The gravel road rumbles beneath my tires as my headlights illuminate the deserted boatyard. I shift into park, pull one last long swig from my coffee cup and walk into the empty metal shed. Rain begins to dance atop the large roof; the light pinging is a soothing soundtrack.
Tag Archives: Sailing
Boating Season 2015: A Look Back
With the holidays in our wake and a New Year creeping ever closer, it seems a fitting time to reflect on the past boating season while updating ASailingStory’s followers on where we left off. On a bone-chilling morning in late October, Karen and I motored from a nearly deserted Essex to our winter home ofContinue reading “Boating Season 2015: A Look Back”
Destination Micro-Adventure
A colleague recently turned me on to the Twitter account for Alastair Humphreys, a British adventurer whose four-year around-the-world bike trip is just a single bullet point on his expedition-filled résumé. Despite living a life most would deem clinically insane, he champions a concept that he calls the microadventure, which is just what it sounds like:Continue reading “Destination Micro-Adventure”
Deep River: A Place So Nice We Went There Twice
A few days after our last weekend cruise to Deep River I asked Karen what she wanted to do next weekend. Here’s how that weekly conversation usually plays out: “Mmm, I don’t know. What do you want to do?” “Uhhh, I don’t know. Go somewhere on the boat?” “Ok, but where?”… And it goes on like that forContinue reading “Deep River: A Place So Nice We Went There Twice”
Discovering Deep River
On a typical day most of us drive through a dozen towns, maybe more. But how many of us can say that we’ve stopped, walked around or explored any of those towns to see what they have to offer? Probably not many. Even one rainy weekends where complaints of boredom are echoed, the odds are unlikely thatContinue reading “Discovering Deep River”
Savoring Summer in Shelter Island
Leaves along Connecticut’s Route 9 had begun to trade their deep green for hints of orange and yellow; nature was showing its hand. Fall is here. With a long holiday weekend on tap the Karen Marie would be chasing the horizon at full throttle trying mightily to catch back up to summer. That’s how itContinue reading “Savoring Summer in Shelter Island”
5 Lessons In Having Fun on a Boat
Swinging on a mooring on a beautiful sunny Saturday in Hamburg Cove, just a few minutes from Essex, Karen and I were enjoying some quiet time reading in the cockpit. Our afternoon entertainment would be provided by our neighbor in an express cruiser with a cockpit filled with kids. At first glance they didn’t appearContinue reading “5 Lessons In Having Fun on a Boat”
Breaking Murphy’s Law
I like to think that there’s an alternate universe where best laid plans actually come to fruition; a place where anchors set on the first try, seas lie flat on travel days and spare parts stay sealed and tucked away in the bottom drawer. In short, if such a universe existed, it would be theContinue reading “Breaking Murphy’s Law”
A Terrible, Perfect Night
Tired, frustrated, and drenched in sweat, I spun the Karen Marie in a tight circle to retrieve my lost boat hook that was lodged in the chain of a mooring ball and now protruded straight up from the water like a big middle finger. No, my evening was not going according to plan. My originalContinue reading “A Terrible, Perfect Night”
New York State of Mind
With summer weekends getting snatched up faster than you can say “we’re going boating,” Karen and I were determined to spend the 3-day 4th of July weekend doing some overdue cruising. So at 0700 on Friday we meandered down the Connecticut River to the Sound. We sailed against an incoming tide in very light airContinue reading “New York State of Mind”
Boy and a Boat 