Cruising Grounds

Fine & Wild

by Jayne Finn, Posted September 7, 2011

Conventional wisdom dictates that you not enter an unknown harbor at night, and as we prepare to depart Quebec City, I wonder if the same applies to leaving. For three days the wind has been blowing a steady 25-plus knots from the east, against the current of the Saint Lawrence River, pinning us down in Bassin Louise, the old port, now Quebec City marina. But let's be clear; this is not a

Bait Station Boil

by MacDuff Perkins, Posted August 24, 2011

This past July, while sailing in Maine, we were surprised to discover there were no lobsters to be had on North Haven Island. “Ya got a boat?” a woman with no lobsters to sell asked us.As it turns out, this year’s lobster season hasn’t been the best one for Mainers, and you’re just as likely to get a fresh catch in Brooklyn as you are in Rockland. Lobster “middlemen”—floating barges that

Maine Windjammer Cruising

by MacDuff Perkins, Posted July 28, 2011

When I boarded Mercantile, an 80-foot schooner docked in Camden Harbor, Maine, my iPhone’s battery had about five minutes of life left on it. “Hey—do you have an iPod dock or outlet on board?” I asked a scruffy-looking young man who could have walked straight out of a modern-day Moby Dick casting call.“Aw, lady, you don’t know how much fun yer gonna have once that thing’s

A Big Lake Upgrade

by Lyle Frizzell, Posted July 27, 2011

Driving up to Lake Champlain with our 21ft San Juan sloop Puffin in tow, my wife Dawn and I felt our excitement mounting. We’d had plenty of sailing experience on our home lake in New Hampshire, but this would be our first time on the big body of water in the northwestern corner of Vermont. We were looking forward to a week-long sailing vacation in a beautiful locale.A light rain

Why I Skip Bermuda

by Don Street, Posted July 1, 2011

This article originally appeared in the October 2009 issueMany sailors think the best way to reach the Caribbean from the northeast U.S. is to head for Bermuda, spend a few days there, and then take an easy ride down to the islands. In my experience this is neither the quickest or safest route for boats under 55 feet. Many American insurance companies, and almost all Lloyds

Bundaberg, Australia

by Duncan Gould, Posted June 24, 2011

This article originally appeared in the October 2009 issue The Burnett River is a big, slow-moving river, muddy from eons of moving silt. Where Moose, our 39-foot cutter, is moored at “Bundy,” eight miles up from the sea, the current direction changes twice a day as the tide floods and then ebbs. But Moose doesn’t clock around with tide cycle because she’s tied,

Cruisers' Havens

by Ray Jason, Posted June 23, 2011

This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issueSweet little Bocas del Toro, Panama, was slipping astern of me. It is an obscure but superb cruising stop where life and laughter flow as easily as a mid-moon tide. The hub of the scene there is the Bocas Marina and a delightful bar called the Calypso Cantina.This is a classic example of what I call a “cruisers'

Cruising the Panhandle

by Adam Cort, Posted May 9, 2011

Walking down the dock to the Beneteau 393 Splendid Adventure I felt like I was arriving at the scene of a crime. It was late October, and the overcast night sky was pitch black. The air was sweltering hot, absolutely still. To the right I could see the lights of the port of Pensacola, Florida, to the left the lights of the city’s historic Seville Square district. What I was really looking for,

Sailing the Arctic

by Nicolas Peissel, Posted May 5, 2011

Since my partner, Edvin Buregren, and I started planning to sail the Northwest Passage this summer aboard our 31-foot fiberglass sloop Belzebub II—on a shoestring budget, no less—we have realized that a polar voyage is unlike any other.Route Planning: Picking a route through the Northwest Passage requires methodical planning. The majority of charted Arctic waters were surveyed with

Great Lakes Solo

by Charles Scott, Posted April 25, 2011

I have always been drawn to solo sailing. I’m not sure if it’s the challenge, the peace and solitude, or just the difficulty of finding good crew. Singlehanding has its risks, but I’ve also found sailing alone very rewarding.Aboard my Westsail 32, Antares, I cruised from Detroit up Lake Huron and into Lake Michigan. The first leg, from Port Huron to Mackinac