Editor’s Letter: Racing Rewards in the Pacific Northwest

The smell of hot dogs wafted through the cockpit from the grill on our boat’s stern, and laughter rang out from friends sitting on the side deck and perched on the cabin top after a sappy joke. We were making way, but the…

Casting Off: Make Room for Oysters

Hama Hama oysters are a welcome “carrot” to entice…

Close to the Water: Other Boats

My old college friend and I were eager to get away and forgot the daily details that usually preoccupy us. And as we slowly ghosted into Jones Island’s broad horseshoe-shaped cove, I knew we’d chosen the right spot. An…

Editor’s Letter: The Season for Learning

A couple weeks ago, I sat on a yacht club lawn in a white Adirondack chair and watched as my boys and the rest of the summer sailing campers in their weeklong class put away boats. Porter, our oldest at 11, helped fold the…

Rum Running in the San Juan Islands

Prohibition Failed as a Social Experiment While Fueling Advancements in Boat Design and Marine Technology

Tribal Canoe Journey: A Way of Life

The Tribal Canoe Journey is an annual tradition of traveling on ancestral waterways and in early August 2024, the focus of the journey was on youth as participants paddled to Puyallup. The whole point of this Youth Journey…

Editor’s Letter: 10 Years!

The first publication I was involved with at 48° North was September 2014. Check my math, but that means that when this magazine goes to press, it will round a decade at the helm of 48° North, and it coincides with the…

Close to the Water: The Dock

The author does a test launch of his new Portage…

Editor’s Letter: On Bringing Up Sailors

One of the mistakes parents, like me, make these days is to overinflate our perception of influence with our children and their interests. As boat folk, deeply held hopes that our children will love time on the water can…

Video: The Magic of Sailing

We always love finding cool videos that highlight sailing around the Pacific Northwest. Check out this short film by Carl Davis, a past commodore of Orcas Island Yacht Club. A talented and creative videographer, Davis…