I try to stay out of trouble writing this column. I avoid taking stands on issues that might cause gastric distress among readers. I never touch politics, the deadly third rail of discourse. I wr

The first time I anchored in one of Jost Van Dyke’s perfect natural harbors, our boat shared the anchorage with only one other, a small, privately owned sloop. When I returned to the British Virgin

I’ve heard people express sympathy for the men and women sailing in the Ocean Globe Race. That’s the 27,000-mile race that started last September and will go on for about eight months with short

What would sailors do without foul weather?  Sailors spin yarns. By definition, yarns are sea stories enhanced by exaggeration, but sometimes the subject matter needs no hyperbole to be a grippi

I never met Jimmy Buffet, but I wrote about him. “Buffett was the muse, the piper who led sailors and wannabe sailors to the Caribbean to rent sailboats and live the dream.”—Full and By Se

The butchers at Bernie’s Fine Meats are yacht racing fans.  Bernie’s is an institution behind a downtown storefront dating to the early-20th century in the small city that is SAILING’s hom

Some of the prettiest miles of the 3,000-mile-long Intracoastal Waterway are those between Gordon Pass and the tip of Keewaydin Island in southwest Florida. This 10-mile stretch is a natural waterway

Sailing is the oldest form of transportation in the history of mankind, not counting walking.  Archaeologists say the first humans to settle on the Australian continent had to have traveled ther

Buddy Melges understood wind like no other sailor, so it is all the more fitting to say he was a breath of fresh air in the world of sailing.Although he won national championships 10 times and two Oly

A sailboat sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on March 13. The four people on board were rescued by other sailors after nine hours in a liferaft and dinghy. We of the sailing community are

By rough count, more than 60 different people have sailed with me on my boats. No, I haven’t been operating a day charter business on the side. What I have been doing is sailing in sailboat races f

There is a scene in “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to the 1986 movie that made Tom Cruise a top gun at the box office, that is a thrilling depiction of humans speeding through the glories of the

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

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

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

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

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

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