SAIL.SailMagazine

There is a popular notion, heralded by most modern sailors, that leading all lines aft to the cockpit will simplify your life. I’m here to disagree. 

I first went to New Zealand in 2006. I was 20 years old and setting off on my first long journey away from home, bound for Brisbane, Australia, for a semester of college at the University of Queensland.

Have you ever noticed that sailing magazines never show pictures of people being seasick? There are always photos of manly men pulling up sails, but what about one of those fine-looking sailors with their head in a bucket?

As Cape Wind, the proposed offshore wind farm off Massachusetts, enters its second decade of controversy and legal wrangling, a similar, smaller installation off nearby Block Island may soon become the country’s first operational offshore wind farm.

Ronnie Simpson sold all that he had, and he went. But it was no cakewalk. After I had known him a while, he told me, “I have less than I’ve ever had, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”