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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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 […]
