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– […]
November Sail
Ivan Levy made a return trip for a November sail on the York River, this time with his friend Alena who’s a bartender at Bailey’s in Patrick Henry Mall. She’s from Belarus in the former Soviet Union and speaks perfect English. “I always wanted to live in America,” she said proudly. In brisk winds gusting to […]
Sailing without Grandchildren
Two couples in their 50s from Southern California went sailing near Williamsburg on a beautiful fall afternoon with an astonishing statistic between them. Patty and Chris Davis have five grandchildren while their friends Sabrina and Dave have ten. “That’s 15 of them, up to age 18,” Sabrina said. “They all live nearby, so we don’t […]
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 vs. Powerboating
The first thing that people discover about charter sails vs. powerboating is how quiet sailing is. Once the engine is cut off, the sound of silence is distinct. Women notice it first and appreciate it better than men. Everyone begins to hear the waves lapping as the sailboat glides through water. When birds are close, […]
Sailing through Life
The emotional pull of sailing leads to all kinds of analogies and metaphors about life. The very Zen of the experience has inspired numerous posters and bumper stickers. Here’s a unique twist in a video with Oprah Winfrey by Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor, a professor of religion at Piedmont College in north Georgia. “I think we’d […]
Sailing Trifecta of Cool Sights
Three couples from West Virginia, Illinois and Texas nearly hit the Sailing Trifecta of Cool Sights on the York River. They had never met before and had a fun time on a beautiful fall afternoon. First, they got to see a small pod of dolphins frolicking in front of Sara Creek. Two and then three dolphins romped […]
World’s Largest Sailing Yacht
The world’s largest sailing yacht is so big that its size rivals a Navy warship coming through the Coleman Bridge at Yorktown. This week the modestly named Sailing Yacht A set out for sea trials in Germany, where it’s being built for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. He owns the equally unique Motor Yacht A. Sources put the length of […]
Sailing through Grade School
Here’s an idea from San Francisco about sailing through grade school that would work well on the York River, or any river large enough for small boats. Thousands of fourth graders enjoying a new twist on science and math lessons while learning basic principles of sailing as part of Set Sail Learn. It’s billed as […]
Oysters in the Bay
They are comparatively few and far between today, but oysters used to clog the Chesapeake Bay. These days, we see precious few oyster men while sailing the York River. Virginia’s catch has dropped from nearly 8 million bushels in the early 1900s to half a million today. The industry began here in the early 1800s when […]
Yorktown in the War of 1812
While not nearly as prominent as it was in the American Revolution, Yorktown had its moment in history during the War of 1812. By 1813 the British had the Chesapeake Bay bottled up with 300 warships compared with only seven by the United States. But we also had 14 small schooners known as revenue cutters, […]
Seasick when Sailing
People occasionally ask if they’re likely to get seasick when sailing on a three-hour charter along the York River. The answer is No, for several reasons. 1. We sail in a river, which almost never gets enough chop to make the boat pitch forward and backward. High seas with seven-foot waves (measured from top […]
Where’s that, Sailor?
You can name your boat almost anything except Mayday and Vessel In Distress. As long as it will make sense when hailing the Coast Guard on marine radio, they don’t care. Amusement arise when one tries to hail Tow Boat US three times, because it sounds very much like Toy Boat, which is hard to […]
Sailing Reminiscence
“My mom grew up near the water in Massachusetts,” said Molly Warmbein while sailing the York River on a brisk afternoon. “She used to go down to her father’s sailboat every day after school and sit on the bow to do her homework. I think she still misses sailing.” So Molly texted her a photo […]
Kalmar Nyckel at Yorktown
Delaware’s state ship Kalmar Nyckel roared up the York River under motor (and with aft flag unfurled) to visit Yorktown briefly. This is a recreation of the ship that brought Peter Minuit to Delaware in 1638 to settle the colony. It remained largely a merchant ship except for occasional war duty, when all 12 cannon […]
