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”
Tag Archives: travel
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”
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”
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”
Boat Deliveries and Unlikely friendships
The morning of our last day aboard Gizmo began with a heightened sense of urgency. 106 miles, 4- to 6-foot seas, and almost 20 knots of wind stood between us and Camden, but we were determined, come hell or following seas, to get there. The hatches were battened down, and loose cameras and other assorted gear wasContinue reading “Boat Deliveries and Unlikely friendships”
Smooth seas, cheap fuel, and surviving a cult
Delivering Gizmo, a Duffy 37, with her owner Ben Ellison, who serves as Senior Electronics Editor for Power & Motoryacht and the AIM Marine Group, we found day three would be a lay day in Plymouth, Massachusetts, courtesy large seas and strong winds, which ended up being a blessing in disguise. I got to go ashore and reconnectContinue reading “Smooth seas, cheap fuel, and surviving a cult”
Strong Wind, Marine Electronics and Plymouth Rock
0515: We raise the anchor and pull out of Point Judith’s Harbor of Refuge and into the Sound. The promise of 30 knots of wind in the afternoon inspired us to start early and get through the Cape Cod Canal as quickly as possible. Once through the canal, the strong wind and waves would beContinue reading “Strong Wind, Marine Electronics and Plymouth Rock”
Boy and a Boat 