Costa Rica Recap: The Pura Vida Experience
If you're planning to cruise Central America, don't skip Costa Rica. The good life is for real. Prior to November 2021, our family had never visited Costa Rica before. From friends and acquaintances who have come to Costa…
Introduction to Polar Diagrams and Optimum VMC
A polar diagram is a graphic presentation of a sailboat's sailing performance in various wind conditions. But how do you interpret it? The same information is also often presented in the form of a table or spreadsheet, which…
Destinations: Secrets of Sulphur Passage
Here's our latest installment from Jim Burgoyne of SalishSeaPilot.com about a seldom visited part of Vancouver Island's west coast. Riding the flow out the mouth of the Megin River was leaps easier than paddling the other…
How to Print NOAA Custom Charts
Traditional paper charts are in the process of being replaced with electronic navigational charts (ENC) and a new form of paper chart called NOAA Custom Chart (NCC), based on these ENC. In this new system, the user designs…
No More NWICSA: A Shift for College Sailing in the Region
Elected in 2021, Northwest Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NWICSA) Undergrad President Anna Morrow took over a conference in limbo at the end of a season impacted by remote learning, canceled competitions and minimal…
Collision Avoidance Using AIS
As AIS becomes ubiquitous amongst boats of various sizes, it's important to know how to use it to avoid a collision. David Burch of Starpath Navigation offers a good tutorial here. Most navigation programs (electronic…
Destinations: Cozying up to Waiatt Bay
Enjoy our latest installment from Lynne Picard of SalishSeaPilot.com about a favorite anchorage on British Columbia's Quadra Island. With unsettled weather in our late-season forecast, we wanted a sheltered place to drop the…
What’s life like on passage?
From Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska, all the way south to Mexico and Central America, one of the things I've always enjoyed about writing this blog (going on 7 years!) is that I get to share our family's…
Happily Home on the Sea
Last week I wrote a sailing story for the blog, but it felt a bit rushed to jump back in after so many months off and I didn't hit publish. We'd recently returned home to Yahtzee in southern Mexico, cleaned her up, gotten…
A few days at Oro Bay
Oro Bay on the south end of Anderson Island in the Salish Sea is a beautiful anchorage with a nearby park, quiet privacy, and wonderful views. Having grown up in the South Salish Sea, I spent a lot of time at various…
