Publisher's Log

On behalf of Riverside Yacht Club, I would like to thank you for the donation of WindCheck magazines to our “Women Offshore” event, as well as advertising it and posting on Facebook. The event was a great success. We had 60 attendees (mostly women, three guys), and they came from as far as Nyack, Kingston and Long Island, NY and Newport, RI. We had women sailors who were club affiliated as well as non-club affiliate, and ages…

I’ve found that when one is laid up for a period of time, the first thing one tends to do is catch up on what feels like years of missed sleep. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Whether the demands of publishing deadlines, up-too-early active children, ever-present racing watch changes, or countless other reasons, many of us both rise early and burn the midnight oil. To be able to sleep for more than four hours at a clip is…

The popular movement toward using inflatable coach boats is a good one in terms of keeping boats and limbs safe from damage (and they have other pros and cons as well) but perhaps reducing the potential danger of underwater appendages needs to be the next movement toward increased powerboat safety for our young ones. Prop guard- or jet drive-equipped coach boats seem a natural step in that development.

One of the most difficult decisions for a captain and crew to make in the sport of sailing is when to call it quits. There are many reasons to pull out of a race: no wind, too much wind, illness, and damage to the boat among them. And yet in more than 35 years of racing I had never withdrawn from a distance race until the Chicago Yacht Club’s 109th Race to Mackinac in July. During my…

Scuttlebutt Sailing News recently published a write-up about WindCheck (issue 4860). Being recognized as a vital part of the sailing community by such a well respected publication and Editor as Scuttlebutt and Craig Leweck is humbling, to say the least. It makes me proud. The title of the piece is “The Ties That Bind.”

I love walking a boat show, especially a spring show. Everyone is excited for the coming season and all it will bring. Last month, WindCheck organized the  Connecticut Spring Boat Show at Brewer Essex Island Marina, in Essex, CT.  We’re proud to be part of this terrific event and partner with Brewer Essex Island Marina, Essex Boat Works, Yacht Brokers Association of America and YachtWorld to make it happen. The show was a tremendous success, although that…

There are few moments so rewarding as completing a complex or difficult task. And when that task is completed to expectation or above, we are rewarded with a big exhale of relief and accomplishment…and maybe even a cold beer. I know it’s already May and the time for bellyaching about getting the boat ready should be well behind us, but as we often experience here in the Northeast, our weather this spring was less than predictable; Mother…

Since our very first issue in 2002, WindCheck has featured – at least once monthly – articles about environmentally relevant and important topics such as beach cleanups, clean regatta practices, water quality issues, protecting marine wildlife, and many other rallying calls for an ecological cause.

No matter how depressing or annoying my news feed was on Facebook, or elsewhere, I could always count on a positive post about sailing.

I’ve had the pleasure of sailing with some great people, many of whom are women.