Somali pirate attacks on yachts have been much in the news lately, what with a) the heartening good news that bluewater cruisers Paul and Rachel Chandler were finally released unharmed on November 14 after being held hostage by a Somali pirate gang for 388 days; and b) the sickening bad news that yet another sailing...

Here's another casualty of the annual fall exodus south to the islands. Emma Goldman, a 41-foot wooden ketch departed Martha's Vineyard bound for Bermuda on November 6, was rolled and dismasted in a Gulf Stream gale, then drifted for 12 days with two survivors aboard. They were picked up Sunday by an oil tanker. Unfortunately,...

Only a boatowner could view an image like this as being orgasmic. You'll recall I'm testing some gear sent over from Ultrasonic Antifouling Ltd. in the UK--in-hull transducers that go clickety-click 24-7 and supposedly prevent nasty critters from growing on Lunacy's hull. Well… Lunacy got hauled a couple of weeks ago after two months in...

Very sad news this week from the Land of Cruising Rallies. Seems a Jeanneau 45DS named Rule 62 that was sailing in the Caribbean 1500 rally between Hampton, Virginia, and Tortola, BVI, wiped out on a reef in the Bahamas and one crew member, Laura Zekoll, 46, was lost and is now presumed dead. Details...

One of the boats I test-sailed after the Annapolis show last month was the new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409, which happens to be the first production sailboat equipped with Harken's new Radial Rewind winches. These electric winches, you may recall, can both reel in lines under load AND ease them without the user having to...

Sailing from Jewell Island to South Freeport was my last proper outing on Lunacy this year. I've delayed sharing details with you, I suppose because I'm still in denial about having the old girl hauled this winter. I chose to sail to South Freeport only because of the weather report. I had dismissed it as...

I first met Poppa Neutrino (aka William David Pearlman) in the summer of 1995 on Long Island Sound, when both he and I were preparing to cross the Atlantic to Europe. He was aboard a 50-foot raft made of floating debris he called Son of Town Hall; I was on my Alberg 35 yawl Crazy...

I've had great fun watching (and rewatching) this trailer for 2010: Moby Dick, a hilariously updated movie version of Herman Melville's classic 19th century novel, due to be released later this month. Except for the fact the setting is absolutely contemporary--e.g., Ahab drives a submarine armed with nuclear weapons and the whale is inclined to...

Those who followed the near-tragic loss of the Canadian school ship Concordia (on which I blogged back in February) will probably want to check out this 22-minute documentary that aired yesterday on CBC's Land & Sea program. To refresh some recollections: Concordia, a 188-foot square-rigger with 48 high-school students aboard, was sunk by a microburst...

Every once in a while my useless law school education becomes temporarily useful again. For example, I've followed with some interest recent exchanges on the Waterway Guide discussion board re a police boarding of a Gulfstar 50 that took place this week on the ICW in Florida. Take a gander at these two accounts of...