She Said Yes
Meghan Mannas said yes when Gregory Eyler proposed marriage to her on the bow of a boat during a charter sail with Williamsburg Charter Sails. Brisk breezes required that we move to lee of the wind and let the trees on the Yorktown cliffs slow the force. Otherwise Gregory might have dropped the ring, to […]
Fishing & Sailing
Dawn Simpson took her husband Joel sailing on the York River on their 27th wedding anniversary. They were visiting from Ocean City, Maryland, the charter sail brought back memories for Joe of the water. “My father’s father was eight when he came to Ocean City to work on steamship ferries as a boy. My father […]
Sailing with the Navy
While taking a Lowery family from Hawaii sailing on the first sunny day in nearly two weeks, I spotted something five miles out. “Oh look, a Navy ship is coming into port.” They looked at each other as if to respond, “Meh.” Maile Lowery said gently, “We’re from Pearl Harbor. We work for DOD, all […]
Blue Sky Over the York
Finally we got to see blue sky over the York River as the storm that preceded Hurricane Joaquin pushed off the horizon. In Yorktown, the water on Water Street receded and the winds began to drop from the 20s mph. A big tide was expected late afternoon Monday, but after that things were looking up. […]
Parts of a Sailboat
People feel understandably overwhelmed by the nomenclature or parts of a sailboat. Yet many of the terms are derivative of common sense, and other parts have become part of the lexicon as veritable metaphors. Let’s look at a few parts so that you have a rudimentary knowledge and will show some verbal sea legs on […]
Sailing with Fire
I’ve never had a firefighter onboard before, so this was like sailing with fire. Derek Hayes of Elko, Nevada, joined his mother DeLyne and her husband David out on a dark but otherwise pleasant day for a private sailboat charter on the York River, off Yorktown. DeLyne is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, […]
Where’s that, Sailor?
You can name your boat almost anything except Mayday and Vessel In Distress. As long as it will make sense when hailing the Coast Guard on marine radio, they don’t care. Amusement arise when one tries to hail Tow Boat US three times, because it sounds very much like Toy Boat, which is hard to […]
Sailing 30 Years Later
A British couple joined their American friends sailing on the York River. They were good sports to endure the story of the Battle of the Capes and the Siege of Yorktown. John Thomber recalled his time in the Royal Navy and had sailboats at his yacht club in England. He got back on the helm […]
Sailing Memories
Memories of sailing are vivid but not always pleasant. While tacking downriver on the York with Doug and Stephanie Gwilliam of San Diego, David Rane recalled the time he and his wife Mary Beth went out on a skippered boat in Washington State. “It was a howling wind and raining sideways, so I assumed we […]
Exciting Sailing
Two couples from Delaware enjoyed an exciting sail in brisk winds on the York River with their grown children. Jeff and Barbara Wesson are from Georgetown, and Brenda and Al Ebert are from Bowers. The Eberts live within view of the Delaware Bay and are used to high winds and waves. >Bowers is a small […]
