Cruising

By Heather Hild Atwater Editor’s note: Flotilla cruising is an excellent way to enjoy an unforgettable charter vacation, particularly if your sailing experience is limited. And you won’t find nicer or more capable flotilla leaders than Heather & Nate Atwater, who lead Offshore Sailing School’s Colgate Sailing Adventures® Flotilla Cruises to exotic destinations around the world. Heather recounts a visit to the lovely Adriatic Sea.     The Meet and Greet dinner at La Barca restaurant at…

By Nate Bayreuther (#1922 Orion) Maybe it was because Orion had such a late launching last spring due to school and work commitments. Maybe it was because I’d recently been reading a number of sailing narratives. Or maybe it was simply the excitement of returning to a familiar yet exciting destination…an because so many new people were coming. Whatever the reason, I was itching to get to the Niantic River launch ramp on Thursday, August 1 to…

By Capt. Nitzan Levy   Started in 2013, Sailors NYC is the only club in the New York Harbor that offers local sailors an unparalleled opportunity to enjoy recreational sailing on medium-size vessels (25 feet and up). To create a true club environment, we provide a variety of programs for all levels of sailors, including cruising, racing, organized boating events, and social events and educational programs. The club’s boats are docked at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey…

By Carter Blease, Project Coordinator, Impossible Dream Inc. Traditionally, sailing has been an activity limited to able-bodied individuals, but with her universally accessible design, the Impossible Dream catamaran is breaking down barriers and changing the way people think about what is truly possible. It was love at first sight for Deborah Mellen, owner and founder of the Impossible Dream Inc., upon her initial meeting of the world’s most accessible sailing catamaran. In 1989, Deborah’s life changed in…

By AK   On Sunday, June 30, my friends Arlene Graffa and John Cravenho were helping deliver my Cal 27 Elektra from Shelton to Norwalk, Connecticut when we were overtaken by an unpredicted flash microburst with winds over 70 miles per hour. We started sailing down the Housatonic River from Shelton at 8 am, passing under the Merritt Parkway, I-95, the 110-year-old Metro North Devon bascule bridge, and the Washington Bridge (Route 1). We encountered a (much…

By Rory Cumming   I’ve always thought of Western Long Island Sound as a relatively safe place to sail during the summer. The biggest worry is typically heavy boat traffic and skippers exhibiting poor judgment. The exception was on Sunday, June 30. The day began with sunny skies and a nice 15-knot westerly. The Sound was packed with sailboats of all sizes, and my wife Jaci and I were sailing our Dehler 38c Rascal under jib alone….

By Kevin Dailey I have been in the boating business for 40 years, and I recently did an introspective look at what has changed since I started. In the 1980s, a 38- to 40-foot sailing yacht might have been considered toward the larger size for most people to own or be handled by a couple. Today, it is not uncommon to see a couple sailing a 55-foot yacht or even larger, and with less effort and stress than back in…

By Sherry Pickett My friend Carolyn and I turned 50 earlier this year and decided that sailing lessons in the British Virgin Islands were the way to celebrate! It wasn’t difficult to find two more friends to join us and although we each had different levels of experience with sailing, we found the perfect course to meet all of our needs with Offshore Sailing School’s Fast Track to Cruising course. We were fortunate enough to have the…

By Eric Forsyth The start of this year’s cruise was hardly auspicious; Fiona, my Westsail 42, began at the bottom, or, more literally, on the bottom. She was launched at Weeks Yacht Yard in Patchogue, New York, late on a Monday afternoon. A quick check of the bilge seemed normal, and we all went home. On Tuesday morning, she was resting on the bottom of the travel lift slip with water inside the boat about a foot…

By Susan Ryan and Donald Peterson The United States Power Squadron (USPS) was founded in 1914 by Rear Commodore John Upton of the Boston Yacht Club, author Charles F. Chapman and others to formalize the education and training of civilian boaters, and it grew into the nation’s foremost recreational boating organization. How they chose the name is an interesting tale going back to 1912 when Upton organized a select group of “gasoliners” as the first power-driven sail…