By Dodge Morgan When you live on an island in a deep-water bay, you assume that walking home is not an option. This, however, is not the case if your island is in Maine in the winter of 2000. This year’s deep freeze in the Northeast turned many bays intoRead More

By Dodge Morgan It is October and the little Murray Peterson schooner Eagle and I are facing the sad passage that will end our thirty-second summer together. We are such good friends that we tend to take each other for granted. The day is 40-degree bright and well fed withRead More

September, 1999 By Dodge Morgan Man and boat in harmony as rigging and joints squeak in The island home has some characteristics in common with a boat in that it is surrounded by water, has a windward and leeward side and presents an endless list of chores to accomplish. OfRead More

August, 1999 By Dodge Morgan The air and water temperatures in the British Virgin Islands both hovered between 85 and 90 degrees F. The normal West Indies habit of occasional downpours that serve to cool things off were absent and people moved slowly, particularly those of us with old carcasses.Read More

July, 1999 By Dodge Morgan Those of us who take great pleasure from the sea develop a spiritual relationship with her. It is a relationship that is built haphazardly over time on a collection of gut feelings, anecdotal knowledge and personal experience that falls together with a compendium of individualRead More

June, 1999 By Dodge Morgan There has been for some time a controversy over the cost and responsibility for rescues at sea. This controversy heats up each time an ocean race is blasted by heavy weather losses and every time a single-handed circumnavigation race is held. I recently wrote anRead More

May, 1999 By Dodge Morgan The migrating Canada geese and mallards are back. The eiders have paired off and are expecting. I expect the return of the osprey from their winter home in Georgia any time now. Snow is gone and the ground is no longer stiff; you can proveRead More

April, 1999 By Dodge Morgan Now is worst of times for a sailor in Maine. It is March, the month of no progress on the promise of spring. It is like being horny with the woman nowhere to be found. It is like waking at three in the morning forRead More

Midwinter, 1999 By Dodge Morgan The standard sail from Maine to the West Indies in the late fall is a rough passage to Bermuda followed by a warm, easy slide to the islands. But there are always variations on this theme and we got those this time. There are fourRead More

October 1, 1998 By Dodge Morgan Sailors will eat anythingI have always wanted to write a cooking column. It is right there on my list of desires with arm-power flying, playing a Wurlitzer at Kennedy Center and spending an overnight with Madonna. At least the cooking column is something I’mRead More