The ever-narrowing gap twixt cup and lip Issue 103 : Jul/Aug 2015 A search on the Internet would have you believe that the term “slippery slope” has been in use since 1951. In the grimmest of definiti...
A new role brings a fresh identity Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 I renamed my boat. For several years, I’ve made my home aboard a 1967 Irwin 27 . . . just another narrow-beamed mass-produced vintage sloop...
Karma and kind strangers made it happen Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 One desk-bound afternoon in May, as I juggled two phones, carrying two calls to two different area codes in a foreign country, while f...
Familiar waters feel like a fond hug Issue 104 : Sept/Oct 2015 We had just seen a favorite kid play the role of a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz when we untied our docklines in late June for a 75-nautic...
A loyal, uncomplaining member of the crew Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 We lost a treasured sailing companion several years back and sailing hasn’t been quite the same since. By all appearances that August...
A lifelong sailor supports her passion by chartering Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 It was 2004 when I entertained the thought of a boat of my own. I had just completed the exam for USCG Master. When I took...
Life lessons from an early affair Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 There was no name on her hull when I found her, so I called her Frankly Scarlett in reference to the closing line of Gone With The Wind. That...
A daily duty records a lifetime of memories Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015 I am sitting in front of the fire doing research for an upcoming ocean passage. I like to study the passages of others. What routes...
A sailor and a snake give each other the shivers Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 Shortly after Speedwell had been relaunched following a few weeks on the hard at Young’s Boatyard in Jones Creek, just off the...
A sailing legend puts a wayward boat’s demise in perspective Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” –Buddha In June 2013, at about...
A former tightwad reflects on shoestring budgets Issue 108: May/June 2016 The pastime of sailing has often been compared to standing in a cold shower while tearing up 20-dollar bills. Yacht ownership ...
A faithful and forgiving foul-weather friend Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 Ellen is on top of me! Our legs are entwined! We are lying against the starboard wall of our cockpit footwell. It is horizontal, p...
How we sail is related to how far we are from the water Issue 106 : Jan/Feb 2016 During the summer sailing season I experienced another one of those revelations that occur from time to time. What I fi...
The alluring emanations of a seagoing home Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 At any auto parts store in the country, you can buy an aerosol can of New Car Smell. Have you ever seen a can of New Boat Smell at y...
Fatigue, false steps, and a child adrift Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 After four days of the most uncomfortable seas in our entire world circumnavigation, we arrived at the island of Great Inagua, Bahamas...
Two-boat-itis arouses ambivalence Issue 107 : Mar/Apr 2016 It is possible to have too much of a good thing. We discovered this in the summer of 2015, the year we had two boats in the water. At once. I...
An enchanting ruse brings a wife on board Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 I’ve never chosen the right boat for me. I’ve always let the right boat choose me. In the November 2015 issue of Good Old Boat, I des...
When the self is inseparable from The Water Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 The Water is always there. The Water forms a continuous thread through my life from my earliest memories to this moment. It has bee...
Canadian sailors broaden their boating skills on England’s canals Issue 109 : Jul/Aug 2016 Here we were, four freshwater sailors maneuvering a 65-foot steel narrowboat in pitch darkness through a damp...
Take one tabloid six times a year Issue 108: May/June 2016 When we hang out in our booth at boat shows, subscribers stop to resubscribe, of course, but we’re amazed by the number of times they tell us...
Repair-centered missions bear unexpected fruit Issue 111: Nov/Dec 2016 While cruising down the U.S. Pacific coast we have had hardware break, alternators seize, water pumps give out, and all manner of...
Eradication attempts wither to a ritual cleansing Issue 110 : Sept/Oct 2016 I have morning rituals when cruising. Though I try to sleep late, I usually rise with the sun, but with deliberate care so a...
The best decision was to call for help Issue 110 : Sept/Oct 2016 Having plied the Great Lakes on sailboats for more than 30 years, I was thrilled when my brother Jim informed me that he was getting hi...
Sailing with the heirs to our pastime Issue 110: Sept/Oct 2016 This was the summer that will be remembered fondly aboard Mystic for the times we took kids sailing with us. We didn’t go far. In one cas...
Dreams fulfilled, sailors return to an unsteady terra firma Issue 111: Nov/Dec 2016 Odysseus, I was recently reminded, eventually got so fed up with his sea travels that he wanted to walk inland carry...
A logbook by lamplight and a flood of memories Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 I’m an old man with an old boat moored not far from my old house. My desire for new things has waned into a dying moon sliver wit...
. . . means coping with the occasional nightmare Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 What happens when someone who has discarded a dream, a dream clearly beyond reach, meets a dreamer? Possibilities germinate. Yo...
Could old boats be the new old cars? Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017 When reader George Chase offered his perspective on owning good old boats, we decided to share it with all good old boat caretakers. –Edito...
A sailboat evokes a certain kind of emotion Issue 113: March/April 2017 Many a captain will tell you a sailboat is a conscious being. She can be a jealous thing, a sensitive gal whose dependability ri...
Saying farewell to a first small boat Issue 113: March/April 2017 In the two-page color advertisement, the million-dollar yacht was sailing briskly across blue water against a background of the white ...
