Girl Talk
Sometimes the best place on a sailboat for girl talk can be the bow. Out there, with the boat slicing through the waves, one can find solitude to scrutinize nature and wind up falling asleep. Or you can hold a private conversation. Here, Ashley and Andrea Kieffer of Shawnee, Kansas, enjoy some girl time while […]
First Hot Shot
Early during the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 the French got the bold idea of heating solid cannonballs red hot and firing them at a ship. They succeeded by arcing at least three balls a mile away toward the HMS Charon, the 44-gun lead ship of Lord Cornwallis, anchored in front of what is […]
Kennedy Sailors
People ask, “Who are the most inspiring sailors?” Kennedy sailors are an American icon. President Kennedy made it glamorous by sailing on his sloop Victura out in the Atlantic off the coast of the Kennedy compound. Ted Kennedy enjoyed the contemplative nature as a sailor so much so that he cruised off Hyannis Port the […]
Sailing to Mexico
Ramona Findley of Los Angeles has crewed in offshore races from Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico, a 125-mile stretch that includes overnight sailing. So she and her colleagues from the LAPD and LA Sheriff’s Department had no problem sailing a mid-size Hunter on the York River on a beautiful afternoon. “I worked as the spinnaker […]
Sailing Blind
By sheer coincidence, we had two sight-impaired ladies onboard among three couples. One of them was Brenda-Ann Gillis. She ran a summer program for blind children on Florida’s Indian River. “The ages ranged from 9 or 10 up to 16. Their sighted siblings were included as part of the group, to help teach them how […]
America’s Cup 2013
The fastest sailing on Earth took place during the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay. These $100 million catamarans rose up out of the water on hydrofoils, which can be seen in this video. They touched an astonishing 55 mph. America was down 8-1 and roared back to win 8 straigt to win 9-8. […]
Great Sailing Day
People ask, “Aaarrrghhh! Are we tipping over?” Landlubbers, women and other reasonable people are put off at first by the heeling effect of a sailboat. The optimum tilt under sail in a good wind is 10-15 degrees off center. Anything beyond that is uncomfortable and surprisingly inefficient. Despite what you’ve seen on TV or in […]
Sailing the Plains
Iowa is home to Big Ag, with some of the largest farms in the country spread over the Great Plains. Mitch and Connie Morrison of Mason City have a daughter who married into a farm family. They explained alternately what her life is like while sailing near Williamsburg on a breezy day. “They farm 10,000 […]
USS Cole Sails On
People ask, “Do you ever see the USS Cole?” While sailing the York River on a calm afternoon, the guided missile cruiser Cole transited the Coleman Bridge on the way from Norfolk to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Kathy Hiles used to live nearby on the shores of Gloucester Point and was intrigued to see […]
Sailing Out of the Park
Alan and Val Domzalski of Gross Pointe Woods MI enjoyed a late afternoon sail on the York River with their pal Jeff Craig. Alan’s beverage company has a suite at Comerica Park, where they can watch the Tigers play in comfort. “The suite is beside home plate, looking down the first-base line. We’re there tomorrow […]
Spring Sail Class
Steady winds on the York River proved the perfect classroom for the first of three classes sponsored in the spring of 2015 by the Williamsburg Area Learning Tree. During an intense six hours, sailors rotated on the helm to learn the close reach, beam reach and broad reach. For the last, we deployed a colorful […]
Sailing Past Hugo
People ask, “What do you do in a hurricane?” “We learned how to make candles by cutting up shoelaces and dipping them in olive oil,” Karen recalled while sailing the York River. “A friend of ours got a call months later from someone who said, ‘Would you please come here and remove your boat from […]
Navigating a Career
People ask, “What’s with the Army’s Navy?” Ft. Eustis is home to the “Army’s Navy,” where soldiers learn everything from becoming a stevedore to captaining a boat. Donald Topping explained while sailing the York. Tens of millions of dollars have been invested to teach 27 discrete programs to Army troops and Navy SEALS. “We owe […]
Sailing with Dolphins
Dolphins showed up late in the season in the York River, with a pod of seven bobbing for 20 minutes near the entrance of the channel to Sarah Creek. Adrienne and Ben Johnson of St. Paul, Minnesota, took their family sailing on a breezy fall afternoon and were wowed by the sight. They were in […]
Sailing Later
Linda Louise Stamper of Indianapolis and her beau Scott dated a few times in high school before graduating in 1960 and going their separate ways to marry and raise families. Years later their spouses passed away. Scott related while sailing the York River how he caught up with Linda, who had developed a successful advertising […]
Sailing with Swashbucklers
People ask, “How did you get trained?” Dedicated mariners traveled to the Annapolis Sailing School in the summer of 2014 from as far as Maine, Los Angeles and Atlanta to qualify for the American Sailing Association’s higher level of instruction in Coastal Navigation and Coastal Cruising. Many of them run sailing schools and charter boats […]
Sailing Crazy
“Right out of college, I worked for the state of New Hampshire under Governor Mel Thomson. He was crazy. One time he shut down the entire state government so everyone could search for his favorite pen because he lost it. He found out the next day that his brother had inadvertently taken it off his […]
Best Sailing Movies
People often ask, “What are the best sailing movies?” Geni and John’s Nautical web page ranks hundreds of movies going back to the 1930s. Dead Calm is a thriller starring Nicole Kidman. It was filmed almost entirely at sea and presents accurately the difficulty of navigating under terrible conditions. White Squall, starring Jeff Bridges, ranks […]
Back to the Bay
Kelly Mikeselle took her family from Indiana on a sightseeing sail June 24, and they got to see dolphins in the York River. It’s the earliest that dolphin have arrived, since they usually show up with the warmer water in August. The river is already 80 degrees. Three fish were spotted frolicking a half-mile south […]
Sailing to Security
“My husband I operate a hardware and country store way outside Richmond. One night after dark as we were preparing to leave, a deputy raced up with his emergency lights on, and I thought, ‘Good, they saw our store lights and responded to check on us.’ My husband was fixing to leave and the two […]