Celebrating Summer by Sailing
Celbrating Summer by Sailing inform couples and families how to enjoy private charters on the York River.
Sailing Past Cuba Gooding Jr.
Gregory Schon of Newport News took his wife Carol sailing on the York for their 15th anniversary. With sails reefed in warm 15-18 mph winds from the southwest, he celebrated appropriately by reaching 15.7 mph. Carol is a retired lab technician who moved up the hospital and corporate ladder to get into sales, traveling the […]
Viva La France!
One afternoon on a blustery fall day, a young couple took their three children sailing for the first time. Xavier Larbarriere serves as a colonel in the French Army, assigned to NATA at Norfolk Naval Base. He enjoyed seeing the US Navy sub through the binoculars. “You know,” he told me in an aside, “Norfolk […]
Navy Sails Past Coleman Bridge
Seen alone or in profile, all Navy ships look big. When seen while transiting the Coleman Bridge at Yorktown, the differences become acute. Here is the passage this week of the USS Mesa Verde, a San Antonio-class landing ship dock. It’s used to land a battalion of 800 Marines and assorted tanks and helicopters […]
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 with Manufacturers
Over the years, I’ve found that three things depress people about work: their boss, the commute, getting laid off. One of the intriguing things about work is people who actually manufacture something. There is something robust about Made In America, and it makes people proud. On a day blowing 12-16 mph on the York […]
Missiles Come from Yorktown
It’s debatable if President Trump should have ordered 59 Tomahawk missiles fired into a military airbase in Syria. Early reactions are that it was a good strategic move for the gas attacks on civilians. One can also debate whether he has the authority in such an adventure, though LBJ set that precedent in the Gulf […]
Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene
He was one of the few American generals to miss Yorktown. As a Quaker, he was an “unlikely warrior” according to Terry Golway in “Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution.” Greene took command at the low point of the Southern Army in 1780, replacing Horatio Gates. Greene engaged the British Army across […]
The sheer adventure of exciting sailing
Nancy and Mark Clark of Leander, Texas, visited Williamsburg and took their first sail on a very brisk York River. Mild winds from the northeast got stronger as we ventured out toward the Chesapeake Bay. Whitecaps began to show at 10 mph, and the seas built to 3 feet as neared Goodwin Island. The couple […]
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 […]
Recounting Navy Sails
Ed Jones Jr. of Williamsburg took his family to Water Country as the summer heat began to fade. But first he sent his mom and dad to go sailing on the York River on a calm and sunny day. That seemed like a fun thing to do while on vacation, and less stress than a […]
Sailing Good Winds
Question: Who should run the boat in brisk winds? Answer: A former Navy jet pilot. Moderate winds of 12 mph turned to a brisk 18-20 mph on a bright sunny day, leading to one reef in the genoa to make it more like a jib. The mainsail was full. Kathy Fanney brought her family […]
Sailing with a Navy Carrier
While sailing the York River with his family, a retired Navy officer told me two stories about sailing with a Navy carrier. He stipulated they were not for attribution., “We were in the North Atlantic on the Navy carrier USS America in 1972. Along comes a 13-meter sailboat whose skipper had no idea how to […]
Sailing to Afghanistan
Jennifer and Curtis Miller took their family on a “glam camping” trip to the York River, and we wound up sailing to Afghanistan. They are active duty Air Force, so they drove from nearby Langley AFB to Cheatham Annex, east of Williamsburg. There the Navy has decked out the old commandant’s compound into weekend getaways. […]
Sailing with Patriot Pirates
Then.People ask, “What’s with the pirates?” The Battle of the Capes was a classic sea battle. Not so the battles by pirates. George H. Patton’s “Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution” presents another story. Here is the tale of America’s insurgency against the British merchant ships and Navy. […]
Sailing with Scholars
And A lovely couple from Annapolis went sailing near Williamsburg for their first anniversary. And it was a joy to go sailing with scholars. “This was a total surprise,” said Sara Crouser as she boarded the boat with her husband Mark. “He can never keep a secret, so this is really special. Plus he knows […]
Sailing with the Navy
Sail Time’s operating waters in Willoughby Bay are surrounded by the US Navy, so it feels like we’re sailing with the Navy. A fleet of attack helicopters and smaller search-and-rescue helicopter ring the bay. Just to the north is Fifth Fleet, capped by aircraft carriers jutting into the skies of Hampton Roads. Meet Navy Lt. […]
Lessons Learned
Here are six lessons learned while sailing this summer. WEATHER – So many people, especially out West and in the Midwest, have suffered incalculable psychic and monetary damage from floods, drought, wildfires, snow and bitter, bitter cold in recent years. We have it easy here in Williamsburg and throughout Tidewater Virginia. SPORTS –namely the NFL– […]
Sailing to Citizenship
Among all the people to sail with Williamsburg Charter Sails this season, I finally encountered my first naturalized American. It was like sailing to citizenship. Ivan Levy is a Panamanian who grew up in Miami and elsewhere as his parents moved around with the military. He served eight years in the U.S. Marines and is now a […]
Sailing Past the Navy
The US Navy has strict rules that no one can sail closer than 200 yards to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station when a ship is in port. Nash Skiles took his family out sailing in a light wind that carried us under the Coleman Bridge and well safe of that range. We watched as […]