Thursday, October 24, 2019
Cruising life is rife with contradictions. One night, you’re the lone boat anchored in a bay, only the moon to keep you company. The next, you’re sandwiched between vessels in a marina like sardines on buttered rye bread, able to peer into your neighbor’s galley from your cockpit. While this latter setting couldTuesday, October 22, 2019
When you set out on a cruise, it's a lot like any journey. It begins with the first step, or in this case, the first day. One of the first things that a new cruiser has to overcome is that feeling of needing to accomplish something. To cruise and look for results would be sentencing yourself to constant frustration. The only sureFriday, October 18, 2019
Sail America’s Industry Breakfast kicked off the second day of the 50th United States Sailboat Show (October 10-14). With clear blue skies on the horizon, the Annapolis Boat Shows announced Robert Lipkin, aka Bob Bitchin, as the winner of the 6th annual Sailing Industry Distinguished Service Award. Trading in his Harley wheelsTuesday, September 24, 2019
On July 15th, 2019, I sailed across the finish line just off Mackinac Island. 51 hours earlier, I started off the skyline in Chicago, for the 111th running of “The Chicago to Mackinac” sailboat race. With 266 boats entered and approximately 2200 sailors, I was excited to be starting a long-time bucket list item. As IWednesday, August 21, 2019
As a girl in the early 1970s, I hated wearing gym shoes on the beach of Lake St. Clair’s Gull Island. But with countless rusty beer cans washing ashore, my mother forbid me from playing on the beach barefoot. Thanks to Michigan’s recycling program and improved environmental awareness among boaters, years later, I was ableWednesday, August 21, 2019
Sailing teaches you a lot of lessons. From the physics of making the boat go, to the geometry of navigation, it is an activity that offers plenty of educational opportunity. One of the most important of these lessons is the healthy respect for the environment that most sailors take away from their time on the water. The most obviousThursday, August 15, 2019
When I was first getting into the sailing life, I heard about a book called “An Island to One’s Self” written by a man named Tom Neal. He was a New Zealander who had a dream. That dream became an obsession: to find the perfect island and be the only man to live on that island. Over the years, my obsession withThursday, July 4, 2019
For a lifestyle that I have pretty much devoted the past 40 years to, I still can’t explain just what a cruiser really is... A friend of mine just flew in to say hi after cruising Mexico for the past six months. He’s been considered a cruiser around here for as long as I can remember, but this had been the first timeMonday, May 13, 2019
In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love… boatin’ Forgive me for altering Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” poem from 1842, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s just me… This the time of year that always makes me glad I didn’t sell that old boat of mineTuesday, April 30, 2019
So, you’re sitting in a waterfront bistro after a great day’s sail, downing your favorite libation and loving life, when you happen to hear the conversation at the next table. A young couple are discussing the beauty of sailing, and talking about the boats they had looked at that day. Being a helpful kind of person, you
