Let’s Stop This Sailing Feud
Let’s stop this feud between sailboats and motorboats, since both are wonderful.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
This woman is posed on a yacht charter, but she’s sitting on the rail which is always precarious. The rail is better than the lifelines, which tend to shift, but it’s still a terrible idea. Her center of gravity is too high, which could send her into the drink with a sudden move of […]
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 last season encountered by Let’s Go Sail. “We ran into a crowd of fish so great that it felt like there […]
What’s the Deal with Dolphin Sightings?
While Let’s Go Sail doesn’t promote it, we get asked all the time, “What’s the deal with dolphin sightings?” People looking for boat rentals and sailing charters get an added adventure on the York River. The Couvion family of suburban St. Louis crossed at least two rivers to go sailing on the York. First the […]
20 Sailing Superstitions
Sailing Superstitions offers historical perspective to couples and families who want to enjoy private charters on the York River. Let’s go sail.
Lessons Learned for Advanced Sailors
Over the course of decades, Let’s Go Sail has owned six sailboats to navigate the waters of the James River, York River, Mobjack Bay and Chesapeake Bay. Many wonderful days have been aggravated by a relatively few days of minor problems. For those buying a sailboat or otherwise getting into the sport seriously, one humbly […]
Red Skies Myth Debunked
“Red skies at night, sailors delight. Red skies in morning, sailors take warning.” This durable ditty has survived the ages because it is pithy — but often wrong. Think about it for a moment. Just because the sky is red in the evening doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a clear day tomorrow. It could […]
Santa Maria at Yorktown
People ask, “Do you ever see tall ships?” A replica ship of Christopher Columbus’s fleet pulled into Yorktown for Memorial Day Weekend. The Nao Santa Maria set sail in 2017 to mark the 525th anniversary of the original discovery of America in 1492. The 200-ton, three-masted ship blew in this week from Wilmington NC. Skip […]
Dolphins!
People ask, “Do you ever see dolphins while sailing?” For the first time this year, we saw dolphins in May in the York River. Two couples from New Jersey and Tennessee got up close as the dolphins zoomed in the wake of the sailboat while cruising the York River. Art Ford spotted two of them […]
How to Build a House
Peoplel ask, “What’s it like to build a house on the water?” Heather Masters booked a sail with her husband Ryan for their 20th anniversary. By their youth, I figured they got married at 15. We had a serene run up the York River to see the Navy submarine in port, and Ryan noticed a […]
Sailing from Childhood
People ask, “Do sailors recall their childhood on the water?” Yes, fondly for the most part. A Wisconsin couple transplanted to Palm Harbor FL was visiting Williamsburg and saw they could go sailing on the York River. Peggy Wearing grew up near Lake Michigan. “I started out sailing prams and later 210s out of the […]
Submarine!
People ask, “Do you ever see submarines?” Kathy and Dan Clodfelter of Newburgh IN went sailing on a bright sunny day along the York River, where they got to see a US Navy sub up close. Kathy had taken sailing lessons in college years ago and wondered if she could still do it. She got […]
How to Evaluate Sailing Pricing
Every now and then I’m asked about the sailing pricing of Let’s Go Sail. It’s a fair question and is best addressed on two fronts, strategy and comparisons. Sailing Strategy The idea when starting out seven years ago was of course to earn revenue, but with a twist. The principal objective remains to get people […]
Sailing in May
People ask, “Do the winds pick up during the day?” A Yorktown couple took her parents and other family members sailing on a light day that turned into 15 mph gusts. They loved it. They had gathered for the graduation of John Bednarek from the College of William & Mary this weekend. Julie Bednarek’s folks […]
Couples Enjoy Sailing
I get asked, “How far down in the water do the buoys extend?” Those two USCG buoy tenders were still there at the Yorktown Training Center, and today the classroom work had moved outside. As we sailed past, we got to watch them pick up a red buoy off the deck and extend it over […]
Cuddly Sailors
I get asked, “Do you meet amazing people?” Every now and then someone has an amazing business story. Such was the case while taking Daniel and Jennifer Williams of Louisville out sailing along the York River on a brilliant and warm afternoon. “I’ve got my own business,” Jennifer said. “We make stuffed animals of your […]
60th Sailors
“Do people celebrate their anniversary by sailing?” As a surprise, a Williamsburg woman went to extensive lengths to reserve a private sailboat charter for her parents to mark what she called “their 60th.” She provided a limo and driver from Richmond. We had to shift the trip around rainy weather and develop an early morning […]
Boat Extremes
Sailing from New England People ask, “Are there extremes in boats on the York River?” We saw it on this day. Two couples who had never met enjoyed a warm, sunny breeze on the York River as part of their Williamsburg vacation adventure. Shirley Patrick of Washington DC brought her beau James Artis after having […]
The War Begins
People ask, “Why is Yorktown important?” Yorktown is the other bookend of the American Revolution. The war began with the two engagements between Massachusetts militia and the British Army. What is not well-known is the hurry, surprise and confusion leading to those battles. In takes us on an intimate journey into the events of April […]
5 Things Learned
By Pat Reynolds, ASA Opinions Matter Everyone has a different opinion in this world of sailing. When I got my first cruising boat, a Catalina 30, I quickly realized this thing was full of systems I knew nothing about. The motor wasn’t running and what I knew about fixing diesel engines could fit […]