Dave Roper is a regular columnist for Points East. Next to sailing, telling and writing stories is Dave’s favorite pastime. His most recent book, Watching for Mermaids was a three-time Boston Globe bestseller www.watchingformermaids.net. His writing has been published in eighteen languages. Dave has been a yacht delivery skipper, captain of a 135’ Mississippi River stern wheel cruise ship, and life-long cruiser along the coast of Maine aboard his 31’ Independence sloop, Elsa Marie. Dave is the founder of A-Script, a career advisory and resume writing firm in Marblehead, MA. davidroper00@gmail.com
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
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 romantic visions of escaping toRead More
September 2024 By David Roper These two pictures were taken about 20 years apart. It’s a yacht club cruise (same club each time) having set a “starburst” in the Basin off the New Meadows River, in Maine. It takes some doing, but in the end you have to admit it’sRead More
Far from lacking conveniences, a small boat provides much more in terms of simplicity.
After all, it’s your little world, it’s your creation, it’s a reflection of who you are.
But always there comes a point when the sands of time have almost drained from the glass, when there’s little chance left to share what really matters.
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 cabin. But big enough toRead More
Spring 2024 By David Roper I am a sailor, you’re my first mate, We signed on together, we coupled our fate, Hauled up our anchor, determined not to fail, For the heart’s treasure, together we set sail. Christy Moore, “The Voyage” People always did stare at her. I was flattered.Read More
Winter 2024 By David Roper Editor’s Note: This is Part 6 of David Roper’s series about true pirates. By midnight we had tied to the wharf in the town of St. George’s, Bermuda. The sudden calm of the harbor felt blissful after the stormy trip from Rhode Island aboard aRead More
December 2023 By David Roper n the last issue we left you underwater. Literally. We were off of Bermuda during my 1970s boat delivery from Rhode Island to St. Thomas. We were lying ahull, four of us flat on the cabin sole, when suddenly the wind and wave noise vanished,Read More
