I am an admirer of the late William F. Buckley Jr.  Buckley was a man of politics, not as a practitioner, but as an acerbic commentator in his magazine and syndicated newspaper columns and

Disclosure: I love sports cars. I’ve loved them since I didn’t have a driver’s license and, since then, I’ve owned them, restored them, raced them and often sworn at them. It’s exactly like

Call me Ishmael.  I can relate to Moby-Dick’s narrator because I too have tales to tell of creatures tormenting sailors at sea. I’ve never been threatened by a whale trying to bite my leg o

Golf course greens turning tan. Ski jumping off of artificial turf towers. Scuba diving on monochromatic reefs where rainbow coral once grew. Mountaineering to peer into one last crevasse. Climate cha

Kudos to the crew. They were stellar in this year’s Chicago Mackinac Race. In fact, they were stellar before the race started.  They managed to be alert and engaged as I delivered a homily th

As often happens for my musings in this column, three things converged like a perfect storm to make me start thinking. First, being a car nut as well as a boataholic, I visited a friend who is in the

It has been said that whenever two sailboats are sailing near each other on the same course, it’s a race. The saying probably exaggerates the competitive nature of sailors. Still, who among us has

Every spring we assemble our crew lists for the season and pack key sailing events into our best friend’s calendars. We draw a Venn diagram of teams to race on weeknights and weekends (since not eve

It is a bond that has linked sailors from time immemorial, bringing us joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy, marked by hubris and humility, angst and obsession, success and failure, all with egalitaria

It was a beautiful morning and I was rowing our tender ashore to grab a Sunday paper. I like rowing, and the fiberglass tender is fun for rowing (unlike those baggy gray inflatables), and I didn’t w

Who’s the most famous sailor of all time? A few candidates in random order: Ferdinand Magellan, first circumnavigator. Joshua Slocum, first solo circumnavigator. James Cook, explorer, pioneering

Inventions hailed as some of the greatest gifts to mankind since a Mesopotamian genius made the first wheel in 3500 BC don’t always stand the test of time. The Segway comes to mind, speaking of whee

Vesper’s giant carbon fiber rig towered over the rest of the boats in the yard like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar visiting a kindergarten classroom at nap time. The TP52 glistened in perfect glossy shades of

When it comes to refitting your boat, whether it’s for the upcoming season or to upgrade it in general, I’m happy to report (from more boats than I’ll admit to), that there is one item that does

An Aussie friend and I made a pact. He would get me a berth in the Sydney Hobart race and I would do the same for him in the Chicago Mackinac race. We didn’t put this in writing, but even though th

Our local fleet champ recently declared that he’s done with sailing. “This is it,” he said. “When this sailboat sells I’m not buying another. Runabouts don’t have runners.” He’s a ter

George Washington slept here.” That boast is painted or carved on antiqued signs on dozens of ancient houses in the state of New York. (It has been said that our first president really slept around.

We were standing in the yacht club bar after the race when Jon arrived and grabbed my arm. “Were you just feeling her bottom?” he demanded, which turned every ear along the bar into little pointed