Updates on what’s going on in the sport of sailing generally (most usually, but not always, relating to cruising under sail) and in the sailing industry, plus news nuggets and personal views on all manner of nautical subjects.
Sept. 14/2020: I’m surprised it has taken this long. The species Orcinus orca, popularly known as killer whales, the largest of oceanic dolphins, have decided they are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore. Since July orcas have made a number of organized attacks against sailing vessels off the Spanish coast, repeatedly...
August 8/2020: One nice thing about modern computers: you can create really vivid, realistic images of yacht design concepts before the yacht in question is ever built. Or even if the yacht is never built. Take these images of a design concept, ICE Kite, being developed by Red Yachts and Dystra Naval Architects for an...
July 30/2020: Man, I’ve been writing too many of these lately. This is a huge one. Larry Pardey, who died at age 81 on Sunday, after years of struggling with Parkinson’s disease, and after suffering through a stroke last year, was an enormously talented man. He was a consummate sailor, both on a race course...
July 15,2020: Even though my dear boat Lunacy is no longer in Brunswick, Georgia, I’ve been keeping tabs on a couple of ongoing news items down there. Exhibit A: the wreck of the car carrier Golden Ray, which capsized in St. Simon’s Sound last September. Earlier this month the enormous double-sided barge crane, dubbed VB...
June 26/2020: I realize now I am one of the lucky ones. First, I haven’t died of Covid-19, like my old friend Patrick Childress. (I did perhaps suffer through a very mild case back in early February, but so far I haven’t been able to confirm this.) Second, I didn’t take my boat down to...
June 8/2020: Major bad news today as I caught word early this morning that an old friend of mine, Patrick Childress, passed away in a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a victim of Covid-19. I first met Patrick in the late ‘90s when I was living in Newport, RI, during my time at Cruising...
Apr. 30/2020: The North American boatbuilding industry has lost two pioneers this month, one an American, the other a Canadian. The first, Clint Pearson (see image up top), who died at age 91 back on April 4, was better known. He was renowned in the industry as a founder, with his cousin Everett Pearson, of...
April 10/20: This comes courtesy of my man Phil Gutowski, of BoatRx, who tipped me off recently as to the exploits of two buddies of his, Byron and Dan, currently circling the planet on their 1985 Beneteau First 42 Speck. While the rest of us have been “locked down” it seems Byron and Dan and...
Mar. 29/2020: Just got off the phone with my old pal Hank Schmitt, of Offshore Passage Opportunities and the annual North American Rally to the Caribbean, who gave me the low-down on the end of his virus-affected season down in the W’Indies. Crazy times for everyone, to be sure. He and his Swan 48 Avocation...
March 17/2020: This happened just before the start of Race 1 of the Antigua Superyacht Challenge on Thursday… the day before Friday the 13th, when I was trying to fly back to the U.S. from Barcelona, Spain, in the midst of this big Virus Rumpus. Some perverse consolation then: these people had a worse time...
