Lights for Sailboats
The US Coast Guard has developed an elaborate scheme of navigation lights for boats and sailboats of all sizes on the York River and around the world. Thay way, everyone can recognize each other at night and tell what direction they’re going. The easiest example is the one here of a sailboat with red, green […]
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 […]
Sailors Launched
Six adults excelled this spring in the class “Adventures in Sailing” class offered on the York River under the tutelage of the Williamsburg Area Learning Tree. They learned all six points of sail, how to tack sharply, how to gibe safely, how to rescue a man overboard, how to communicate on marine radio, how to […]
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 […]
Learning to Sail
People ask, “Is it hard to learn to sail?” Check out the video below. The Green family of Carrollton spent two rigorous days at SailTime Virginia Beach learning the ropes and much more. They became proficient in all five sail reaches of close haul, close reach, beam reach, broad reach, and run. All four of […]
Sailing to a Robbery
People ask, “Do guests share harrowing stories?” “My daughter Erin had started work as a bank teller. She had her head down when she felt round, cold steel right here.” Mary Baldwin pointed to her forehead. “Then a man in a mask said, ‘Push that button, Bitch, and you’re dead! Give me all the money.’ […]
Sailing to Church
Newlyweds Angela and Josh Purdy just moved to Seaford from rural Indiana and are thinking of buying a sailboat. They spent the afternoon learning how to sail while zipping along the York River in a brisk breeze. They found it exhilarating and easier than they had imagined. And they learned how to “see” an approaching […]
Backing up a Sailboat
“People ask,” Is it hard to back up a sailboat into the slip?” ASA has an entire course dedicated to this, so yes it is. Corinna Caldwell is my first sailing student to take on the daunting task of backing a sailboat into a slip, under power. It’s like backing up a tractor-trailer in a […]
Sailing Class
Sam Melville, Jon Sargent and Robert Dexter Lilley concluded an intensive two-day course with SailTime Virginia Beach by running a Catalina Capri 22 out of Willoughby Bay at Norfolk beside Interstate 64, over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel toward Thimble Shoal Lighthouse, and back to port at Willoughby Marina. The crew fought a wicked ebb […]
