Top Speed
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 […]
Learning to Sail
A Richmond area couple drove down to the York River to learn how to sail. Kate Riley sailed a Sunfish once and wanted to try a bigger boat. She got the full experience in a steady breeze of 10 mph that enabled us to sail under the Coleman Bridge to see the Navy submarine still […]
Summer of Dolphins
There are two upsides to Global Warming. First, it has extended the sailing season from April 1 to Thanksgiving as the waters of the York River remain warmer longer into the year. Second, it has led to more dolphins arriving earlier and staying later. The first pod visible this year showed up in mid-May, and […]
Sailing Lake Superior
A couple from Northern Virginia just bought a summer home in nearby Kilmarnock and took their friends sailing on the York River. Pat Tracey worked all over the world with the US Navy and retired as a lieutenant commander. “But I never got to captain a ship because I was the last of the women […]
Big Ship
A US Navy Support cargo ship pulled into Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and left just a few days later. USNS Medgar Evers is 689 feet long and has a crew of 123 civilians and 36 Navy personnel, some of whom deal with two helicopters on board. The cargo hold can take 783,000 cubic feet. It […]
Ultimate Towing Job
Reprinted from a Facebook post by my friend Mary Kay Dineen, who told me: “Should you need their service, these are my Minnesota relatives. I kid you not.” Written By: Mary Divine / St. Paul Pioneer Press and Linda Vanderwerf / West Central Tribune | ST. PAUL — Jason Butler, owner of City Line Towing of Willmar, […]
Sailing into History
A young man from Prescott AZ (originally Baltimore) brought his wife to Williamsburg for an annual trip they’ve done for years. They wanted the History Cruise, so I dived deeply in the 1781 Battle of the Capes and the Siege of Yorktown that effectively ended the Revolutionary War. They had some history of their own. […]
November Sail
A couple from Venezuela celebrated her 50th birthday by taking their children sailing on a brisk November day. Vanessa Martinez and Tony Torrealba moved here 20 years ago and live in Northern Virginia. Vanessa wanted to learn how to sail, and she did great on all three reaches. They got delayed crossing the Coleman Bridge […]
Sub Exits York
Two couples and a solo sailor chased a Navy submarine for much of the afternoon. It was overcast and still, so we motored under the Coleman Bridge to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station so they could see a sub in port. It was the third time this season that a sub arrived, which is very […]
Let’s Stop This Sailing Feud
Let’s stop this feud between sailboats and motorboats, since both are wonderful.
Sailing on Megatankers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEhCvR43nh8 Here is the ultimate boat rental: Hundreds of millions of tons of cargo shipped by a mega-tanker under sail. Massive sails. It’s part of a long-term effort to improve “rigid wing wind” transportation by ship. An earlier blog showed that in terms of fuel consumed per ton-mile, a tugboat moving a barge is 2.5 […]
Fast Pitch Sails Past
147 teams from 16 states showed up in York County for a girls’ fast-pitch softball tournament.
Sail a Tall Ship
People ask, “Do you get much repeat business?” Jim and Jo Ann Giesen of Ford’s Colony made a return voyage from last year, bringing with them their son Mike and new bride Jess. Mike had no problem on deck casting off. “I sailed on the US Brig Niagara,” he said. “It’s a warship made to […]
Santa Maria at Yorktown
People ask, “Do you ever see tall ships?” A replica ship of Christopher Columbus’s fleet pulled into Yorktown for Memorial Day Weekend. The Nao Santa Maria set sail in 2017 to mark the 525th anniversary of the original discovery of America in 1492. The 200-ton, three-masted ship blew in this week from Wilmington NC. Skip […]
Dolphins!
People ask, “Do you ever see dolphins while sailing?” For the first time this year, we saw dolphins in May in the York River. Two couples from New Jersey and Tennessee got up close as the dolphins zoomed in the wake of the sailboat while cruising the York River. Art Ford spotted two of them […]
Submarine!
People ask, “Do you ever see submarines?” Kathy and Dan Clodfelter of Newburgh IN went sailing on a bright sunny day along the York River, where they got to see a US Navy sub up close. Kathy had taken sailing lessons in college years ago and wondered if she could still do it. She got […]
Sailing in May
People ask, “Do the winds pick up during the day?” A Yorktown couple took her parents and other family members sailing on a light day that turned into 15 mph gusts. They loved it. They had gathered for the graduation of John Bednarek from the College of William & Mary this weekend. Julie Bednarek’s folks […]
Sailing Yorktown
People ask, “What’s the deal with pirates?” Pirates prevailed at Yorktown on Saturday as the Schooner Virginia and RV Virginia sailed into port. The 122-foot schooner went bankrupt years ago and was revived by the Nauticus Foundation, home-ported there in Norfolk. The big white Virginia was just christened as the newest research vessel by VIMS, […]
Connecticut Sailors
People ask, “Are there things you don’t talk about onboard?” A family from Newtown CT took a sailing adventure along the York River on a sparkling spring afternoon. I didn’t mention the recent tragedy Sandy Hook Elementary. “We sailed once before,” Chris Whorf mentioned brightly of he and his wife Maria Arnoldy. “It was a […]
Boat Extremes
Sailing from New England People ask, “Are there extremes in boats on the York River?” We saw it on this day. Two couples who had never met enjoyed a warm, sunny breeze on the York River as part of their Williamsburg vacation adventure. Shirley Patrick of Washington DC brought her beau James Artis after having […]