Cruising Grounds

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

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

Squall line on Lake Erie

by Sail Staff, Posted April 13, 2009

It was late June, and my wife, Lyn, and I were halfway through an 11-day vacation cruise onboard Fellowship, our Hunter 26 trailersailer. We were visiting the islands at the western end of Lake Erie—South Bass and Kelleys islands on the American side, Pelee Island on the Canadian side—as well as Leamington, Ontario, on the mainland about 15 miles north of

Discovering nature on the half-shell

by Sail Staff, Posted April 6, 2009

We experienced a surreal moment as our family sailed into the Hood Canal, where snow-capped peaks beckon in the distance and temperate rain forests slope to a coastline fringed with sand beaches, gravel bars, and muddy tidelands. A wake rolled across the water’s surface, but there wasn’t a boat or a sound. The source of the mystery wake was Bangor Naval Submarine Base on the eastern shore, home

Hole in the wall

by Duncan Gould, Posted April 6, 2009

From a mile out you see nothing but a sheer rock wall, 150 feet high and running both ways for miles. Run up to the north a bit and a sliver of a crack appears—the Hole in the Wall, one of Langkawi, Malaysia’s hidden jewels. Once you’ve butted through the tidal outflow, a view like a Chinese landscape opens. Mangroves line the shorelines, and limestone cliffs climb 500 feet

Dreams at Sea

by Dave Welch, Posted March 11, 2009

At sea I remember my dreams; at home I rarely do. Awakened frequently by a new sound or unexpected movement of the boat, I pop to attention with a dream still running in my head. I have to; my world floats just above the surface.On a recent delivery from Charleston, South Carolina, to Tortola, BVI—eight days, but it felt more like sixteen—we pounded east and then south

Pedaling to Bermuda

by Charles Scott, Posted March 11, 2009

I once sailed my Westsail 32, Antares, from Virginia to Bermuda. Through 760 miles of open ocean, Gulf Stream storms with towering seas, setbacks and survival, I was completely alone. I’ve crewed aboard boats all over the world, but I had never experienced conditions like those of the first days of the passage.I was mugged by a nasty northerly gale just off Cape Hatteras. Battered

The Nature of Mexico

by Sail Staff, Posted February 20, 2009

Our cruise through Mexico was a magnificent discovery of sight, sound, and senses. We expected to see a few whales basking in the sun and to have dolphins once again play in our bow waves. What we had not anticipated was that wonderful feeling when you are so overwhelmed by the intensity of nature that your skin becomes gooseflesh and cold shivers run down your spine, despite the 80 degree