My wife, Nancy, and I are big-time charterers. We love to sail, we love to travel, and we love to do the two of them together—so much so that after several years of chartering once or twice a year, we were looking to increase that to four or five times a year. In our travels we’d heard about owning a charter boat in a fleet
My first boat was a poorly maintained Thompson 21 powerboat that broke down so often I decided to try sailing. After all, having wind as the motive power and an outboard kicker when that failed would, in theory, provide the redundancy to keep me out of trouble and my family safe.
Admit it: there’s something unbeatable about sailing in your home waters. You know every tidal pattern, every obscured rock and every fluky habit of the wind. You could navigate with your eyes closed, though you’d never close your eyes, for fear of missing out on the scenery.
I woke from a deep sleep to the sound of my 8-year-old daughter, Asha, exclaiming: “Daddy, we are really close to the rocks! I can step out onto them!” That was enough to get me out of my groggy, dreamlike state, and I leapt out of bed and headed for the companionway with my shorts in my hand.
How and why one sailor went from bluewater cruiser to creek crawler
Eighty-some thousand miles and two children later, we crept up on Alaska from the west, sailing from Hokkaido, Japan, down the Aleutian chain in May aboard Seal, our 56-foot aluminum cutter.
The gun sounds at 0700 and immediately dozens of crews, both single- and doublehanded, begin dragging their boats across the beach into the water. Welcome to the start of the annual Everglades Challenge, the only event I’ve sailed where the SI’s contain the following warning: If you are not an expert paddler and/or sailor, do not enter this race. Even if you are a well-prepared expert you may DIE—yes, you may DIE…
Whether it’s racing with dad, weekending with a baby or circumnavigating with the whole tribe, these five families are proving that sailing brings them together
The Magenta Project seeks applicants for their 2026-2027 mentorship program.
Twist: The Big Question When asked to help out onboard, I’m sometimes surprised to find how many skippers only have a vague notion of how
The sailing world has lost another great this week in the passing of John Rousmaniere, author of Fastnet Force 10 and numerous other sailing texts.
As a yacht broker, many people have talked to me about wanting to buy a boat, learning to sail, and then taking their own boat
A new flagship elevates an iconic and evergreen cruising brand.
I’ve been racing aboard a new boat this summer, and it’s gotten me thinking a lot about crew dynamics and what makes a good teammate.
How em-trak’s new X100 is simplifying communication and safety at the helm.
America’s longest running regatta for adaptive sailors took place last weekend in Chicago’s Burnham Park Harbor.
While everyone in the multihull market seems to be zigging, Aquila Catamarans has decided to zag. Renowned for their comfortable and spacious powercats, Aquila has
The American Sailing Association has partnered with the navigation app for use in a new Electronic Navigation course as well as their regular offerings.
