Sailing by VIMS
To avoid a rainout, Bentley Streat of nearby Hayes went a day early to take her family sailing on the York. Her sister Linda Shaffron works at nearby VIMS, or Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “Ours is the largest facility in America focused on estuarine research,” said said proudly. Estuarine as in estuary, as Chesapeake […]
Multiple Sails
Home Again During multiple sails, the cable-laying USNS Zeus returned to Cheatham Annex after many months at sea in the Atlantic. The Zeus lays hundreds of miles of intel cable as deep as 9,000 feet. It’s the only ship in its class because the sister ship never got built. It looks like an old hospital […]
Submarine Sighted
While exiting Sarah Creek with a couple from Phoenix AZ, I heard a radio call on Channel 16: “White hull sailboat in the York River, this is the United States Navy warning about an approaching submarine.” I looked around and saw two Moran tugboats rumbling upriver toward the Coleman Bridge, but no submarine. The radio […]
Sailing past Warship
A couple from Williamsburg took their extended family sailing along the York on a breezy summer afternoon. Hannah Gibbons’ dad Patrick was an experienced skipper who last helmed a 52-footer in Puget Sound. He had no trouble with winds of 10 mph gusting to 15. We got to see the USS John Finn exit the […]
Open Season
After a long winter, Let’s Go Sail launched anew for the second decade.
The Start of War
The Start of War focuses on the beginning of the Revolution, at Boston.
Destroyers Compared
Sometimes people ask, “Can you compare Navy ships?” Yes, but preferably in profile. On a whim, Daniel Katekovich took his bride Connie sailing along the York River on their 30th anniversary. She had never been on a sailboat before, “if you don’t count a small catamaran.” She did great as we zoomed across the river […]
Sailing the High Seas
People ask, “What’s it like to sail the high seas?” Two independent couples from New York and Virginia went sailing on the high seas of the York River as fresh easterly breezes provided a speedy route down river. In recent days the winds have been strong after a front blew through. By now they have […]
Sailing Summer’s End
People ask, “Is Labor Day Weekend busy on the river?” Too busy for me, as a professional mariner. Labor Day weekend brought us to sailing summer’s end. It came complete with all kinds of amateur motorboaters who consistently drove across my bow, sometimes too close. While I lament that so few boats are on the […]
Captain’s Choice
People often ask: “Is it hard learning how to sail?” No, not at all. Two couples from Richmond and Lynchburg had never met until they went out on the York River to learn how to sail. What they got was a primer on the water and a rare view of a passing Navy submarine. En […]
