December 2008 By Dodge Morgan My family archives indicate that my great-great-great grandfather Dodge Morgan sailed boats on the ocean. This, of course, is just one more curious activity out of the distant past, an era when people used personal automobiles for transportation, cooked their food on fire flames, tookRead More

October 2008 By Dodge Morgan There are two fundamental categories of personal challenge: those we choose and those that choose us. There is an immense difference between the two when first they are engaged, but they become curiously alike over time. The difference at the outset is that one isRead More

September 2008 By Dodge Morgan I am accustomed to making mistakes on boats but mostly small and unthreatening ones. I have never lost a boat even though I have owned a few worth losing such as those made up of inflated rubber tubes. However, this summer boating season clearly startedRead More

August 2008 By Dodge Morgan The world of “Safety at Sea” has matured to become a little old lady. Clearly, going back 30 or more years ago, there would not be a boat that would pass today’s safety muster, even when not considering the electronic crap we now tend toRead More

July 2008 By Dodge Morgan I have been recruited for active duty in the war on terror by none other than Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. This assignment was announced by the secretary at the recent meeting of the National Marine Manufacturing Association in Washington, D.C. Chertoff pronounced that theRead More

June 2008 By Dodge Morgan Age and illness drive one’s mind into the distant past, to childhood memories, often clean and true, sometimes elegantly embellished. The present seems not that compelling, and the future not that comforting unless flavored with the spices of how things once were. My initiation intoRead More

May 2008 By Dodge Morgan The sloop American Promise has been retired after 25 years of service as the flagship of the United States Naval Academy sail training fleet. She is the vessel I sailed around the world solo and nonstop in 1985-86. The purpose of the academy sailing programRead More

December 2007 By Dodge Morgan Two incongruously connected events: The recent $314 million lottery winner from Indiana will undoubtedly find his name is added to a number of yacht broker prospect lists. In stark contrast, we learn that Private Smith will not be coming home to his Rhodes 19. TheRead More

October 2007 By Dodge Morgan I wonder if the reason I make the sail each year from Snow Island to Newcastle alone is because I enjoy sailing Eagle with a crazy crew. Or if I simply can’t find anyone who wants to sail with me. Or if I just likeRead More

September 2007 By Dodge Morgan I know a sailing couple with a small child and a large dog. When they go cruising, they place the kid with a baby-sitting relative and bring the animal aboard with them. How’s that for setting priorities! And not that uncommon in this weird worldRead More