Requirements to Obtain a U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s License
March 17, 2015
To obtain a U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s License, unlike a driver’s license, there is a lot more to it than just paying a fee and taking an eye test.
To obtain a U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s License, unlike a driver’s license, there is a lot more to it than just paying a fee and taking an eye test.
There’s so much to enjoy about birds while afloat. And you’re in an enviable position. Many of these species are never seen by avid land-birders, as many pelagic birds spend their entire lives at sea, only coming ashore briefly to breed on remote islands.
In 1995 my family and I circumnavigated Cuba, collecting data for my book, Cuba: a Cruising Guide. I had assumed then that relations between the United States and Cuba would soon be normalized, and that the lifting of the embargo would unleash a flood of American sailors eager to explore Cuban waters.
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I’m racing over the impossibly blue waters of a very feisty Exuma Sound and to port there’s nothing but fiberglass-hungry rocks as far as I can see. The forecast warned of 25-knot winds, which seems about right, but the waves are sure a lot bigger than the three feet they had forecast.
At sea, the boundary between dream and reality can prove rather elusive. Could my shipmate actually be waking me with these confusing words: “Ray, wake up! We’re way off course, and we need to reef the deck chairs!”
On SAIL’s 45th anniversary, we look back at 45 inventions, developments and refinements that changed the way we sail. The year is 1970. Richard Nixon is in the White House. Men wear long sideburns, oversized sunglasses, medallions, velour shirts and platform shoes—
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