Old Salt
People ask, “Do you ever get old salts?” After the rain cleared out unexpectedly, two friends from years ago went sailing on the York River to recreate the scene from down east Maine. Kay McLeod came up from North Carolina to take her mentor and pal Carol Haussermann out on the water. Kay said, […]
Sailing License Plates
Drivers love to personalize their license plates, and that includes sailors. Virginia is a happy state of boating plates. Personalizing is inexpensive and very creative. The most popular plate replicates that of the owner’s boat, although sometimes that’s a mystery to the rest of the drivers on the road. We have a “Columbine” motor yacht […]
Relearning to Sail
An unusual sight confronted commuters over the Coleman Bridge. As the Navy warship Laboon exited the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, it passed the Navy’s cable-laying USS Zeus just below the Coleman Bridge, off Yorktown. The Zeus was coming into Cheatham Annex after a six-month deployment in the Atlantic. The stark white color of the […]
Sailing Past the Laboon
People ask, “Can you get a photo of a Navy ship coming through the Coleman Bridge?” A Houston couple left on vacation after Hurricane Harvey and arrived in Virginia in time for the remnants of Hurricane Irma. The resulting sail on the York River was much more pleasant and quite an adventure. Dave and Sonya […]
Salvage After Storm
With the threat of Hurricane Irma looming and amid a bevy of oil tankers that showed up in the York River, we went sailing on a bright and beautiful day with two delightful couples. Julio Pons and his wife took their friends Steve and Bridgette Perry sailing so they could appreciate Julio’s passion of sailing. […]
Can I take my dog sailing?
She’s sitting on the rail, which is always precarious. The rail is better than the lifelines, which move, but it’s still a terrible idea. Hence, her center of gravity is too high. In fact, they both belong back in the cockpit where things are safer. She’s holding the dog while sitting on the rail, […]
Girls’ weekend getaway
A unique idea for a girls’ weekend getaway is to go sailing. Many’s the time I’ve had pals show up spontaneously for three-hour afternoon sail. Mothers and daughters find sailing a bonding experience as well. Get out of the parking lot and on to the water. The Adventure Cruise is the most popular, offering a […]
Family Sailing Experience
A Richmond couple got stuck in traffic for an hour as they finally brought their four young children to the marina to go sailing. The contrast was evident as the sailboat scooted out to the York River with all the room in the world to drive. Light winds propelled us across the river and into […]
Sailors with Boating Friends
A couple from Northern Virginia left their teenagers at home for a one-day adventure to drive south and go sailing on the York River. Katie and Sam Mangrio are in real estate, so we got to talking about flipping houses. “We’ve only done that once,” Sam said cautiously. “A lot can go wrong, so you […]
Scientist Relearns Sailing
For those who are interested, I walk them through the dynamics of sailing. For those who aren’t, I just point them in the direction of a close reach and leave it at that so they can enjoy the adventure. Here we have a scientist relearning sailing. Kim Allan sent her husband Brian and their son […]
Sailing to Serendipity
A couple eager to sail hard on a windy day joined a family who thought they were just going for an outing on the York River. The result was sailing to serendipity. Cathy and Steve Kirby vacationed in Williamsburg from their home near Charlotte. “I have a 26-foot Hunter that’s trailerable with the water ballast. […]
Mindfulness through sailing
A special impact of sailing is the new rubric of mindfulness. It is simply abandoning one’s worries of the day in the moment of appreciation—while under sail. Call it Zen. Other modern concepts of psychology termed this The Zone. Writers get into The Zone when they find themselves caught up in their text, moving quickly and effortlessly […]
Boating Fails and Tales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlEdBRv7B-k “We went offshore in New Jersey looking for bait fish,” said Colleen McGowan while taking her children for a sailing lesson on the York River. Hers is the first of several bizarre boating tales this season encountered by Let’s Go Sail. “We ran into a crowd of fish so great that it felt like there […]
Sailboat Essentials
One of the most frequent questions fielded by Let’s Go Sail is, “What should I wear?” Here are the sailboat essentials for a day’s adventure on vacation. The easy answer in summer is whatever you have on for the day in the way of shorts and shirt, plus a hat and sunscreen. Temperatures out on […]
Sailing into USCG Smoke
While sailing the York River with Kevin and Jennifer Brown and their children, we spotted a rare exercise by the US Coast Guard of deploying flares and smoke simultaneously. It was very dramatic and colorful and lasted all of a minute. The exercise is rare on the York River because the very sight of the bright […]
Ultimate Guide to Sailing
While vacationing in Williamsburg, Colleen McGowan thought it would be fun for her children to test the waters of Virginia. “They’ve grown up on boats, ever since they were babies. But they’re never been on a sailboat, so I thought they should learn. I have a 28 Silverton that we run in New Jersey. It’s […]
Growing Up Cruising on Chesapeake Bay
Everyone has a recollection about their childhood boating experiences. Valerie Axel recalls fondly growing up on Chesapeake Bay as a continuous adventure. She related her story while sailing the York River with her husband Neil on a magnificent spring afternoon. “We spent the summers cruising the Bay in my father’s 48-foot Chris Craft. He was […]
12 Secrets to Ocean Sailing with Kids
Repeat customers are a joy because they were obviously pleased the adventure the first time. This time, two teachers from Central Virginia went sailing with a vengeance because he’s about to go to sea. And today was his birthday. Robert and Elizabeth Hale-MacKinnon teach eighth and fourth grade respectively at the Charlottesville Waldorf School, in the Montessori […]
Best Quick Guide to Cayman Paradise
We returned to Grand Cayman after an earlier vacation, looking for relaxation and the Caribbean sunsets. Every day is sunny, warm and breezy, comparable to perhaps 30 days all year in Tidewater Virginia. No wonder people flock here from Ohio, Canada, Germany, Poland, you name it. There are no panhandlers, no crime, no police sirens, […]
Season Opener
People ask, “How early does the season beging?” We begin in mid-March for hardy sailors who can tolerate the chill on the water. For the season opener of Let’s Go Sail in 2017, Hannah and Jeff Davis drove up from the Danville area of Virginia to take their daughter Haylee and her friend Bella sailing […]
