Boats and boating

Capt. Mike kicks off a new day-charter venture with a flawless 300-mile delivery of his fetching, 96-year-old lobster cruiser from Sedgwick, Maine, to his home waters in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

December 2024 By Bob Muggleston Did anyone catch this year’s America’s Cup? I’ve never been a huge fan, but for sailors of a certain ilk it’s always been must-see tv. Certainly the 2013 version of the contest, in which Oracle Team USA overcame an 8-1

After two years of boatless life, the author makes a sharp tack in a different direction

Buzzards Bay. Becalmed. Sun broiling. Sail slatting. Boom flailing. Twelve-foot catboat performing six degrees of motion. Wakes of tugs and powerboats, all propelled by engines. Why don’t we have one?

After a hot day of sanding the boat's bottom, the author realizes a classic wooden boat is too much work.

Looking back over two decades of boat ownership.

After 20 years and hundreds of launches and retrievals, the author and his wife have learned a lot about trailer boating.

Fall 2024 By David Roper What is paradise, really? Years ago, back in my boat delivery days, a couple of romantic dreamers hired me to help them on the first leg of their dream: sailing around the world. They were an anxious pair, long on

Chances are, the modest vessel you built with your father when you were young occupies a cherished spot in your bank of visceral watercraft memories. Such was the case with the 16-foot Luger Leeward Density Boy.

September 2024 By Tom Babbitt Finding a good, stout mooring of known history and condition in a beautiful location is likely one of the best and most satisfying aspects of cruising. After all, there should be no angst regarding holding ground, the quality of your

Precisely where and when did a young Michael Martel sow the seed of his vision of a perfect boat? While mellowing out to the imploring strains of latter-day minstrels at an early Newport, R.I., Folk Festival.

This boat will remain in the family!

September 2024 By Pam Humbert We all reach a stage of life, eventually, in which time no longer seems infinite. Having entered this realm myself, I’m trying to temper the urge to fill every free moment doing something “productive” with an activity, instead, that I

September 2024 By Bob Muggleston Of all the memorable sails I’ve had over the years, and there have been a few, one in particular stands out. Yes, there was an exhilarating aspect of the experience, as is often the case with memorable sails, but there

September 2024 By Angus Kerr It was the early spring of 2019 when I got the call. After 10 years, my name had finally reached the top of the waiting list for dock space at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. After a decade of waiting,

Why not plan a Maine coast cruise around a weeklong WoodenBoat School boatbuilding class that would send us home to Provincetown with a 15-foot, marine-plywood, clinker sailing dinghy?

Far from lacking conveniences, a small boat provides much more in terms of simplicity.

Two years ago they gave up life on land. They haven't looked back with regret yet.

July 2024 By Jack Farrell There is a long-standing debate among historians about the origins of the name Isles of Shoals. To some it simply refers to the many ledges running out from the islands and the few especially treacherous ones that lie in open

After a season of renting, repair and questioning, this couple is back in their beloved Sea Ray

The Spray replica Ch’i had been a fixture in Red Brook Harbor for years, and I had passed her happily many times, but this time it was different. Local legend John Burman, her builder and owner, had passed away.

Part 3: In the life of every vessel, a figurative day of rain must occasionally fall, and for the O’Day Mariner 19 Blue Skies it came in the form of a wild and destructive capsize, but even this couldn’t dampen her spirit.

Some basic tips about what you slap on the transom.

May 2024 By Christopher Birch We just put our boat on Ozempic. It had to happen. For many years my wife Alex and I occasionally indulged in a shameful pleasure: We ran our engine when we were at anchor just to charge the batteries. We

Blue Skies’ stability and versatility made her an ideal sail-training platform, on which more than 100 adults learned to harness the wind, and one particular Buzzards Bay outing proved her merit as an able microcruiser.

Feeling the energy of three geezers: check. My mighty seven-foot craft is nice and dry and bobbing at the float ready to go.

May 2024 By David Roper I’d wondered if it would ever come to this, selling Elsa and going “backwards” to a little boat, maybe a trailerable one, whereby the seas and headwinds would no longer thwart an old man’s progress. And she’d have a little

May 2022 By Nico Walsh It’s a lot easier to name powerboats than sailboats. A powerboat can have some cutesy name, or a dreadful pun, and get away with it. At Menemsha’s Dutcher Docks I saw a big motor yacht called Nauti Bunni and the

No matter what color you choose for your boat, you want it to look professional

It was mid-July and only the third trip of the season, as the summer of 2023 was proving to be unusually wet and gray. Too many days had been overcome by fog on the coast of Maine, but this particular day was warm and sunny

Wouldn't it be great if your berth stayed level while the boat swings? Well, it can.

Most people who spend any time on boats in this corner of the New England coast have a story to tell about this unique section of waterway, and here’s one:

Winter 2024 By Christopher Birch Last month in this column, I broke out my crystal ball and gazed into the future of yachting. My time travel took me to the (fictional) “2026 Eagle Seven Sailing Yacht Design Awards Gala,” where I marveled over the bronze

Winter 2024 The 95-foot pilothouse sloop known as Project Ouzel reached a major milestone on a snowy day in Maine at the end of last November. The hull emerged from the build shop at Rockport Marine with all structural bulkheads in place, was raised and

Winter 2024 By Bob Muggleston I’ve always had a soft spot for pretty boats that are down on their luck. A notable example of this predilection, and how it eventually plays out for better or for worse, took place 30 years ago when I was

The manual had offered a warning of the problem that was to come.

“I can do that,” I replied to my boat partner, Geo. It was the end of the sailing season, and someone needed to go up the mast on a friend’s boat.

Part 1: So many small, simple implements – a fine chisel, the perfect rigging knife, even a small boat – can nurture heritages that live and breathe, like this 1968 O’Day Mariner that has brought joy and fellowship to generations.

Forget the oil in your 2-stroke outboard and you may be rowing home.

One might think that drawing up plans for a traditional design for the day-charter trade is simple, but consider the thought processes invested in the new schooner Adirondack IV. Then think again.

December 2023 By Christopher Birch Lately, I’ve been fantasizing about what will come next in boat design. Happily my crystal ball has a lot to say on the subject. Walk with me into the future and down the red carpet at the 2026 Eagle Seven

She's been a faithful companion, but she just doesn't fit well.

After years of crewing, she's now firmly at the helm of her own boat.

August 2023 By Jack Farrell “Security call, security call, security call. The motor vessel Shining Star is outbound from Portsmouth Harbor to the Isles of Shoals, passing Fort Point Light. We’re standing by on channels 13 and 16 for concerned traffic. Shining Star.” Such was

August 2023 By Pat Brogan We started cruising in Tilly Twin, the 35.5’ Laurent Giles-designed ocean racer in the spring of 1962, when I was nine years old. We cruised the same harbors that we previously did while sailing Flame, the Herreshoff 23 that kicked

. . . hath a man for his boat than when he restores her two different times, from square one, two decades apart. Groves did this with his Hinckley Pilot 35 My Girl, with late drama, and he doesn’t regret a single minute of it.

August 2023 By Carey Reeder Stuffing box leaks, stiff, unmovable sea valves, electrical gremlins – these are just a few of the worries sailors learn to tolerate while underway; but that should, if possible, be addressed once back in port. But every known issue was

August 2023 By Bob Muggleston It’s weird how inanimate objects can sink their claws into you and make you miss them even after they’re gone. This is the case with my 1966 Pearson Commander, which I only owned for five years. But everything that happened

If I were to win the lottery, I would build a replica of Arion. I would raise the freeboard four inches, and the cabin sides two inches to give a full six feet and change of headroom for my tall friends. I’d add a foot

July 2023 By Bob Muggleston Growing up, I spent a lot of time around my dad, working for his small landscaping company. He never considered himself a deep thinker, but he sure did love a good aphorism. He especially loved ones that contained irony, and

July 2023 By Chuck Paine I grew up on Jamestown, and I love to go back there in the summer. It is a magical place. A couple of years ago I was visiting Jamestown, and had almost the same experience Don did. I spied Arion

July 2023 By Christopher Birch Entering Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay aboard Sundance, our 36-foot Morris Justine, I heard a security call on one-six as we sailed past Castle Hill. A tug pushing a crane barge was announcing its intentions for an inbound transit of Newport

Boiled down, it was really an old beat up dinghy that provided me with the most joy in cruising

Seeking new owners for the love of their lives

One of many sea tales to be spun about a century-old 72-foot Maine schooner that left wakes across the Atlantic, to the Caribbean, and into the South Pacific. This one concerns a wild, 500-mile delivery.

June 2023 By Christopher Birch The key to liveaboard life? Follow the “Rule of Elsewhere”: Store your stuff elsewhere, have your mail delivered elsewhere, house your overnight guests elsewhere and bathe elsewhere. A simple, small, clutter-free boat works best for housing a liveaboard sailor, and

Returning from Roque Island in our outboard canoe, I asked Doris if she’d like to visit other Maine islands. “Not in this unstable boat,” she replied. And here’s where this speedy day-cruise tale begins.

This herring gull is as common as can be, yet her arrival and brief stay on our boat was magical.

Squirrels in the mast, a hitchhiking bird and end-of-season haul out trouble. Just another season on the water.

A successful liveaboard life requires that you keep things simple.

May 2023 By David Sharp The design of the Lafitte Skiff needs no introduction among boaters in south Louisiana, but here’s a brief one for the rest of the country. These skiffs are native to south Louisiana and are primarily designed for fishing and especially

Spring 2023 By Christopher Birch Fuel tanks are not like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The fortuitous merger of chocolate and peanut butter depicted in the classic Reese’s ad works. But an accidental mix of flavors inside your fuel tank won’t be a winning delicacy. Your

“Does anyone actually build their own boat anymore?”

As a kid, I was always at the boatyard with my dad whenever he worked on a Brogan family boat. It was 50/50 work and play, with a 100 percent chance of unexpected revelations.

A moment of inattention leads to disasterous results

Winter 2023 By Clint Chase For Points East Since the last installment on the Pram project, we have tested the pram, received much feedback, and done the design tweaks to the boat based on the prototype build and sea trials. In the words of one

December 2022 By David Sharp After some trial and error installing them, we now have windshield washers aboard Carry On, our 2001 Cape Classic 30 trawler. My partner, Nancy, and I usually steer Carry On from her flybridge. However, when things get really rolly, it’s

December 2022 By Jack Farrell With a long winter ahead of us, one of the best ways to keep in touch with a passion for the ocean is to read about it. Ever since I bought my first little sailboat over 45 years ago, I

When your plans don’t go according to the plan

Last spring, my brother-in-law purchased a Catalina 22 he moors in Connecticut’s Clinton Harbor. My present for him was the latest edition of the “Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book.” Here’s why.

December 2022 By Christopher Birch Like ketchup, fire engines and Carmine Hose, Tetras are red. Tom Hill built a white one once, but every other hull of this iconic Steve Redmond rowboat design I’ve seen has been painted red. I’m not sure how this tradition

What do you get when you cross a pair of friends who have loved sailboats for the last 50+ years, a one-tonner looking for a new owner, a pandemic and Penobscot Bay at one’s doorstep? One ton of refit.

Photo by Jack Farrell September 2022 By Jack Farrell Just short of five weeks into life with the Shining Star, I’m sitting in the wheelhouse between trips at our dock along the Piscataqua. The boat rolls nearly incessantly against the float dock as the weekend

August 2022 By Jack Farrell There is an old saying that the two happiest days of a sailor’s life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells it. I’ll agree with the first part, but in most cases – for me

August, 2022 By Christopher Birch The boat was a 1971 Tartan 30, and the previous owner turned her over to me broom clean. Every storage locker and shelf space in the cabin was bare. She was as empty as a frat house keg at dawn.

August 2022 By Ali Wisch Fabre “There is nothing permanent except change.” -Heraclitus As I write this, I’m sitting in my favorite giant palm tree towel. My hair, in a messy natural bun atop my head, smells like coconuts. In the distance, I hear a

July 2022 By Jay and Sally Thompson Thank you for keeping my memories of my years cruising the coast of Maine in focus! I had the opportunity to sail with a dear friend, Francis “Fran” Scheid, on his 36-foot Brewer design Marconi rigged wooden schooner

July 2022 By Ali Wisch Fabre I’m sure many of you have heard the expression, “You’re not a real sailor unless you’ve run aground.” If that saying is true, I’ve been a real sailor from my very first delivery. And in case you were wondering

July 2022 By Susan Cornell Matthew Barnes’ passion for nautical is tattooed into his forearm, with the latitude and longitude of his home port, Stony Creek, at Connecticut’s Thimble Islands. A wooden boat builder, Barnes has been a woodworker for most of his life. In

July 2022 By Randy Randall So, what is girding? Funny you should ask. Maybe some kind of medieval torture or that feeling you get in your stomach when the long sea swells go on forever? Well, it’s none of those. Girding (sometimes called tripping) describes

A pair of venerable dinks, with a cumulative age of more than six decades, has for years served the Brighams and their five sailing vessels as tried-and-true tools in their quests for successful cruises.

June 2022 By Ali Wisch Fabre As I was doing my due diligence, sifting through last year’s copies of Points East, reflecting on what I’d been reflecting on at the time, I grabbed our June 2021 issue and realized, to my surprise, that I hadn’t

June 2022 By Randy Randall I know it may seem obvious, but boats are not cars. That said, every summer here at the marina, we have our share of bunged-up docks, bent props and smashed electrical towers, all because most new boat owners seem to

June 2022 By Jack Farrell Our new 46-foot Mussel Ridge lobster boat is nearing completion at an undisclosed location somewhere in southern Maine. The boat has been custom designed for its dual role as all-weather freight hauler and small passenger charter vessel for year-round operation

May 2022 By Christopher Birch My new friend, Dick Eldridge, just built a rowboat, and Points East magazine is to blame. I’ve made mention of a favorite red rowboat in the pages of this magazine on several occasions. Dick read my ramblings on the merits

May, 2022 By Peg Ryan Editor’s note: The letter below was written by boater Peg Ryan following the sale of the 1961 Pearson Triton she and her husband Jim purchased in 1977. At the time, Jim was recovering from a heart attack and they hoped

May 2022 By Randy Randall “Whoa!” We all yelled, but it was too late. The boat rolled off the trailer, tipped up in the air, and fell with a smash onto the pavement. Now we all stood around looking at the boat high and dry

Nature’s mercy is something we appreciate aboard our smaller craft here in New England as well.

It can happen in the blink of an eye. Wear a PFD to stay alive.

March/April 2022 By Jack Farrell During a short break from winter’s grip in late February, the temperature along the coast rose briefly into the high 60s. At Star Island, unofficial capital of the Isles of Shoals, the care-takers had been out of fruit and vegetables

  January/February 2022 By Jack Farrell We took delivery of our new Mussel Ridge 46 hull during a freezing rainstorm in the first week of January. After more than a year of planning and design, the hull and deck were completed just before Christmas in

I recently discovered a new boat yoga pose that I call “Eagle Seven.”

January/February 2022 By Ali Wisch In an effort to be completely transparent, I feel the need to disclose something that’s been hanging over my head since our last issue came out. Considering my editorial was titled “Winter Warriors,” one might assume, or it may appear

December 2021 By Homer Shannon For Points East Boating in New England’s ocean waters requires that you pay attention to the tide. With local average tidal heights from three to twenty feet, ten feet being the norm for most of the ocean-facing coast, inattention to

December 2021 By Ali Wisch For Points East “Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” – Kin Hubbard In the northeast, we are no strangers to the weather changing, nor are we

December 2021 By Jack Farrell For Points East After more than a year of planning, and a good measure of frustration, I got word from the builder a few weeks ago that work had begun on our new Mussel Ridge 46 lobster boat for freight

Boat and owner share some characteristics. They're both getting older, but not ready to part yet.

"I can't keep it from you any longer," I told my wife. It was a tough message to deliver, but I had to do it, for her sake.

October 2021 By David Buckman One of the most compelling elements of boat ownership, and life in general, is the protracted process of crafting a sense of style that complements our designs and pays respect to beauty, functionality and proportion. Though such ambitions may rarely

October 2021 By Tim Plouff It is not unusual to see young people finding their way while messing about in a small boat in the harbor, on the lake, and up and down the rivers. For families living near or on the water, small boats

My father coached me to “Never get run over by the same trolley car twice.” Regrettably, I failed to abide and managed to accidentally set oars free in Buzzards Bay for a second time.

October 2021 By Capt. Michael L. Martel Good men do not let good boats die. This thought, like an ancient proverb, came to me and stuck in my head following a recent conversation with Captain Guillaume Touhadian, Captain of the classic L. Francis Herreshoff sailing

I’ve had 20 boats – six power and 14 sail – with an average length of 20.5 feet and cumulative LOA of 389 feet. Am I the victim of a sad waterborne addiction? Or just another boat fanatic? I think I fall somewhere in between.

September 2021 By Christopher Birch “I just clogged up the toilet on the company plane and I need your help,” was how the scandalous text chain with my boat service customer started. “We’re going to be up for another four hours. There is only one

Morgana was rocking gently in her slip without any new bumps, dings, or worse. I could, and had, docked Morgana in a slip for the first time! I had stayed the course despite my fears, inexperience, and self-doubt.

August 2021 By Tim Plouff Multiple-generation Mainers can often trace their roots to lumbering or the sea. As the islands off the rugged coast were often the first places that original residents established a toe-hold in the new continent, islanders became the mothers-of-invention by necessity.

Where does "Slush Fund" actually come from? Pick up some valuable trivia to impress your boating friends.

August 2021 By Jack Farrell Five days after it happened, I’m still smarting over an unfortunate conversation on Channel 16 with a local lobster boat. The captain was apparently unhappy with my course, and made a rude, and let’s just say unprofessional comment about it.

From suit and tie to overalls: Man emigrates to America to make fortune in automobile industry, then, at age 40, leaves fast-track to build and restore classic boats. Sounds like a novel.

August 2021 By Randy Randall When Bill Marston (my wife Jean’s father) started our marina in the early ’50s he called it Riverside Anchorage. He was an interesting guy. He was industrious and creative and always wanted a Jaguar car; but three kids, a mortgage,

Most girls want a pony for Christmas. I wanted a boat.

July 2012 By David Roper When visitors from landlocked places come sailing with us, it’s really sweet. They’re so excited, and try their best to assimilate to the sailing world, buying the proper boat shoes and sailing shorts, researching and trying out a few terms

July 2021 By Jack Farrell One day last week I was called up to the front porch of the Oceanic Hotel to greet some visitors. Everett Hall and his son-in-law from nearby Cedar Island were there to talk about their float docks. Since Star Island

June 2021 By Christopher Birch In 1999, my father built a rowboat. He named her after his granddaughter Heidi, who was born the same year. The boat has provided excellent service for our family and especially for me. I calculate she has been towed and

The boat was old, but the price was right and she served them well for many years.

May 2021 By Dave Paling Growing up in a coastal town, I was exposed early to boats and experiences on the ocean. I grew to love time spent on the water thanks to my father, a navy veteran whose DNA drove him to pursue fishing

For mariners, the saying, “It’s the journey, not the destination,” is not the whole story. Complex drudgery may be needed before a season can even start– and sometimes you just have to laugh.

May 2021 By Jack Farrell I stayed out of the dark and frozen boatshed during the coldest days of the winter except to grab some firewood piled under the sailboat before the snow fell. But during the unseasonably warm weather in late March I had

May, 2021 By Randy Randall For Points East The boys hate pumpouts. They say it’s a disgusting, smelly job, and only good for tips. They groan when someone calls in on the radio asking for one. But it’s a service we have to provide. Based

March/April 2021 By Bob Muggleston One aspect of getting older, I’ve noticed, is the tendency to downplay or dismiss things that have been touted as “new and improved.” Especially when the thing being “improved” has been just fine for years, possibly even decades. Take the

One person’s candidate for the junk pile can be another’s gem. And thus it was that a beloved, but deteriorating, steel sailboat became a treasure for a couple in search of a new floating abode.

The perfect boat will be the one that takes care of itself.

Spring and the boating season was fast arriving. It was time for "The Talk." Yeah, THAT talk.

March/April 2021 By Jack Farrell At the end of a long flight home from a week’s visit with the grandchildren out west on the last night of February, it was immediately evident that winter was losing its hold on our coast. The landing lights switched

March/April 2021 By Molly Mulhern Over the last 13 years I have always had a sailboat in the water. Then along came last spring, in which I found myself not only boatless, but dealing with a worldwide pandemic. Given the mass disruptions that were taking

March/April 2021 By Pam Humbert We were smitten when she first came into sight from the launch. It was a Pearson 30, the make of boat that had reached the very top of our short list after three years of pouring over advertisements, research and

March/April 2021 By Paul Brown In the late 1980s I was relatively new to sailing, and had recently purchased a 1968 Thunderbird 26 I named Brownscow. Brownscow’s design was the result of a contest offered by a West Coast plywood company in 1958, and –

Midwinter 2021 By Randy Randall Whoa! Watch out! Bump . . . smash . . . bang. And there it sat. The 18-foot fiberglass boat was leaning over on one chine right dead center on the launch ramp about 40 feet from the water. No

Midwinter 2021 By Jack Farrell I’ve owned and been the steward of many boats over the course of my 65 years. I know as well as most that all boats need a little care, and that some need quite a lot of it. Boats also

Midwinter 2021 By Susan Olcott The boat sat in my grandparents’ basement in St. Louis under a water leak for 30 years. Today, it bobs up and down on my mooring in Casco Bay, Maine. Its white transom bears the original name, Hardalee, as well

Midwinter 2021 By Christopher Birch In my daydream, I’m at the helm of a perfectly restored J-class yacht from yesteryear. Familiar faces dot the crew. Ted Turner is on the topping lift, and Dennis Conner is down below making sandwiches. It’s the final leg, and

A 21-year-long relationship meets a soggy, although predictable, ending

By Christopher Birch For Points East In the first 35 years of running my boat repair business, I installed exactly zero convection cooktops. Then one Monday morning two years ago, these ranges were suddenly all the rage. Three customers called me before I had drained

  As soon as you set foot on a big yacht you belong to someone, not to yourself, and you die of boredom. -Coco Chanel   By David Roper For Points East Magazine Tiny boats and huge yachts. The allure is almost always there, despite

By Tim Plouff Without a doubt, trailer-boating has proven to be a fast and efficient way for my wife and me to move up and down the coast of Maine, thus exploring the countless islands and various points of interest so close to shore. All

By Jack Farrell I’m sitting in the deep cockpit of our sailboat Aloft on a mooring off Peaks Island, Maine, in the shadow of the landing craft Lionel Plante that plays such a big role in construction at the Isles of Shoals. I’m fortunate to

New England sailors, coaches and instructors share their thoughts about the boat designs, makes, models, rigs and sizes that have proven best for teaching all ages and abilities to work the wind.

It was another early-morning island supply run in mid-summer. Utopia slipped easily through the glassy swells for the seven-mile trip to the Isles of Shoals in the company of numerous grey seals and a single minke whale. The fish finder emitted a constant stream of

Over the years, as the owner of two full-displacement keelboats, I’ve often fantasized about going smaller. Don’t get me wrong: Big boats are fun, but sometimes, with all their inherent expenses and hassles, it just seems like there’s got to be a better way. The

Over the years, I’ve sold lots of stuff on the internet. Everything from Swedish cars to antique rototillers and, for the most part, the transactions have been fairly straightforward. Goodbye baby bike trailer – don’t let the door hit you on the way out –

By David Buckman In a lifetime of sailing there were no cruises richer in beauty, drama and intimacy than those we launched in the 1970s, when cash flow was tight, and we set out to discover the New England and Fundy coasts aboard an old

After nearly 40 years of flying I have a serious side, and approached boating with an eye toward safety and situational awareness.

By Bob Muggleston For Points East Here’s a scenario I’ve thought about quite a bit lately: The year is 1939, and you’re aboard a boat tooling around Block Island Sound. Fog has rolled in, making visibility difficult. Horns sound. Suddenly, to starboard, something emerges from

By Roger Crawford For Points East In the late summer of 2019, I received a call from a gentleman named Steve who asked if I’d be interested in restoring a small wooden sailboat. Steve had wanted a project for himself, and after some searching found

By David Buckman For Points East There are few expressions of man’s genius more beautiful or enduring than a boat, and few endeavors more satisfying than boating. Anyone who’s drifted across the quiet waters of a lake, fetched along the coast, or crossed an ocean,

By Capt. Michael L. Martel For Points East I peer through the chain-link fence, fingers grasping the rusty wire, feeling like I’m on the outside of a detention center. The gate is locked. Inside is a sad collection of old and derelict boats. Some of

Guest Perspective By Randy Randall For Points East Snow Goose was a Marblehead cruiser designed by Eldridge-McGinnis and built in the late ’50s at Marblehead Boatyard on the Biddeford side of the Saco River in Maine. My dad owned the boat for over 20 years,

By David Roper For Points East Editor’s note: Dave Roper is on vacation, so we’re cutting him a little slack this month. Here is one of our favorite columns of his, which ran in April, 2013. They owned a small inn on the coast of

Guest Perspective By Dave Tew For Points East In 1975 I was a senior in college, and trying to figure out what to do with my life. At the time, the Western Electric Corp. offered a program in which they evaluated and sponsored soon-to-be-graduating college

This summer a commercial airline pilot friend of mine, Travis, spent a lot of time researching sailboats. He did so because: 1) He’s interested in upgrading his current platform, a MacGregor 24 trailer sailer he inherited from his father-in-law; and 2) he’s vaguely interested in

Wickford, Rhode Island, has always had more interesting characters than I can shake a stick at. Plenty of interesting stories abound there, as well. Not too long ago there was a distinguished older gentleman who was very active in community affairs, politics, and the yacht

After we sold Gannet, our 30-foot 1969 Pearson Coaster, last spring, we reflected fondly on the 24 years we owned her, during which she taught us how to cruise the coast of Maine.

Guest Perspective: Capt. Michael L. Martel I awoke in the darkness with a start, disoriented, only to eventually realize that I was still in my bunk, fully dressed and wrapped in my blanket against the cold. Even though the last two days had seen the

  Frequent readers of this magazine know I bought my “big” boat, a 1966 Pearson Commander, four years ago for $750. They also know, thanks to this space, that most of the sailing I do is here in Essex Harbor on the Connecticut River, where

By Pam Humbert For Points East It’s been almost 30 years since my mom called to talk about their big move, and the fate of one of the family’s small sailboats. “There’s some interest from Barry down the road for the Minifish,” she said. Her

The sign hanging over the front counter of the Islander Grocery at Lummi Island in Puget Sound reads “Keep Lummi Weird.” Nearly three thousand miles from my familiar islands back home in Maine and New Hampshire, this sign captures the essence of a common island

And it was a sweet life indeed aboard the 41-foot Concordia yawl Dolce, on a delivery from Boston to the Newport Boat Brokerage Show to be sold. No one bought her, but that isn’t my story.

In 1879, electricity innovator Thomas Edison baked cotton strands and bamboo splinters at high temperatures in order to carbonize them into a filament that could resist extreme temperatures. Can you say “carbon fiber?”

This is a follow-up and reality check to my mid-winter 2019 column, “Ainsley’s Excellent Project,” about the prospects of rebuilding my daughter’s 1960-something, Town Class sloop, which was intended to be a “we” enterprise, but for a number of perfectly good reasons, turned out more

Editor’s note: Friend and frequent contributor Capt. Mike Martel is at it again: He’s tackling another old wooden boat. This after Privateer (a 40’ gaff-rigged auxiliary yawl built in 1930 in Maine, to a John Alden design), the boat he’d spent seven years restoring, suffered

By Ben Emory For Points East In August of 2014, just as dark fell, the Fish-class sloop Perch, on her trailer, was dropped off at Brooklin Boat Yard on Maine’s Eggemoggin Reach. I’d purchased the Nathanael Herreshoff-designed boat sight-unseen, based on a YachtWorld.com ad and

Guest perspective/Capt. Laura Tecce Surely, many long-suffering spouses have heard this: “No one talk to me while I’m docking.” (But, if you can’t talk to him, how are you supposed to know what he’s doing or where he’s going?) Or how about this: “Throw the

How did these two disparate entities become so gloriously entwined? Well, it’s kind of a long story that spans the centuries, and Martha weaves the tale, strand by strand, into the around-the-buoys era.

This means managing your marine toilet properly, emptying discharge from it to a holding tank, not overboard. For years, in Maine waters, I didn’t, but now I see the error of my old ways.

Our coasting adventures always seem to be in a certain state of flux as we fathom new ways of addressing the epic sweep of them, and meld into the tried and true. Touching on life’s largest themes and nature’s most powerful forces, it’s about seeking

Smitten by the Masefield “Sea Fever” romance of sailing vessels, but hesitant to embrace the recreation of moving small boats with the wind, Tricia espouses powerboating. Years later, epiphany.

An interview with Mark Ellis, creator of the cat-rigged Nonsuch series of sailboats that strained sensibilities and changed the way we think about sensible cruising boat design.

I approach this task as did my grandfather, who built boats for the Herreshoff yard in my hometown: Take your time, take no shortcuts, be thaorough piece by piece, clean, repair, then reassemble.

I watched as the canoe was lashed to the truck. The new owner used a long length of heavy rope he threw over the upturned hull and pulled down and around the truck’s racks, knotted at various stages. This was repeated until the boat was

Interior work on the old Hurricane is moving well in spite of lingering cold, snow and high winds along our coast. While fresh beaded plywood panels were being installed to dress up the bulkheads and interior cabin sides last week, the 60-plus-mph blow along the

I’d found the boat of my (cheapskate) dreams, and a post-purchase inspection proved she was as good as advertised. The problem? She was on a mooring in another state and it was nearly January. Decisions, decisions . . .

Guest perspective/Christopher Birch My adventures in yachting got off to a rich start. A “SAIL” magazine subscription card, with a questionnaire at the bottom, was my launch ramp. I checked the box indicating my net worth exceeded $10 million (I felt like $10 million just

Guest Perspective/Peter M. Winter Because no one apart from me turns up on time these days I spend a lot of time waiting on my lonesome in bars looking at my phone while pretending to be someone with a lot of friends and an important

Photos courtesy Mystic Seaport From left to right: The live oak after it arrived at Mystic Seaport, moving the 300 lb. futtock after it’s been rough cut, running the futtock through a giant planer , and placing the finished piece in its final location. Editor’s

A trio of boats not ready to go to sea were “Jonahs,” like the hapless whale-dwelling prophet of the same name, and they brought bad luck and trouble to owners and delivery crews alike.

Starting with a 14-foot derelict, a Long Island couple buys one larger boat after another to safely and sensibly accomplish the family’s sailing dreams, which evolve as the unit grows older and wiser.

Guest perspective/Wendy Hinman After my husband and I sold our 31-foot, cold-molded wooden sailboat, I was eager to get out on the water as often as I could without having to beg for rides. With Eagle Harbor at the bottom of our street in Bainbridge,

Guest perspective/Tim Plouff Forever seeking more adventures on Maine’s coastal slice of heaven, we often comment about all of the bobbing boats waving at us from their moorings whenever we slip out of one of our favorite launch harbors. If you have a mooring do

Guest perspective/Michael Camarata Many boat owners leave their home marinas for a weekend or a summer cruise only to go to other marina docks or, perhaps, a mooring field. They never anchor. Maybe they’re afraid. Or nervous. Or perhaps it’s simply inexperience. There’s nothing wrong

North America represents half the world’s boating market, yet Europe is the leader in recycling end-of-life (ELB) fiberglass boats. Late to the party, U.S. companies are finally developing their own disposal/reuse eco-schemes.

Guest perspective/Phyllis Méras Eight decades ago, catboats were familiar sailing and fishing boats in Vineyard and Cape Cod waters. They were sturdy, roomy, gaff-rigged, with a single sail and a centerboard. They were considered the ideal first or second boat for young sailors. At the

May 2018 By Lawrence Smith It looks like skiffs are making a comeback. The Maine-based website, Off Center Harbor, is running a video series that features bright-eyed youngsters engaged in the communal building of some fine 13-foot wooden skiffs. Plans for the homebuilder are advertised

Guest perspective/Paul Brown I bought my first sailboat in 1987, when I was 52 years old. It was a Thunderbird 26 sloop, a pretty little one-design built for cruising and racing. One could sit on the un-enclosed marine toilet and touch all four berths, the

Transitioning from a 22-foot sailboat to a Pearson 30 wasn’t as easy as we’d thought. The larger boat had copious stowage, but the “Venus/Mars” syndrome transpired – then morphed us into a team.

Guest perspective/Hank Garfield We didn’t know what we were doing. All we knew was that the waterline on my Cape Dory 25, Planet Waves, was terribly wrong. You can see it in the photos: her stern is apparently thrust upward like a duck’s, making her

March/April 2018 By Christopher Birch There we were: In an engineless sailboat, in the Atlantic, in December. Paddling. Sea and sky were the same shade of slate. Light snow further blurred the boundaries between frozen, liquid and gas. Koshare’s faded dirty whiteness blended into the

Can you cruise without a dinghy? After a long, checkered history with nine of them – hard and inflatable – on five different boats, we now happily make coastal passages without one.

Guest perspective/Ben Emory Navigating along the Maine coast has always been a welcome challenge of summertime, especially to the east of Schoodic. “. . . conditions change rapidly after passing bound east. There is more fog . . . The currents are stronger everywhere

Guest perspectve/Marilyn Brigham I make lists – shopping lists, birthday lists, Christmas lists, to-do lists. They keep me organized and focused, and I enjoy a feeling of some accomplishment when the task has been completed and all the items have been crossed off. But, early-on

Guest perspective/W.R. Cheney I used to see her on my way into town from our winter home at Lady’s Island, S.C. Factory Creek runs parallel to Route 21 – the Sea Island Parkway – for a short distance, just east of the bridge connecting downtown

Guest perspective/Russ Roth Two years ago we made a decision to repower our sailboat, Skiya (see Points East, August 2015). This spring I needed to be repowered. Last June, Marty and I left our mooring in Portsmouth Harbor on our yearly migration to our mooring

Guest perspective/Christopher Birch The longer I have been around boats, the more I have come to appreciate the small ones. When I was young, I dreamed of how grand it would be to have a massive sailing yacht of my very own. Now, some years

By Bob Muggleston For Points East Last summer, in the crowded Connecticut anchorage where I kept my boat, there was one vessel that always caught my eye. It was a small catamaran with a rectangular cabin aboard it that had not one, but two, decks

Guest perspective/Paul Brown The ’Bird: A Thunderbird 26 sloop is a so-called one-design “racer/cruiser.” In 1958, it was the winning design, by Seattle naval architect Ben Seaborn, in a plywood association’s contest for the best sailboat fashioned from marine plywood. The objective was a low-cost

Guest perspective/Capt. Michael L. Martel Anyone restoring, or even replicating a traditional Maine-built craft, pleasure or working sail, knows that these vessels, when originally built, were not outfitted with Herreshoff bronze, generally. Instead, their fittings – from spar hardware to windlasses to chainplates – were

It was love at first sight when, in 1983, the author laid eyes on the very first Hinckley Pilot 35 to come down the ways, and he bought her. Last summer, he celebrated her six decades of sailing.

Midwinter 2017 By Christopher Birch The best advice I ever gave my children was to drink their coffee black and their whiskey neat. I rest easy knowing how much time I have saved them from rustling around looking for things like cream and sugar and

The timing was right for the semi-retired couple and although there have been some challenges, they wouldn't have it any other way.

Capt. Bob Brown Ultimately, this is a story about a boat. But it has to start as a story about our marina – Cove Marina, in Salisbury, Mass. For 19 of our 20 years of boating, we have begun our journeys from Cove Marina and,

Ensign Hull No. 1337 has been in the author’s family for five decades, and five generations of Coppas have sailed her off the same Wickford, R.I., mooring since the late 1960s.

Years ago, we decided to try pushing our docks around instead of poling them or pulling them with ropes. For that we needed a boat.

For us, this meant fiberglass. Our old wood yawl was not as bulletproof as she was beautiful, and we wanted a monocoque hull to keep the water out. The transition wasn’t that easy.

September 2010 By Dodge Morgan My little schooner Eagle is not showing her age but is showing off her age. She is 84 years old and looks like new. Credit for her Bristol condition these years goes to Paul Bryant of Riverside Boat Yard in

July 2010 By Dodge Morgan I spent my second longest continuous time on board a boat this past winter. It was seven months on the trawler Osprey, compared to my two and one-half years in the early ’60s cruising and sailing on the schooner Coaster.

June 2010 By Dodge Morgan The British Seagull outboard motor appears to have been designed prior to the industrial revolution. Fifty years ago, it was a most simple and straightforward piece of machinery found on many dinghy transoms, but now it is a humorous curiosity

December 2008 By David Roper On May 5, 1994, my now 92-year-old dad (aka, “Grampy” to Points East readers) self-published a book called “Roper Boats.” The book contained both pictures and narrative, done in his inimitable style, describing about 40 Roper boats owned either by

April 2008 By David Roper Thousands, maybe millions, of seagulls, geese, cormorants, ducks and fish poop into the water all around me 24 hours a day when I go cruising. But my waste is human waste, which apparently is a special excrement and needs a

Our friends are right — we should write a book. But not right now. We have too much stuff to do around our marinas and boatyards — like watching the circus at the docks.