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 say three times. It’s harder for charter sailboats because they’re often unfamiliar with the name of the boat.

The hailing port below the name is another matter. People think: Where’s that, Sailor? Some think it has to be where the boat is physically, but it’s okay to list the home venue of the owner. Thus a boat can be from Palm Springs, California, when in fact the nearest water is, well, way far away. In this case, the boat is at a marina on the York River.
USCG regulations stipulate: “The hailing port must be a place in the United States included in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 55DC.”

This motorboat at right is probably owned by a urologist.

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Season Opener

Season Opener

After a shakedown cruise with a delightful couple from Fredericksburg, we launched the season opener with a fellow who brought his wife and sisters-in-law along for his third time at Let’s Go Sail. Since it was a Monday, we were on the lookout for two Moran tugs that would signal

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Good Riddance

As many as 20 derelict sailboats and motorboats on the Hards at York River Yacht Haven are in the process of being crushed and trucked away. A few wooden boats date to the 1940s. Once the hill is cleared and graded, more current boats will move here from down the

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Danger Sails

Danger Sails

A couple from metro Richmond returned for another sail and brought friends with them. Donna Ludwig recalled the last time she and Buddy went sailing. “It was with my brother-in-law on his sailboat, slightly smaller than this, say 27 feet. It was a day like today and we had a

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