I've been in Ireland with the family this week visiting my wife's family in County Kerry. We took a few days for a jaunt over to Dublin, where we encountered this famous statue of the legendary Molly Malone on Grafton Street. No doubt you are familiar with the song. Personally, I've always been struck by...
The late-breaking news from the world of oceanography is that Phil Richardson, scientist emeritus at the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute, has discovered how it is albatrosses manage to glide upwind. Apparently, this question has baffled scientists for some time. The answer, it turns out, as divined by Richardson, who learned to sail as a boy...
This is another of the boats I sailed after the Annapolis show that I've been meaning to hold forth on here. You'll recall about a year ago I mentioned its predecessor, the award-winning Catalina 445, and raved about that boat's very versatile aft cabin. This new 355, intended to be a scaled down version of...
All kinds of rumors have been swirling about regarding the mortal remains of this 48-foot Thomas Colvin pinky schooner, Le Papillon, that went aground on Fire Island back on March 31. The photo you see here, from Will Van Dorp's Tugster blog, was taken just a few days ago and shows how the boat is...
I went to visit Lunacy yesterday, ostensibly to witness the unveiling of the completed aluminum prod that hopefully will be welded on to her bow later this week. The welder who created the prod was unfortunately running late, and pressing magazine and tax deadlines prevented me from waiting too long for him to appear, so...
Editor's note: Some more true adventures of and by Lt. Scurvy Bastard, USN. The sequel and conclusion to the recently discovered 19th century Barbary War memoir the first part of which was published here on March 22. WHEN we fetched back to Sicily the morning of 19 February 1804, three days after torching the frigate...
The point of this post really is just this image, which is so beautiful I've been staring at it now for days. Tis an X-ray of a new species of freshwater stingray discovered earlier this month in the Amazon River in Peru. Struggle as we might to create beauty ourselves, we'll never top nature, most...
My mom always said these things come in threes. I don't really believe that, but it does often seem that way. First up: Richard Lemont, age 43, gone missing from his boat near the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine last Thursday. By now, alas, he must be presumed dead. Dickie, as he was...
Loyal WaveTrain riders have perhaps been alarmed, or at least puzzled, by the scurrilous and incoherent diatribes posted here of late. This is what comes of allowing a pick-up bareboat charter crew to share their secret thoughts and whims with an unsuspecting public. It is left to the skipper, of course, to impose some semblance...
Dateline: St. George's, Grenada (guest post courtesy of Daniel Lapidow, crew and blacksmith aboard charter vessel Tiando) When dad asked if I’d like to miss school for a week and go sailing, I of course said yes. Now I am on a boat with a fat Jew, a power Nazi, and a failed murderer.
