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 is Better than Golf
Before addressing why sailing is better than golf, another distinction is appropriate. I can often tell if a person plays golf, as opposed to tennis. Golfer have better hands and appreciate the effect that the wind has on their game. Tennis players power through the shot and ignore the wind since it has only a […]
Sail Class Crescendo
The 16th fall sail class by the Williamsburg Area Learning Tree reached a crescendo Nov. 8 with a straight run out the York River to the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, just south of Mobjack Bay and within sight of Newpoint Comfort. On the return leg, we used a northeast wind of 10-15 mph and […]
Sailing is like Golf
Sailing is like golf in myriad ways. Here are a few. You can meditate while exercising mildly. The wind matters. For racers and golfers, handicap scoring levels the playing field. Three to four hours is plenty of diversion. You can cherish the silence of nature. A cold beer tastes great afterward. You can enjoy the […]
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 […]
Sail to Weather
We found out what it’s like to sail to weather. For the 16th year, the fall class of the Williamsburg Area Learning Tree assembled for the three-day “Adventures in Sailing” class. Among the returning alumni is David “Ned” Neidlinger whose career in the Air Force included intensive weather work and data collection. High up in the […]
Diverse Sailors
Three couples spanning generations from different parts of the country formed diverse sailors on the York River this week. Corinne Casey is an optometrist and Brian Kanhofer is a computer engineer. They drove down from Baltimore and rented a cabin on the York. “It seemed so much more rustic than a hotel in Williamsburg,” Brian said.
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 […]
Sitting in the Catbird Seat
One joyful surprise of a charter sail is the unique experience sitting in the catbird seat on boat of 30 feet or longer. The concept was pioneered by Hunter Sailboats in the early 1980s as twin “stern perch” seats on the aft rail, but the term catbird quickly eclipsed that. Catalina Sailboats and Beneteau Sailboats […]
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, […]
Sailing from Paradise
People dream about taking off to that idyllic island in the sea, but sooner or later they wind up sailing from Paradise back to reality. “Years ago my husband and I went to live on St. John in the Virgin Islands,” Darlene North related while on a charter sail of the York River with Carrie […]
Sailing to Safari
Regenia Frazier brought her mother, Celestine, from rural Charlottesville to revisit Mathews County, around the bend from the York River. Years ago, Celestine took care of a wealthy man in a wheelchair who had multiple houses. We went out on a charter sail on the York River on a bright but chilly afternoon. “We decided to […]
Sailing on the Bow
Most of the time on a charter sailboat is spent in the cockpit having conversation and running the boat. But sometimes people prefer a little privacy and prefer to go sailing on the bow to contemplate the zen of the experience. I find while chartering along the York River that friends and siblings like the […]
Kin to George Washington
Chris and Stetson Hoffman of Franklin, Tennessee, had a special reason to bring their friends Sam and Teddy to Williamsburg. They took a charter sail on the York River in the shadow of Yorktown, where Stetson is kin to George Washington. He won the Battle of Yorktown that sealed America’s independence. “I go back twelve generations […]