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

August 2023 By Christopher Birch Bill’s gone. My wife and I always sail with our dog, Bill, but now he’s gone. He was our third crew member for over a decade. He sailed with us to Canada and he sailed with us to the Bahamas. In fact, we never sailedRead More

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 Harbor passing Goat Island andRead More

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 the Rule of Elsewhere makesRead More

A successful liveaboard life requires that you keep things simple.

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