A couple from Nebraska brought their teenage daughter sailing so she could brush up on her skills after taking ASA 101 in Chicago on Lake Michigan, of all places.
Everley Stephens is an ice skater by sport, but she got hooked on sailing while navigating small boats near her native Omaha. She did a great job handling 15 mph winds that kept changing direction and finally died off. The secret to learning is to “see” the wind and react quickly. She did.
I got to asking if they bump into Warren Buffet. “We live a mile and a half away, but we don’t see him much,” her dad Brandon said. “It’s a very modest house, as you know.”
Her mom Stephanie picked up the story. “This is the big weekend when thousands of people stream into Omaha for his annual report. We see people taking pictures of his house, and of his old office. The building wasn’t his in the beginning, just a couple of floors up top.”
“Tens of thousands of people will show up, including his vendors,” Brandon continued. “They’re there for his Berkshire Hathaway Weekend in which the companies he owns display and sell their wares. It’s quite a show.”
I asked if he’ll wade into the Trump tariff controversy. “Yes sure,” Brandon said. “He already has, actually, so I’m sure he’ll update his criticism.” I figured Buffet is so old that he probably met Smoot and Hawley back in the day.
Wine Sailors
Earlier, two couples from Northern California went sailing on a lark. One of them spent his career at Stanford University and traveled widely in Wine Country north of San Francisco.
As we chatted, a USCG bridge-and-buoy tender glided by from upriver where it evidently replaced an Aton as they’re called. It was exactly a year ago that I radioed the Coast Guard that R-24 was sinking. At first, they were incredulous, but they came out promptly and replaced it.
“I wouldn’t say we’re wine snobs,” Ed Caron said from the helm. “We went to your New Kent Winery and found it nice. But the grape skins must be too tough from the cold weather. The taste wasn’t exactly bitter, but it was… different. Perhaps not as sweet or smooth as California. We have fog, but not winter. We went through a wine-tasting session once with blind people, and they did better than we did. So, what do I know.”
Newport Sailors
A couple from Williamsport PA went sailing while touring Williamsburg. Delores and Loy Johnson chimed in alternately.
“We grew up in Newport, Rhode Island and had friends with boats — but never had boats. We saw the Tall Ships come into Newport for the 1976 Bicentennial, and it was fabulous. Eight or ten tall ships, plus dozens of giant yachts scattered about. We would sail our little 20-footer between all of them. More balls than brains!”
People always remember their horror stories. As a youngster, Loy got caught in a sailboat at a bridge in Rhode Island. “We were up against the bridge when the motor conked out. It took a while to start it, but we got away.”
Loy held the helm as we got up to speed. “Delores and I sailed once on the Nefridide after it was decommissioned from the America’s Cup. There was no wind, and a guy in a kayak came past us rowing. Our captain hollered to him to get back. “You’re making me look bad!”
Sailing Home
At least once a week, a cruise gels with the perfect elements of couples, family, wind, laughter and enthusiasm. Meet the Galli family, with three generations of Mel Gallis with their spouses and children. Mel Galli III is a civil engineer from Oregon who got an opportunity to buy his uncle’s house on the York River, just about the Coleman Bridge and facing the Naval Weapons Station. He and his wife Annie refurbished the garage into a B&B with her skills as an interior decorator and carpenter.
Mel always wanted to sail and perhaps own a boat since the house also comes with a dock and deep water. He and the others asked all the right questions and conveyed an excitement for sailing that took my breath away. Just look at the photo, above.
Women enjoy sailing today more than ever, and particularly a romantic cruise. Couples get to enjoy a romantic getaway as they sit up on the bow for privacy, and Let’s Go Sail provides professional photos for free. First-time or skilled mariners are welcome to sail a modern-32-foot sailboat in a unique setting of wildlife and Fall foliage or Spring bloom. It makes for an extraordinary anniversary idea.
Rhode Island Sailor
In the spirit of Father’s Day, Keith Marvelle of Toano took his dad and his wife sailing to rekindle old times. They faced a strong southwest wind, which is exactly what they sought.
“I used to race on a Cal 36 out of Newport RI,” Keith 1 said as he took the helm. “It was nothing like this [technologically]. “The sails were hanked on for the jib and hoisted manually for the main. Everything was basic. It even had a tiller instead of a wheel.
“I started out young on a Sunfish and got into trouble once when a guy came along to help me out. It was the owner of the Cal 36, and he asked if I would like to crew since he needed help. You bet! That’s how I got started.
“They had all kinds of races, including one where you had to start while swimming in the water. At the gun, you had to jump up onto the boat and go. One time, I had to jump into the water at the start of the race to untangle the anchor line because it had fouled the prop. It was in October, 7:30 in the morning actually, in very cold water. But it was all fun.
“We’d race from Newport to Cuttyhunk Island or Block Island, from 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Block Island has only 100 people in the winter but gets crowded in the summer.” Like a poor man’s Martha’s Vineyard, I suggested.
Keith 2 asked Keith 1 to tell us his worst boating experience. “It was at night in the Everglades on a pontoon boat. Fortunately, there was a full moon. Capt. Bob was a cracker from Florida, very old. The Everglades are very big and very shallow, so we inevitably ran aground. At one point, Bob saw a new shoal and gunned the engine to go over it. Sure enough, we ran aground — hard. He said, ‘All right. Everybody out. Push!’ Of course, he stayed in the boat.
“At one point, I saw V-shaped movements and said, ‘Bobby, do you see that?’ He said yeah but to keep pushing. He would advise us when to jump back into the boat. But we were in up to our wastes in muck, making it hard to move, much less get out of it. Then he yelled ‘Now!’ and we miraculously jumped up out of the range of a big old alligator.”
Keith 1 helmed for 3 hours straight, pinching into the gusts and running to beam reach to flatten out the boat. He hadn’t forgotten a thing all these years later.
Horror Story
Three sisters from Georgia and Texas assembled in Virginia to go sailing with their niece, Melissa Wippler. As we departed the dock, one of them announced cheerfully, “I sure hope this is better than the last time I was on the water.”
I thought nothing of it until three hours later when we completed a routine sail that started out light and picked up speed as the wind and waves rose. She stopped me on the dock and said, “Thank you for getting me over my fear of water after all these years.”
Now I pressed her for the details. “We went out of Annapolis on a motorboat with an inexperienced captain and could see a storm approaching. Other boaters were coming back in and shouting for us to turn around. He ignored them and we proceeded out. Then we got hit hard, in the middle of Chesapeake Bay. The sky was as dark as this water,” she added while pointing.
Suddenly she stopped and I could see the story recurring in her eyes. “We almost died,” she added quietly and then perked up. “This was much better.”
Let’s Go Sail
Check the “Book A Cruise” tab and pick a day for a sailboat charter. Scroll down reviews on Trip Advisor. Go back to the home page of Williamsburg Charter Sails.
The best Williamsburg boat tour offers safe sailing daily for up to 6 people. It’s an extraordinary experience for couples. Leave your worries behind. Enjoy the thrill of moving with the wind without a care in the world. Put life back on an even keel with a romantic experience for a birthday or anniversary. 3-hour sailboat cruise as a semi-private yachting charter lets you exhale and relax as you enjoy comfort, stability and speed.
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