Where Do You Sail?
People often ask, “Where do you sail?” The question is answered magnificently in this photo by pilot Chris Herion of Queens Lake. His aerial shot captures the breadth of the lower York River as it extends out Sara Creek and across to Yorktown, below the Coleman Bridge (on the right, out of view). The boats […]
Houston Problem
The Howell family enjoyed a beautiful afternoon sailing on the York River, near Williamsburg. After all these years, the three sisters retain varying degrees of their native Georgia accent. That led to a generalization that people outside the South find the drawl charming in women but not so much among men. It could be that […]
Sailing Upright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW7avH8PjA People ask, “Is extreme sailing dangerous?” This YouTube video shows how perilous it can be to sail a performance catamaran, such as found in the 2014 America’s Cup. By 2021 they were attaching the air foils to sloops for racing. The Vendee World was nearly all foiled sloops. Better that you stay with a […]
Sailing Surprise Birthday
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 son Will, (W&M ’14) who’s […]
Will You Marry Me?
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 a fabulous diamond engagement ring. […]
Tale of Two Couples
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 awe for his dedication. We […]
Colorado Sailors
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 for downwind sailing. They mastered […]
Wednesday Night Races
People ask, “Do you race?” No. Here in 2013 we dodged the Wednesday night sailboat races (in background).But they were colorful as boats of different sizes popped their spinnakers going on the downwind track. This is group of timeshare concierges and activities directors. They took a complimentary “fam tour” or familiarization tour to better promote […]
Met My Waterloo
The delightful Humpal family of Waterloo, Iowa, enjoyed an evening sail on the York River, which they found to be wider than other rivers where they live. It seemed like they hadn’t seen so much water. Eventually their granddaughter asked if we ever see dolphins in the York, “Well, three times this month,” I replied […]
Heeling is Fun
People ask, “What kind of coincidences do you encounter?” We had another family go sailing from New Hampshire, so that’s twice in two days. Mike and Linda Roberge brought their grandsons from the Granite State to Williamsburg, where they all went sailing on a warm spring afternoon. We were all in shirtsleeves, a first this […]
Calling a Rain-out
As heavy rain passed through Williamsburg early Tuesday morning, I elected to cancel today’s sail with six people. Radar suggests the rain will end by mid-morning, but more rain is visible on radar out west, past Petersburg, and likely to come our way. It may only be a shower, but still. People expect to sail […]
How to Fix Schools
Had a marvelous sail with three couples that lasted almost five hours with extended conversation and laughter. One fellow is a high school teacher on the Peninsula who, under questioning, allowed that disadvantaged children are quite capable of high achievement in science courses if given encouragement by their parents, including single parents. He said the […]
Party & Dolphins
One evening in 2013 we hosted three couples, all of whom are nurses at a big New Jersey hospital. They took turns at the helm, running the boat. And they took many creative photos as the sun began to set. What was truly remarkable was that during their singing and chatting and laughing, they forgot […]