In the course of my earliest seasons of youthful sailing exuberance, I cruised the coast in a 17-foot O’Day Daysailer. Then in my early 20s, I can still recall the dismissive reaction of one of my more experienced sailing friends to the concept of sailing anywhere offshore in an openRead More

Penelope Down East   By Sandy Marsters For Points East Bless the boating purists. And thanks for not making me one of them. Once I picked up a couple of hitchhikers in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. They were cruisers who were headed to the Laundromat with bags of boat laundry. TheirRead More

In the wake of a lifetime of sailing, the exhilaration of discovery remains a powerful notion, as the mate and I were reminded when we sailed into Castine last summer to take in the arrival of the replica 1779 French frigate, Hermione. We’d first called here in the ’70s, aboardRead More

A good friend who is editor of a particular magazine I write for sent me a nice note a couple years back when I said I had a real conflict and couldn’t make it to an important event. “Well, Dave, I’ve yet to meet anyone who can be in twoRead More

Years ago, we decided to try pushing our docks around instead of poling them or pulling them with ropes. For that we needed a boat.

In November 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard announced plans to install MarinerRadio Activated Sound Signal (MRASS) devices at 17 foghorns located at lighthouses across Maine. The MRASS devices will replace the existing foghorns, which are currently activated automatically by sensor according to weather conditions.

Of all things, living or lifeless, upon this strange earth, there is but one which . . . I still regard with unmitigated amazement. “One fall day, the pocket on the southeast corner of Canapitsit Channel served up more than we could handle, but the MacKenzie [bass boat] carried usRead More

In early January, we received the following notice from Daria Blackwell, public relations and digital communications officer for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC): “Two incidents of piracy have been reported in the closing days of 2015 in the vicinity of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The Ocean Cruising ClubRead More

For all the joys of coasting – driving along handsomely before a press of wind, pregnant arcs of sail against a flawless wash of sky, there’s a particular pleasure to the quiet side of cruising that takes as much finesse to meld into the optimal temper of things as itRead More

Alright, I admit it: Outboard-powered rubber boats are convenient, and they can even be a little fun. We have one at the island, and it comes in very handy sometimes. We use it as a harbor-rescue craft, a tender, and sometimes as a mini tugboat. Most of the time, itsRead More