East Providence, R.I. Albert passed away on May 3, 2018, surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Providence to Anna M. (Donovan) and Albert Girard. Albert served in the U.S. Coast Guard during the latter part of World War II, and afterwards was employed by Grinnell Fire ProtectionRead More

May 2018 By Lawrence Smith It looks like skiffs are making a comeback. The Maine-based website, Off Center Harbor, is running a video series that features bright-eyed youngsters engaged in the communal building of some fine 13-foot wooden skiffs. Plans for the homebuilder are advertised in the back pages ofRead More

If an award existed for the greatest distance traveled to exhibit at this year’s Maine Boat Builders Show in Portland, Maine (March 23-25), it would have gone to Iceland’s Björn Jónsson, who travelled over 2,300 miles. Remarkably, this was only 400 miles farther than an exhibitor from Houston, Texas, traveled.Read More

Years ago I wrote a column about my notorious, crazy and fearless water-borne antics as a teenager. Most of these occurred in a 1960s-vintage Boston Whaler in and around Marblehead Harbor. And most of the negative outcomes from my antics were due to excessive speed. Fortunately – for a while,Read More

Cruise of the Leight, Part 11: I had imagined my summer of cruising as a “sailabout” of sorts, sharing qualities of the aboriginal Australians’ walkabouts. I was seeking the peace of wild places, mysteries of nature, depths of solitude, and the incomprehensible energy of the sea. I wanted to lieRead More

Guest perspective/Paul Brown I bought my first sailboat in 1987, when I was 52 years old. It was a Thunderbird 26 sloop, a pretty little one-design built for cruising and racing. One could sit on the un-enclosed marine toilet and touch all four berths, the stove and sink. Needless toRead More

The way I remember it, I was sailing solo through Salem Bay in a dry nor’easter that was building as the day went on. I was on a nice reach heading for Marblehead Harbor in our old Hopestill, a classic wooden Hinckley Pilot sloop designed by Aage Nielsen. The wavesRead More

Guest perspective/Hank Garfield We didn’t know what we were doing. All we knew was that the waterline on my Cape Dory 25, Planet Waves, was terribly wrong. You can see it in the photos: her stern is apparently thrust upward like a duck’s, making her look bow-heavy. But nothing wasRead More

It’s home to many sharp-looking sailboats Falmouth’s Quissett Harbor, May’s Mystery Harbor, is easily recognized by the moored Herreshoff 12 1/2s in the photo’s foreground and the Quissett Harbor Boatyard buildings behind them. It’s where our family has harbored our boats and hundreds of great memories for 65 years. FewRead More

Winthrop, Mass. Hatch passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving children, on April 11, 2018. He was 86 years old. Hatch was a devoted husband, father and world-class sailor, coach and mentor to tens of thousands of beginning and elite sailors throughout his long, distinguished career. Hatch was born atRead More