North America

The Chesapeake Bay

by Meredith Laitos, Posted June 13, 2011

When John Smith sailed into the Chesapeake Bay in 1607, he couldn’t have known the precedent he was setting. Ever since that early cruise, the area has been teeming with sailboats—everything from skipjacks dredging for oysters to race boats competing in regattas and flagships strutting their stuff at the United States Sailboat Show. With all of this on-water action, it’s no surprise that a dozen

Seven Days Under Sail in Desolation Sound, British Columbia

by Meredith Laitos, Posted September 12, 2011

It’s difficult to put into words what it’s like to sail in Desolation Sound, British Columbia, but “spectacular” and “breath-taking” are a good start. Located roughly 450 miles north of Seattle, Washington, the sound features abundant sea and wildlife. Along the winding inlets, 1,000-foot waterfalls cascade into 1,000-foot deep seas under bright blue skies. In the late summer, the weather is

Superior Sailing

by Sail Staff, Posted September 22, 2006

Just as we were about to ease into a quiet evening at anchor in Presque Isle Bay, on the south side of Wisconsin’s Stockton Island, the crowd rushed in. The procession of cruising sailboats resembled a busy airport with planes lined up miles to leeward of the main runway. We watched as the cruisers came from all over the Apostle Islands and dropped into formation, motoring one by one into the

The Six People you Meet in Desolation Sound

by Meredith Laitos, Posted March 14, 2012

Two hundred and fifty miles north of Seattle and 3,400 miles from home, our crew of six was more than a little slaphappy after a long day of travel. As we drove toward Comox, British Columbia, we decided to create a wish list for the charter trip ahead.

Whaling, Whaling

by Sail Staff, Posted August 6, 2008

It doesn’t take much to lure me out of the Northeast in February—just a little warm salt water and a sailboat will always do it. But it was pure East Coast envy that brought me to Magdalena Bay, on the Pacific Coast of the Baja peninsula, for a whale-watching/sea-kayaking/camping adventure run by Sea Kayak Adventures. Mag Bay is the northernmost of the three bays on that coast to which

Sailing Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay

by Adam Cort, Posted March 14, 2012

I’ve sailed past Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay many times, first as a deckhand on various ore boats making their way between Minnesota and Indiana Harbor, Indiana, then during the course of a number of Chicago-Mackinac races.

Five Mornings In Maine

by Sail Staff, Posted August 7, 2008

When you hit the weather right, the Maine coast is simply Shangri-laThe Maine cruise my new fiance, Caroline, and I took over the long Fourth of July weekend was a preemptive honeymoon. We’d been together and sailed together for over seven years when I donned my tuxedo and popped the question on a borrowed Rhodes 19 as the sun set over the Boston skyline on the summer

Weekend Chartering

by Peter Nielsen, Posted May 7, 2012

I’m told that weekending is one of the latest, and fastest growing, trends in charter vacations. Ideally, you’d take a bareboat out for a week—or two, if you’re European—but such is the pace of modern life that many people can’t carve out blocks of more than two or three days.

Dreamcatcher

by Rebecca Waters, Posted August 7, 2008

Myth, mystery, and Midnight Magic evoke childhood adventures on a Lake Michigan charterWe were lost in the woods on Garden Island. The trail we followed from the Native American graveyard had melted into a woodland clearing, leaving us guessing at the path ahead. My brother Xander had even stopped pointing out peculiar vegetation and was instead studying the trail map

A Day at Sunsail’s Newest Base: San Francisco Bay

by Kimball Livingston, Posted July 31, 2012

One day is all that was needed for proof of concept of Sunsail's newest base, located on the northern reach of San Francisco Bay. Here in the center of a booming tech industry, at the gateway to the California wine country, on the cusp of an America's Cup year.