Sneaking Out: A Quick Overnight Cruise on the Columbia
Come late August, it dawned on my wife that we’d never managed to go on vacation this year. I’d been on a solo weeklong cruise, but Kate hadn’t spent a night away from home since 2019. Our college-age son had moved back…
Neither Round Nor Rogue the County: Just Some Great Late Fall Sailing
Young Parents Take Their Fast Boat Out For a Fall Cruise With Their 10 Week Old As much as we wanted to, we didn't do Rogue the County. When Round the County was canceled, a number of racers decided to go…
Navigating a Small Boat Adventure During a Pandemic
In any normal year, I’d typically get two or three rowing trips under my belt in my home away from home, the Pacific Northwest. But the shutdown changed all of that—2020 is not a “normal” year. This year, I was grateful for…
Taking Refuge in Canada
When an emergency stop is required inbound from Hawaii, an American couple finds shelter across a closed border From the October, 2020 issue of 48° North. Five hundred lonely miles west of Cape Flattery, the sickening sound…
How have we never been here before?
Rediscovering a sense of surprise and wonder while cruising close to home From the October, 2020 issue of 48° North. I’m a little embarrassed to admit we’d never really heard about Watmough Bay near the southeast tip of…
Family Time Stateside & FAQs on Leaving Yahtzee
This post was originally published on SailingYahtzee.com... Plans are a funny thing when cruising. We've learned over the years not to make them too far in advance, and when we do, to take them as if they're written in the…
Unbelievable Serendipity
Knocking Opportunities and a Post-Cruising Miracle From the August 2020 issue of 48° North. In 2012, my husband, Wayne, and I quit our jobs; abandoned friends, family, and mainstream modern conveniences in the Pacific…
Second Growth Wilderness on the Columbia
From the August 2020 issue of 48° North Shantyboat legend, Harlan Hubbard, once wrote of yearning to settle down in "some backcountry beyond the road's end, long ago abandoned or passed over by the expanding world, a…
Quaranteaming and hitting the pause button for hurricane season
Though I've been doing a lot of writing lately, it has been difficult to put words together for the blog. With all that has been going on in the world, writing about cruising in Mexico on a sailboat just hasn't seemed…
PNW Sailors Head… EAST?
Stalwart Pacific Northwest sailors take an opportunity to change their lifestyle and formulate a plan to hop cross-country to explore the East Coast Adventure. The sailor racing their boat around the world, the mountaineer…
