Profiles

Air and Water

by Adam Cort, Posted October 31, 2011

Most sailors only go aloft when necessary—either to do some kind of repair or maybe to get a better view while picking their way into a strange harbor. For French sailors Franck Rabilier and Delphine Lechifflart, though, messing about in their boat’s rigging is the most natural thing in the world. Currently partway through a circumnavigation, the two acrobats have staged dozens of performances at

SAIL Magazine Rewind: Little Jonah and the Hurricane

by Douglas Jones, Posted September 21, 2011

This story was originally published in the August 1995 issue of

Sailing Sense: The Quiet Stranger

by Robbert Das, Posted June 17, 2011

Originally published in the February 2009 issueNo one really knows what inspired Harry Young, a 38-year-old British sailor who’d been staying in New York, to sail solo across the Atlantic. It’s also not clear why he made the passage in a small boat he’d designed and built himself and hadn’t bothered to name, though some think Young had been up to some mischief in New York and

A Passage to Africa

by Duncan Gould, Posted May 9, 2011

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”Baseball legend Yogi Berra gets credit for that advice, but it sort of encapsulated our motivation for the coming cruise.Our 39-foot steel cutter, Moose, was sailing out through the pass at Mayotte, a French island between Mozambique and Madagascar, bound for Ilha de Moambique, just off the African mainland. After a

If you build it...

by Meredith Laitos, Posted May 5, 2011

When it comes to marketing sailing to African-Americans, Paul Mixon says the sailing industry missed the boat. “The sailing industry targets middle-aged white men,” he explains, “but I know everyone can enjoy a sailing vacation, so I market a dream to African-Americans that just happens to involve a chartered sailboat.”Mixon’s dream, known as Black Boaters Summit (BBS), has attracted

Tall Ship Tales

by Alanna Byrne, Posted May 1, 2011

Before the winter of 2010, Abi Campbell and JB Sample were two high school students looking for a change of scenery. JB sailed 420s growing up in Concord, Massachusetts. Abi had no sailing experience, though she was raised in North Haven, Maine, close to where her father once crewed aboard windjammers. The two had never met, but they shared an itch for adventure and a love for the water that

The Freedom of Sail

by Sail Staff, Posted April 20, 2011

The Freedom of Sail is not strained; it flows freely in matching degrees to the skill and passion of the hand that seeks it. It is as available to the everyday sailor as to the Olympic medalist—as rewarding to the Opti beginner as to the veteran around-the-world singlehander. Its art consists of bending and blending the power of wind and wave to extract forward motion from often-contrary

More Dream, Less Drama

by Meredith Laitos, Posted March 7, 2011

The notion of a “cruising couple” conjures up a pair of stereotypes. In one, a pair of kindred souls broad-reaches off into a sunset of wedded bliss. In another, a thunderhead pours down as two people butt heads, break boats and abandon ship.Jeff Grossman and Jean Levine, founders of Two Can Sail, have seen both extremes during the more than 20 years they’ve been coaching cruising couples

On the Shoulders of Giants

by Meredith Laitos, Posted June 14, 2010

In a classroom on Captiva Island in Florida, six students gather around a white board and watch their instructor draw a diagram of the points of sail. The students range in age from 30 to 70 and hail from Ireland, South Africa, Texas and New York. As their minds take in the new information, a door opens behind them. “Hi, we’re Steve and Doris Colgate!” says a grinning Doris. “Just stopping by to

Pipe Dreams

by David Schmidt, Posted September 23, 2009

When William "Scott" Piper III was a child his father laid a piece of advice on him that still resonates after 60-plus years: "There’s no reason to live in Florida if you don’t do what it has to offer." With this, a passion for sailing was born, and with it a legacy that Piper’s father, now passed, would be proud of: Four "near" circumnavigations, podium finishes in high-profile events such as