Cruising Grounds

Isla Beata

by Tor Pinney, Posted September 20, 2012

I was singlehanding, bound for Ile à Vache, Haiti, 200 miles west along the south coast of Hispañola. Any break along the way would be welcome. So when I cleared out of the Dominican Republic in Las Salinas, I planned to stop over at remote Isla Beata...

It's a Shoal Draft Thing

by Ida Little, Posted August 14, 2012

Few can enjoy the inner passages of the Florida Keys quite like diehard thin-water sailors, such as Ida Little and her husband aboard Thorfinn.

Russia’s Inland Waterways Open To Cruisers

by Lisa Gabrielson, Posted July 25, 2012

If you were thinking you’d run out of places to sail, think again. As of May 25, 2012 the inland waterways of Russia are now open to foreign-flagged vessels for recreational purposes.

Cat Love

by Christine Nguyen, Posted June 19, 2012

Sailing started out for me with a simple dream. I always wanted to have my own little boat where I could take her out on the ocean. I grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where my family spent many summers at the beach. At the pier, I would gaze longingly at the sailboats as they launched.

A Long Honeymoon to Europe

by Andy Schell, Posted June 13, 2012

The three of us were still in foulies. We settled into the cockpit, the first time we could truly sit down and relax together in 23 days. Somehow we made the anchorage before dark, but only just. Since we had first sighted land some 50 miles off, at exactly noon, we had been racing the sunset.

Vanishing Sail

by Lindsey Silken, Posted May 4, 2012

Of the hundreds of sailing vessels that were introduced by Scottish settlers in the 19th century and launched in the West Indies, very few remain. Filmmaker Alexis Andrews is documenting the boatbuilders of Carriacou in the Grenadines, who are trying to keep this dying skill alive.

Sailing South Africa's Wild Coast

by Duncan Gould, Posted May 9, 2012

My wife, Irene, and I had spent a very happy year in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. We had no security issues, and we saw incredible game. We got to watch a leopard groom himself in the early light of New Year’s Day and almost drove our 4x4 into a wallow with two startled rhinos.

A Pit Stop at Refuge Cove

by Meredith Laitos, Posted February 1, 2012

From June to September, the Cove is open to the public, and twenty families live and work there together. In the off-season, the number decreases to 12 residents and fuel and water are only available three days a week. In the words of another local, “Refuge Cove is for the sort of people who max out after three months of socializing.

Animal Encounters Under Sail

by Fred Bagley, Posted April 1, 2012

Cruising the Great Lakes has one drawback: you don’t see many whales or dolphins, or frigatebirds or puffins, for that matter. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have plenty of equally meaningful brushes with nature.

The Proper Cruising Grounds: Croatia

by Sail Staff, Posted February 2, 2003

By Amy Ullrich "With this big boat and only three persons, you must be a very happy man. And two women!" Bumboat driver Yes, Arthur Beiser is a very happy man. One of the two women is Germaine, his wife of many years; the boat, Ardent Spirit, a 58-foot sloop designed by Bill Dixon and built in 1988 by Moody, is the most recent of a series of four sizable