SAIL.SailMagazine

If current trends continue, Lakes Michigan and Huron will experience record low water levels this year—the shallowest since 1963. The two lakes, which are really one body of water connected by the Straits of Mackinac, are more than two feet below average levels.

For many cruisers with simple electrical needs, a laptop computer can be the biggest power hog onboard. On our Creekmore 34, Eurisko, we need a laptop not only for my writing, but for our three homeschoolers.

They say every cruiser turns into a racer when there’s another boat in the vicinity. I’m not so sure that’s true.

When I was 11, my Dad, his buddies and I sailed Wind Dancer, his C&C 37, from Long Island Sound to Chesapeake Bay. It was my second offshore passage.

“I always put the fear of God into people that this is the world’s third-largest barrier reef,” says Capt. Joe Dyll of the western Florida Keys, which have long been one of his favorite cruising grounds.