Sailing into Surgery
“Did you know that a DNR doesn’t apply if you go into surgery?” That provocative notion was told by Joel Dixon, who with his wife Hamet works as an Operating Room nurse at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. They were in Williamsburg for an afternoon sail on the York River with their daughter […]
Sailing with Sturgeon
The Hasz family was fully aware of the need for lifejackets because the waters of the York River are still cold. Tamara and Eric Hasz were in Williamsburg from Northern Wisconsin, where they live near Lake Winnebago. “It’s 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, but only 15 feet deep,” Eric said. They took their […]
W&M Alumna Sail
Angela Goodhart brought two of her children from Northern Virginia to Williamsburg to show her daughter the College of William & Mary as a potential applicant. Angela is a W&M alumna from the 1980s who majored in business. She was impressed by the size and scope of the Mason School and the School of Education, […]
Emergencies at Sea
You’ve no doubt seen images of the US Coast Guard rapelling down a line from an MH-60 helicopter to scoop someone from the water. There are two methods of rescue, and one of them could be fatal. That was among the revelations of an all-day seminar in Annapolis on “Medical Emergencies at Sea: Beyond First […]
Sailing Days of Old
Gina Womack took her parents, Stephanie and Tom Womack, sailing on the York River on blustery afternoon. We motored across the water to the Yorktown side to get into the lee of the wind, where the trees and the cliffs knock down the gusts. There we cruised up and down the coast while enjoying a […]
Sailing past a Submarine
Submarines that are partially surfaced are hard to see, especially when they’re in dock. Sailing past a submarine can therefore be tricky. Arelene and Marvin Birnbaum enjoy the great outdoors by camping. They live in the Hudson Valley of New York and thought they’d take a crack at sailing, since they live near the river […]
Sailing a New Boat
Don Schreffler just bought an old sailboat with another fellow and then went sailing on a new boat to get the feel. (New to him.) “We were going to pay $2,500 but the owner couldn’t start the engine. He was really frustrated about it and gave us the boat for $1,000. My buddy is a […]
Sailing with FDR
Before Jack Kennedy made sailing glamorous, Franklin Delano Roosevelt enjoyed it as an elegant pastime. His uncle John Roosevelt was a noted sailor who developed a large ice sailboat to run up and down the Hudson River from the family estate at Hyde Park. It was so fast that he could outrun trains along the […]
Washington’s Spies
The Siege of Yorktown had everything: Cannon fire, sea battles, death, destruction, sickness, victory— and spies. So it’s odd when people ask, “Was Yorktown important?” In the summer of 1778, George Washington authorized the formation of a secret chain of agents known as the Culper Ring to operate in British-occupied New York. The following excerpt from […]
Sailing into Yorktown History
The Museum of the American Revolution, opening in Philadelphia next year, has partnered with the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution on an ambitious artistic endeavor. The DAR will underwrite the framing and installation of a hand-painted copy of the Siege of Yorktown (1781), the subject of an optional 20-minute talk for guests on board Williamsburg Charter Sails. […]
2 Die in Marina Fire
People ask, “What’s the worst thing youi’ve seen at a marina?” In late February 2016, a married couple perished on a 43-foot Hatteras when fire broke out at the beginning of the main dock at Dozier’s Port Urbanna and raged outward toward Urbanna Creek. Just up the hill, Buddy Wyker awoke at 4 am Feb. […]
Sailing Home
Five decades removed from where I grew up, we ventured back to go sailing home. Bonnie and I met our younger daughter Wendy in New York for three days of touring that included a day in the suburbs of Westchester. Wendy was in town from Denver to deliver a talk to the Queens Dental Society, […]
Sailing the Blue Mind
There comes a time in a man’s life when he hears the call of the sea. If the man has a brain in his head, he will hang up the phone immediately. –Dave Barry That explains why many people are reluctant to buy a boat, much less board one. Despite the lure of the sea, […]
Toy Boat at Sea
A toy boat launched in the Atlantic Ocean by South Carolina school students has reached the coast of Wales, after a stopover in Bermuda. The Royal Gazette reports that the Carolina Dreamer was built by the St. Andrew’s School of Math & Science in Charleston and fitted with a GPS tracker. The little vessel went […]