Three couples spanning generations from different parts of the country formed diverse sailors on the York River this week. Corinne Casey is an optometrist and Brian Kanhofer is a computer engineer. They drove down from Baltimore and rented a cabin on the York. “It seemed so much more rustic than a hotel
Among all the people to sail with Williamsburg Charter Sails this season, I finally encountered my first naturalized American. It was like sailing to citizenship. Ivan Levy is a Panamanian who grew up in Miami and elsewhere as his parents moved around with the military. He served eight years in the U.S.
If you suspend the disbelief that there was no Halloween in Williamsburg during the 1770s, you will find the presentation by Colonial Williamsburg in the Revolutionary City quadrant of the Historic Area to be quite compelling. Welcome to “A Haunting on DoG Street: Blackbeard’s Revenge.” It’s designed to draw in more
One joyful surprise of a charter sail is the unique experience sitting in the catbird seat on boat of 30 feet or longer. The concept was pioneered by Hunter Sailboats in the early 1980s as twin “stern perch” seats on the aft rail, but the term catbird quickly eclipsed that.
Runaway slaves found themselves in an unusual situation during the American Revolution. The new republic touted liberty and freedom, but this did not extend to all members of society. If they escaped the plantation they could gain their freedom from the British, and that factored into Williamsburg and Yorktown. In her
The first thing that people discover about charter sails vs. powerboating is how quiet sailing is. Once the engine is cut off, the sound of silence is distinct. Women notice it first and appreciate it better than men. Everyone begins to hear the waves lapping as the sailboat glides through
The emotional pull of sailing leads to all kinds of analogies and metaphors about life. The very Zen of the experience has inspired numerous posters and bumper stickers. Here’s a unique twist in a video with Oprah Winfrey by Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor, a professor of religion at Piedmont College in
Three couples from West Virginia, Illinois and Texas nearly hit the Sailing Trifecta of Cool Sights on the York River. They had never met before and had a fun time on a beautiful fall afternoon. First, they got to see a small pod of dolphins frolicking in front of Sara Creek. Two
The world’s largest sailing yacht is so big that its size rivals a Navy warship coming through the Coleman Bridge at Yorktown. This week the modestly named Sailing Yacht A set out for sea trials in Germany, where it’s being built for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. He owns the equally unique Motor Yacht A.
Here’s an idea from San Francisco about sailing through grade school that would work well on the York River, or any river large enough for small boats. Thousands of fourth graders enjoying a new twist on science and math lessons while learning basic principles of sailing as part of Set
They are comparatively few and far between today, but oysters used to clog the Chesapeake Bay. These days, we see precious few oyster men while sailing the York River. Virginia’s catch has dropped from nearly 8 million bushels in the early 1900s to half a million today. The industry began here
While not nearly as prominent as it was in the American Revolution, Yorktown had its moment in history during the War of 1812. By 1813 the British had the Chesapeake Bay bottled up with 300 warships compared with only seven by the United States. But we also had 14 small
People dream about taking off to that idyllic island in the sea, but sooner or later they wind up sailing from Paradise back to reality. “Years ago my husband and I went to live on St. John in the Virgin Islands,” Darlene North related while on a charter sail of
Regenia Frazier brought her mother, Celestine, from rural Charlottesville to revisit Mathews County, around the bend from the York River. Years ago, Celestine took care of a wealthy man in a wheelchair who had multiple houses. We went out on a charter sail on the York River on a bright but
Most of the time on a charter sailboat is spent in the cockpit having conversation and running the boat. But sometimes people prefer a little privacy and prefer to go sailing on the bow to contemplate the zen of the experience. I find while chartering along the York River that
Chris and Stetson Hoffman of Franklin, Tennessee, had a special reason to bring their friends Sam and Teddy to Williamsburg. They took a charter sail on the York River in the shadow of Yorktown, where Stetson is kin to George Washington. He won the Battle of Yorktown that sealed America’s independence.
Sol and Kimberlee Zira went on a charter sailing excursion near Williamsburg while visiting from the Los Angeles area. She was anxious because their dog back home in Sherman Oaks had been mauled by a pit bull and required more than a hundred stitches. Her mother was caring for the dog
People occasionally ask if they’re likely to get seasick when sailing on a three-hour charter along the York River. The answer is No, for several reasons. 1. We sail in a river, which almost never gets enough chop to make the boat pitch forward and backward. High seas with
Chesapeake Beach is midway up the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. People think that hurricanes are the Bay’s worst nightmare, but historically nor’easters have been worse. That’s because they’re more frequent and often pound the coast for days instead of the hours of wind and rain usually
The tides on the York River have been higher lately from a week-long storm and the passing of Hurricane Joaquin. There simply hasn’t been a low tide in ten days. We’re talking 3 to 4 feet range. On this day, we sailed from the high tides of Canada to its