Adventures & Cruises

Anna Mary (the former Tollie), a 32-foot wooden lobster cruiser, is the backbone of the author’s touring and charter business in Bristol, R.I. Photo by Capt. Michael L. Martel

Bringing the old girl home

November 25, 2024 at 12:00 am

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.

Google MapsThe author’s route took him south, around the end of an L-shaped barrier beach and then north along the coast to Hull.

Duxbury to Hull in an old rowboat

November 25, 2024 at 12:00 am

December 2024 By Ron Woolley I’m definitely not a boater. I realized that about two hours into what turned out to be a 9 1/2 hour row from my town of Duxbury, Massachusetts to my old town of Hull about 35 miles north along the coast. I had completed theRead More

Photo courtesy David RoperDave, aboard Elsa.

The wilful little Breeze

November 25, 2024 at 12:00 am

December 2024 By David Roper We were just leaving Marblehead Harbor, headed for Salem, when Elsa’s old Yanmar began to surge before quitting altogether. “Maybe we could get a tow?” my wife ventured hopefully. I rolled my eyes. “Elsa doesn’t do tows,” I said, haughtily. “You see,” I continued, “thisRead More

Racing with the wind

Racing with the wind

October 24, 2024 at 10:09 am

Pelagians Attend the 2024 Gloucester Schooner Race Fall 2024 By Brian R. McMahon Over the Labor Day Weekend, Russ Vickers and his Apple Blossom crew, Brian Herr and his Imagine crew, and your author and his wife Martha with Barbara Iannoni onboard En Garde! joined the spectator fleet off theRead More

Last cruise of the season

Last cruise of the season

October 24, 2024 at 9:48 am

Fall 2024 By Brian R. McMahon I’ll be unloading En Garde! and making a forlorn trip to Manchester Marine for an early haul out soon Looking for an easy overnight cruise, I suggested that Jill and Larry join me in a trip to Gloucester Inner Harbor. Rich and Melanie AfrikianRead More

Adventure tourism

Adventure tourism

October 24, 2024 at 9:24 am

Fall 2024 By Brian R. McMahon On a recent car club excursion, members went aboard the vintage fishing schooner Adventure, lying dockside in Gloucester, Mass., before enjoying a harborside dinner at Decklyn’s Restaurant. It was a brief walk to the schooner Adventure’s quai, where our guide was Greg Bover, ship’sRead More

Commercial fishing boats line the shore at Head Harbor on Campobello Island.Photo by Jay Meyer

Maritimes Mission

September 30, 2024 at 12:00 am

It was two-fold: I wanted to cruise in Canadian waters from my home port in Portland, and I also had a persistent itch to learn more about my grandfather, by visiting his New Brunswick birthplace.

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

Trailer boating: What we’ve learned

September 30, 2024 at 12:00 am

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

The author and Density Boy, the family’s homebuilt 16-foot daysailer, on the beach on Coatue in Nantucket Harbor.Photo courtesy Paul F. Keyser

Dream weaver

August 26, 2024 at 12:00 am

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.

TThe author and his wife pose with Lobster Pot, the 15-foot skerry sailing dinghy they built at the WoodenBoat School.Photo courtesy Evan DeLucia

Stitch & Glue Cruise

July 29, 2024 at 12:00 am

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?