Features (Boating)

Article - Boating; by Lynn Teo Simarski - 4/11/13

Back to the Water

Six destinations to remind you we are not meant to live on land alone

These are six of 99 stops in Simarski and husband Guy Guthridge’s six-year voyage of Chesapeake discovery aboard Bright Pleiades. Other journeys appeared in Bay Weekly between 2007 and 2008 under the title Voyages of Discovery. Pilgrimage to the Top of the Bay Our trawler curved along the channel of the Susquehanna Flats toward the very top of the Bay. Bedazzled by ducks, I had long wanted to see the flats, a legendary waterfowl hunting ground whose depths once...

Article - Boating; by - 10/11/12

When Old Boats Need a Friend

Along the Chesapeake, a fellow they call Bunny stays busy as a rabbit

The stately, down-on-its-luck vessel of vintage stock is badly in need of Bunny. Like people, every boat has its story. The plight of this ’41 Chris Craft Sedan Cruiser begins when its owner dies “down South somewhere.” She’s cast out of her covered shed, homeless. Somebody with an eye for elegant lines takes pity. A Washington lawyer has her, but soon the old boat, nameless now, belongs to somebody in Boston....

Article - Boating; by The American Boat & Yacht Council - 10/4/12

Tempering Boat Show Fever

Tips before you buy

1. Buy a boat that matches your intended use. 2. If you are trailing, make sure your vehicle can pull the weight of the boat and trailer. 3. Buy from a dealer who will educate you on all the systems on the boat. 4. Test the line of vision from the helm to make sure you have clear visibility. 5. Check various compartments to see how accessible maintenance will be. 6. Hire a qualified...

Article - Boating; by - 9/6/12

Dangerous Waters

This $6 million, custom-built vessel from Anne Arundel County soon could be dodging pirates in search of giant marlin

We should hope that Mantra, the 88-foot sportfishing yacht from Weaver Boatworks, about to depart Tracy’s Landing for some of the world’s most dangerous waters, avoids the perils of the last Mantra. Capt. Thomas Holmes was marlin hunting in that 68-footer off the Seychelles, an island nation 900 miles from Africa’s east coast, when two skiffs closed fast behind him. Powerful skiffs, operated by Somalis with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades,...

Article - Boating; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 8/23/12

A Rock and a Hard Place

For some boaters, jetties are Scylla and Charybdis

Two jetties protect the Deale harbor in Southern Anne Arundel County. Neither is new. Yet 900-foot jetties are bad news to a few of the thousands of boaters entering Rockhold Creek. Saturday, August 18, What’s Next rocketed up onto a jetty. “This one must have gone quite a way up and turned since the stern is on the jetty and the bow is in the water,” said Doug Roberts of Deale. What’s...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr - 8/9/12

The Greatest Race in the World

After almost a year at sea and nearly 40,000 miles, the Volvo Race is a true endurance test

The 39,270-mile Volvo Ocean Race is the greatest test of human endurance in the guise of sport on the planet earth. It’s life at the extreme with its own curiosities. Starting the nine-month race in Spain is always fun. The Spanish know how to throw a good party, and the royalty-crowned pomp and circumstance befits such an epic voyage. But starting from Alicante, Spain, means sailing across the Mediterranean Sea to Gibraltar, a boat-busting, upwind...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr - 7/12/12

Around the World in 9 Months

In this final leg, the Volvo Ocean Racers come full circle to Galway, Ireland

When you’re riding high, everything seems to go your way, and that’s how the in-port Race in Bretagne, France, played out. Large crowds cheered on local hero Franck Cammas and Groupama as they mastered the upwind/downwind course off Lorient. Camper barely hung on to beat Puma for second place, but that victory mattered. It closed the overall Volvo Ocean Race gap between second and third to four points heading into Leg 9, a 550-mile sprint to Galway, Ireland....

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr - 6/21/12

Life at the Extreme

Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race

When we last reported on The Volvo Ocean Race, 12 days of intense racing across the Atlantic from Miami had ended in one of Volvo’s closest finishes. Despite reaching Lisbon second by six minutes, Groupama gained the overall lead. Along the narrow Tagus River in front of the ancient, white-stoned city of Lisbon, hard-charging Groupama dominated an upwind-downwind in-port race. Telefónica recklessly fouled PUMA at the start, and the Spanish boat finished last yet again. PUMA’s wily...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr - 6/7/12

A 3,600-Mile Battle to Lisbon

Tropical Storm Alberto and pressure fronts low and high make for trouble on Leg 7 of The Volvo Ocean Race

When we last checked on The Volvo Ocean Race, the sailors had ridden the Caribbean current and safely crossed the Bermuda Triangle, reaching Miami in 17 days. In fluky, dying-wind conditions just off shore of glittering South Beach, Ian Walker and the crafty vets aboard Abu Dhabi once again showed their mastery of short-handed, close-track, in-port sailing by battling Groupama neck-and-neck the entire in-port race. PUMA stole third from Camper in a photo finish. The...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr - 5/17/12

On a Slow Boat to America

Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race takes the sailors 5,000 miles from Brazil to Miami

When we last checked on The Volvo Ocean Race, the racers had taken a wild ride from New Zealand across the South Pacific and around South America to Brazil. On a stormy Saturday in Itajaí, Brazil, French team Groupama won its first in-port race. Telefónica led all the way — until rounding the wrong mark near the end. Team Puma finished third in port, but the Americans led the race to Miami on the 4,800-mile leg from Brazil. Then the fleet separated laterally over a...