January 12, 2011
A Ration of Grog
From the ubiquitous red shirts and baseball hats with the yellow map of Barbados emblazoned on them – the secret code of serious sailboat racers worldwide – to the Royal Navy tradition of serving up a thick, syrupy and brain-befuddling concoction daily to her sailors, it seems like rum and boating are synonymous. For what sailor worth his salt doesn’t savour a ration of grog? Almost a moral imperative.
January 12, 2011
Island Grooves
It is so hot in Codrington, Barbuda, even the chickens are napping. Then the afternoon explodes in sound. Around the corner come people swaying their hips in time to a band, one musician grinding out chord roots on a bass, a drummer pounding cross-rhythms.
January 12, 2011
BVI Dreamin’
All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey. Is it time for the BVI Spring Regatta yet? This summer was a wonderful one – I put a lot of water under the boat, had a ball and it didn’t seem to rain on a single weekend! But now the boat is under its tarp and my deck sneakers have that wandering feeling. The pull is stronger than in years past because just before launch last spring, I started my season extra early by taking in the BVI Spring Regatta.
January 12, 2011
Skinny Sailing
“IC24’s have a crew weight limit of 850 pounds and there are five of us,” said Tyler Rice, a high school senior from St. Thomas, USVI, and my skipper for the 2010 Rolex International Regatta during a pre-race phone call. “We did some math last night and we all need to loose some weight before weigh-in.” Thus began a time of thirst and hunger but the trade off was compelling: ten days of sacrifice for the serious fun of sailing in a legendary Caribbean event.
January 12, 2011
Looking For Vinci in All The Wrong Places
Just outside the elegance of the reception office at Young Island Resort in St. Vincent, crown jewel of the Grenadine Islands in the southern Caribbean, are two perfectly happy Vinci parrots, perched lazily on tree trunks in very nice cages. Just as happy as you, these birds, lodged – like you – in a luxury resort that Johnny Depp used as a pied-a-terre while filming the first УPirates of the CaribbeanФ, that Bill Gates fully booked for his millennium celebrations.
January 12, 2011
Champagne Cruising
It’s 11:59 p.m. on New Years’ Eve and I’m ensconced like a king on his throne in the cockpit of a sailboat. The clock strikes twelve and a hundred ships’ horns shatter the night. Cheers echo across waters that shimmer with the Christmas lights strung from the railing of the candy cane lighthouse.
January 12, 2011
History’s Harbour
The sun breaks over the cactus-studded slopes of Shirley Heights, spotlighting the wooden crosses of a two-century-old cemetery, bathing in a scarlet-hued glow of the crumbling battlements that still stand sentinel over the opening to Antigua’s English Harbour. It rises higher, illuminating villas and a beach that fronts on waters that glitter like a sugar-glazed donut.
January 12, 2011
South Pacific
Since he was seven years old he knew he wanted to spend his life at sea. Now at the tender age of 54 Captain Toni Mirkovic is plying the breathtaking waters of the South Pacific at the helm of the award winning luxury cruise ship, Paul Gauguin. Unlike Captain Bligh of the ill-fated Bounty, Captain Mirkovic has gained the respect of his 217 crew and the confidence of his 330 grateful guests. On an eight day cruise in March, we visited the Society Islands of French Polynesia , an eight hour Air Tahiti Nui flight south west from Los Angeles, landing in a pocket of the Pacific Ocean seemingly at the very end of the earth.
January 11, 2011
The Best of British Columbia Boating Part 1
The Gulf Islands of British Columbia envelop a beautifully diverse cruising ground – an alluring and accessible pocket of paradise. Boaters will be charmed by each island’s distinctive character and lured by clean sandy beaches, sheltered bays, hideaway anchorages, spectacular sunsets and abundant wildlife. In addition, the area’s marine parks are unique to British Columbia’s coast and are often only accessible by water.
January 11, 2011
Sun, Sea, Sand and Sails
You have shovelled snow from more than enough driveways. Your parka feels like a straightjacket. The only ice you want to see is in a glass of rum punch. And you have had enough of wind chill minus a million. Celsius. Little do you know that your recipe for happiness needs very few ingredients, that with a cornucopia of island paradises and a brisk cruise thrown in for good measure, you too can increase your happiness quotient.
January 6, 2011
Planning Your Dream Cruise: 2 – Destinations & Route Planning
Most cruises are based on a destination: “When school finishes, we are going to take the kids on a summer cruise of Georgian Bay.” “When I retire, I want to sail through the islands of the Caribbean for a couple of years.” “We’re going to ship our motorboat over to Europe and explore the Med for a few seasons.” “We’re going to sail around the world!”
January 4, 2011
Planning Your Dream Cruise: 3 – The Cost of Cruising – Financial Matters Afloat
Most people believe that long-term cruising is expensive but it certainly doesn’t have to be. When we first cut the docklines in 1989 we were surprised at how our monthly fixed expenses dropped when we let the apartment go, sold the car, and suddenly didn’t have rent to pay or home and car insurance premiums. The cable TV fees stopped, as did our fitness club memberships. Costly commuting expenses disappeared. No longer working in offices, our clothing budget dropped drastically since our wardrobe simplified and cruising in the tropics didn’t demand several sets of seasonal clothes.
December 30, 2010
Planning Your Dream Cruise: 4 – Making Cruising Pay – Earning While Cruising
Travelling by boat, as I’m sure you’ll agree, offers many pleasures and freedoms but can present plenty of challenges and high-stress moments as well. Adding financial stress to the adventure can really take the fun out of cruising so, as we discussed in our last article, it’s important to maintain a good financial base when cruising. As in life ashore, financial security provides freedom and peace of mind. The ability to earn a living while cruising then seems the ultimate freedom.
December 23, 2010
Planning Your Dream Cruise: 5 – Benefits of Part-time Cruising
There is a misunderstood notion that to become a long-term, long-distance cruising sailor it is necessary to truly cut the docklines by selling everything and leaving. You know, get rid of the house, quit your job, and wave goodbye to the rat race. Paul and I have been cruising now for 18 years and can assure you that this just isn’t so. In fact, the happiest long-term cruisers we meet are most often those who have found a pleasurable balance between life afloat and life ashore.
December 22, 2010
Cruising the Leeward Station
As the sun died in the western sky we strolled across a cobblestone parade ground, following its path like the faithful. We watched it burn a pink and orange penumbra onto a harem of undulating mountains. We watched it etch deep shadows into east-facing slopes, silhouetting the palms that surmounted their heights.
December 21, 2010
Planning Your Dream Cruise: 6 – Maintaining A Home Base While Cruising
The decision to cast off the dock lines and undertake a long-term cruise involves considerate financial planning from establishing a budget for outfitting your boat, travelling expenses, insurance, sightseeing costs, maintenance and repairs, and changing costs of living as you move from destination to destination. So it’s no surprise that in the process of planning a cruise, the topic of whether or not it’s economical to maintain a home base while you’re away nearly always comes up.
December 17, 2010
Grenada of Land and Sea
Just off the headland of Grenada’s True Blue Bay a huge rock bathes in the Caribbean Sea. It is thirty feet high and ruggedly beautiful. Wind has etched lines upon its face; the sea has softened its rougher edges. We sail past in the Bavaria 46′ we’ve chartered from Horizon Yacht Charters, gazing out toward waves hurling themselves against the rock, shattering into a million pieces.
December 15, 2010
Chichester Harbour, England
Commissioning a new boat can be exciting, enlightening, challenging, sometimes frightening, often frustrating, but mostly a delightful experience. At least that’s how it’s been for Paul and me for the last few weeks as we go through the process with our new Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, the latest variable-draft cruising boat built by Northshore Yachts in England. We took delivery of our new baby in mid-March at the Northshore Shipyard which is located on beautiful Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England.
November 1, 2010
The Way South – Bahamas to the Caribbean
The past year had been filled with adventures – a new boat built in England, the transatlantic passage bringing her across to our side of the Atlantic Ocean, a winter in the Caribbean, spring in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, and a fast trip home to Lake Ontario via New York and the Erie Canal.
October 28, 2010
St. Martin to the BVI
Our overnight passage from the island of Barbuda to St. Martin had been boisterous. The easterly winds had built through the night so that by the time St. Martin came into view, bright green and mountainous on this mid-January day, we had a reef in the mainsail and had changed down from our 135% genoa to our sturdy little self-tacking jib. Distant Shores, our Southerly 42 sailboat, charged along in the confused seas her variable draft keel down the full 9-feet keeping her motion steady and comfortable.
June 23, 2010
Two-Footitis
Two-footitis – the need to move up to a boat 2-feet longer than the one you have – is an ailment that hits most sailors at one time or another as their passion for the sport grows, new challenges are sought, the crew expands or, let’s be really honest here, the desire for bigger and better toys hits hard.
June 16, 2010
Eleuthera Bound
It looked like we were floating in the world’s largest swimming pool. For as far as our eyes could see was the most beautiful sparkling clear water with no land in sight. It was a warm windless morning in early June and as we motor-sailed along over the glassy calm we could see bright red starfish slide by on the pure white sand bottom beneath us.
June 11, 2010
St. Martin – Half Dutch, Half French
Sometimes everything just comes together to make an island landfall the perfect experience. We approached St. Martin in an absolute torrential tropical downpour. We had sailed overnight from Barbuda – leaving at midnight to arrive in the day. The night was a rollicking sail with nice strong winds from behind and we flew along at over 8 knots.
June 10, 2010
Anguilla – Sailing for the Stars
I didn’t see much on my first cruise through Anguilla Passage in the Leeward chain of the Caribbean Sea. I was crewing for Steve Fossett on a one-hundred-twenty-five-foot catamaran called “Playstation” and we were chasing the Heineken Regatta’s round-Sint-Maarten record.
June 10, 2010
Hopetown and the Other Loyalists
The first thing I see on my approach to Hopetown is an undulating emerald silhouette rising up from the horizon, dominated by a circa-1864, candy-cane-painted lighthouse that still uses kerosene for power. Inside the harbour is a forest of sailboat masts. A chorus of dancing casuarinas trees, feathery branches seductive as a burlesque dancer’s boa, serenades me.
June 9, 2010
Petit St. Vincent – The Real Fantasy Island
It is twilight when we step onto the dock at Petit St. Vincent, a tiny tropical resort island snugged down like an anchored sloop in one of the most beautiful bays in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. No Ricardo Montalban waiting to greet us in a white suit, but this is no TV show. This is the real Fantasy Island.
June 9, 2010
Bahamas – Out Islands
This year Paul and I celebrated 20 years of long-distance cruising. As writers and documentary filmmakers we’re fortunate that we can work while we travel and since setting sail from Toronto in September 1989 on our first international voyage we have logged 76,000 nautical miles cruising to over 50 countries on 5 continents. And whenever anyone asks, “What’s your favourite place to sail?”, we both say without hesitating, “The Bahamas!”.
May 31, 2010
Our Caribbean Arrival
Our goal when we set out to cross the Atlantic Ocean aboard our Southerly 42 sailboat from the Canary Islands was to arrive in the Caribbean island of Antigua in time for the legendary Sunday night jump-up atop Shirley Heights. We almost made it.
May 26, 2010
Transatlantic Crossing – From England to Antigua
It had been a fast 2-day passage south from the Portuguese island of Madeira to the sun-baked Canary Islands of Spain, our jumping-off point for a transatlantic passage to the Caribbean. We’d had great sailing with wind all the way – and from the right direction – until the last few hours of our approach to Gran Canaria on December 13th when the wind headed us. But our new Southerly 42 sailboat, Distant Shores, charged effortlessly into the building seas under power of our small self-tacking jib and reefed mainsail.
May 19, 2010
Sunshine Coast, British Columbia
Strung out below Syren Point on the east side of Hotham Sound is popular Harmony Islands Marine Park. The biggest and smallest of these four islands (the rest are private) are designated as a marine park, with the southernmost park providing flat, grassy spots for kayakers to beach their craft and set up camp. The adjacent waters in the channel between the islands and the mainland are also within the park’s boundaries. We headed for our favourite, sheltered spot known locally as Kipling Cove – tucked between the three northern islands, it offers dramatic vistas, good snorkelling opportunities and warm water swimming in July and August.
May 17, 2010
Log Of The Caledonia – From Quebec to Newfoundland
SATURDAY (1100 HOURS) The weather is fine: sunny and hazy. A perfect afternoon on the Saint Lawrence. At precisely eleven hundred hours the call echoes across the deck of “Caledonia”, a barkentine tall ship two-hundred-forty-five feet long. “Prepare to cast off.”
May 12, 2010
Maiden Voyage, Distant Shores
Every sailor knows it’s bad luck to begin a voyage on a Friday. Why? We’ve never really been able to satisfactorily pin that down. Like most superstitions the origin is a bit murky. Some say it has religious roots relating to Jesus’ death on the cross on Good Friday. Others say it relates to Friday the 13th and that historically bad things often happen on a Friday. Regardless of the reason, it’s a superstition that the brotherhood of sailors, whether racing or cruising, pays heed to.
May 10, 2010
The Pleasures of Pender Harbour, British Columbia
At 8.15 am, on a rain-washed Vancouver morning, I found myself neatly buckled into the front seat of a well-seasoned ‘Beaver’ floatplane. With latte in hand and ears well plugged, my trusty pilot and I were headed for Pender Harbour, where I was about to discover the delights of the ‘Venice of the Sunshine Coast’ by boat. My husband Laurence and our faithful 36′ sloop ‘Dreamspeaker’ were eagerly awaiting my arrival, having braved a southeasterly gale and huge seas off Cockburn Point to make our scheduled meeting on time.
May 7, 2010
Cruising the ‘Rhine of North America’ – St. John River, New Brunswick
There are great boating experiences to be had all around the province of New Brunswick. The eastern shore ports on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence offer very unique and picturesque harbours to enjoy during the summer months. There are numerous opportunities to gunkhole through the areas of the Northumberland Strait separating New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in the Bay of Fundy; there are also many beautiful harbours to tuck into and explore, but that’s another article. The highlight of New Brunswick boating has to be cruising the Saint John River.
April 26, 2010
Southern Comfort
I awake from a deep sleep with a warm breeze blowing softly through the hatch and Annie’s Toy, a Lagoon 380, rocking gently at anchor. Brilliant stars provide the only light in the pitch-black cabin. Aside from the water softly rippling against the hull, not a sound is heard. It’s our first night of a seven-day charter in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and we share our secluded anchorage with just two other boats. My hometown seems a planet away and I fall asleep eagerly wondering what adventures tomorrow will bring….read more
November 11, 2009
Sylvan Lake, Alberta
Nestled just west of Red Deer, at a point not two hours from Edmonton or Calgary, lies Sylvan Lake, one of the most popular recreational lakes in Alberta. The roads leading to Sylvan Lake are excellent. It is easy driving with a boat and trailer.
November 11, 2009
Lake of the Woods, Ontario
Imagine a place for a family vacation that you will never forget; a lake so beautiful and so vast that you could probably never see all of it. But, what if there was an event that could quickly connect you to a way to explore a lot of it in safety and in an organized fashion?
November 11, 2009
Tantalizing Temptations in Trinidad and Tobago
By four in the morning I was starting to wonder what I was doing, nearly naked, painted in silver mud and dancing through the streets of a tropical city. Even though I am on the greying side of fifty I wasn’t alone in the dawning light. Tens of thousands of people, some even more ancient then me, were dancing through the streets of Trinidad’s Port of Spain, having a great time kicking off Carnival.
November 11, 2009
St. Maarten/St. Martin
Two cultures – one island. Where can a winter-weary Canadian Yachting reader go to “get-away” this winter? How about someplace that offers the breath-taking atmosphere of the Caribbean and the combined flare of European and Caribbean cultures? If that sounds good – then St. Maarten/St. Martin might just be the “two countries in one” island for you!