Soundings is the news and feature publication for recreational boaters. Award-winning coverage of the people, issues, events -- and the fun -- of recreational boating. Check out our generous boats-for-sale section and our gunkholing destinations.
What do you do when you have to run a boat north from Florida to Connecticut and your three teenage sons are on an extended break from school due to the coronavirus? You bring them along and spend some time bonding.” That was the Facebook post I read on March 23, the day my home state of Connecticut went on partial lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. It was written by Tom Caruso, a friend and marine industry professional who owns Total Marine, a boat dealership and service shop headquartered in Norwalk. I’ve known Tom and his wife, Robin, for years and have spent time with the couple and their three boys TJ, Michael and Nicholas in anchorages around Long Island Sound. They are an adventurous…
MEMORY COVE I was excited to see Aucoot Cove depicted in a painting by John Stobart and described by writer Steven Knauth (Just Yesterday, May). I have been on those shores near Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts many times. Seeing it again in Soundings reminded me why I loved this location so much. Aucoot Cove is where Edey & Duff launched the first Stone Horse sailboat, of which 150 were built. I bought Hull No. 1 in May 1999 from an estate in North Carolina. I was looking to upgrade from my Cape Dory Typhoon. I had heard about the Stone Horse design from a colleague, who gave me a brochure with driving directions to the yard included. One April, on the way home to Malden from Newport, Rhode Island, with…
A couple years ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) set out on a path to create the world’s best weather model—a tool that could dramatically increase the knowledge and safety of boaters nationwide through better predictions about storms and more. And now, having taken a few sizable strides down that path, NOAA is ready to grab a partner and run. First, NOAA announced partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft to exponentially expand access to the mountains of data that NOAA already collects. Next, NOAA tripled its supercomputing capacity, bringing that type of technology on par with what other leading forecast centers are using worldwide. After that, NOAA started sharing National Weather Service computer code with members of the scientific community to see how experts outside…
When I ran a charter boat in Brielle, New Jersey, my marina was just past a railroad bridge with a four-foot vertical clearance at high tide. I went through it twice a day. The bridge usually remained open unless a train was due or the operators were changing shifts. I knew the train schedule and would leave the dock before 6 a.m. If I left later, I’d have to suffer a long wait for the commuter trains heading to New York. Inbound was a different story, because the afternoon boat traffic was always heavier. If the bridge was down awaiting the train, boats would collect on both sides until it opened. There was the potential for all hell to break loose, particularly on weekends or when someone was in a…
1. INTERNATIONAL & INLAND RULES: What determines if a vessel is “restricted in her ability to maneuver?” A. Whether or not all of the vessel’s control equipment is in working order B. Whether the nature of the vessel’s work limits maneuverability required by the Rules C. The vessel’s draft in relation to the available depth of water D. Whether or not the vessel is the give-way vessel in a meeting situation 2. INTERNATIONAL & INLAND RULES: If you are approaching a bend, and hear a whistle signal of one prolonged blast from around the bend, you should answer with a signal of A. a prolonged blast B. a long blast C. one short, one prolonged, and one short blast D. a short blast 3. INTERNATIONAL & INLAND RULES: What does…
Sailing La Vagabonde is a You-Tube channel that follows the globetrotting journeys of Riley Whitelum, Elayna Carausu and their son, Lennon, aboard their floating home La Vagabonde, an Outremer 45 catamaran. The couple has been cruising together for more than five years, starting with a Beneteau Cyclades sailboat in the Mediterranean. The vlog details their journey from port to port as they explore, dive, fish and handle the sometimes challenging liveaboard life. The couple attained notoriety in 2019 when they sailed climate activist Greta Thunberg from Norfolk, Virginia, to Lisbon, Portugal, for the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain.…
