Summer in the IslandsIf youve assumed that summer is a particularly sleepy time in the Caribbean, youd be wrong. In an effort to attract tourists in the low season, many of the islands have come up with festivals, concerts, and other events; its a great way to get a taste of island life. It will take some Web browsing to find out whats going on, or you can check
Most of the 263 Bermuda Race entries have arrived now in Hamilton Harbour. Only a handful are still at sea, and Dr. Richard Shulman of Barrington, Rhode Island, has the signature St. David’s Lighthouse division sewed up with his IMX 45, Temptress. SAIL’s West Coast editor, Kimball Livingston, sailed in the Demonstration Division aboard the Open 50, Gryphon
Caribbean NotesDesmond Nicholson, a member of the family that sailed into Antiguas English Harbour in 1949 and created a charter business in their wake, died in Antigua in January. Nicholson, a respected amateur archaeologist, was instrumental in the preservation and restoration of the Georgian buildings of Nelsons Dockyard. Today, the Dockyard is a must-stop for charterers in
Where to Go NowSailing your home waters in summer is fun; sailing someone elses home waters is an adventure.Now, as you read this magazine, is the time to think about where youd like to spend your summer sailing vacation. Some mighty fine North American cruising grounds offer harteringthe way most of us get to sail outside our home watersonly in May through September or at
Wedding BellsFirst Choice, the British parent company of Sunsail, announced the acquisition of Grand Expeditions, parent company of The Moorings, in early December. Both groups specialize in international leisure travel. Sunsails charter business will become part of Grand Expeditions, but Sunsail and The Moorings, along with Footloose, will be run as separate entities.What does
Charter CatsThanks to the unusual nature of my jobI give thanks frequentlyIve sailed on a lot of charterboats with (often) people Id never met before in (sometimes) unusual weather patterns. Its not unusual, however, that many of these boats have been catamarans, given the proliferation of cats in charter fleets worldwide. So I can claim a certain authority in
Like a sparkling jewel pendant, the Andaman and Nicobar islands angle below Burma in a turquoise sea, studded with coral reefs, rich with sea creatures. But surprisingly this archipelago of some 570 islands, measuring 700 kilometers from north to south, does not belong to Burma, but to India far to the west.For hundreds of years the Malays, the Chinese, and even Marco Polo visited these
On day two of my San Francisco Bay cruise I proved an age-old principle: As soon as you go home, you fall back into the same old roles.I hadn’t really been gone, but I had not in years idled away a succession of days on my home waters with no agenda except to go wherever I wanted, and do whatever seemed like a good idea at the time. What seemed like a good idea today was to sail my nephew,
By Amy UllrichSoutheast Alaska enjoys about 18 hours of daylightat the summer solstice, stretching time so that this12-day cruise at the end of June aboard Maple Leafseems like the activity equivalent of weeks.Nonetheless, my body stays resolutely on its EastCoast schedule; I occasionally fall asleep over my plate indaylight that is still fading at dinnertime and rise with the
The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association now runs a message board of updated information regarding the waterway. We have a link at the bottom of this story. Meanwhile, we have more good news …Are you a racer? A cruiser? Doesn’t matter. If you transit the Eastern seaboard, you probably use the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, and the food news is that the great letter-writing
SAIL Editor-in-Chief Wendy Mitman Clarke visits Harken Inc., in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, during Harken University—where the industry pros who help us choose and use our boats’
It’s not easy to smile when it’s 39° F outside and blowing 20-30 knots, but the X-Yachts Xc 47 had no problem making that happen
The new model from X-Yachts is a bluewater thoroughbred with leading edge propulsion and design. SAIL was invited for an exclusive preview test sail before
In his 59° North podcast On the Wind, Andy Schell sits down with SAIL Editor-in-Chief Wendy Mitman Clarke to talk about the sailing life, cruising,
Put human beings in confined quarters with limited privacy, mix in periods of boredom spiced with exhaustion, add a pinch of terror and seasickness, and
Winter can be an overlooked season for the mid-latitude boat. Even if you don’t snowbird south for the tropics, good times aboard can still be
The off season is the best time for boat projects. But doesn’t it just frost your cookies when you’re all set to finish that piece
“Pole up!” our skipper shouted from the foredeck as the helmsman eased off the main. We had just rounded the windward mark, and another crewmember
There were two things I disliked about my 1987 Pearson 39-2 from the outset—the anchor locker and the forecabin. The former was a shallow tray,
As the year winds down, there are a few last events capping off the season, including this autumn’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), the first
