Relearn How to Sail

Relearning How to Sail

People ask, “I used to sail, can you teach me again?” A couple from Charlottesville and a family from Pittsburgh went sailing on the York River to relearn their skills. Sebastian Kukla and Erik Fernandez hadn’t sailed since their college days, but they got the hang of it quickly in winds of 10 mph rising […]

Santa Maria at Yorktown

Santa Maria to 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 […]

Sailing from Childhood

Sailing from Childhood

People ask, “Do sailors recall their childhood on the water?” Yes, fondly for the most part. A Wisconsin couple transplanted to Palm Harbor FL was visiting Williamsburg and saw they could go sailing on the York River. Peggy Wearing grew up near Lake Michigan. “I started out sailing prams and later 210s out of the […]

How to Evaluate Sailing Pricing

How to Evaluate Sailing Pricing

Every now and then I’m asked about the sailing pricing of Let’s Go Sail. It’s a fair question and is best addressed on two fronts, strategy and comparisons. Sailing Strategy The idea when starting out seven years ago was of course to earn revenue, but with a twist. The principal objective remains to get people […]

Sailing Yorktown

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, […]

Big Winds Return

Destroyers Compared

On a whim, Daniel Katekovich took his bride Connie sailing along the York River on their 30th anniversary. She had never been on a sailboat before, “if you don’t count a small catamaran.” She did great as we zoomed across the river in 10 mph winds and building seas. Then we tacked to go under […]

Skimming Along Lake Toho

Skimming Along Lake Toho

Of all the boating our family has enjoyed over the years, we have never gone on an airboat. While on vacation in Florida, our son-in-law Trevor Phillips booked us for a unique and private two-hour adventure tour of the marshy shores around Lake Tohoperaliga near Orlando. Trevor knows how much we enjoy boating.  “We call […]

How Charter Sailing Started

How Sailing Charter Started

Special to the KCSA Bulletin In retirement, Kingsmill resident Bill O’Donovan has pursued a charter boat business to share the joy of sailing. It all started on the beach of Kingsmill years ago when Bill and Bonnie Tully met. “He took me out one afternoon on a 14-foot Sunfish, and we sailed all the way […]

Last, Great Sail

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

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 […]

Sailing Second Time Around

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 […]

Sailing with a Navy Vet

Correcting 6 Myths About Sailing

To narrate the Battle of the Capes, I pick out a sailboat in the distance that’s moving at a right angle to us. The idea is to show the “vanguard” strategy of how ships fought at sea in the 18th century. Reggie Jackson went sailing with family and friends along the York River on a […]

Relearning to Sail

Relearning to Sail

  An unusual sight confronted commuters over the Coleman Bridge. As the Navy warship Laboon exited the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, it passed the Navy’s cable-laying USS Zeus just below the Coleman Bridge, off Yorktown. The Zeus was coming into Cheatham Annex after a six-month deployment in the Atlantic. The stark white color of the […]

1926 Herreshoff Arrives

1926 Herreshoff Arrives

  A rare work of art blew into Sara Creek at Gloucester Point with the arrival last week of a 1926 Herreshoff sailboat. The name is famous as the manufacturer of America’s Cup boats going back a century or more. The Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island, heralds the sailboats and the Cup. Herreshoff still builds […]

Family Sailing Experience

Family Sailing Experience

A Richmond couple got stuck in traffic for an hour as they finally brought their four young children to the marina to go sailing. The contrast was evident as the sailboat scooted out to the York River with all the room in the world to drive. Light winds propelled us across the river and into […]

Memories of Six-Meter Sailboats

Memories of Six-Meter Sailboats

Two couples from Arlington came to Williamsburg and celebrated their dual anniversaries by sailing the York River. They navigated a beautiful east wind that eventually turned to a light rain. A Florida sailor and her friend joined us in a fast day of excitement. Denisse Paz reluctantly took the wheel instead of her beau Jay Sasporlas, […]

Happiness on a sailboat

Happiness on a sailboat

Happiness on a sailboat comes in many forms. There is first of all the sheer joy of running a boat on the wind. With a few minutes training behind the wheel, anyone can enjoy the sensation of guiding a sailboat through the waves. Boats steer like cars except that the “wheels” are in the back […]

Living and Boating Along the Intercoastal

Sailing the Intercoastal

An experienced boating couple who spent decades on various cruisers and motor yachts got to go sailing for the first time. Charles Grimes took Tammy Bell and her parents JoAnne and Tom Bell sailing on the York River, and they loved it. The Bells found it exciting in a brisk wind of 15 mph that […]

All the Ships at Sail

All the ships at sea

People ask, “What’s it like to see a Navy ship come close?” With a retired US Coast Guard admiral on board, we encountered all the ships at sea beginning with the big one. The USS Mesa Verde rolled past us as we exited Sarah Creek into the York River. The Mesa Verde is an amphibious […]

The Joy of Sailing

The Joy of Sailing

Wayne Frith brought his wife Jo and grown son Ian from Hopewell to Williamsburg to go sailing on the York River for his 20th birthday. Where they live, the James River is pretty tame for sailing. The idea was to show Ian the joy of sailing, but that proved difficult because the winds were so […]