Guest Columnists

I walked from the shore to the site of our picnic; sure enough, there was a dirty, shaggy, totally disreputable-looking sheep standing with his head buried in our huge bowl of fresh fruit salad, and quite a crowd standing back watching him.

In sheep’s clothing

January 30, 2023 at 12:00 am

An unexpected wildlife incursion tested the mettle of this new captain.

Photo courtesy Donna PriceThe author poses in the middle of a thick Maine fog.

An Aussie’s perspective sailing down east

January 30, 2023 at 12:00 am

Winter 2023 By Donna Price For Points East Ian and I have been sailing our 44-foot Nordic sailboat Mystic along the coast of Maine over the past four summers. We had never come this far down east before, as work commitments and other constraints always seemed to limit our time.Read More

Photo courtesy Paul BrownDebbie and Stevie.

My cousin Stevie

September 26, 2022 at 12:00 am

October/November 2022 By Paul Brown Stevie is a sailor. Before I met him, his mother-in-law, my aunt, related an anecdote about a visit to the U.K. Several folks had gone out for a sail with Stevie and returned with a tale about weather so bad that they had to “shortenRead More

Photo by Ian MooreLee and Jon show the strain of concentration required when sailing in fog.

Maine: Always different tomorrow

September 26, 2022 at 12:00 am

October/November 2022 By Ian Moore with Jon Kane and Lee Grimes With steady 10 to 15-knot southerlies, sunshine, and record high temperatures, you couldn’t ask for a better forecast for the first sail of 2022. Despite the forecast, I had reminded Jon and Lee several times to bring plenty ofRead More

Photo courtesy Capt. Michael L. MartelThe author, 48 years older, with the burgee of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May, N.J.

Sailing through boot camp

July 25, 2022 at 12:00 am

The members of the Corinthian Yacht Club made a young Coast Guard recruit feel at home.

Photo by Bernie WidemanThe author, doing what he does best on a boat – staying out of way.

It’s the people who make Points East a success

July 25, 2022 at 12:00 am

August 2022 By John Gold I wish I could say I had a role in the genesis of Points East. But that honor goes to Sandy Marsters and Bernie Wideman, who cooked up the idea across their desks at the former “Journal Tribune,” a daily newspaper in Biddeford, Maine, 25-plusRead More

Photo courtesy Dennis LeshThe sail pretty much says it all. It worked.

The perfect proposal

June 20, 2022 at 12:00 am

The planning was intense, the execution flawless and the result? Magical.

Boats are not cars. Take it easy

Boats are not cars. Take it easy

May 23, 2022 at 12:00 am

June 2022 By Randy Randall I know it may seem obvious, but boats are not cars. That said, every summer here at the marina, we have our share of bunged-up docks, bent props and smashed electrical towers, all because most new boat owners seem to think running a boat isRead More

Photo courtesy Russell ClearyAlthough broadbill swordfish are no longer landed at Menemsha, Martha's Vineyard, this eponymous cap -- the “hat designed by a fishery” -- can still be seen on “Squid Row,” a six-foot bench above the harbor, this one worn by author Russell Cleary.

Good tools

May 23, 2022 at 12:00 am

June 2022 By Nim Marsh Down through the millennia, most good tools have evolved, quietly and incrementally, through necessity. Take sunglasses, for instance. Some 2,000 years ago, an Old Bering Sea-culture Inuit, tired of chronic snow blindness, fashioned walrus-ivory goggles with slits in the lenses to protect her eyes fromRead More

Points East file photoParticipants of the 2006 Fundy Flotilla pose at Robinhood Marine Center.

At 25 years, Points East has beaten the odds

April 18, 2022 at 12:00 am

Editor’s Note: As we celebrate our 25th year of publishing, Points East is taking a look back at our first year in business. This month, we hear from Bernie Wideman, a cofounder of the magazine. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20 percent of smallRead More