A quick dismasting led to months of navigating insurance claim waters. Issue 136: Jan/Feb 2021 Five seconds is all it takes. Five seconds for your entire rig to come down, causing tens of thousands of...
Finding their perfect boat had less to do with love than with research, compromise, and patience. Issue 136: Jan/Feb 2021 We’ve all heard the story: Man or woman sees boat, falls in love, opens wallet...
A pulpit-mounted spotlight can make all the difference when navigating in the dark. Issue 136: Jan/Feb 2021 I tend to sneak up on new ideas, so it took me many years of night sailing in the Chesapeake...
Issue 136: Jan/Feb 2021 Putting this issue together, Good Old Boat Senior Editor Wendy Mitman Clarke said to me, “Personally, I think it’s stupid, the whole ‘two happiest days’ adage. There’s no truth...
New to night passages, a sailor finds help from an unexpected visitor. Issue 137: March/April 2021 I had stared into the night sky many hundreds of times from the cockpit of my 1967 Rawson 30 Ave Del ...
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...
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...
