A moment of inattention leads to disasterous results

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 started and why it stoodRead More

October/November 2022 By Christopher Birch I was listening to a Red Sox day-game while repairing shrink-wrap tools in my shop one slow September day a few decades back when the phone rang. A thickly accented voice on the other end of the line explained that he was having problems withRead More

How a simple bilge pump replacement ended up with me hanging upside down on a fence in the woods

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. She carried zero cooking equipmentRead More

The joy of cruising is that life is distilled to its simplest terms.

The son is following in his father’s footsteps… at least for now.

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 of the design and decidedRead More

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

December 2021 By Christopher Birch For Points East Sometimes those Boston Harbor currents float you right out the harbor. On one such recent trip, my wife, Alex, and I steered our sailboat to a mooring at the Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club in Blue Hill, Maine. The greatest challenge of this placeRead More