Sailing with a Navy Carrier
While sailing the York River with his family, a retired Navy officer told me two stories about sailing with a Navy carrier. He stipulated they were not for attribution., “We were in the North Atlantic on the Navy carrier USS America in 1972. Along comes a 13-meter sailboat whose skipper had no idea how to […]
Sailing to Afghanistan
Jennifer and Curtis Miller took their family on a “glam camping” trip to the York River, and we wound up sailing to Afghanistan. They are active duty Air Force, so they drove from nearby Langley AFB to Cheatham Annex, east of Williamsburg. There the Navy has decked out the old commandant’s compound into weekend getaways. […]
Sailing to Find Saddam
Three couples with diverse backgrounds enjoyed a smooth day of sailing on the York River. And they drove a considerable way to do it. Gerald Napper brought his gal Renita Marshall from Ft. Lee, south of Richmond. He’s a First Sergeant with 24 years in, and she’s a dental administrator. He drove more than a […]
Burial at Sea
People ask, “Do you conduct burials at sea?” A funeral is hardly a fun thing to do on vacation, but it can be exciting. The Novy siblings gathered from all over the country to make the most of a melancholy situation as they buried their brother at sea. “This is the second service in […]
Sailing in Alaska
Dave Mrowiec never surrendered the helm when he took his wife and another couple sailing along the York River in strong winds. I’ve never seen anyone happier behind the wheel. “My father sent to me Alaska when I was 19 to work on a fishing trawler. It was 52 feet and we’d fish for salmon. […]
Sailing with Zeus
On an otherwise calm day with fluctuating winds, two couples from the Midwest got to watch as the USNS Zeus came into the York River on the way to its home port at Cheatham Annex. They saw the Coleman Bridge swing both spans open to let the big ship transit. The Zeus looked beaten up […]
Sailing with Autism
I do around a dozen “charity auction sails” a year, where I donate the trip for good causes, after expenses. While cruising along the York River in brisk winds with their friends Tara and Dave Farrell, Dave Mrowiec took the helm while his wife Sydney explained the work of the Peninsula School for Autism, one of […]
Celebrity Sailing
An experienced actor was among two couples from North Carolina who went sailing near Williamsburg on a blustery afternoon. Annette and Paul White travel together at least once a year with Lynda and Mike White. While enduring stiff winds that heeled the boat, Lynda mentioned that Mike White took up acting as an adult and […]
First Communion Sail
People ask, “Do you sail on special occasions?” His grandparents brought Gianni LaLota and his older brother Sal from the Fredicksburg area to go sailing after he made his First Communion that morning with his Catholic school class. The boys took the wheel with their grandfather Jim Moore in control. They managed fluky winds and […]
Sailing to Modernity
I get asked, “What’s with all these bridges?” Two things we take for granted in Tidewater Virginia are weather and bridges. I was explaining to two couples from Norfolk that I get people from all over the country for whom the weather is not a big news story but a big tragedy. You name it: […]
