Larry Alan Smith (far left) of Avon, Connecticut surprised his wife Margarita (at the wheel) with a birthday sail in 2014 off Yorktown. Among the family attending were their son Chris (William & Mary ’07), a former executive with JP Morgan Chase who’s starting a micro-brewery in Williamsburg; and their
Adrian Baird followed up with an account about hiking a meadow along the Pacific Crest Trail that was as expansive as the lower York River that we sailed together. “I am roughly 800 miles from the border of Mexico. About six miles in I walked through Becks Meadow, which had
Sean Kosmann brought Jessica Pettrey to Williamsburg and took her sailing on a bright fall afternoon, where he proposed to her in an elegant romantic setting. He escorted her up on the bow of the boat and got down on bended knee (made difficult by recent knee surgery) to offer
Kevin Schmoyer indulged his wife Donna with a sailing trip because it was on her bucket list. They have also bungee-jumped, as has their friend Ted Vigeant. Ted regaled us with his death-defying jump hundreds of feet off the original bungee bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand. “They asked if I
People ask, “Is sailing inspirational?” Sailing can be downright inspirational. Donna Schmoyer’s son is a Pennsylvania state trooper who happened on a stalled van one frigid snowy night, stranded on the shoulder of Interstate 81. While assisting, he noticed a Mustang sliding directly their way on the ice and shouted
Boating builds self-confidence, among other things. Mike Ahfield of Birdseye, Indiana, related to me while sailing the other day how he helped perform an unusual rescue. Worse, he and his brother and nephew were out on a rickety Jon boat when the transom began to depart from the top of
Some amazing people enjoy sailing when they aren’t saving society. Megan Key and Justin Gerner enjoyed sailing the York River on a warm fall day as they prepare for their wedding. Years ago, Megan’s grandfather and uncle complained about poor service at their VA hospital. One day she accompanied a
“The residential rental business is stinky,” summarized Doug McSwain. He took his wife Valerie out sailing off Yorktown in brisk winds ahead of an afternoon of rain. He’s endured myriad problems with tenants in Huntsville, Alabama, and elsewhere, mostly due to perceived entitlement by tenants and their exploitation of arcane
Boaters who sail or motor on the York River will be intrigued to learn that Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Yorktown-Cheatham Annex proposes a permanent danger zone for live fire exercises. I plotted the coordinates to show that the zone forms a triangle emanating from a corner of Cheatham Annex near
Two couples sailing the York River enjoyed opposite timelines. Jan and Bill Spendley have been married 52 years and do nearly everything together. Tyrell Gardner and his date Shawna are engaged to marry . Tye is finishing up his master’s on the way to medical school. That left us in
During a lovely afternoon sail, it turned out one member of the crew from Florida did time in prison for making methamphetamine. He reluctantly answered questions because he has since gone straight. He allowed that the methodology in the TV series “Breaking Bad” was quite accurate, outlining in detail the
Linda and Bill Schmidt of Westminster, Colorado, had a blast sailing the York River as they enjoyed their best amenity visiting Williamsburg. “This is the highlight of our trip. I love this boat,” Linda said as she ran a delicate helm after Bill helped deploy the red and blue spinnaker
Living the Dream Debbie and Kevin Weber of Appleton, Wisconsin, are immensely proud of their two grown boys. Ryan is a portfolio manager in Madison, and Kyle operates charter boats at a renowned fishing resort near the Minnesota border with Canada. Kyle knows where the fish are and how to
Wayne and Connie Bentel found sailing the York River much easier than his career of 40 years teaching special-ed, where among other things he helped develop community homes for teenagers. He must have had the patience of Job all those years. “Only at work,” he laughed, looking lovingly at her.
As they sailed into brilliantly orange sunset off Yorktown, Ann and David Gross recalled a harrowing experience while boating on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. They were proceeding at 10-15 mph in their 20.5-foot Bayliner one night. Then they nearly T-boned another boat because it had no navigation lights
Two Long Island families enjoyed an afternoon of sailing while discussing a wide range of issues. The two girls are entering seventh grade at the Latin School of Kellenberg Memorial High School, where the Marist Brothers “train the mind and educate the heart in patterns of civility, order and respect,”
People ask, “Do you learn about other stuff while sailing?” Cathy and Ron Johnson tacked out the York River and sailed on the spinnaker all the way back. He worked 38 years with International Harvester, which once had huge market share for building school buses. So why don’t they have
While sailing along the York River the other afternoon, Katie and Steve Day got to talking about their frustrations adopting a child. Theirs is not the typical story of searching out a newborn. Instead, they seek older children of any race up to teenage years, having developed considerable experience as
Pam Martin took Tony Telesmanic out for an early evening sail. She raises show horses and they both are high-powered office supply execs. He used to be a Navy SEAL. He looked every bit the part, with a build so strack for his age, which I put around 50. Once
People ask, “Is it hard to fly a spinnaker?” Aron and Caryn Arias took their boys sailing on the York and helped deploy the colorful spinnaker on the bow for running downwind. Aron and Ben (right) have sailed with Boy Scouts in the Florida Keys. Alex ran the helm as
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