Sailing to Simplicity

Let’s go sail the York River, where couples enjoy a serene three hours. Take one of 6 sailing adventures near the Chesapeake Bay for your best vacation excursion: Adventure, Event, Appreciation, History, Lessons, Boat Buying. Sit in the catbird seat or up on the bow. People often ask, “What’s the magic of sailing?” This is […]

Anchors Away II

Anchors Away II describes the departure of a second Navy warship from Yorktown NWS on the same day.

Sailing Teamwork

Sailing Teamwork

Let’s go sail the York River, where couples enjoy a serene three hours. Take one of 6 sailing adventures near the Chesapeake Bay for your best vacation excursion: Adventure, Event, Appreciation, History, Lessons, Boat Buying. People ask, “Is teamwork important in sailing?” Very much so. A Portsmouth couple bought a 27 Seward to dock near […]

Texans Sailing

Texans Sailing

The Coffman family from Texas went on two unique excursions in one day. First, six of them toured the Norfolk Naval Yard by way of the Miss Hampton, a day boat that runs up and down the Elizabeth River. Meanwhile, their parents toured the York River with Let’s Go Sail. Because the day was quiet […]

Navy Sailing

Navy Sailing

oh On a warm, breezy morning a newlywed couple from Louisville KY took their honeymoon cruise on the York River. Stephen Bacher explained that Rachel Kinser was planning to sail down the Mississippi River in a year or so. “I’d like to be married with her long enough before she dies,” he joked. Rachel is […]

Baby Sail

Baby Sail

A couple recently relocated to Charlottesville took two sailing sessions on the York River. They got to see the USS Monterey at Yorktown, where it’s doing maneuvers for a month. Kyle and Madison Robinson were pretty ambitious, since she’s eight months pregnant. “I’m due in a month and I’m ready,” she said midway through a […]

Submarine Sighted

Submarine Sighted

While exiting Sarah Creek with a couple from Phoenix AZ, I heard a radio call on Channel 16: “White hull sailboat in the York River, this is the United States Navy warning about an approaching submarine.” I looked around and saw two Moran tugboats rumbling upriver toward the Coleman Bridge, but no submarine. The radio […]

35th Sail

35th Sail

Greg and Leslie Galland of Williamsburg celebrated their wedding anniversary as a 35th sail by cruising in brisk winds on the York. The 29+ mph winds of the previous day died down to a manageable 12-15, but we still had to reef both sails. We got far enough down river to see a giant oil […]

Open Season

Open Season

After a long winter, Let’s Go Sail launched anew for the second decade.

How Charter Sailing Started

How Sailing Charter Started

Special to the KCSA Bulletin People wonder, How did you start the sailing business?” It started with a few words, Let’s go sail the York River. The object was to let couples sail a serene three hours. In retirement, Kingsmill resident Bill O’Donovan has pursued a charter boat business to share the joy of sailing. […]

Sailing Summer’s End

First-Time Sailors

People ask, “Is Labor Day Weekend busy on the river?” Too busy for me, as a professional mariner. Labor Day weekend brought us to sailing summer’s end. It came complete with all kinds of amateur motorboaters who consistently drove across my bow, sometimes too close. While I lament that so few boats are on the […]

Who Goes Sailing

Who goes sailing

“It’s remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living.” – Ernest K. Gann Those who cruise with Let’s Go Sail on the York River cross all demographics, but they tend to skew more affluent. They are slightly overweight but never obese, and they have some college […]

Grounded Off NC Coast

Grounded!

People ask, “What’s it like to run aground?” Awful, actually. My friend Tom Byrd was vacationing in Corolla NC when he spotted this 40-ish sailboat grounded off the NC coast. Unlike Nags Head farther south where the riptides rip, Corolla is known to be very shallow along the water. That’s why families can let their […]

Anniversary Cruise

6 by 6 Sailing

After a rainout one afternoon, a couple from Hampton went out for an evening sailing cruise to celebrate their anniversary. Kelly Anderson is in the Air Force at nearby Langley Air Force Base, where she works on the ground with the planes. Keisha Pexton is director of training at Newport News Shipbuilding. Keisha said, “I […]

Top Speed

Adventure

Note: Sailing charters resume in Virginia on June 10 when the lockdown is lifted. Longtime student and friend Corinna Caldwell joined a couple from Connecticut on perhaps the last day of summer as a cold front moved in for autumn. They had a day of sailing at top speed. Bob and Gail Sokolowski were in […]

What’s the Deal with Dolphin Sightings?

Sailing with Dolphins

While Let’s Go Sail doesn’t promote it, we get asked all the time, “What’s the deal with dolphin sightings?” People looking for boat rentals and sailing charters get an added adventure on the York River. The Couvion family of suburban St. Louis crossed at least two rivers to go sailing on the York. First the […]

Fast Pitch Sails Past

Fast Pitch Sails Past

147 teams from 16 states showed up in York County for a girls’ fast-pitch softball tournament.

How to Build a House

How to Build a House

Peoplel ask, “What’s it like to build a house on the water?” Heather Masters booked a sail with her husband Ryan for their 20th anniversary. By their youth, I figured they got married at 15. We had a serene run up the York River to see the Navy submarine in port, and Ryan noticed a […]

Couples Enjoy Sailing

Couples Enjoy Sailing

I get asked, “How far down in the water do the buoys extend?” Those two USCG buoy tenders were still there at  the Yorktown Training Center, and today the classroom work had moved outside. As we sailed past, we got to watch them pick up a red buoy off the deck and extend it over […]