Buccaneer Sail
Eight years ago, I took Lewis and Paula Volk of Kansas out sailing for their first big cruise. They returned this year with another couple and told a fascinating story. “We were looking to buy a bigger motorboat than the one we had. But the deal went sideways with the broker, and then we went […]
Policy Sail
Four family members from Richmond took a well-deserved day off to go sailing on the York. Temperatures in the 90s were offset by winds blowing a steady 15 mph and gusting over 20. It was so delightful and the conversation so intense that no one noticed the boat heeling past 20 degrees. We sailed around […]
Busy Sail
A quiet July morning led us to motoring under the Coleman Bridge to see two Navy warships in port at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. I pointed out the tubes between two square tents where the Tomahawk missiles fire. Their range is 2,000 miles, sufficient to bomb Iraq and Afghanistan from the Mediterranean Sea during […]
Educational Sailing
We got closer to the Kalmar Nickyl for the first of several educational sailing cruises. It’s the state ship of Delaware, heading out to sea after an extended stay at Yorktown. They gave tours to educate the public on how volunteers replicated the entire boat, based on a Swedish design. You wouldn’t want to go […]
Sail Air Force
A local couple took their family sailing on a beautiful Sunday morning. Enrique Lara is retiring from the Air Force after 23 years in a unique career. “I run vehicle logistics for the Air Force,” he said casually and added, “all over the world.” Not planes, mind you, but vehicles. I asked how many. […]
Texans Sailing
The Coffman family from Texas went on two unique excursions in one day. First, six of them toured the Norfolk Naval Yard by way of the Miss Hampton, a day boat that runs up and down the Elizabeth River. Meanwhile, their parents toured the York River with Let’s Go Sail. Because the day was quiet […]
Navy Sailing
oh On a warm, breezy morning a newlywed couple from Louisville KY took their honeymoon cruise on the York River. Stephen Bacher explained that Rachel Kinser was planning to sail down the Mississippi River in a year or so. “I’d like to be married with her long enough before she dies,” he joked. Rachel is […]
Sailing by VIMS
To avoid a rainout, Bentley Streat of nearby Hayes went a day early to take her family sailing on the York. Her sister Linda Shaffron works at nearby VIMS, or Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “Ours is the largest facility in America focused on estuarine research,” said said proudly. Estuarine as in estuary, as Chesapeake […]
Submarine Sighted
While exiting Sarah Creek with a couple from Phoenix AZ, I heard a radio call on Channel 16: “White hull sailboat in the York River, this is the United States Navy warning about an approaching submarine.” I looked around and saw two Moran tugboats rumbling upriver toward the Coleman Bridge, but no submarine. The radio […]
Sailing past Warship
A couple from Williamsburg took their extended family sailing along the York on a breezy summer afternoon. Hannah Gibbons’ dad Patrick was an experienced skipper who last helmed a 52-footer in Puget Sound. He had no trouble with winds of 10 mph gusting to 15. We got to see the USS John Finn exit the […]
