?????????? Paul and Linda Johnson brought their children east from New Hartford IA to tour American history at Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. They always wanted to sail, which they did splendidly on a brisk day along the York River where everyone got a turn at the helm. In their spare time, the family performs as The Johnson Strings, playing 75 to 100 musical concerts a year at festivals, colleges, fairs and churches across the upper Midwest. The children are trained on bass, mandolin, violin, viola, cello and piano. They have also played meeting halls for presidential candidates who campaign every four years in Iowa for the Straw Poll.

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Nautical Chaos

Nautical Chaos

Dozens of deadrises and hundreds of observers on land and sea mingled during the annual Battle of the Boats off Riverwalk Landing. It was hard to determine who won after several heats. The next day offered a unique contest to see how fast a deadrise can go in reverse while

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Big Winds, Big Noise by Navy

Big Winds & Big Noise by Navy

I’m sometimes asked, “What’s it like to sail in big winds?” Adventurous, but the winds come and go. On this day, big winds for days suddenly calmed by the time Debbie Kremer of Arizona brought her beau Bob Wickley of San Antonio to sail the York River. We quietly tacked

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Furler Genius

Furler Genius

In only six hours, Glenn Bates and Evan Harrell of Performance Rigging in Hampton replaced my 25-year-old jib furler by linking the topping lift atop the mast to the anchor chainplate to remove the old rig and install the new one. That saved $1,000 and a full day of labor

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