Jan/Feb 2012 Issue 199: A Minnesota mother’s love of the sea
Dec 21, 2011 12:00 amIt took 58 years before Dorothy LaFond was able to commence her life as an offshore celestial navigator. At that age most of us have already given up the rigors of shipboard life for the comforts of hearth and home. But LaFond had the best reason for why her departure was delayed: her family. As a single mother of eight children — two boys and six girls — she made sure they all graduated high school before she ran off to sea.
Nov/Dec 2011 Issue 198: Hurrah for the Black Ball Line
Oct 21, 2011 12:00 amUp to around 1817 there existed two types of maritime trade — the tramp sailing ships and the traders. The tramp or “transient” sailing ships carried cargo from port to port, picking up new cargo wherever the ship was. This was not always financially profitable as sometimes there would be no cargo that was worthwhile. Then there were the trader sailing ships that stayed in service between two or three ports — for instance, those ships that sailed between Europe and America, making two passages yearly in the fall and in the spring.
October 2011 Issue 197: Carleton Mitchell and Finisterre
Sep 27, 2011 12:00 amCarleton Mitchell, who died in 2007 at the age of 96, was perhaps the most influential of the post-war generation of offshore cruisers and racers who created the “cruising lifestyle.” Combining his skill as a photographer and writer, Mitchell, in more than seven books, wrote about the best of the cruising life in the Caribbean and the Bahamas. When he first went to the West Indies in 1947 there were empty anchorages and no tourists. Mitchell, for better or worse, helped make the Caribbean Islands the destination they are now.
September 2011 Issue 196: The disappearance of Kobenhavn
Aug 31, 2011 12:00 amBefore the era of wireless radio (the 1920s), sailing ships carried no means of communicating with shore. Information about a ship’s progress was passed along by other ships they met along the way. It was assumed that all was well until a ship failed to arrive. Even then there was no panic on shore as sailing ships could have met with a storm, been dismasted and had to proceed under jury rig. It could be a month before the shipping company knew a ship had met with an accident.
July/August 2011 Issue 195: An OSTAR winner with Moxie
Jun 22, 2011 12:00 amPhil Weld had moxie (moxie: courage, nerve, guts). Weld’s whole life proved that over and over again and it was only fitting that the boat that took him to greater prominence should have been named Moxie. That boat, of course, was the 50-foot, Dick Newick-designed trimaran that Weld raced to victory in the 1980 OSTAR. A victory all the more impressive because Weld, at 65 years old, took three days off the previous record set by the late Alain Colas. Moxie indeed!
May/June 2011 Issue 194: Dodge Morgan: First American non-stop circumnavigator
Apr 05, 2011 12:00 amDodge Morgan, former Air Force fighter pilot, working journalist and successful entrepreneur, first dreamed of sailing solo non-stop around the world in the 1960s. Morgan spent a couple of years living aboard his 36-foot schooner, Coaster, and sailing from New England, through the Panama Canal to Alaska. Having achieved financial independence by selling his electronics company for a reported $35 million, at the age of 52 Morgan found himself ready to tackle his dream.
Dodge Morgan: First American non-stop circumnavigator
Mar 29, 2011 12:00 amDodge Morgan, former Air Force fighter pilot, working journalist and successful entrepreneur, first dreamed of sailing solo non-stop around the world in the 1960s. Morgan spent a couple of years living aboard his 36-foot schooner, Coaster, and sailing from New England, through the Panama Canal to Alaska. He loved the experience, but it wasn’t until the early 1980s that the dream of his circumnavigation got some traction.
March/April 2011 Issue 192: Kialoa V to Bermuda
Feb 28, 2011 12:00 amCruising families usually choose yachts that emphasize comfort rather than speed. Not so for Fred and Eileen Mills of Lake Placid, N.Y. They have always believed that speed and comfort can go together. The yachts they have owned in the past — including Ceramco New Zealand, Sir Peter Blake’s entry into the ’81-’82 Whitbread — have always been big, fast and comfortable.
Jan/Feb 2011 Issue 191: Tania Aebi circumnavigates
Dec 28, 2010 12:00 amMaiden Voyage, the book that Tania Aebi wrote about her 1985-87 circumnavigation, should be read by anyone who has ever faced challenges armed with only bravery, fortitude and chutzpah. It is a Dickensian tale: the loving, but unwell mother, the demanding father, the anarchy of the streets of Manhattan, the rebellious teenaged protagonist. Fearing for his daughter’s future, the father made young Aebi an offer she couldn’t refuse. Instead of going to college, he proposes buying a boat so she can do a circumnavigation.
Nov/Dec 2010 Issue 190: Bermuda Cruising Rally
Oct 19, 2010 12:00 amMany sailors desire to test their mettle on an offshore passage. It is a great undertaking that demands careful planning, time, skill, self-confidence, not to mention a good boat. Fortunately, there are programs that assist the sailor, no matter what their experience level, in safely challenging themselves and their vessels in going offshore.