Will You Marry Me?
Sean Kosmann brought Jessica Pettrey to Williamsburg and took her sailing on a bright fall afternoon, where he proposed to her in an elegant romantic setting. He escorted her up on the bow of the boat and got down on bended knee (made difficult by recent knee surgery) to offer a fabulous diamond engagement ring. […]
Adrenalin Rush Sailing
People ask, “Is sailing inspirational?” Sailing can be downright inspirational. Donna Schmoyer’s son is a Pennsylvania state trooper who happened on a stalled van one frigid snowy night, stranded on the shoulder of Interstate 81. While assisting, he noticed a Mustang sliding directly their way on the ice and shouted for everyone to run. As […]
Midwestern Ingenuity
Boating builds self-confidence, among other things. Mike Ahfield of Birdseye, Indiana, related to me while sailing the other day how he helped perform an unusual rescue. Worse, he and his brother and nephew were out on a rickety Jon boat when the transom began to depart from the top of the stern. The weighty outboard […]
Sailing Without Tenants
“The residential rental business is stinky,” summarized Doug McSwain. He took his wife Valerie out sailing off Yorktown in brisk winds ahead of an afternoon of rain. He’s endured myriad problems with tenants in Huntsville, Alabama, and elsewhere, mostly due to perceived entitlement by tenants and their exploitation of arcane state laws. Valerie once got […]
Tale of Two Couples
Two couples sailing the York River enjoyed opposite timelines. Jan and Bill Spendley have been married 52 years and do nearly everything together. Tyrell Gardner and his date Shawna are engaged to marry . Tye is finishing up his master’s on the way to medical school. That left us in awe for his dedication. We […]
Making Meth at Sea
During a lovely afternoon sail, it turned out one member of the crew from Florida did time in prison for making methamphetamine. He reluctantly answered questions because he has since gone straight. He allowed that the methodology in the TV series “Breaking Bad” was quite accurate, outlining in detail the precise sequence for making the […]
Colorado Sailors
Linda and Bill Schmidt of Westminster, Colorado, had a blast sailing the York River as they enjoyed their best amenity visiting Williamsburg. “This is the highlight of our trip. I love this boat,” Linda said as she ran a delicate helm after Bill helped deploy the red and blue spinnaker for downwind sailing. They mastered […]
Dedicated Sailor
Wayne and Connie Bentel found sailing the York River much easier than his career of 40 years teaching special-ed, where among other things he helped develop community homes for teenagers. He must have had the patience of Job all those years. “Only at work,” he laughed, looking lovingly at her. Connie and her family of […]
Boating Dangers
As they sailed into brilliantly orange sunset off Yorktown, Ann and David Gross recalled a harrowing experience while boating on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. They were proceeding at 10-15 mph in their 20.5-foot Bayliner one night. Then they nearly T-boned another boat because it had no navigation lights showing. There are several lessons […]
Sailing to Civility
Two Long Island families enjoyed an afternoon of sailing while discussing a wide range of issues. The two girls are entering seventh grade at the Latin School of Kellenberg Memorial High School, where the Marist Brothers “train the mind and educate the heart in patterns of civility, order and respect,” according to the website. Students […]
Sailing with Seatbelts
People ask, “Do you learn about other stuff while sailing?” Cathy and Ron Johnson tacked out the York River and sailed on the spinnaker all the way back. He worked 38 years with International Harvester, which once had huge market share for building school buses. So why don’t they have seat belts? (1) Bus seats […]
Sailing with Old Friends
Pam Martin took Tony Telesmanic out for an early evening sail. She raises show horses and they both are high-powered office supply execs. He used to be a Navy SEAL. He looked every bit the part, with a build so strack for his age, which I put around 50. Once when Tony was serving on […]
Key Sailors
People ask, “Is it hard to fly a spinnaker?” Aron and Caryn Arias took their boys sailing on the York and helped deploy the colorful spinnaker on the bow for running downwind. Aron and Ben (right) have sailed with Boy Scouts in the Florida Keys. Alex ran the helm as Ben raised the spinnaker. The […]
Wednesday Night Races
People ask, “Do you race?” No. Here in 2013 we dodged the Wednesday night sailboat races (in background).But they were colorful as boats of different sizes popped their spinnakers going on the downwind track. This is group of timeshare concierges and activities directors. They took a complimentary “fam tour” or familiarization tour to better promote […]
Met My Waterloo
The delightful Humpal family of Waterloo, Iowa, enjoyed an evening sail on the York River, which they found to be wider than other rivers where they live. It seemed like they hadn’t seen so much water. Eventually their granddaughter asked if we ever see dolphins in the York, “Well, three times this month,” I replied […]
Heeling is Fun
People ask, “What kind of coincidences do you encounter?” We had another family go sailing from New Hampshire, so that’s twice in two days. Mike and Linda Roberge brought their grandsons from the Granite State to Williamsburg, where they all went sailing on a warm spring afternoon. We were all in shirtsleeves, a first this […]
Calling a Rain-out
As heavy rain passed through Williamsburg early Tuesday morning, I elected to cancel today’s sail with six people. Radar suggests the rain will end by mid-morning, but more rain is visible on radar out west, past Petersburg, and likely to come our way. It may only be a shower, but still. People expect to sail […]
How to Fix Schools
Had a marvelous sail with three couples that lasted almost five hours with extended conversation and laughter. One fellow is a high school teacher on the Peninsula who, under questioning, allowed that disadvantaged children are quite capable of high achievement in science courses if given encouragement by their parents, including single parents. He said the […]
Party & Dolphins
One evening in 2013 we hosted three couples, all of whom are nurses at a big New Jersey hospital. They took turns at the helm, running the boat. And they took many creative photos as the sun began to set. What was truly remarkable was that during their singing and chatting and laughing, they forgot […]