June 2009 By Dodge Morgan Since boat owners can be sorted into two categories – those who do their own fitting out and those who pay others to do it – we should review some role definitions for this spring ritual. Counseling the do-it-yourselfers is the easiest. Never carry toolsRead More

May 2009 By Dodge Morgan My investment account has a brand-new profile, the same features displayed half-size like a naked shrunken head. My schooner appears patently unaware of the financial surgery accomplished on her long-term friend. She sits dry and comfortable as always under winter management of her Riverside BoatRead More

May 2009 By David Roper Years ago, back in my boat delivery days, I was hired to help a couple head off on the first leg of their dream. They were an anxious pair, long on their romantic vision of “escaping and living the dream,” and short on the practicalRead More

May 2009 By Tom Snyder I must today admit that a decade ago when I bought my boat, it was because I had a deep desire to demonstrate to the world that, at 46, I was finally a grownup who didn’t get most of his free-time pleasure from laughing atRead More

April 2009 By David Roper July 12, 1959: 44.04N/68.35W, a small island east of Isle au Haut, Maine: So I ran, as I always did. Actually seeing two mermaids was all too much for a 9-year-old to understand. Who in the world would ever believe me? Talking about it withRead More

April 2009 By Dodge Morgan The Vendée Globe solo, nonstop, around-the-world sailing race has just three boats still to finish on this March 1 date. The race is billed in superlatives as the major human endeavor and test known. The first Vendée Globe was in 1989-90, established by the famedRead More

April 2009 By Tom Snyder My 9-year-old daughter, Amy, and I experienced the perfect 10 days of sailing a few early Junes ago. For the first few days out, we were the only cruising boat in any of the coves we visited. Our days were exquisite. On Day 4, weRead More

Midwinter 2009 By Dodge Morgan I wonder if this global recession plays any role in the rash of sad news we have witnessed recently. Olin Stephens died, Francis Stokes died, I sold Wings of Time, and Tom Snyder has put Blue Moon up for sale in an announcement in theRead More

Midwinter 2009 By David Roper June 15, 1608: In 1608, the English navigator Henry Hudson was skirting the polar ice off the Arctic coast of Russia in his second attempt to find a northeast route to the spice markets of China. Near the coast of Novaya Zemlya, Hudson made hisRead More

Midwinter 2009 By Tom Snyder I found a note that I wrote to myself a few years ago. It said: “If I ever don’t have a sailboat, I’m going to have to find another place to focus my love of elaborate systems.” This note was buried deep in a …Well,Read More