I never could get the hang of birdwatching, which is all about seeing and identifying avians and making copious notes about the sightings in something called a life list. I did once manage to rec

It had never occurred to me, until this pandemic put everyone into self-imposed exile, that sailing is a magnificently and spectacularly solitary endeavor. I now realize that many of my best memories

I came across an old photograph the other day and was carried away by a wave of nostalgia. It was a photo of a person engaged in spinnaker flying. I don’t mean flying a spinnaker, as in settin

Sailing boasts unmatched power to make quick comrades from nemeses. For example, when climate change provocateur Greta Thunberg chose to sail across the Atlantic Ocean instead of flying, sailing soci

I remember my distress when I was introduced to Old Devil Hull Speed. I was just getting into offshore racing, working at being a semi-competent bowman, and I was gung-ho for speed. I read every

Iwent sailing with an old friend recently on his 38-foot racer-cruiser that shall remain nameless because what I’m about to say has nothing to do with the boat, which was quite fun to sail.  B

Folks who enter the rustic confines of our family’s beach cottage are greeted by a small display of sailing heirlooms including a color photograph of me at a barely-adult age along with two older, m

It was a quarter of a century ago but it seems like yesterday. We were 50 miles into a 120-mile overnight passage bound north by northeast. Our homeport lights had fallen below the horizon  so o

Why do people climb a dangerous mountain? That’s easy. We know the answer because George Mallory gave it to us in three words in 1923, one year before his life ended on Mount Everest. Why do peopl

To be a real sailor is more than knowing your knots and how to trim sails for the conditions. It’s also looking the part. Just as Boy Scouts have merit badges, so too do sailors have their status sy

I read car magazines with interest and envy.  Interest because, as a semi-reformed sports car buff, my clutch-foot still twitches when I read about high-performance automobiles.  Envy

Footage of the foiling IMOCA 60s is sci-fi. And I’m not just talking about the sailing shots.  Watching the new Apivia emerge from its shed is like seeing a stealth fighter jet for the first t

Among the hundreds of thousands of words I’ve written in pursuit of my calling as an ink-stained wretch, I can’t think of any combination of them that has achieved the status of a deathless phrase

I admit it: I belong to way too many yacht clubs. I realize this, but it seems to be a chronic issue, like keeping every copy of the New York Times for 30 years or creating huge balls of string.

Back at the dock after Saturday afternoon racing, the boat was shipshape, the genoa folded and in its turtle bag, two spinnakers repacked, the mainsail neatly flaked and under its cover and the crew r

Last August a friend issued a challenge. John and his partner Pat were enjoying frequent summer weekends at a cottage on Flathead Lake in Montana, but their sailboat—a 15-foot centerboard trailer-sa

I hope I’m not too agitated to write my usual dignified publisher’s column, but I have to admit to being in an awestruck state of amazement and bedazzlement. I just read a news release about

I was skimming a boating blog when my eye was caught by a plaintive headline: “How do I stop a Seagull?” I thought for a moment and then I started laughing, to the point of tears running down