Boats and boating
Our rational minds know a boat is made of wood, fiberglass, steel and aluminum, but deep down we believe they have hearts and souls. We love them when they carry us safely through foul weather and we look back fondly on the vessels that played a major role in our lives and the lives of our families.
If one is going to sink . . .
A 21-year-long relationship meets a soggy, although predictable, ending
Read MoreStalking the crew of S/V Delos
By Christopher Birch For Points East In the first 35 years of running my boat repair business, I installed exactly zero convection cooktops. Then one Monday morning two years ago, these ranges were suddenly all the rage. Three customers called me before I had drained
Read MoreTiny boats and huge yachts
As soon as you set foot on a big yacht you belong to someone, not to yourself, and you die of boredom. -Coco Chanel By David Roper For Points East Magazine Tiny boats and huge yachts. The allure is almost always there, despite
Read MoreNew ride for an old boat
By Tim Plouff Without a doubt, trailer-boating has proven to be a fast and efficient way for my wife and me to move up and down the coast of Maine, thus exploring the countless islands and various points of interest so close to shore. All
Read MoreA reunion with Aloft, and scanning for sharks
By Jack Farrell I’m sitting in the deep cockpit of our sailboat Aloft on a mooring off Peaks Island, Maine, in the shadow of the landing craft Lionel Plante that plays such a big role in construction at the Isles of Shoals. I’m fortunate to
Read MorePocket school ships
New England sailors, coaches and instructors share their thoughts about the boat designs, makes, models, rigs and sizes that have proven best for teaching all ages and abilities to work the wind.
Read MoreLaunch-day hijinks, and savoring the moments
It was another early-morning island supply run in mid-summer. Utopia slipped easily through the glassy swells for the seven-mile trip to the Isles of Shoals in the company of numerous grey seals and a single minke whale. The fish finder emitted a constant stream of
Read MoreIt’s small-boat adventure time
Over the years, as the owner of two full-displacement keelboats, I’ve often fantasized about going smaller. Don’t get me wrong: Big boats are fun, but sometimes, with all their inherent expenses and hassles, it just seems like there’s got to be a better way. The
Read MoreA boy, a boat and a dream
By Jim McGuire For Points East As a child with a wagon, I played boat in the puddles in the schoolyard across the street from our house in the Lippitt Hill section of Providence. I also used the wagon to go around my neighborhood collecting
Read MoreCaveat venditor – let the seller beware
Over the years, I’ve sold lots of stuff on the internet. Everything from Swedish cars to antique rototillers and, for the most part, the transactions have been fairly straightforward. Goodbye baby bike trailer – don’t let the door hit you on the way out –
Read MoreGoing to great lengths for next to nothing
By David Buckman In a lifetime of sailing there were no cruises richer in beauty, drama and intimacy than those we launched in the 1970s, when cash flow was tight, and we set out to discover the New England and Fundy coasts aboard an old
Read MoreLessons learned from the airline industry
After nearly 40 years of flying I have a serious side, and approached boating with an eye toward safety and situational awareness.
Read MoreMoby Dick? She’s alive and well
By Bob Muggleston For Points East Here’s a scenario I’ve thought about quite a bit lately: The year is 1939, and you’re aboard a boat tooling around Block Island Sound. Fog has rolled in, making visibility difficult. Horns sound. Suddenly, to starboard, something emerges from
Read MoreRebuilding a Tinkerbelle sister ship
By Roger Crawford For Points East In the late summer of 2019, I received a call from a gentleman named Steve who asked if I’d be interested in restoring a small wooden sailboat. Steve had wanted a project for himself, and after some searching found
Read MoreOf boats and beauty
By David Buckman For Points East There are few expressions of man’s genius more beautiful or enduring than a boat, and few endeavors more satisfying than boating. Anyone who’s drifted across the quiet waters of a lake, fetched along the coast, or crossed an ocean,
Read MorePrivateer end game
By Capt. Michael L. Martel For Points East I peer through the chain-link fence, fingers grasping the rusty wire, feeling like I’m on the outside of a detention center. The gate is locked. Inside is a sad collection of old and derelict boats. Some of
Read MoreCareful what you wish for
By Jack Farrell For Points East I’ve come to realize lately that I have a personality that is prone to obsession. While that may sound at first like a confession delivered in the first meeting of a 12-step program, I don’t think it’s necessarily a
Read MoreThe Snow Goose
Guest Perspective By Randy Randall For Points East Snow Goose was a Marblehead cruiser designed by Eldridge-McGinnis and built in the late ’50s at Marblehead Boatyard on the Biddeford side of the Saco River in Maine. My dad owned the boat for over 20 years,
Read MoreRot in the bullshead
By David Roper For Points East Editor’s note: Dave Roper is on vacation, so we’re cutting him a little slack this month. Here is one of our favorite columns of his, which ran in April, 2013. They owned a small inn on the coast of
Read MoreA fortuitous meeting
Guest Perspective By Dave Tew For Points East In 1975 I was a senior in college, and trying to figure out what to do with my life. At the time, the Western Electric Corp. offered a program in which they evaluated and sponsored soon-to-be-graduating college
Read MoreTo each his own
This summer a commercial airline pilot friend of mine, Travis, spent a lot of time researching sailboats. He did so because: 1) He’s interested in upgrading his current platform, a MacGregor 24 trailer sailer he inherited from his father-in-law; and 2) he’s vaguely interested in
Read MoreWhere there’s a will . . .
Wickford, Rhode Island, has always had more interesting characters than I can shake a stick at. Plenty of interesting stories abound there, as well. Not too long ago there was a distinguished older gentleman who was very active in community affairs, politics, and the yacht
Read MoreOur first boat: Lessons Learned
After we sold Gannet, our 30-foot 1969 Pearson Coaster, last spring, we reflected fondly on the 24 years we owned her, during which she taught us how to cruise the coast of Maine.
Read MoreA late-season delivery
Guest Perspective: Capt. Michael L. Martel I awoke in the darkness with a start, disoriented, only to eventually realize that I was still in my bunk, fully dressed and wrapped in my blanket against the cold. Even though the last two days had seen the
Read MoreWell done, Carl!
Frequent readers of this magazine know I bought my “big” boat, a 1966 Pearson Commander, four years ago for $750. They also know, thanks to this space, that most of the sailing I do is here in Essex Harbor on the Connecticut River, where
Read MoreFinding Minnie
By Pam Humbert For Points East It’s been almost 30 years since my mom called to talk about their big move, and the fate of one of the family’s small sailboats. “There’s some interest from Barry down the road for the Minifish,” she said. Her
Read MoreEast vs. West: It’s all about the boats
The sign hanging over the front counter of the Islander Grocery at Lummi Island in Puget Sound reads “Keep Lummi Weird.” Nearly three thousand miles from my familiar islands back home in Maine and New Hampshire, this sign captures the essence of a common island
Read MoreLa Dolce Vita
And it was a sweet life indeed aboard the 41-foot Concordia yawl Dolce, on a delivery from Boston to the Newport Boat Brokerage Show to be sold. No one bought her, but that isn’t my story.
Read MoreEdison’s other bright idea
In 1879, electricity innovator Thomas Edison baked cotton strands and bamboo splinters at high temperatures in order to carbonize them into a filament that could resist extreme temperatures. Can you say “carbon fiber?”
Read MoreAinsley’s excellent project (of mine)
This is a follow-up and reality check to my mid-winter 2019 column, “Ainsley’s Excellent Project,” about the prospects of rebuilding my daughter’s 1960-something, Town Class sloop, which was intended to be a “we” enterprise, but for a number of perfectly good reasons, turned out more
Read MoreSharpen the chisels, oil the tools
Editor’s note: Friend and frequent contributor Capt. Mike Martel is at it again: He’s tackling another old wooden boat. This after Privateer (a 40’ gaff-rigged auxiliary yawl built in 1930 in Maine, to a John Alden design), the boat he’d spent seven years restoring, suffered
Read MoreThe privilege of owning a Herreshoff classic
By Ben Emory For Points East In August of 2014, just as dark fell, the Fish-class sloop Perch, on her trailer, was dropped off at Brooklin Boat Yard on Maine’s Eggemoggin Reach. I’d purchased the Nathanael Herreshoff-designed boat sight-unseen, based on a YachtWorld.com ad and
Read MoreLadies, does this sound familiar?
Guest perspective/Capt. Laura Tecce Surely, many long-suffering spouses have heard this: “No one talk to me while I’m docking.” (But, if you can’t talk to him, how are you supposed to know what he’s doing or where he’s going?) Or how about this: “Throw the
Read MoreBeers and boats
How did these two disparate entities become so gloriously entwined? Well, it’s kind of a long story that spans the centuries, and Martha weaves the tale, strand by strand, into the around-the-buoys era.
Read MoreNature calling? Use your head
This means managing your marine toilet properly, emptying discharge from it to a holding tank, not overboard. For years, in Maine waters, I didn’t, but now I see the error of my old ways.
Read MoreIn search of clarity
Our coasting adventures always seem to be in a certain state of flux as we fathom new ways of addressing the epic sweep of them, and meld into the tried and true. Touching on life’s largest themes and nature’s most powerful forces, it’s about seeking
Read MoreNew life for an old jacket
Guest perspective/Mike Camarata I am 35 years old. My stitching is solid. My straps and handles are snug and strong. My zipper slides up and down as smooth as silk. My Coast Guard-required printing is very legible. My D-rings are bright and shiny. My belt
Read MoreHoly Cannoli! I like to sail
Smitten by the Masefield “Sea Fever” romance of sailing vessels, but hesitant to embrace the recreation of moving small boats with the wind, Tricia espouses powerboating. Years later, epiphany.
Read MoreHandsome is as handsome does
An interview with Mark Ellis, creator of the cat-rigged Nonsuch series of sailboats that strained sensibilities and changed the way we think about sensible cruising boat design.
Read MoreRestoring wooden blocks
I approach this task as did my grandfather, who built boats for the Herreshoff yard in my hometown: Take your time, take no shortcuts, be thaorough piece by piece, clean, repair, then reassemble.
Read MoreMiles and memories under the keel
I watched as the canoe was lashed to the truck. The new owner used a long length of heavy rope he threw over the upturned hull and pulled down and around the truck’s racks, knotted at various stages. This was repeated until the boat was
Read MoreThe Hurricane, and what’s in a name
Interior work on the old Hurricane is moving well in spite of lingering cold, snow and high winds along our coast. While fresh beaded plywood panels were being installed to dress up the bulkheads and interior cabin sides last week, the 60-plus-mph blow along the
Read MoreA lament for the boat left out
I’d found the boat of my (cheapskate) dreams, and a post-purchase inspection proved she was as good as advertised. The problem? She was on a mooring in another state and it was nearly January. Decisions, decisions . . .
Read MoreCurmudgeon seeks catboat for company and the occasional adventure
Guest Perspective/Peter M. Winter Because no one apart from me turns up on time these days I spend a lot of time waiting on my lonesome in bars looking at my phone while pretending to be someone with a lot of friends and an important
Read MoreThe birth of a Mayflower II futtock
Photos courtesy Mystic Seaport From left to right: The live oak after it arrived at Mystic Seaport, moving the 300 lb. futtock after it’s been rough cut, running the futtock through a giant planer , and placing the finished piece in its final location. Editor’s
Read MoreA tale of three Jonahs
A trio of boats not ready to go to sea were “Jonahs,” like the hapless whale-dwelling prophet of the same name, and they brought bad luck and trouble to owners and delivery crews alike.
Read MoreThe Upsizing Imperative
Starting with a 14-foot derelict, a Long Island couple buys one larger boat after another to safely and sensibly accomplish the family’s sailing dreams, which evolve as the unit grows older and wiser.
Read MoreThe advantage of “cruising small”
Last word/Gina Catalano I came to boating through my spouse, who’s long considered the sport a passion of his. What I’ve noticed over the years, however, is that while both of us look forward to the start of the boating season in Rhode Island, lately
Read MoreWe built a kayak!
Guest perspective/Wendy Hinman After my husband and I sold our 31-foot, cold-molded wooden sailboat, I was eager to get out on the water as often as I could without having to beg for rides. With Eagle Harbor at the bottom of our street in Bainbridge,
Read MoreTen things we’ve learned trailer boating
Guest perspective/Tim Plouff Forever seeking more adventures on Maine’s coastal slice of heaven, we often comment about all of the bobbing boats waving at us from their moorings whenever we slip out of one of our favorite launch harbors. If you have a mooring do
Read MoreTaking the ‘adventure’ out of anchoring
Guest perspective/Michael Camarata Many boat owners leave their home marinas for a weekend or a summer cruise only to go to other marina docks or, perhaps, a mooring field. They never anchor. Maybe they’re afraid. Or nervous. Or perhaps it’s simply inexperience. There’s nothing wrong
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