Sailing prose can be maddeningly upbeat. A good deal of it is about rising to challenges, the joy of discovery, life-changing revelations, the beauty of nature and people mending their ways. Well, I’ve been sailing for 79 years, reporting on it for a long time, and haven’t mended my waysRead More

We awoke to the reflections of sunlit seas dancing across the cabin ceiling, a rich wash of blue sky overhead and the telltales hanging limp. The mate, who functions better than I in the early hours, pulled up a forecast. “Southwest 5,” she muttered sleepily as we closed our eyes,Read More

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 of a “me” task. ThatRead More

The ebbing tide leaves Seal Trap, On Isle au Haut, as snug an anchorage as you could imagine.With leaden clouds scudding low, rain blustering and soundings declining to seven feet, it was a relief to gain the quiet waters of Seal Trap on Isle au Haut and wait out aRead More

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 a certain clarity of thingsRead More

There was a time when being told that some of my ideas were impractical, or just not done, proved no small incentive to do them anyway. Mostly I was just annoying, but did get on rather well with irregular behavior. Then I got it into my head that I shouldRead More

There are few pursuits in this world more profoundly dramatic, organic and poetic than coasting. In an age when algorithms divine the way of many things, fetching alongshore is still an ancient occupation that demands discipline, a grasp of various arts, instincts and the abstract. Cruising under sail is generouslyRead More

Fixing up old boats is a family tradition. Back in the day, various seafaring relatives spent a good deal of time keeping their vessels afloat, while more recently my father and I bought beaters of sloops for next to nothing, fixed them up and pursued a life of modest adventure.Read More

  I was startled by the hostility of our encounter with the lobsterman. It’d been a good while since we’d felt the burn, and I was reminded of the ’70s when the world was beating a path to buy Downeast vacation homes and a tide of anti-incomer sentiment was runningRead More

Maine’s mountains by the sea are possessed of a particular gravity, and taking to the trails on a Downeast cruise both adds an expanded dimension to your travels and helps maintain a level of conditioning. Although coasting can be a relatively sedentary business, conditioning is a valuable asset when ridingRead More