Learning in Rising Winds
In facHaving been a motorboat dude all his life, Steven Cucick of Littleton MA brought his wife Christine to Yorktown to learn how to sail on the York River. We covered all three points of sail: close reach, beam reach, broad reach. We did a heave-to for Man Overboard. He sailed in light and fluky […]
Sailing Beyond Superstitions
Sailing has numerous superstitions, but so does the theater. Todd Aberts took his family sailing near Williamsburg and talked about his work as production manager of the Raleigh Community Theater in North Carolina. “It’s bad luck to say Macbeth on stage because of a disastrous fire in England that killed many people and destroyed the […]
Sailing Your Heart Out
I like to convince men NOT to buy a sailboat. Their wives seem pleased by that. Bruce Queen of suburban Richmond is land-locked in Mechanicsville but loves to sail his heart out. He took Basic Keelboat Sailing from the American Sailing Association and had a blast. “I went the ASA Woodbridge Sailing School on the […]
Sailing to Sierra Leone
The private sailboat experience attracts a lot of people who do well by doing good. Meet Karen and Tom Asher, surgeons who do missionary work in Sierra Leone six months of every year. They are avid sailors who enjoyed a relaxing cruise near Williamsburg while on vacation. I asked Karen, “Did you get Ebola?” “No, […]
Sailing to Special Ed
Teachers who work in Special Ed are in a class by themselves. Thelma Ivie of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, has been at it 20 years, most recently across the border in a Kansas school district. We talked about her work while sailing near Williamsburg. A chronic problem I’ve heard over the years isn’t about the students, but […]
Sailing to Major League Sports
Lisa and Bill Walters own and operate a sports store in suburban Baltimore called Wild Bill’s Apparel, where they cover all the major league sports. They also market as vendors for the Orioles and Ravens. They described some of the action while sailing with a family along the York River, south of Williamsburg. Bill […]
Sailing Past the Navy
The US Navy has strict rules that no one can sail closer than 200 yards to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station when a ship is in port. Nash Skiles took his family out sailing in a light wind that carried us under the Coleman Bridge and well safe of that range. We watched as […]
Sailing to Certification
Too many teens come out of high school and go to college reluctantly, only to find themselves stuck in an academic rut. One alternative is technical school for specialized certification, and that’s what Spencer and Max Gazda are on track for. They joined their parents, Derek and Tina Gazda, on a sailing excursion near Williamsburg. […]
Will I Get Seasick?
People occasionally ask, “Will I get seasick?” on a three-hour cruise 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 seven-foot waves (measured from top to bottom) are found 20 miles […]
Sailing Memories
Elizabeth Blatz and her friend Heidi Smith went sailing while visiting Williamsburg, and it brought back fond memories. “My parents had a 70-foot sailboat, built in Japan,” Elizabeth said. “The man who built it sailed it to the U.S. after the war and sold it. It presented as a magnificent boat and we kept it […]