I am lounging in the cockpit with a lemonade in hand, sunglasses on my face and flip-flops nearby. The boom above my head drifts from side to side in perfect time with the small waves.
My wife and I were aboard Eftihia, our Beneteau 331, sailing from Jost Van Dyke to Beef Island one beautiful afternoon in the British Virgin Islands. Our plan was to rendezvous with friends for dinner at The Last Resort in Trellis Bay, which lay a few miles to windward through restricted waters.
It is sadly ironic that my musings last month on the nature of risk in sailingand our acceptance of it should be followed by the tragic capsize of the Kiwi 35 WingNuts (see page 16) in the Chicago Mackinac Race, and a little later by the maxi-racer Rambler 100 turning turtle in the Fastnet race after its keel fell off and plummeted to the bottom of the Irish Sea.The
My favorite possession as a child was not a toy or a pet, but a life jacket with the characters from Disneys The Little Mermaid printed on the front. Flounder sat smiling on my right shoulder, while Ariel floated elegantly on the bottom left. To me, the lifejacket being dragged out of the basement was the most exciting part of the summer. It meant Daddy was taking us sailing!Fifteen
January means various things to a sailor. If you live in the southern regions it probably means that you don’t sail as often as you might in, say, milder months like December or March. If you are a snowbound northerner then you are almost certainly counting the weeks until the cover comes off the boat and life can get back to what you wish was normal.The only consolation about cold winters
So its goodbye to 2010, a year that was a vast improvement over its predecessor in almost every respect. In looking back I find few causes for complaint, which is a rare thing indeed for a sailor in the Northeast.A suspiciously warm spring meant that the essential boat projects got done and the non-essential ones got half done; already I was way up on 2009.Spring merged into summer
I dropped my crew at the fuel dock in Ajaccio, Corsica, thinking it would be only a few moments before I would be able to tie up Eidos, my 32-foot East Orient cutter. Lying just off the dock, I shifted in and out of gear and drifted while waiting for space to open up. Once I was safely tied up I planned to spend the rest of the day cleaning up and fixing things. It was early Sunday
In todays historic inauguration, president-elect Barack Obama shed the latter half of his title and became our nations 44th president. He enters office during an uncertain time both domestically and globally, as economies fizzle and international tensions swell. Citizens from Kenya to Calcutta will watch with anticipation as Obamas presidency unfolds with a hefty agenda. No matter what their
As we transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration, let us tip our hats to the old guard for the passage of the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act Amendments of 2008, which addresses problems related to intellectual-property rights that were not resolved by the VHDPA of 1998. The new act, which the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) heavily advocated for six
Point Nemo is the most remote part of the ocean, marking the exact location where a boat is farthest from land in all directions. From
At the Banderas Bay Regatta, the term cruiser/racer is quite literal.
A disastrous collision forced two boats to return to port at the start of Leg 1 of The Ocean Race Europe.
There’s nothing quite like a little bit of summer sunshine, but when you can’t get it naturally, a nice bright spinnaker will do instead. We
A new Scandinavian deckhouse cruiser is making waves with its smart lines and bluewater capabilities.
The fire alarm went off with a wild shriek at 0300, about 10 minutes after I’d turned the engine on to start motoring through a
Bali has announced the launch of the new Bali 5.2 just a year after the launch of the 5.8, and a first look suggests 5.2 takes lessons from her big sister and fits them skillfully into a more approachable LOA.
The Magenta Project seeks applicants for its 2025-26 mentorship program.
Cottage Park Yacht Club hits a milestone: one million dollars raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Perfect places to drop the hook are hard to come by. Have a few different anchoring techniques in your back pocket to make the best of it.
