Sailing in Light Air

I discovered sailing on the south coast of Cape Cod, where the breeze is a reliable 15-22 knots out of the southwest like clockwork every day; the sun rises, heats up the shore, that air rises, and the sea breeze comes rushing in. My first taste of sailing in light air happened in high school and …

Book Review: The Ship Beneath the Ice

By Mensun BoundMariner Books (2022) Confession: I am a polar exploration nut. Whole hectares of my bookshelves are dedicated to the genre, past and present. Needless to say, it’s hard to be a polar nut without knowing of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the destruction of his ship Endurance in November 1915 …

The Ill Wind

I had no warning of impending disaster. The morning sky was deep blue, and the fronds of the palm trees on Belize’s beautiful South Water Caye were waving to the usual easterly breeze. I was anchored in the lee of this small island, maybe 400 yards from shore. The previous day we had dropped my …

Global Solo Challenge

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge has been an ocean race like no other. From a sizable percentage of American sailors to a pursuit start that took several months to get everyone on the racecourse, it has generated a lot of conversation. The race pits pro and amateur sailors on whatever boat they …

Unhappy Boat Kids

Jan. 11/2024: Here’s one of the more interesting things that has happened to me since the publication of The Boy Who Fell to Shore, my biography of Thomas Tangvald, October before last. This past November a woman named Suzanne Heywood reached out to me, wanting to talk about children raised on …

At the Helm: Whale Watch

In little over a week, Mia and I head to Falken, 59° North’s Farr 65, for the last passage of 2023. The boat is docked in Lagos, on the sunny Algarve coast of Portugal, just around the bend from Cabo São Vincente—and smack in the middle between the two hotspots for orca “encounters” over the past …