Sailing License Plates
Drivers love to personalize their license plates, and that includes sailors. Virginia is a happy state of boating plates. Personalizing is inexpensive and very creative. The most popular plate replicates that of the owner’s boat, although sometimes that’s a mystery to the rest of the drivers on the road. We have a “Columbine” motor yacht […]
Sailing Past 2 Navy Ships
ai Monday is often arrival day for warships transiting from Norfolk Naval Base to Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. A family visiting Williamsburg from the Finger Lakes region of New York rode out on Sarah Creek in great anticipation. Right away we ran into a pod of dolphins in the creek. Apparently the high seas churned […]
Sailing Past the Laboon
People ask, “Can you get a photo of a Navy ship coming through the Coleman Bridge?” A Houston couple left on vacation after Hurricane Harvey and arrived in Virginia in time for the remnants of Hurricane Irma. The resulting sail on the York River was much more pleasant and quite an adventure. Dave and Sonya […]
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 […]
Sailing into the Mist
Linda Nay of Henrico took her family sailing on a misty afternoon that led to sprinkles on and off. “We don’t mind,” her husband Kent said. “We’re outdoor people and like all kinds of activity, even when the weather isn’t perfect.” The simply wanted to sail a new river. She found Let’s Go Sail […]
Sailing to Church
Two couples who never met before had the extraordinary career of part-time ministries in common. Bruce Queen of Richmond is an intentional interim minister, and so was the late father of Jane O’Dell of York SC. Her husband Mike works with the Baptist Church of North Carolina in the wheelhouse of such ministers. “They are […]
Sailboat Essentials
One of the most frequent questions fielded by Let’s Go Sail is, “What should I wear?” Here are the sailboat essentials for a day’s adventure on vacation. The easy answer in summer is whatever you have on for the day in the way of shorts and shirt, plus a hat and sunscreen. Temperatures out on […]
Sailing Past Ike
Phil Sorsky flew in from London and went sailing the next day with his friend David on Willoughby Bay and the James River. We cruised past the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, under repairs at Norfolk Naval Base. Phil is an executive with a worldwide company that builds telecom towers. “We are based in Great Britain and […]
Growing Up Cruising on Chesapeake Bay
Everyone has a recollection about their childhood boating experiences. Valerie Axel recalls fondly growing up on Chesapeake Bay as a continuous adventure. She related her story while sailing the York River with her husband Neil on a magnificent spring afternoon. “We spent the summers cruising the Bay in my father’s 48-foot Chris Craft. He was […]
12 Secrets to Ocean Sailing with Kids
Repeat customers are a joy because they were obviously pleased the adventure the first time. This time, two teachers from Central Virginia went sailing with a vengeance because he’s about to go to sea. And today was his birthday. Robert and Elizabeth Hale-MacKinnon teach eighth and fourth grade respectively at the Charlottesville Waldorf School, in the Montessori […]
Best Quick Guide to Cayman Paradise
We returned to Grand Cayman after an earlier vacation, looking for relaxation and the Caribbean sunsets. Every day is sunny, warm and breezy, comparable to perhaps 30 days all year in Tidewater Virginia. No wonder people flock here from Ohio, Canada, Germany, Poland, you name it. There are no panhandlers, no crime, no police sirens, […]
Sailing Down Memory Lane
Sailing on the York River brings back fond and funny cruises down Memory Lane. Sallie and Dave McLain took his parents and their daughter and her friend sailing on a beautiful fall afternoon that felt like late summer. It was Dave’s birthday present, so he ran the helm. Sallie recalled: “We were sailing at the family […]
Sailing down Memory Lane
Sailing on the York River brings back fond and funny cruises down Memory Lane. Sallie and Dave McLain took his parents and their daughter and her friend sailing on a beautiful fall afternoon that felt like late summer. It was Dave’s birthday present, so he ran the helm. Sallie recalled: “We were sailing at the family […]
Classy sailors take to the water
Sam Scovill was among the students in the 16th annual fall sailing class offered by the Williamsburg Area Learning Tree through Williamsburg Charter Sails. Students typically come to class with little experience, but not so here. “Last week I helped a guy bring his 50-foot sailboat down from Annapolis to Hampton. I hadn’t sailed in […]
Sailing past Busch Gardens
Every year Busch Gardens in Williamsburg ramps up in the fall for a massive theme of Hallow Scream. Before they went sailing on the York River, Tina Herald and Chris Lawrence were in the park the previous evening as the cast began to set up and rehearse. They regaled me with this: “All of sudden […]
Sailing the Great Lakes
The York River is pretty big and the Chesapeake Bay is large, but there is nothing like sailing the Great Lakes. They are veritable oceans. Mary and Mike Wlodarski were vacationing in Williamsburg from Naperville, Illinois, so they went sailing on the York with another couple to celebrate Mary’s birthday. Naturally he recalled harrowing sailing […]
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 […]
Sailing past a submarine
Two couples who’ve been married for decades celebrated their anniversaries by sailing past a submarine during their vacation to Williamsburg. Lisa Kuert surprised her husband Paul on their 35th. “I had no idea where she was taking me,” he said. “I had sandals on so I figured it couldn’t be too dangerous, like rock climbing.” […]
Sailing from Annapolis to Florida
I picked up a hitchhiker named John who was headed to an auto parts store. “I’m looking to fashion a gasket for my fuel pump. I found a leak in the line and have pumped the manual pump to death. It’s for an Atomic Four gasoline engine in my Catalina 27 that I sailed down […]