Last, Great Sail
The last sail of the regular season came to a stunning end with a couple from suburban Philadelphia enjoying a great sail on the York River. “This time last week we were sailing in Massachusetts Bay with my brother on his 44-foot boat,” said Sam November. “Now here we are in Virginia.” Sam and […]
Team-Building Sail
A small company in Roanoke chose Let’s Go Sail to work on team-building. They got a full day of activities in half a day on the waters of the York River. Bright blue skies enhanced blustery winds of 10 mph and seas rising and falling two feet. Their assignment was to rescue someone in the […]
Go Navy!
To fully appreciate the US Navy plowing up the York River to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, you have to see the ships at their base. The last time I transited Norfolk Naval Base was in February 12 years ago when Greg Smith helped me sail the NTM 320 Hunter up from Waterside. I hired […]
Sailing Second Time Around
Love is better the second time around, and so is sailing. Carol Logue and John Campbell of suburban Richmond reprised their cruise from August on a much cooler and blustery day along the York River. Winds out of the east grew from 10 mph to 15 mph as we sailed directly out the river on […]
Salvage After Storm
With the threat of Hurricane Irma looming and amid a bevy of oil tankers that showed up in the York River, we went sailing on a bright and beautiful day with two delightful couples. Julio Pons and his wife took their friends Steve and Bridgette Perry sailing so they could appreciate Julio’s passion of sailing. […]
How to Survive a Sailing Emergency
Hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma and Jose inspire anxiety among sailors. In describing how to survive a sailboat emergency, these are ranked not by worst case downward because all of them are bad scenarios. Instead, they are ranked by degree of likelihood-to-happen, with the top categories representing the least likely and the bottom categories more […]
HGTV Shoots Sailing
A young couple from Prince George County is rehabilitating a summer home in Mathews County, with views of Chesapeake Bay. The job started last March with the husband and his father doing most of the work. Now that the job is almost finished, husband Ricky Elder is taking a break so his wife Ashley […]
Sailing under the bridge
Although it’s taken for granted by locals, the Coleman Bridge is a spectacular piece of engineering and a vital link between two regions of eastern Virginia. After the boom years of World War II, it became apparent the ferry from Yorktown to Gloucester Point would be insufficient to transit commuters and locals. The bridge was […]
Sail past Navy ships
Nearly every week, except during the holidays, US Navy ships ply the York River to and from Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. They arrive usually on Monday around noon and depart Thursday or Friday morning. These ships are magnificent to see coming over the eastern horizon from Norfolk Naval Base. I manage to sail out toward […]
York tugboats
Up and down the York River, tugboats provide safe and secure transit for ships. The biggest clients are Navy warships, which usually take one and sometimes two tugs to push and prod into port at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. The current is wicked, aggravated by the 2-foot tide. Moran Towing gets that job done, using […]
