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I spent much of my childhood in upstate New York, and though I tend to be nostalgic, I have a lifelong hatred of winter. It’s unreasonable, I know, and I’m trying to do better. Last year I fled south for a few months. That was wonderful in many ways but felt a bit like cheating because, in general, I am Mother Nature’s biggest fan. (I just love what She has done with the other three seasons in the Northeast.) So skipping winter seems the equivalent of walking out on a great play because one act has hit a weak spot — the epitome of fair-weather friendship — and that’s not my style. Still, let’s be honest. In some parts of the country, it’s a hell of a weak spot: bitterly…
In the November “Images” photograph by Daniel Forster, we neglected to say that Dorade’s sister, Stormy Weather, is the boat in the foreground. Although Dorade is behind her in the image, she edged out Stormy Weather at the finish of the Fastnet Race. Both yachts were designed by the legendary Olin Stephens and have enjoyed illustrious racing careers that began in the 1930s. COULD I GET SOME HELP HERE? I have owned two Sea Rays — a 25-foot weekender and a 27-foot Sundancer. The 25 had a low deck in the cockpit with an engine cover that could be removed for easy access to the service areas. The 27 had a high deck over the engine and little deck space when the hatch was opened for service. This meant laying…
Steiger Craft Marine has built a reputation around its fishing boats, and this year it launches the 31 DV Miami, a beamy deep-vee pilothouse model with more creature comforts for cruising. “We built a 31 in the early ’90s but got away from that size until now,” says Connor Steiger, vice president and son of founder and president Al Steiger. “This new 31 was tooled by us based on our 26, which has been one of our best sellers since it was introduced 15 years ago.” Although the 26 is a great offshore boat, it lacks the range that anglers require for running to the canyons, Steiger says. The 31 DV Miami holds 110 more gallons of fuel (300 gallons total) for a range of 400-plus miles. The hand-laid fiberglass…
Test your knowledge with these Coast Guard license exam prep questions from the National Captain’s Institute captains.com 1. INTERNATIONAL RULES: Hearing 2 prolonged blasts followed by 4 short blasts near the edge of a fog bank, you assume it’s: A. a pilot vessel B. a lost vessel C. an anchored vessel D. a sailboat adrift 2. INTERNATIONAL RULES: What is the minimum visibility of a masthead light on a vessel of less than 20 meters? A. 1 mile B. 2 miles C. 3 miles D. 4 miles 3. INLAND RULES: When there is doubt as to whether a situation is an overtaking one or not: A. sound the danger or doubt signal B. assume an overtaking situation and act accordingly C. change course to forward of the beam of the…
It’s the kind of science project any nautically minded grade-school student would love: Launch an unmanned “drifter” vessel, then track its progress as it gathers data while crossing the Atlantic. In June 2012, students in the Region 4 School District in the southern Connecticut River valley launched a 5-foot, 45-pound self-righting, self-steering and self-tending research sailboat to chart Atlantic currents as part of the Educational Passages program, which started in Belfast, Maine. The voyage has gone well. The vessel, named Charger, has logged more than 16,000 nautical miles and visited more of the world than many people do — Newfoundland, Wales, Portugal, then back across the Atlantic to Guyana on the northeast coast of South America. The problem is, Charger is stuck in Guyana and can’t be relaunched. “We are…
The tug Pegasus has been a fixture of the New York waterfront for most of its 108 years and a passion of Capt. Pamela Hepburn’s for the past 28. This summer, money problems drove the historic vessel off Pier 25 at Hudson River Park to a free berth at a drilling company’s shipyard on the industrial Morris Canal in neighboring New Jersey. The Pegasus Preservation Project — the tug’s not-for-profit owner — couldn’t afford insurance to keep the 100-footer as an attraction in the park’s historic vessel fleet. Pegasus will remain tied up at the Warren George yard while its board of directors searches for a high-energy group that can move forward with a new vision and save the tug from the scrapyard or a future as an entertainment venue.…
