No one is more passionate about their version of sailing than a multihull sailor. It is as if they know something that the rest of us are missing. One avid friend has introduced hundreds of guests to
For the better part of the hour before our start in the Chicago Mackinac race, we maneuvered around the starting area with a 200-pound weight at the top of the mast.
That weight was a young bow man w
It was a Christmas morning decades ago, and I leapt down the stairs to see what was under the tree. But it wasn’t the usual mishmash of large and small packages, bearing the mix of new shirts, belts
It’s easy for most kids to learn how to sail. They just go to sailing school. Their parents enroll them in one of the numerous youth sailing programs available across the country. They learn fast an
If you consider the rising costs and barriers to insuring a sailboat, you might think the actuaries see dangers that we sailors can’t see.
But is there any reason to be concerned? One state
Nathanael Herreshoff’s crowning achievement was Reliance, a sailboat of awe-inspiring size and power. Yet his influence on sailing flows to this day from a simple boat less than one-fifth the length
Years ago, I was very much into landsailing as well as sailboat racing. Born and raised in California, I was surrounded by dry lakes so hard you could rollerskate on them (people did). On a weekend, y
I try to stay out of trouble writing this column. I avoid taking stands on issues that might cause gastric distress among readers. I never touch politics, the deadly third rail of discourse. I wr
Escapism is built into the human psyche, has genetic and evolutionary roots, and persists in story across the millennia. So the trend to sell everything and sail isn’t new, despite the mob of tan, n
The first time I anchored in one of Jost Van Dyke’s perfect natural harbors, our boat shared the anchorage with only one other, a small, privately owned sloop.
When I returned to the British Virgin
My dad was an executive for Douglas Aircraft and we lived in Tucson, Arizona, when I was a kid. As a young man, my father had run away to sea, shipping out on tankers and working his way up to navigat
I’ve heard people express sympathy for the men and women sailing in the Ocean Globe Race.
That’s the 27,000-mile race that started last September and will go on for about eight months with short
I’ve developed a reputation among friends as a sailboat matchmaker. It often begins with an irrational text message: “I found an amazing boat. Almost free. Needs work. I should get it, right?”
What would sailors do without foul weather?
Sailors spin yarns. By definition, yarns are sea stories enhanced by exaggeration, but sometimes the subject matter needs no hyperbole to be a grippi
My dad was an executive for Douglas Aircraft and we lived in Tucson, Arizona, when I was a kid. As a young man, my father had run away to sea, shipping out on tankers and working his way up to navigat
I never met Jimmy Buffet, but I wrote about him.
“Buffett was the muse, the piper who led sailors and wannabe sailors to the Caribbean to rent sailboats and live the dream.”—Full and By Se
Our team—sailing on our midsized boat—has experienced both sides of the looming wind-shadow debate. This is when a big boat in Division 1 is about to overtake a smaller boat in Division 3, and the
The butchers at Bernie’s Fine Meats are yacht racing fans.
Bernie’s is an institution behind a downtown storefront dating to the early-20th century in the small city that is SAILING’s hom
OK, I promised you no more America’s Cup rants but, hey, you know you can’t trust me. The Cup is a sad, broken, shadow of an event that once enthralled sailors worldwide. How many of us sat up int
Some of the prettiest miles of the 3,000-mile-long Intracoastal Waterway are those between Gordon Pass and the tip of Keewaydin Island in southwest Florida.
This 10-mile stretch is a natural waterway