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 […]

Happy Birthday Sail

Birthday

People ask, “Does sailing make a good birthday gift?” Every year, Chris and Marty McCurry of Spruce Pine NC try to do something special on their son’s birthday. This week John Caleb McCurry got an up-close look at US Navy submarine barreling up the York River to the Naval Weapons Station. We were sailing near […]

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

Army Ship Maneuvering

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

Summer of 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 […]

Back to the Bay

Army Ship Maneuvering

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 […]

Sailing with Foodies

Mike and Kate Cash of Kansas City enjoyed their honeymoon sailing on the York River. They are avid cooks and devotees of the Food Channel, where they follow acclaimed Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. By sheer luck, we also took aboard Kathi and Chef Ron Gallo of JoJo Restaurant in New York. JoJo is one of 50 […]

Sailing for Show

“Whenever we do an evolution [event] of 15 or 20 ships at sea, we have to take photos to show the formations and the ships. Sometimes we have to get within 400 yards with ships on each side to get good photos, and that’s difficult to do while moving at 13 knots on the open […]

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 […]