Old Boat subscriber, beginning with the very first issu...
A springtime sail dishes up variety Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 It was my fault, really. I had unwittingly set the ball in motion by giving my husband, Dave, a copy of John Kretchmer’s Used Boat Notebook ...
Be a model captain by acting like one Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 When you’re the skipper of a boat, you’re responsible for everything that happens on and to the boat. Nerve-racking, isn’t it? It’s hard t...
A circumnavigator adjusts to life’s shifting winds Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 Last spring, a friend of ours sailed from our adopted homeport of Brunswick, Georgia, on the first leg of a planned circumnav...
Shooting stills and video for cruising articles Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 This article is an excerpt from Lin and Larry Pardey’s Capable Cruiser, third edition, which was published earlier this year. Th...
A tall-ship captain sails a petite Dana 24 Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 Minstrel is the perfect name for Karen Sullivan’s Dana 24. Karen has done a fair amount of wandering from coast to coast and beyond a...
The triumph of the do-it-yourselfer Issue 72 : May/Jun 2010 The thing that separates the hard-core do-it-yourselfer from other sailors is just this: no fear. We were replacing a vinyl window in our 17...
Is it really good for the soul? Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 I have a confession to make. I have booked a passage to Alaska on a cruise ship. I’m confessing because for years I’ve been saying to anyone wit...
Employ virtual dock hands to control your boat’s bow Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 At our marina, the finger piers are aligned north and south but the winds are generally easterly or westerly. On most days,...
Cruisers pull together for the dear departed Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 The brassy summer sun beat down on the tiny Turkish port of Marmaris. Tom, the crusty old Brit, sat sweating under his cockpit awni...
The ins and outs and aftermath Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 Flash — BANG! My eyes flew open. I had been sound asleep, so it took me a second to orient myself. I was sleeping in the V-berth, the hatch above...
What advertising and operating manuals don’t tell you Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 Retrofitting your good old boat with a new GPS receiver? A GPS chart plotter? Beware. Whatever the salesman told you, what...
Listening to the lovely sound of no engine Issue 73 : Jul/Aug 2010 “If you don’t mind, let’s not start the engine yet,” Jim said as we sailed across a tide rip between Sucia Island and Patos Island St...
