Last week we asked a simple question on the Old Boat Sailor Facebook page: What boat has the perfect setup and qualities to make a great single-handed long-distance cruiser? We expected a few dozen answers. We got more than 700 reactions and nearly 600 comments, including about 400 sailors naming their pick. There were Contessas … Read more
Every sailor knows the truth: the race decides who gets the trophy, but the party decides whether you come back next year. You can grind upwind for three days in a dying breeze, blow out a spinnaker and finish dead last, and still call it a great regatta if the rum is cold and the … Read more
I noticed something this summer. For the first time I don’t know any of the boat owners around my boat. I go there quite a bit. I haven’t had a conversation with a single other boater since launching my boat this spring. Usually doing a project on the boat at least draws a couple people … Read more
Your slip neighbor lives about four feet from your bedroom. That’s closer than any house neighbor you’ve ever had, and the walls are made of fiberglass. That can be the best part of marina life or the worst. On a good dock, neighbors catch your lines, watch your boat when you’re away, and hand you … Read more
Walk down to almost any old boat club today and you’ll see it. A rack built to hold forty dinghies, holding four. Dock lines coiled up and untouched since last season. One faded life jacket hanging where a whole row of them used to hang, sized for an eight year old who isn’t coming this …